“Oh, for crying out loud, Devin, you have some gall.”
I put my hands on my hips and shook my head. “Still clueless.”
She rolled her eyes. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice that you took your fiancé into a private room?”
Confusion had me frowning at her. “What fiancé?”
“Oh my God. Are you really going to deny that you took Evelyn Winthrop into a private room at your parents’ anniversary party? The Evelyn Winthrop you’re engaged to marry?”
“No. I did do that. Evie is a friend—”
“Stop lying, Devin!” she snapped, making me jerk in surprise.
Anger replaced my shock. “I’m many things, Serena, a liar isn’t one of them.”
“So, your sister is a liar? Because she told me you were in that room fucking Evelyn to appease her for wanting to put off your wedding until you finished sowing your oats.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I laughed derisively. “Do you want the truth or do you just want to believe I’m an asshole?”
“If you weren’t fucking her what were you doing?”
“Do you really want to know or are you simply going to keep accusing me of being a liar and a cheat?”
Her jaw tightened. “I’d like to hear what you have to say.”
“What I have to say is the truth, but it won’t be worth wasting my breath if you’re just going to accuse me of lying.” At least I knew why she ran off and ignored my calls. But it irked that she believed I’d sleep with her while engaged to someone else.
She cocked and her brows lifted in an “I’m listening” signal.
“Our parents want us to get married—”
“See! Engaged.”
“Do you want the truth or not?” I bellowed wondering how thick her office walls were. Were her colleagues overhearing this? Not that I cared, but she might.
“Fine.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Our parents think they live in the eighteenth century, and have plotted for me to marry Evie practically since birth. But—" I held up my hand to stop her from interrupting again. “Evie and I don’t want to get married. We’re friends. That’s it. We’ve spent the last five or six years—”
“So, the last time we were together you were engaged to her.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, Serena, are you listening to me? We’re not engaged. Neither Evie nor I want to get married. I met with her at the party because even after five years being gone, our parents are still trying to arrange a marriage that we don’t want, and we’re trying to figure out how to make them stop.”
She studied me with hard eyes and I got the sense she didn’t believe me. “Why not?”
“Why not what?”
“Why don’t you want to marry her?”
“I don’t love her. Evie and I have been friends forever but that’s it. Neither of us has been attracted to the other. Ever,” I explained in case she wondered about my history with Evie. “To be honest, I’d nearly forgotten about this betrothal during my time away. But once I got back to New York, my mother was all over me about it. She’s threatened to disinherit me—” I stopped because there was no reason for Serena to know that.
“Oh well, I can’t imagine you’d be able to survive without your bazillions of dollars so you’ll have to marry her.”
The anger dissipated and instead was replaced by sadness, hurt, and an acceptance that Serena wasn’t the woman she’d been before. My trying to find the joy and happiness we had before was unrealistic.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m competent. I’ll do just fine if they disinherit me for not marrying Evie, because whatever happens here, between you and me, won’t change the fact that I’m not marrying her. Ever.”
She looked down, her finger running mindlessly over a paper on her desk. I was dying to know what was running through her head.
“Be honest with me, Serena. If you hadn’t thought I was engaged, would you have shown up at the bed and breakfast after my parents’ party?”
She swallowed, and I could see she didn’t want to answer.
It was time to stop pushing her hoping she’d be open to me. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter now. The fact that you think I’m capable of lying and cheating says a lot.”
Her eyes snapped up, and heat flashed in them. “I’m not the bad guy.”
I laughed. “You accusing me of something I didn’t do makes me the bad guy? I can’t seem to win.” I sucked in a deep breath and readied myself to walk out; to walk away from Serena forever. “I’m a fucking pussy. Do you know how much I thought about you the five years I was gone? How much time I’ve wasted over the last several weeks trying to figure out how to reach you?”
Her breath hitched.
“Why?” I shrugged. “For the life of me, I can’t figure out why I’ve been trying so hard when from the start you were clear you didn’t want to be around me. Ah sure, I’m a good fuck in private where no one could know, but for some reason I’m not good enough.” I shook my head. “It’s quite humbling.” I held a hand up before she could speak. “Don’t tell me I’ll get over it. I know you want to. I get now what sort of man you think I am.” Why was I still there? The longer I stayed, the bigger putz I became. To save my pride, I turned and started to the door.
“Devin.” She reached the door before I could open it. I saw regret in her eyes along with something else. It was that something else that kept getting in our way.
“What else was I supposed to think?” she asked.
I rested my palm against the door as I looked into her blue eyes. “Oh, I don’t know…maybe you could trust me. At the very least you could ask me. Or tell me off that night.
