He moved in closer. “I want you to admit that you feel it too.”
“Feel what?” My voice was too breathy as I aimed for flirty airhead.
“Fake,” he said, pointing that dang finger in my face again.
This time I smacked it away.
“Yes, fake, that’s me,” I said with a brilliant smile that I knew must sparkle with anger.
“No, I mean right now you’re faking it. You know exactly what I mean. You feel it too.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I spun around but he was right behind me.
“Lie.” His voice was way too smug.
“Would you cut it out? You sound like a crazy person,” I snapped.
“And you are running like a coward.”
I stopped short so quickly he ran into me and once more we were locked in a weird embrace as he once again kept me upright.
Coward.
The word still stung from when Hannah had used it. I wasn’t a coward, I just didn’t do conflict. Not in real life. I didn’t do relationships, either, for precisely this reason.
Oh crap.
Did that make me a coward?
I found myself frowning at him as I puzzled over that. My frown deepened when I realized he was still wearing a smirk. “Simone was totally right.”
I huffed. “She obviously wasn’t right.”
He arched a brow in obvious disbelief. “How so?”
I leaned in closer, anger a pleasant reprieve from the other roaring emotions. “Because to tap into feelings one has to have feelings, and what was it you said about me?” I tapped a finger to my chin in an exaggerated thinking gesture. “Oh yes. I don’t have emotions. In fact, I don’t even have a heart.”
His smirk faded fast. “You heard that?”
I arched my brows, my smile widening. “I did.”
“I’m sorry.”
Ugh. I didn’t want to hear apologies, I just wanted him to leave it alone. Leave me alone.
He didn’t leave me alone, instead he reached for my hands. “I am so very sorry, Rose.”
“Why?” I snapped. “Because you were caught?”
“No, because I was wrong,” he said. “You weren’t the one being vain and shallow, that was me. It was all me. I was out to prove that you were everything bad, all the things I told myself you were when you dumped me.”
I clamped my lips, unable to respond and not sure I wanted to hear any more.
“My pride was hurt,” he said slowly. “I mean… My ego was very badly bruised when you dumped me like that—”
“It wasn’t like—” He placed a finger over my lips to silence me and my whole body froze at the touch.
“My ego was bruised, but it was more than that,” he said, his gaze never leaving mine. “I was also…hurt. Maybe even…heartbroken.” He let out a loud exasperated sigh as he dropped his hand. “Man, this isn’t easy to talk about.”
I felt cold without his touch and I crossed my arms over my chest. “If I didn’t break up with you, you would have dumped me.” I sounded like a petulant child, but it was the truth.
He nodded.
I’d known it was the truth but seeing him acknowledge it still stung.
“See?” I said, already trying to turn away. “Does it make you feel better to know that you could have dumped me first? You’re only angry because I beat you to it.”
“No, I was angry because I was an egotistical jerk,” he said.
I stopped with my back to him because…well, yeah. He had been.
He was.
“I took up Ryan’s challenge because I’d been hurt.”
I spun around. “But you even admitted that—”
“I would have broken up with you,” he said evenly, like he wasn’t punching me in the gut with his words. “I would have, but not because I didn’t like you. I was going to end things because I did.”
I blinked. “That makes no sense.”
His eyes narrowed and he took a step closer. “Are you really going to stand here and tell me you didn’t do the same?”
I inhaled quickly as I edged backwards. My heart was racing again and this cape was now way too hot. “I don’t know what you mean. I was bored and—”
“Lie!” This time it was a triumphant cry.
I glowered at him. “Cut that out.”
“I can’t help it. I’ve always known there was more to you than you let on, but I never saw it so clearly as I do right now.” He shook his head in amazement. “If you’re not feeling it, I can tell. You do a really good job of faking, but not good enough. Not anymore. You can’t hide from me.”
I stood there in stunned silence, something like terror holding me hostage as his words echoed through me.
You can’t hide from me.
He moved even closer. So close I waited for him to reach for me. I thought maybe he’d kiss me. My lips parted in anticipation even as I told myself I didn’t want him anywhere near me.
“Admit it,” he said slowly. “You liked me, too. You were having the time of your life, and we hit it off better than either of us expected…and you ran.”
My throat felt choked. I wanted to tell him he was wrong, but even as I thought it I heard him say “lie!” in the back of my head.
I didn’t want to hear that again.
And maybe…maybe it was time to stop lying. Time to stop running…
Maybe it was time to stop being a coward.
I tilted my chin up. “Fine. I was having fun—”
“You were having the time of your life,” the egotistical jerk corrected.
I rolled my eyes. “I liked you.” I held my hands out. “There. You happy?”
Just like that, the egotistical jerk morphed into someone softer, sweeter, and infinitely more dangerous. “Not yet.”
He kissed me.
One hand buried in the hair at the base of my neck and he claimed my mouth like it was his. Like I was his.
My body responded with a mind of its own, my muscles loosening, my limbs reaching for him. Our bodies collided like we’d been pulled together by gravity as he tilted his head and deepened the
