“Colleen…you’ve been so honest with me over the weekend,” he began. “I’ve appreciated that. I feel like I owe you a truth in return.”
Her heart fluttered in her chest. “What?” His seriousness had set an alarm bell going off in her head.
“It’s just…” He paused and stared out the front window, seeming uncertain how to phrase his words. “When I operated on Brendan, and then when Liam and Natalie announced they were getting married, I realized there was a certain opportunity available to me that hadn’t been there before.”
“Opportunity?”
His flickering gaze bounced off her face. “Yeah. I told you earlier this week that I’ve always been attracted to you. But because of our history, you’d put a barrier the size of the Great Wall of China between us. It was damn near impossible for me to get anywhere near you. Every time I tried to…”
“Get me into bed?” she finished for him numbly when he faded off. His dark-eyed gaze met hers.
“I’m not going to deny that I always wanted you. Every time I tried to get near you though, you erected another layer on your wall. You blocked me at every turn.”
“So you used my son and the wedding to get what you wanted,” she clarified. She couldn’t believe she sounded so calm.
“Well…yeah, but I wasn’t dishonest about anything. I think I made it pretty clear how interested I was.”
“So why the need to confess?”
He blinked at her quiet question. Her heartbeat now roared in her ears.
“You always came off as so strong…so…impenetrable, like nothing could get to you. After last night,” he said gruffly, “I realized that was an illusion, though. I realized how hard it must have been for you to start up with me when you had so many doubts about a relationship since Darin died…and because of your discovery about what happened with your mom’s infidelity. It made me feel guilty.”
“Why?” Colleen breathed out, dreading his answer.
“Because when I started this thing, I considered it…I considered you…as sort of a…challenge,” he said abruptly. He averted his gaze when she just stared at him. “I’d always wanted you, and I never could think of a way to make it happen.”
“A challenge,” she muttered through lips that had suddenly gone numb. Her hands and feet began to tingle uncomfortably. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She couldn’t believe he was saying these things when she’d taken such a risk in letting down her guard. “Oh my God,” she whispered.
“What?” he asked, looking over at her sharply.
“You called me a princess that day on Sunset Beach. You made it seem like you always considered me a…a…stuck-up witch. Is that the challenge you wanted?” she asked incredulously. “To put me in my place once and for all? Bed the bitch and show her who was really boss?”
It was like the past few months had never occurred. They might have been standing alone on Sunset Beach all over again, Colleen vibrating with anger and angst over the fact that Eric Reyes had trumped her yet again. The silence rang in her ears. He looked stricken.
“No! Of course not. Don’t jump to ridiculous conclusions.”
“Ridiculous? You’re the one who just told me you maneuvered the circumstances…took advantage of me in order to get me into bed.”
“I was trying to be honest and admit my intentions in the beginning. There’s nothing criminal about me wanting you, Colleen.”
“You manipulated me,” she said in a low, shaking voice. Her whole body seemed to throb in pain. “You engineered all that stuff about us working together to convince Natalie and Liam they were being so impulsive and irrational about falling so fast for each other. The whole time you were probably sitting back and laughing over the fact that I was falling in love with you just as hard, just as rashly…just as stupidly.”
His furious expression softened. “You were falling in love with me?”
Her eyes went wide. She couldn’t believe she’d just said that. Talk about letting down her armor at the moment when the blows were raining down the hardest. Frustration overwhelmed her. It was so unfair, how he always managed to get under her skin…weaken her.
“Don’t worry,” she grated out. “I’ve come to my senses. Thanks for helping me to see things again in such a rational light, Reyes.”
“Colleen, wait,” he ordered, grabbing her hand, trying to halt her exit. “You’re completely misinterpreting what I’m trying to say. Let me finish, for God’s sake—”
But she’d had enough. Enough of this hurt, enough of this risk…enough of her immense stupidity and naïveté for allowing herself to fall hopelessly in love with Eric Reyes.
He’d done it all because she’d been a challenge. He’d dared himself to do the impossible…to melt the ice princess. Well, he’d succeeded.
She shook off his hold, grabbed her bag and stumbled out of the SUV. The frigid outdoor air struck her
face like a much-needed slap of reality.