Rafael starts to get off his stool, but this time I'm not going to walk him away again. I quickly reach out to hold on to his arm...and try not to be distracted at how muscular it feels.
Concentrate, Zee!
I can feel everyone in the pub looking our way, and most of the women are glaring at me like they think I'm some obsessed fangirl unwilling to let go of her idol. I should probably feel concerned about that, but I don't.
I only have to remember how tortuous it felt to watch Rafael walk away from me, and my fingers are already tightening around his arm as I hear myself ask, "Will you let me explain, please?"
Rafael
It's a struggle to keep my face inscrutable as Zee tells me about her decade-long infatuation with her brother's best friend.
Most people assume that boxing professionally is all about having the physical skills to beat someone up. In truth, however, what gives me the edge over my opponents is my ability to size them up and read their body language.
I know what the other guy's thinking even before he raises his fists...and it's why I also knew how the girl in my arms felt about another fucking man...without her saying a thing.
As soon as I felt Zee stiffen in my arms, I already knew I had a rival.
But what I didn't expect was for that rival to turn out to be someone she's had a crush on for ten goddamn years.
While I know it's unreasonable to feel this way for a woman I've just met, just thinking about Zee having a crush on the other guy is enough to make me want to punch the shit out of Nicolaas' too-handsome face.
I've always trusted my guts, and from the moment I saw Zee, my instincts told me that I need to make her mine.
And while I do still crave for her—-
Zee is also the first woman to ever make me feel jealous, and there's a part of me that thinks it's reason enough to keep her out of my life.
"...and that's it," Zee finishes with a nervous look at my direction. "I feel like a fool when I think about how I've wasted an entire decade thinking I'm in love with him, but..."
She's looking at me with soft, violet eyes that seem to hide nothing, but the jealous part of me is still fucking unconvinced. Is there a way for me to find out if that's her entire heart she's wearing on her sleeve, and that not a piece of it is still lost to her childhood crush?
"That's all in the past," Zee adds in a voice so damn sweet and earnest, it has me fighting against the urge to haul her close and fuck her mouth with my tongue. "And now, he's just like a brother to me."
She holds her breath as she looks at me, and while I can see she's waiting for me to say something, I'm not going to make it easy for her just like that.
I know it makes me seem unreasonable, but every time I remember the fact that I only found out about her name when some other man had uttered it in my presence—
It just fucking pisses me off, and Zee telling me Nicolaas Verhaege is just a "brother" to her now doesn't make any difference.
That man used to be her crush...for ten fucking years.
Ten fucking years, dammit!
Could this be karma, for all the women whose hearts I've unintentionally broken?
I've had several long-term girlfriends over the years, and each and every one of those relationships came to an end...the moment they realized I would never be the type to return their feelings.
But with Zee, though...
I have a feeling it's going to be the other way around, and that's what fucking disturbs me the most.
I can still remember the stricken expression on her face when she saw the other man accompanied by his fiancée. Zee is turning out to be like my personal Kryptonite, and while I wasn't lying earlier when I told her that love triangles have never been my thing—-
Am I really going to just let something like that keep me from getting what I want?
"Rafael?"
My gaze turns hooded as Zee fidgets restlessly on the stool next to me.
"I know it's hard to believe," she blurts out nervously, "but it's meeting you that made me realize I was never really in love with Nic."
"And?"
She bites her lip and looks at me helplessly, but even though it makes me want to haul her to my lap so I can fucking smother her with kisses—-
"You have to do better than that," I say evenly. "You need to prove to me I'm the one you want now."
Her eyes widen. "H-How do I do that?"
My jaw clenches at how foolishly innocent her question reveals her to be. Doesn't she realize that she's playing right into my hands?