Say what you came here to say and get the hell out of here.
“Did you just make a jab at my sex life?” Her voice has a lethal quality to it.
No way in hell am I touching that comment. I press my lips together to avoid saying anything else.
Then you shouldn’t have said anything in the first place.
Her gaze hardens. “I think it’s time we set some ground rules.”
“Rules,” I repeat back in a dry tone.
“Yes.Rules. You remember ours right?”
“I have a vague recollection.”
Her smile could bring a man to his knees. “Let’s review. Every look.” She drags her eyes across my body like a phantom touch, burning my skin in their wake. “Every touch.” It only takes a single finger of hers brushing across my cheek to beckon me forward like a man starved for attention. “Every kiss.” This time, she grips my chin roughly, tugging my head down. Her lips brush the corner of mine. It’s an exact replica of my kiss at our engagement party, yet this one elicits a whole different reaction from me. “Is nothing but a lie.”
I’m rock solid beneath my running shorts. I clear my throat, blinking away the arousal in my eyes before she catches on.
So much for being on the same page.
“Fine. I concede. No talk of exes.” I have none worthy of talking about and hers are exactly where they belong.
In the past.
“Great. Glad we are in agreement on that.” She sips her drink.
“As entertaining as this conversation has been, I have things to do.”
She raises her brow. “Then why are you here? Withcoffee?”
“Because I need to talk to you about yesterday.”
“Which part?”
“All of it.”
“Well, then. Go ahead.” She takes a sip of her drink while scanning my face for emotions.
She won’t find any. I’ve made sure of it.
I start with the hardest subject first. “Our kiss…”
“Kisses. As in plural. Both of which you instigated, just to set the record straight.”
My skin burns hot under my T-shirt. “Kisses. As in never happening again.”
She smiles. “Fine. You won’t hear any objections from me.”
Fine?I at least expected her to put up a bit of a fight. Based on the way she looked at me last night, I thought she would do something other than stare at me with a smug smile.
Maybe you read her wrong.
“While kissing you was a necessary evil for the public, we no longer need to pretend to be attracted to each other.”
Something flashes in her eyes before she recovers. “Good. God forbid you actually have topretendto be into me.”
It was a shitty yet effective thing to say. My words do their damage, just like they’re supposed to. It’s for the best. The way I was compelled to touch her last night, without a single person watching us, says enough.