She wasn't wrong, and that only irritated me more.
I didn't say anything on the drive back to the house because I didn’t want to sound like a lunatic like I had the day I saw her in the bikini. I needed to settle down to talk to her rationally. Because talking was what I planned to do even if my dick wanted to fuck her. Who the flock was Dean Winters?
When we arrived home, I tossed my coat over the back of a living room chair as I made my way toward my liquor cabinet. I poured myself two fingers of whiskey and downed them.
Then, taking a deep breath, I looked over at Reyna, who was standing in the middle of the living room looking at me expectantly. It was almost as if she knew what I was doing, and she was waiting for me to get my emotions sorted.
"Who is Dean Winters?” I bit out.
"How do you not know this? Didn’t Mrs. Curtis tell you all about me?”
"I was given the impression that he was old news. Besides, I didn't have a name."
"He is old news." She walked over to the couch, sitting on the arm. I suppose she didn't want to make herself too comfortable in case she wanted to get away.
"Apparently, not very old news. What didn’t she tell me?" I poured another whisky and put the bottle away. No sense in getting drunk, even though it was New Year’s Eve.
"It's none of your business. James. Are you going to tell me about your last girlfriend?"
I glared down at her over the glass as I drank my whisky and set the glass on the bar. "Her name was Allison. We were never engaged. She stole money from me, so I kicked her to the curb. That was over a year ago. Your turn."
She blew out a breath. "I was engaged to Dean, and now I'm not."
"Did he not offer you enough money to marry him?" Guilt stabbed my gut as soon as the words left my mouth, but I didn't make a move to take them back.
She shot up from the couch. "I might poke at you, James, but I'm never offensive."
Fuck.
"For your information, my marriage to Dean was a business deal. Just like this one. The only problem was I didn't know it. I essentially had an arranged marriage. But I thought I loved him, and I was an idiot to think that he loved me. And yes, I came to Las Vegas because we were going to elope. But then I walked in on him and my best friend naked on the couch. And you know what he told me?"
The guilt I was feeling grew because I was making her recount something that was painful.
"What?” I said, hating that my curiosity outweighed my decency to tell her she didn't need to tell me more.
"He basically said that that's how marriage works, that all rich and powerful men have mistresses. So I ended the engagement and left.”
I nodded. "Good. He sounds like an asshole."
"That's what I thought too. But my parents didn't agree. They told me if I didn't follow through on the marriage, I didn't need to bother coming home. The business deal between my father and Dean’s father was more important than my happiness."
My jaw dropped. I'm not sure why. I was no stranger to asshole parents. Then I remembered the call the other day from her mother.
“Is that why your mother called?”
Reyna sat ramrod straight, her chin held high, showing pride and bravado even though in her eyes, I could see she was struggling for strength.
“No. She heard I’d married you and wanted me to bring you home. It’s not that they’re happy for me or you. They like that you have money.”
I nodded my understanding. In some ways, it wasn’t that different from my father’s desire to marry Amelia to Max. It was all about Max’s family’s wealth and influence.
“Since she told me I couldn’t go home if I left Dean, I stayed here. I found a place to stay, and I got a job. And when my boss made the craziest offer to me, I thought this time, if I was going to get married for business, I would be the one who would reap the benefits. So there."
I had a tremendous urge to wrap her in my arms and make promises that I knew I couldn't keep. These were the feelings that were so irritating to me. But at this moment, I was annoyed by my desire to comfort her. What I felt was disappointed. Disappointed that I couldn't help her.
"Thank you for telling me." My words felt lame.
She gave me a curt nod. "I think the story that you gave George works just fine."