Second Chance Rival
Page 7
“I’m not the enemy anymore.”
“Really?” I mocked. “I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell don’t know how to see you as anything other than my rival. It’s been ingrained in me since birth.”
“That didn’t stop you from ending up in my bed, now did it?”
“You pompous bastard!” I shot up, pitifully governing my emotions.
“Kitten,” he coaxed, cocking his head to the side. “You should be thanking me, not insulting me. I came here to warn you, so that you wouldn’t feel the ambush I did.”
“That’s funny, considering it still feels like a trap. One set up by all of you.”
“I know what you’re thinking.”
“You don’t know anything.”
“I know that you’re seething from the inside out right now.”
“That’s obvious! Come to think of it, why aren’t you?”
“Trust me, I was.”
“Trust you?” I spewed. “Those are fighting words, Tristian.”
“Kitten, I—”
“You were?” I interrupted, not wanting to hear his excuses. “How long have you known about this?”
When he confessed, “For the last five months,” I almost fell back in my chair.
“And you’re just now telling me?”
“I couldn’t confront you until I wrapped my mind around everything they’re demanding.”
“Wrapped your mind around what? Are you really telling me you’re okay with this? That you agree with it?”
“What if I do?”
“You can’t be serious. You?” I asserted, standing my ground. “The eternal bachelor with his playboy ways?”
He hid back a smile. “Kept tabs on me, huh?”
“No,” I firmly stated. “But every tabloid did with your latest conquest of the week. It’s hard to miss when it’s staring you in the face at every newsstand from here to Washington, D.C.”
In a sincere tone I’d heard before, he expressed, “You weren’t just another conquest for me, kitten.”
“Save those lies for someone who cares, Tristian.”
“At one point, you did.”
“I was young and naive. I didn’t know any better. You were the first boy to ever pay attention to me. It was easy to fall for your lies.”
“They weren’t lies.”
“You wouldn’t know the truth if it knocked you upside the head.”
“Fine.” In one long stride, he backed me against the wall and caged me in with his arms like he’d done countless times before. “You want the truth. I’ll give you the truth. After months of feeling the same way you are right now, I started considering what they actually wanted, and all I could think about, all I could see, was how fucking sexy you’d look pregnant with my baby.”
—Tristian—