Connell (Carolina Reapers 3)

“Annabelle—”

“No,” I cut him off. “This is almost worse.” I swiped at the tears in my eyes. “Because you may not have cheated on me, but you clearly think so little of me, so little of our relationship, that you saw fit to use it as a joke. You didn’t respect me enough to keep your mouth shut, for once.” The words poured from me, sharp and stinging on their way out.

Connell flinched again, then glared at me. “That’s not how it went down.”

“Oh, really? You didn’t turn our entire relationship into tabloid fodder when you could have simply said that you would never cheat on the woman you love?”

“I did! I told him that I am in a committed relationship, and then I told him that ye trust me, which obviously ye don’t!” He backed away as he shook his head at me.

“Trust? I trusted the words you said yourself!”

“Bloody hell, woman! That was one line...okay, a few lines out of the interview! The rest of it I talked about how much I loved ye. That I don’t know a single Reaper who would cheat on his woman.”

“Then why would he only print this?”

“Because he’s a reporter!”

“That you gave the quote to! You’ve been around enough reporters to know they’ll take whatever they want from an interview, and you gave it to him.”

“I was pissed! I’m sorry, I didn’t think. I was pissed.”

“Really?” I scrolled through the interview and then turned my camera to face him. “Because you look really pissed here with all those mostly-naked women spraying you down with champagne. So pissed.”

His jaw ticked. “That was after he left.”

“Uh. huh.”

“I was happy that I’d given the arse a piece of my mind! It’s a national men’s magazine, and I thought the only soundbite that would come out of that interview would be that we’re not the unfaithful jerks they assume we are.”

“God, she was right,” I muttered, tucking the phone into my back pocket.

“Who?”

“Ginger Levenson.”

“What the hell does Ginger have to do with this?” He motioned between us.

“She’s your ex, right?”

“Sure, from about five years ago.”

“She told me that she was never enough for you. That you always had to have more attention and exposure for your career. And she was right! God, I should have listened to her, and there I was, so smug that—”

“Enough.” He ran his hands over his hair. “Ginger and I dated for a few months, and we broke up because I didn’t love her, and she wanted me to. She wanted pieces of me that I wasn’t ready to give away. Pieces that I’ve only given to ye. She doesn’t know anything about the man I am now. Or am I to take the word of your ex about your current choices? That’s not fair.”

“Well, apparently she still knows you pretty well, because you did exactly what she warned me about! You wanted exposure? You got it. Now you’re on the cover of every tabloid website.” My stomach hit the floor. “A national men’s magazine?”

“Aye. Men’s Quarterly. That’s where the original article is published.”

I took in measured breaths as my face heated. “You’re telling me that when the October issue hits stands across the country, this article saying that you love to cheat on me will be on every grocery stand in Sweet Water? In Charleston? Around the country?” Oh no, no, no. Internet articles were a flash in the pan, but print was forever.

“Well, yes. I guess, so.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I only meant to make the point that assuming I was some playboy wasn’t fair. He took my words completely out of context!”

“You made your point at my expense!” I jabbed my finger toward him. “My mother will see that magazine! My father! My friends! Everyone I work with and for. Everyone in my life who knows I fell in love with you will know that you didn’t! God, it was awful knowing that they could stumble onto it online, but...I’ll never live this down!”

“Annabelle, I love ye. That was never my—”

“You don’t love me! You just publicly humiliated me for what? A soundbite? So you could feel better about yourself because someone dared to make an assumption? You turned what we have into a quick sarcastic comment because you couldn’t resist? That’s not love! Love would have been giving him a serious answer instead of having to make everything a damned joke!”

“I never thought—”

“You didn’t think about me! About us! God, my mother will hear about it at the salon. The grocery store. Everywhere. My sister already knows, since she called a few hours ago, and it’s only a matter of time before Dad has to endure pitying glances at the hardware store that his silly daughter was stupid enough to fall for the NHL star who found her convenient.”