Revenge With Benefits (Sweet Tea And Scandal 3)

Her quick answer didn’t satisfy him. “Sometimes I feel like I barely scratch the surface with you.”

She drew her knees to her chest and faced him. “I’ve spent a lot of years hiding my true feelings.”

“You don’t have to do that with me.”

“Opening up scares me.” She set her chin on her knees and avoided his gaze. “I feel vulnerable and exposed.”

“What do you expect me to say or do to hurt you?”

“Nothing.” Yet her flat expression and closed body language said otherwise. “I don’t think you’re the sort of person who would judge or ridicule me.”

Meaning others had come before him who had. “Did your ex-husband do those things?”

“I don’t want to rehash my marriage.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

She scowled. “You are so annoying.”

“So you’ve mentioned.” He grinned at her, preferring insults to carefully worded statements that hid her true emotions. “You know I’ll eventually get the truth out of you, so why not just come clean now?”

“Ugh.” Zoe pushed to her feet and stalked to the dining table where they’d abandoned plates of chocolate cake to feast on each other. She returned with one of the decadent desserts and plopped down beside him. “Why would you want me to talk about my relationship with Tristan?”

“Because I want to know more about you and I think you’re holding on to a lot of pain and anxiety about your marriage.”

She popped a bite of cake into her mouth and took her time savoring the flavors. “He was very controlling and highly critical of my appearance.” As she spoke, she offered him a forkful of cake.

“You’re a stunningly beautiful woman,” he told her, his tongue flicking out to catch a bit of chocolate off his lip. “What is there to be critical of?”

“He wanted me to look a certain way. I was expected to be thin, but without muscle definition. He demanded my hair be a certain length and color. He preferred me in pastels, pink, peach or blues, and hated any shades of yellow or green. No bright colors and no black.” Her hand shook as she speared into the cake once more. “I learned early on not to voice my opinion or to offer suggestions.”

“Why did you marry him?” The question came out more bluntly than Ryan would’ve wished, but he couldn’t reconcile the Zoe he’d come to know with the woman she was describing and needed to understand.

“I was young and naïve and I didn’t have a clear sense of what I wanted to do with my life. My mother was thrilled that I’d caught the interest of a handsome, wealthy businessman and pushed me to ‘be smart’ every time I doubted if he was the right man for me.” While she talked, Zoe devoured the rest of the cake as if the sugary dessert eased her discomfort.

“So your new look...” Ryan indicated her short hair and the long graphic tank she wore like a minidress that bared the strong, sexy muscles in her arms and legs. Her over-the-knee boots lay a little distance off. “Is it a complete rejection of everything your ex demanded or the real you?”

A fleeting smile crossed Zoe’s lips. “There’s no question I’m rebelling. When I first cut my hair, I felt empowered and revolutionary.”

“Now?”

She shrugged. “I’m a work in progress.” Her gaze caught his. “Does that bother you?”

“Why should it?” He had no intention of judging her. “I like to think we’re all evolving.”

“Even you?”

He’d asked her to talk about herself, so it was only fair that he share a bit of his own inner struggles. “After what happened with Kelly Briggs, I’ve had a hard time trusting people I don’t know well.”

“Like me?”

“Yes.” He wondered if he should come clean about his ongoing suspicions. If he kept silent and the truth came out later, it might damage their intimacy during a period when their relationship was heating up. “When you first volunteered for Susannah’s campaign, we all thought you were working for Abernathy.”

“And now you believe otherwise.”

Ryan paused a beat before answering. “The reason I caught your lease up was because your landlord is a friend of Abernathy’s and I wondered if they were using your financial problems as a way to get you to spy.”

Zoe’s eyes widened. “But that was only little over a week ago. You still thought I might be working for Abernathy when we...” She shook her head. “And now?”