First (Betrothed 5)

“Well, that’s what she said. What did you think about her?”

“She was really nice…and very cute.”

I grinned at her response. “Do I need to get you two alone in a room together?”

She kicked me again, this time a little harder.

I chuckled then finished my slice. Two pieces was my limit. Anything more than that would screw me over.

She didn’t reach for another slice when she finished, and then she turned quiet, like something was on her mind.

I knew her well enough to pick up on her moods now. “What is it?”

“What is what?” she asked quietly.

“Your mood dropped.”

“Me not talking means my mood dropped?”

I gave her a cold look. “You can’t fool me. What is it?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and considered my question. “This isn’t gonna make me look very good, but it’s driving me crazy.”

I had no idea where this was going. “Alright.”

“A few weeks ago, you left your phone on the table and walked away. It lit up with a text message, and I automatically looked at it…and read it.”

I stared at her blankly because I got lots of texts from lots of people. What did she see that was so disturbing?

“It was a message from Sofia, and she said something like…talk to me.”

I gave Annabella my full attention, trying to work out her point before she got there.

“Was that the same Sofia I just met?”

I answered immediately. “Yes.”

“Did you…sleep with her? Because she’s married and pregnant…”

I didn’t have much of a moral compass, but I had never been with someone who was married to someone else. And I certainly hadn’t bedded a pregnant woman either. “No.” It surprised me how jealous Annabella was, how much she cared about me seeing other women. She was the one who was solely interested in sex.

“Never?”

I shook my head. “She’s just a friend.”

“Oh…has she ever wanted you?”

“Are you always this jealous?” I teased.

“I…” Her voice drifted away as she considered it. “No, actually.” Her eyes looked elsewhere as she finished her sentence. Eventually, she turned back to me. “I’m not sure why I care so much. Maybe because Liam cheated on me… I really don’t know. I’m sorry. I know it’s none of my business.”

She was right—none of her damn business. “She’s married to my business partner.”

She looked up in surprise, as if she hadn’t expected that elaboration. “The man you’ve had a falling out with?”

“Yeah. When I was really injured, she was the one who got me back on my feet. We’ve always gotten along, and instead of seeing her as my best friend’s wife or like a sister, I’ve always seen her as her own person…as the third friend in our group.”

Softness entered her gaze.

“She’s always fought for me with Hades…even though she was raped because of my stupidity. She’s never blamed me for what happened, and she still tries to change his mind about the whole thing. I was an idiot and screamed at her when she tried to reach out to me one day, but Hades had really pissed me off and I was in a bad mood. We didn’t talk for a while…and she kept trying to reach out to me. I finally came around and apologized.”

“She seems like a good person.”

“Yeah…the best.” She was even better than Hades. He didn’t deserve her. Not sure why the universe thought otherwise.

“I feel stupid now…”

Maybe I would have slept around if I had the time, but ever since I’d met Annabella, I’d been busy every hour of the day. There wasn’t time to meet someone else. When I was at the bar, I usually had business to take care of. And then Heath was showing up everywhere I went.

Or maybe I hadn’t met someone because I wasn’t looking for someone.

I liked that she was a bit jealous, that she wondered where I was when I wasn’t with her, that she assumed Sofia wanted me when I doubted she’d ever found me attractive. It was better than indifference.

She stared down at her lap for a while, swallowing her humiliation. She’d put herself on a silver platter, her thoughts as clear as if they’d been written on a billboard. She didn’t hide anything, unlike when we first met.

“It’s ironic.” My arm rested over the back of the couch as I looked at her. “I showed up at your restaurant in the hope of a date, and I had to work my ass off to get anything from you. You shot me down so fast, completely uninterested.”

She lifted her gaze to look at me.

“When I finally talked you into it, you told me you would never want me for more than a night, that I would never mean anything to you. And now you’re jealous. Now you don’t want me to be with anyone else…now you assume every woman I know wants me, which is true most of the time, but not in this case.” When she’d sat in that chair across from my desk, she’d made her demands unapologetically. She knew what she wanted and got right down to business. Being the new thing she wanted was a bit exhilarating. “It’s funny how things change…”