from Bristol.
Just not from Keegan.
Try as he might, throughout dinner, he hadn’t been able to break it. The conversation lulled on more than one occasion, Bristol pretending to eat, pushing around the beef stroganoff on her plate, while Keegan ate with gusto, going back for seconds, then thirds, always ensuring his mouth was too full to speak.
Kaden thought back to that morning, to his decision that subtle was no longer the way to play this game. He’d changed his mind. It wasn’t about being subtle or taking the reins. No, he was convinced it was time to stop playing the game altogether.
Before he could say something to put them both at ease, Keegan piped up with a question that had Kaden looking to Bristol for an answer.
“Tell me somethin’. What happened to that last guy you were datin’? Chuck was it?”
“Charles,” she corrected, her attention on her food. “We were … quite different.”
“And the one before that?” Keegan asked. “David?”
“Daniel,” she said. “Same. Not much in common.”
“And the six before that?” Keegan bit out, his tone turning harsher than Kaden had expected.
Bristol’s head snapped up, sparks glittering in her light blue eyes. “Is this some sort of interrogation?”
“Maybe.”
“No,” Kaden stated firmly, glaring at Keegan. “It’s not.”
“I’m just curious.” Keegan’s tone lost some of its heat as he leaned back in his chair, picked up his beer. “Figured there was a reason you’d crammed ’em all in this year. Did it work?”
Yeah, they both knew her reasons, but he doubted Bristol would cop to the fact she’d been dodging them at every turn and using a plethora of first dates to do so.
Bristol looked confused. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. One man after another since January. Seems kinda convenient after what happened between us last Christmas.”
“Nothin’ happened last Christmas,” she countered.
It was Kaden’s turn to chime in. “No?”
Those blue eyes swung toward him. “If you’re talkin’ about the game we played … it was just a game.”
“You’re gonna have to try harder to convince me.”
Bristol dropped her fork on her plate with a clatter. “What is this, Kaden? I thought you wanted to talk about the auction.”
He chuckled, grabbed his beer. “Did you now?”
“Yes. Why else would you invite me here? It’s not like either one of you has paid me any mind this past year. Not since you walked out of my hotel room last Christmas.”
He studied her for a moment. If he didn’t know better, he would think she was offended that they hadn’t pursued her that night. Had she thought they had rejected her? Surely not. The woman was too smart for that. Plus, he’d told her they would be waiting when she was ready.
“Perhaps all those guys you were datin’ made it a little difficult,” Keegan supplied, the words spoken dangerously low.
Yeah. This was taking a turn in the wrong direction. As much as Kaden wanted to hash this out, he didn’t think this was the appropriate way to do so. Bristol was obviously defensive, as was Keegan.
Bristol pushed back her chair, grabbed her cell phone from where she’d placed it on the table.
“Clearly this was a bad idea,” she said, looking from one to the other.
“You’re damn right it was,” Keegan snapped. “Always playin’ games, this one.” He shoved to his feet, beer bottle in hand.
Kaden sighed when Keegan stormed out of the room. Bristol hadn’t gotten to her feet, but he could tell she wanted to. The only thing stopping her seemed to be her surprised reaction to Keegan’s outburst.
“What is he talkin’ about?” she asked. “Who’s been playin’ games?”
When she met his gaze, Kaden held it and opted for the truth “You have, darlin’.”
Her eyebrows lowered into that V that relayed her confusion. “What are you talkin’ about?”
Kaden canted his head to the side. “That, Bristol.” He jerked his chin in her direction. “That right there’s the game I’m talkin’ about. You pretend nothin’ happened between us.”
“I’m not pretending. I’m not the one who hightailed it when things got too hot. If I recall correctly, you and your brother walked out on me. Not the other way around.” She shot to her feet. “I think I should go.”
Holy hell. She had taken their gentlemanly gesture as a rejection.
Explained a lot.
Just not all the refuted attempts they’d made for the past ten months.
“Runnin’ like usual,” he said softly as she passed by his chair.
Her footsteps stopped. “Is that what you think?”
Setting his beer down, Kaden stood, slowly pivoting to face her.
She was standing just a few