“I don’t know what to say.”
Unbelievable. This girl who was so fierce in the face of…well, everything, was scared. I honestly never thought I’d see the day. My heart did a weird leap in my chest like it was trying to get to her. I wanted to comfort her, tell her it would all be okay—but that wasn’t what she needed.
“Come on, Kate, don’t run away just because you’re scared,” I said.
That stopped her like I knew it would. Nothing made Kate stronger than an outright challenge. Her hand dropped from the handle like it had burnt her, and she fixed me with a glare. “I’m not scared.”
I arched my brows in disbelief which only made her scowl intensify. “I’m not.”
“Okay, then prove it.”
She cocked her head to the side with a huff. “How?”
I grinned. “Stay with me.”
She blinked a few times, obviously thrown. “You want me to stay,” she repeated. “At this party?”
I shrugged. “Why not?”
She opened her mouth like she was going to speak but then clammed up just as quickly.
“Come on,” I said, my tone cajoling. “Just stick around. See what it feels like to have fun for once.”
That was the wrong thing to say. Her brows shot down like she was troubled. “I didn’t come here to have fun. I’m here because you and I are competing in an election, and we’re giving our speeches on Monday. I’m here because I need to win.”
I took a deep breath and rocked back on my heels. Maybe it was the sexy clothes, but I’d somehow managed to forget who I was dealing with here.
No kiss—no matter how mind-blowing—would distract this girl from her end goal. She straightened, her chin tilting up. “Nothing has changed here, Miller. You and I are still rivals. You are still standing in the way of a role I need to help me get a scholarship to college.”
Her voice sounded robotic, and for the life of me, I couldn’t read what was going on in that head of hers. Her normally expressive eyes were closed off to me, and her body language screamed for me to keep my distance.
Frustration had me exhaling loudly as I backed away. “What do you want me to do, Kate?” I held my hands out, palms up. “Do you honestly want me to back down? Do you want me to concede the election?”
“Yes.” She answered so quickly I found myself blinking in disbelief.
“You don’t mean that,” I said.
Her expression hardened.
She did. She meant it. I blinked again, trying not to show how her simple yes had thrown my world for a loop. Disappointment had my insides deflating like a balloon. All this time, I’d thought we both thrived on the challenge the other presented. That we pushed each other. But she didn’t want it.
She just wanted to win.
I nodded, swallowing down a wave of hurt that was ridiculous. I was overreacting. “Yeah, okay,” I said, my gaze fixed somewhere on the floor beside her. “If that’s what you want.”
“That’s what I want,” she said.
I wasn’t sure how she’d fled so quickly in those heels, but she was out the door by the time I managed to lift my gaze off the floor. Kate Andrews was gone.
11
Kate
By the time Monday morning rolled around, I was a train wreck.
A literal train wreck.
Okay, fine, not literally. I hated when people misused the word literally, and now here I was, literally doing the very thing I hated.
Why?
Because I was a mess! Literally. My hair wouldn’t stay back in my usual ponytail because I’d grabbed one where the elastic was shot, and it kept slipping. And the wispy bangs I despised? They wouldn’t stop falling into my face.
I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror behind the trophy case and cringed. There were circles beneath my eyes after two restless nights with little sleep. I swore I could still smell fryer grease even though I’d showered twice since my shift at Hot and Wild yesterday afternoon. But to top it all off, the button of my skirt had snapped off as I’d walked in this morning so I was currently scrounging around in my purse for a safety pin.
“Hey, Kate. You okay?”
Oh, wonderful. Mia Jackson stood before me with a sweet smile that put me on edge. I had no beef with Mia, but the girl was always on the lookout for a scoop, and I refused to give her one.
“Fine,” I said. “Just looking for a safety pin.”
She pursed her lips. “Hmm,