some serious talking.”
I didn’t owe her anything. I could storm out of this place without another word. Still, there was a time she and I had grown up as friends. There were times she cried on my shoulder when she was stressed. There were the weeks after Melissa’s death where she held me and tried to help me. It was those reminders of when I was so horrible to her, lashing out in my anger and pain and shoving her away so rudely I still wanted to apologize for.
Her father had grinned, delighted. If he thought I was laying down and going to allow him, or his daughter, to lead me by my dick they were sorely mistaken. Besides, throttling her slim little throat at a restaurant with her family at the table wasn’t the place.
I’d pulled away, so much like Brandon accused me of doing, after Melissa’s death. Nina had tried to get through, believing it was Melissa’s death that pulled me away and believed when I was done grieving, I’d come back to her.
Now, I couldn’t recall if it was love for me that made her believe that, or her own arrogance.
Regardless, I couldn’t reconcile the woman I was with tonight with the woman I’d spent so many years thinking I loved.
Now I knew what love was, something that fed you to your marrow, someone you craved any time apart from. It was someone who made you feel bold and reckless and yet peaceful and content at the same time. Lilly gave me all of that without trying, it was just there, existing between us, this new, young love we only had to continue to feed for healthy growth.
For my own peace of mind, while I was trying to not make the same mistakes of my past when faced with potential loss, I had to know.
I chucked my phone and keys to the table, pulled off my coat, and filled two glasses of wine.
Nina curled onto my couch, tucking her feet beneath her like she actually belonged in my home and I despised every single damn second of this pointless crap I had to deal with.
This was all because I was younger. Gerald would never pull this crap with my dad and if he did, Dad would probably handle it better. I couldn’t even call him right now to bitch. Not only was I capable of handling this, but if he was awake at all, he’d be exhausted.
“When you came to my office today to mention you’d be at the dinner with your father, you neglected to tell me you were throwing me into a fire.”
“You’re so dramatic, Hudson. Always have been.”
I briefly wondered how the glass of red wine in my hand would pair with the color of her red dress. Being the gentleman I tried to be, I let it remain a wonder. No sense in shattering glass or spilling the wine on my carpet.
“Why do you want this?” I kept my distance, standing on the other side of the coffee table. If my height intimidated Nina as she leaned forward for her wine and settled back into the couch, she did a damn good job of hiding it.
“I said it at dinner. It’s a good union.”
“And we no longer live in feudal England where women must marry Lords or Dukes to help their family’s status.”
She smirked. “That is awfully specific.”
“Nina—”
She flipped her hand into the air. Bright red nails that matched her dress slashing marks in the air. “We were good once. We could be good again together. It can be that simple.”
“Did you ever love me?”
She slid her feet to the carpet and stood, coming to me with a swish and sway of her hips I’m certain I, at one time, found incredibly sexy.
Now it seemed too forced, too scripted. Like so much of this day since the moment she stepped into my office under the guise of being in town, checking up, seeing how I was doing without Melissa.
How naïve of me to think she’d truly came out of the goodness of her heart.
I was beginning to believe she didn’t have one.
“You were once incredibly attracted to me,” she purred. Her voice raked down my skin like claws.
“And you didn’t answer my question.” I slipped one hand into my pocket and brought my glass to my mouth.
She continued to move closer until she was close enough to place her hand on my chest. I allowed it for the mere fact curiosity blossomed at