where she wanted to take this game even if I wasn’t planning on getting off the bench.
Her eyes were dark twinkling sapphires, full of bright light and schemes.
“Did you love your mom?” she asked.
“Excuse me?” I shoved her hand off my chest and stepped out of her reach.
“Did you love your mom? Or your sister? What about your dad?”
My chest went white-hot with rage. “You are a bitch.”
“No. I’m practical, Hudson. Love hurts. And I’d rather live my life without the unnecessary emotions that come from that kind of loss. Marriages, even long-lasting successful ones can be based on other emotions. Things like respect, loyalty, friendship if you feel that’s necessary, and also… attraction.”
My vision blurred, red tinted the edges of my sight as she spoke. I was so lost, so completely pissed off at what she was saying, I didn’t see her coming until that hand was at my chest again.
Screw being a gentleman. I’d hoped if she was still harboring hurt feelings over me breaking up with her we could take this time to talk and clear the air.
It would be a pointless conversation.
I smacked her hand away, but as I did, I hit her other hand I didn’t see raising. Red wine splashed into my face. It dripped off my nose, my chin, and a wetness immediately seeped through my shirt.
“Damn it.” I shoved her off, not hard enough to make her stumble, and wiped my face clear of red wine that somehow smelled like her.
Fuck this. I was trying to be a decent guy to a woman I was quickly suspecting had no heart. What good would trying to clear the air do? If any of this caused problems for our company, projects where we had to work in conjunction with her family, I’d deal with that bullshit then.
“Go home, Nina.”
“Hudson.”
“No. I don’t love you. I’m not marrying you. It’s really as simple as that.”
Her eyes narrowed. More scheming and plotting. I could practically hear gears turning inside her brain. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so blunt.”
“Whatever.” Turning my back to her, I began unbuttoning my shirt. It was one of my favorites, and now it needed to soak. “Leave or stick around for more of me telling you why there’s no way in hell I’d ever marry you, or into your family.”
I could now only imagine the strings her father would try to pull over me, my father’s company, and my personal life if I allowed that to happen. I was no one’s marionette.
In my room, I ripped off my shirt and tossed it into my bathroom. I’d soak it as soon as Nina left and I could get into the shower to wash away this ridiculously stupid and worthless day. I’d upset Lilly. I sat through a dinner from hell and been manipulated by a woman I’d once cared about.
As far as Fridays went, it sucked.
I grabbed a T-shirt from my dresser as soon as a knock echoed, freezing me.
There was only one person who would come to my door unannounced.
“Nina! Do not answer that!”
I hurried toward the living room, shirt in my hand, only to slide to a stop at what I saw.
Nina, holding the door open, where somehow her dress had become unzipped, letting one strap fall off her shoulder, revealing a large swatch of pale skin and the upper curve of one breast.
“Who are you?” Nina asked and flung open the door until it banged against the wall.
And then Lilly.
With tears running down her cheeks, her hair a mess. And… was that… blood?
“What the hell?” I gasped at the sight of her.
Her whiskey-colored eyes flashed to me. “I think that’s what I should be asking you.”
Her gaze dropped to my chest, my bare chest, and then back to Nina. “Never mind. I think I know enough.”
She turned and I cursed. I rushed after her and managed to grab her as she reached the door to the stairwell.
“Do not run and do not leave. This is not at all what it looks like. I swear it to you.”
“Sure. Now let me go.”
“No. You are not running from this. Look at me,” I growled and the force of my words must have hit somewhere deep inside of her because she did. She glanced right up at me and showed me her pain and her fear.
And that blood.
“What the hell happened to you?” I asked. My thumb rubbed dried blood from her chin. She jerked back, but I gripped her chin with