Page 26 of Reckless
“Also not wrong.”
I looked back up at her.“Except the prospects in Manhattan and Virgin Cove are much more lucrative.”
That made something twist low in my chest as she stared at me.
“Wait.You think he’d hurt me?”I asked.
Britney’s face went still.“I think men can hurt women without meaning to if they’re too used to thinking their wants are the center of the room.”
That landed harder than everything else.
A man who did what he wanted because he was built that way.A man who didn’t even notice the damage until someone else had to carry it.
God.
I hated how much that sounded like every small disappointment I’d ever breathed and joked away.
I stood up too fast.“I need to go.”
Britney rose too.“I’ll walk you out.”
“I know how doors work.”
“Humor me.”
Michael straightened from the hallway wall when we opened the library door.
He looked at Britney first.Then me.
Michael’s gaze moved back to my face and sharpened a fraction.“Do you want someone to follow you home?”
I blinked.“What?”
“You’re upset.It’s late.”
I stared at him for one stupid second before I realized he was serious.
And because I was already running on humiliation, anger, and a wildly inconvenient amount of adrenaline, I laughed.
“Your husband just offered me a security escort because he thinks suddenly there is something to worry about?”
Britney gave me a look.Michael said dryly, “I’m very flattered to be recognized, but no I don’t think driving without a groomsman-”
I rubbed my forehead.“No.Thank you.I can drive myself fifteen minutes on a straight rode without collapsing into the sea.”
“Eighteen,” Michael said.
I stared at him.
He shrugged.“Traffic through town.”
“Good night, Michael.”
“Good night, Kelly.”
Britney walked me all the way to my car anyway.The night had gone cooler but the long quiet drive lined with lanterns and expensive landscaping and the sort of confidence only old money or violently new money ever managed.
At my car, she touched my arm.“Don’t answer him tonight.”
