Page 111 of Ruthless Contract
I wanted to let her know that whatever she was facing, she didn't have to face it alone. Showing up at her flower shop day after daywasn't going to accomplish that. Snatching her up and taking her to my beach house was the last resort.
I wanted to try something else first. Maybe if I could get her away from this shop, away from work, and out of work mode, she’d open up more. I drew in a slow breath as she told me my total. I exhaled in a rush.
"Blossom?" I started.
“Will you be paying with cash or credit?” she asked.
Shit. I pulled my card out and handed it to her.
“Blossom,” I tried again, trying to sound like a gentleman, or at least a sane man.
She swiped my card and then looked up from the register.
"Yes?"
"What time does your shop close?" I asked.
She glanced toward the clock on the wall before looking back at me and answering my question.
"Would you..." I cleared my throat, unable to believe I was getting nervous again. "Would you maybe like to go out for a drink when you get off work?"
Silence.
She stared at me as if I’d lost my mind. Then, slowly, she started shaking her head.
"If that's not convenient," I rushed to say. “Maybe we could do lunch tomorrow instead. Or..."
"Mr. Cattaneo."
“Or next week. You pick a day?” I finished.
"Mr. Cattaneo, I can’t go on a date with you.”
“Why? Is it because you think I don’t know who you...”
“It’s because I have a boyfriend,” she said, speaking over me.
For a moment, I forgot how to breathe. A boyfriend? Had she really just said she had a boyfriend? I had to be hearing shit right now. Her words echoed through my head.
I have a boyfriend.
What the fuck did she mean?
I was her fucking boyfriend.
I was the man she'd stayed up talking to for hours. The man she'd stripped naked for. The man she'd touched herself with. The man whose name she’d moaned as she talked dirty to him. I was the one she'd watched anime with.
The man she’d hacked and forced her way into his world. I was the man she’d called her lover, her Romeo. She didn't have a boyfriend. She had me. Only me. So what the fuck did she mean she had a boyfriend? I swiped my hand over my face, trying my best not to lose my head right now.
"You do?" I finally managed through clenched teeth.
She nodded.
"How long have you two been together?" I asked, voice low.
"It'll be two years this Fourth of July."
Two years? Two fucking years! If I clenched my teeth any tighter, my jaw would break. She was lying. She had to be.
