Page 113 of First Bride to Fall
“Forgot?”
“Well, no. Not exactly—forgot.” He clucked his tongue. “It’s more like I thought better of it.”
“Of what, exactly? She cocked an eyebrow. “Being a pig?”
He winced. “Yeah. Maybe.”
She folded her arms across her chest. Did he actually believe that pretending to be a slob would push her over the edge? After what she’d already endured in his game? Hardly.
“Grant Williams,” she said sternly. “Don’t think for a second that I don’t know what you’re up to.”
He blinked. “I don’t know what you mean by that, Nell.”
“I’m talking about this!” She pointed at his bundle of soiled clothing. “That.” She glared at the toilet. Next, she glanced out the bathroom window at the tent. “All of it.” She scanned his eyes. “I’m starting to think you’ve been making these unreasonable demands as a way to get rid of me.”
“Unreasonable?” His shoulders sank. “I thought you liked—”
“Scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets?” She blew out a hard breath. “No.”
He backed up a step. “I never said that youhadto do any of those things.”
She laughed, but her laugh had a bitter edge. “You certainly encouraged myparticipationin our very inequitable household duty split. Wasn’t that why you handed me that toilet brush? As a gentle nudge?”
His whole face turned red, and he backed up farther. “I never thought you’d do it. Clean the bathroom. Chop wood. Any of it!”
She followed him. “No, you didn’t. Did you?” The air hung heavy between them as she gazed up into his dark brown eyes. “You were hoping I’d leave first.”
He set his chin. “And why, exactly, would I do that?”
Her heart pounded because he stood so close. “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”
He stared at her long and hard. “Seems to me like you’re the one with a confession.”
What was he even talking about? Aidan? She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Especially not when he’d obviously already figured that out. “I don’t know what you mean.” She and Grant had no future. Therefore,her futurewas none ofhisbusiness.
His gaze blazed into hers. “Oh, but I think you do.”
He was baiting her, trying to get her to say this was all her fault. But it wasn’t. He was the one who’d set up this stupid battle of wills, not her. And, once he had, he’d been destined to lose, because she wasn’t giving in. Ever. Not when she’d finally decided to stand up for herself instead of caving to whatever everyone else needed.
“You can try every trick in the book to push me away,” she said. “But none of them are going to work.”
He huffed. “Nell! Why are you being so pigheaded about this?”
“Why areyou?” She scoffed. “One thing is for sure—you’ve given me plenty of reasons to walk, Grant. More than enough. But I’m not going anywhere until you say it’s over.”
A muscle in his jaw tensed. “That’snotgoing to happen.”
She locked his gaze. “Why not?”
“Because, sweetheart.” He glowered at her. “Saying goodbye is going to beyourjob.”
Her pulse pounded in her ears, and ire flooded through her. Forcing her to do his dirty work—again. She gritted her teeth and ground out the words. “Way to delegate, Grant.”
…
Nell walked back into the kitchen and left Grant standing there feeling like the world’s most colossal jerk. How did she always have the ability to turn things around and make him feel like the guilty party? Why wouldn’t she call it quits? He hated what this was doing to both of them. Somehow, it had to stop. While he still stood by the fact that she was at fault here, maybe he could extend a bit of an olive branch, starting with him amending his ridiculous dinner requests.
He found her boiling eggs at the stove. “Nell,” he said, his throat scratchy. He swallowed hard. “You don’t need to cook all that food. That’s actually what I came in the cabin to tell you. Just plain hot dogs will be fine. I’ll even grill them myself over the campfire, if that will help.”
