Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 106774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
I’m alone with Gray, only this time, I don’t want to run. For the first time, I want to hear what he has to say. A man who’s sorry and admitting it? Color me intrigued.
Taking a deep breath, I turn to him. His gaze meets mine immediately.
“Talk.”
CHAPTER
TWELVE
Gray
“I’m sorry,” I say.
It’s the second time I’ve uttered those words to Astrid, and it’s the second time those words don’t seem to matter.
My head’s a fucking mess. I swear I’m hearing every second that passes. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. It’s one beat closer to the end of the day—and the end of my window of opportunity to save this contract.
She gazes down the street with her arms wrapped around her stomach, and I’m honestly surprised she’s still standing here. That gives me an opening, probably the only one I’ll ever get, to convince her that I’m not the total asshole she thinks I am. Even if I question that myself right now.
“I was out of line.” I run a hand roughly over my head. “And I apologize.”
She drags her attention to me as if it’s the last thing she wants to do. When her eyes meet mine, there’s a coolness in them that slams into me. This isn’t just an angry woman—God knows I’ve seen my share of those—but this woman is hurt.
Fuck me.
“You don’t like me,” I say, squaring my shoulders to hers. “I can live with that. I don’t really like you either.”
She narrows her eyes, but not quite like she wants to kill me. Or maybe just not as brutally as she usually does.
“But this … thing between us,” I say, forging ahead, “it’s gotten out of hand. I regret behaving the way that I have, and it was wrong. There was no reason it needed to get so personal, and I never meant to make you uncomfortable.”
Her chest rises and falls. She pulls back slightly, her posture stiffening. Her gaze flicks toward the ground.
“Renn said—”
“I can imagine what he said,” she says, her voice rising along with her gaze. “And it was predicated on what I told him, which might’ve been taken out of context. Or allowed to be unexplained. Either way, you might make me feel a lot of ways, and it’s just … complicated.” She hoists her purse onto her shoulder and shifts her weight. “I don’t know why we’re having this conversation. Did Renn make you do this? Then fine, I—”
“No, he didn’t make me apologize to you.” My jaw tenses. “I think he’d be happier if I never spoke to you again.”
“Then why are you?”
That’s a good fucking question.
I twist my head side to side to release some pressure gathering in the back of my neck. Her question is straightforward, and the answer was simple when I pleaded with her to talk to me today. I need her on board so I can satisfy my financial agreements. But now with the sun setting at her back and the gold flecks missing from her eyes, I’m not sure that’s the whole reason.
“I want to call a truce,” I say.
She scoffs, shaking her head like it’s a ridiculous suggestion.
“Let’s just start all over,” I say, my voice as soft as I can make it. “Clean slate.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because I know Renn is important to you, and I’m making assumptions, but isn’t it eating you alive that you—”
“Oh no.” The gold flecks are back. She points a finger at me. “Don’t you act like you know anything about me.”
“You literally told me that you never let Renn down, so that’s not speculation.”
She groans, unable to argue with me because I’m right.
“Just give this another chance,” I say. “Please.”
She moves by me, and I think she’s going to walk away. I reach for her, but drop my hand just as quickly as I raised it.
If I touch her, she’ll undoubtedly break my nose.
Her hair whips through the air as she spins on her heel, facing me again, and the flush in her cheeks causes her freckles to shine. I’ve never been this close to her, or examined her this closely, which is why I notice the tiny stars that dot her ears. It’s the only jewelry she wears aside from a tiny, thin cross around her neck. Even scowling, she’s beautiful. What an unfair joke from the universe.
“I would love nothing more than to be able to deal with you,” she says. “It would solve a few of the problems ruining my life right now. You see, I’m stuck in this place of financial versus mental solvency because I can’t do both simultaneously. Apparently, I burned someone at the stake in my last life because it really feels like I’m being punished for something.”
She’s talking so fast, so animatedly, that it’s hard to keep up. It’s also hard not to grin. But I don’t dare. I can’t risk that.