Her comment bugged him. At seventeen she’d been the kind of girl he avoided like the plague. A good girl who expected hearts and flowers and exclusivity in her relationships. She’d fascinated him back then because in spite of being everything he’d never wanted in a girl, she was every fucking thing he craved.
Had she changed that much since Colton? Or was it because she still hadn’t been able to move on from his brother’s memory?It’s been five years.If she weren’t moving on with her life by now, would she ever be able to?
He thrust that thought aside.Of course she will.He’d never been one for playing games but if that’s what it took to win her, it was a small price to pay. After the waiter left he leaned across the table and invaded her space.
“Never saw the point of them before.” Unfortunately for him, he’d changed his mind. But since Piper looked fascinated by his comment, he plowed on. “Why screw up a good thing by trying to label it?”
“So commitment is still a dirty word to you?” She smiled up at the waiter who brought their wine over. Anyone would think they were discussing the weather, not the state of their non-relationship.
He waited until they were alone again. “It’s just a word. It doesn’t change anything.”
She paused, her glass pressed against her lips. He wanted to throw the damn glass across the room, haul her over the table and prove to her right here and now that she belonged to him, and their history be damned.
He took a long swallow of wine before he gave into temptation.
“That’s true,” she said at last and he couldn’t figure out whether her agreement was a good thing or not. “It’s actions that count, after all.”
Was she thinking about Colton again? He’d bought her diamond earrings for that Christmas they’d been together.A girl like that expects diamonds, his brother had informed him, and Mason had just laughed in his face. Because any girl whoexpecteddiamonds definitely wasn’t the kind he was interested in.
Even if she did haunt his dreams at night.
He stretched out his leg and hooked his foot around her ankle. To hell with word games. “Keep looking at me like that and I’m going to drag you into the bathroom and show you exactly how I feel about you.”
She leaned in closer until their lips were all but touching. “I know how you feel about me.”
“Baby, you don’t have a clue.”
“Oh, I have a good idea.”
He speared his fingers through hers. Her hand was so small compared to his, and her glittery black nail polish seemed only to reinforce how fragile this thing they had between them was.
“You will after tonight.”
“Is that a promise?”
He tightened his grip on her hand. “It sure as hell isn’t a threat.”
“I’m going to hold you to it, either way.”
