“Look.” I softened my voice. “I know I apologized yesterday, but after we’ve both had a night to think about this, I want to do it again.”
Axel crossed his arms over his chest, mirroring my stance. I tried—and failed spectacularly—not to notice how his forearms flexed with the movement, tattoos shifting like living art, designed specifically to drive women insane.
Shame his entire vibe had gone subzero. He’d transformed into a literal iceberg. And not the sexy, mysterious kind. More like the kind that would’ve looked at theTitanicand thought,Great. Now I have to deal with THIS disaster.
“You done?” Two words. Curt and clipped.
I curled my fingers into my palms. “I’ve apologized. Twice now.”
“Slow clap.” His sarcasm might have been cute, if I didn’t picture my fist colliding with his teeth over it.
I closed the distance between us in three furious strides, my finger jabbing toward his chest. “Let the record show that you’re the one being unreasonable here. I can’t physically go back into a time machine and undo that post. I know you’re angry about that, but this?” I motioned between us. “This is extra, even for you, and if you think I’ll tolerate it because I made one mistake, you have another thing coming, Axel Pierce.”
He had the audacity to cock his head, and his eyes dropped to where my finger pressed against his chest. “You’re touching me, Sunshine.Again.”
But I didn’t move my hand. Couldn’t.
He caught my wrist, his thumb pressing against my racing pulse. “You should know better than to play with fire.”
His grip tightened for a fraction of a second, his eyes going dark. Then he released me like I was radioactive, stepping back.
“You’re unbelievable,” I breathed.Wow. Great comeback, Dakota. Bet that’ll make him shake in his designer shoes.
“So are you, Sunshine.” His eyes met mine again, and something fundamentally shifted in the air between us. Something that made my skin feel too tight and my heart race for all the wrong reasons. “Now let’s get your shit so you can move in and we can get this whole thing over with.”
Fantastic. Nothing saidgood life choicesquite like moving into the lair of a man who called me Sunshine like it was a curse word.
What could possibly go wrong?
4
WHEN HE SAYS, “WELCOME TO YOUR BATTLEFIELD.” #FAKERELATIONSHIPGOALS
AXEL
“Dude, you were being a dick,” Ryker said, his lawyer voice in full effect.
“Certified asshole,” Jace agreed, eyeing me from the driver’s seat of his Mercedes.
“I knew you and Dakota had some kind of rivalry going,” Blake said. “You made that crystal clear when Jace was in the hospital.”
Christ. Just thinking about that whole nightmare made my stomach clench. Jace getting attacked, all of us camping out in those horrible hospital chairs, wondering if he was going to make it. Thank God for Scarlett swooping in like some kind of secret superwoman with a high-heeled weapon, or we might have lost him.
And then, because the universe had a sick sense of timing, guess who decided to show up the day Jace was getting discharged? Dakota. Of course she did. If I’d had any clue that Scarlett and Dakota were buddies, maybe I would have braced myself, but no. Instead, everyone got a front-row seat to whatI was sure looked like the world’s most awkward soap-opera showdown.
“But that felt more like … I don’t know … competitive or something? This?” Blake shook his head. “This felt like you were aiming for her jugular. What’s the deal with you two anyway?”
Yeah. Wasn’t getting into that. “I wasn’t that bad,” I argued.
“You told her she’d have to live out of a suitcase,” Ryker shot back, eyebrows raised. “That’s nuclear.”
The four of us had piled into Jace’s prized car while the women followed in a moving vehicle Scarlett had rented earlier. The temporary reprieve from Dakota should have been a relief. Instead, I was trapped in a metal box with three human lie detectors who knew me too damn well.
“Thanks to her, I’m being forced into the one thing I despise the most. Every staged photo, every fake smile … it’s everything I swore I’d never become.” The words tasted bitter. Like the water my mother used to pour down the sink before company came over, replacing her personal bottle with vodka. Perfect tumbler. Perfect lies.
And now, I’d have to lie all over again.
I’d spent half the night staring at the ceiling, trying to convince myself to just let it all collapse. If it were only me getting screwed over, I’d have torched everything and walked away without looking back. My wealth, my reputation. Fine.
