“O...kay.”
“And when he told you to meet him on the steps so you guys could leave and continue what you were doing, I had to stop myself from punching him. I had just heard him talking about all the girls he had slept with that year and didn’t want him to say that about you.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing illegal. I just found Blake getting the coats and told him that if he kept his date with you, I was going to make sure it got out that his father’s second family was living in the Berkshires.”
“What?”
“Blackmail,” Gavin summarizes clearly.
“But why?” Why would teenaged, entitled, hates-to-work Gavin put himself out for me?
“The noble reason or the real reason?”
“Both.” Why not? I’ve got time. I’m on a boat and my tablet’s at home.
“I was noble and wanted to protect any and all women from a slimeball.”
“And the real reason?” I press when he pauses for too long.
“I was jealous of him and the attention you were giving him.”
“Come again?” I’m going to need him to repeat that before I even begin to believe it. We’ve always had such an adversarial relationship. And now to find out he’s been lusting after me as long as I’ve been lusting after him? It’s a lot to take, that truths I thought I knew since I was a kid were wrong.
“I told you I’ve been thinking about you for a while. No one else has captured my attention for as long as you. Plus you were mine to annoy...have been since kindergarten.”
“That’s a really long while,” I say instead of processing the ramifications of that statement.
“I don’t think I realized what it really was then. Or any time since. I just wanted to be around you. I told myself it was just competition and I wanted to rub in my successes because you get this cute scrunch in your forehead when I win.” He suits action to words and pantomimes the alleged scrunch. “But then you stole my girlfriend and I felt things deeper than competition. Things I want to pursue.”
“Nope. Still not ready for any of this.” I cover my ears with both hands and tuck my chin into my chest.
I’m not ready for him to be serious, a marked change from the Gavin I know. Because if he’s serious, I would really have to think about seriously accepting or denying him. Instead of this “hanging out plus” we’ve settled on.
And with his newest admission, he’s making me reexamine a lot of feelings I’ve had about this man since I’ve known him. And making me think I think I could maybe love him.
“All right, Riya. I’ll stop.” He tugs my arms down and gives my hand a squeeze when it’s back at my side. The affectionate move sends goose bumps up my arm, and I feel a little shiver.
I look around to see if anyone is watching us and savor the contact while I can.
Gavin sees my discomfort and drops the hand.
I’ve never had such conflicting emotions: I’m glad he let go without a fussandI want to jump him to get that hand back where it belongs—in mine.
He’s making me lose my mind. I’ve always been so sure about everything—what I want (to run Loot) and how to get it (make so much money Dad can’t ignore me). But this conflict is a new feeling I don’t like.
“Tell me something I don’t know about you,” Gavin demands.
“Dad doesn’t respect me as an auctioneer.” I shouldn’t have told him that. That’s a lot of ammunition to give someone I shouldn’t trust; someone I’m perpetually competing with. But it came out without me giving myself time to censor it.
“What? I knew you guys argued about the direction of Loot, but how can he not see how good you are?”
I can’t stop the flow of words now that the dam’s burst. “Dad wants Ajay to follow in his footsteps. He wants his son to run the company as the male heir and he wants me to be happy getting profits from the company while staying out of the way, I assume while running charity boards like Mom does.”
“But you’re a better auctioneer than your brother.”
“Yes, I know.”
