He laughs. “Our first time will not be on a desk.”
“There’s always up against the file cabinet.” I wiggle against him, making him rumble with laughter.
“Guess the romantic sabbatical is truly over,” Miles drawls from behind us.
Mouth drawn into a firm line, I pivot towards his venom-laced voice. In the midst of the emptying theater, I easily spot Miles at the edge of the stage, the house lights shining down on him. Arms crossed, he stands there. The intensity of his glare carves at me like a knife’s point.
“Miles. What are you doing here?” A furrow dips my brow.
“Here for the performance, though I didn’t expect this one.” He motions at us. “I thought the scene at the race was obnoxious, but your antics here…” he makes a tutting noise. “Quite the show you put on for a woman whois notdating.”
I don’t know how to respond. We weren’t together. I made no promises. That doesn’t quell the swirl of guilt in my gut. I rebuffed his advances because I said I wasn’t dating anyone, and that was true…then. But this is now. Even if Garrett wasn’t in the picture, Miles isn’t who I want.
“I’d like to say, I’m surprised, but it explains why that one never liked me.” He sneers as he points at Garrett.
“His name is Garrett, notthatone.” I glare.
“For the record, even if I didn’t have feelings for Jensen, I was never going to like you,” Garrett says, looping his arm around my middle and pressing me against his firm chest.
“You may not have, but she did.” He saunters closer, his energy reading predatory, as if we’re field mice for him to scoop up in his clutches.
I’ve never seen this side of Miles. He’s charming and flirty, but never aggressive. There’s an undercurrent of menace wafting off him.
“How does that feel? Knowing that she liked me. That while you pined for her like a lovesick hero from a clichéd Victorian romance, she daydreamed about me.” He stops in front of us, a serpentine grin playing in his stance. “She probably went to bed at night wishing I was tangled in the sheets with her.”
“You’re her past, I’m her now.” Garrett places a kiss on my neck. It both claims and reassures.
Miles huffs an incredulous laugh. “We’ll see how long it lasts.”
Fuck him!Anger roars through me. I want to slap him. But I don’t know what the future holds for us. This may not last, but it may become the love I’ve always wanted.
I narrow my eyes. “We’ll find out.”
“You’ll have to excuse me if I’m skeptical of your fickle heart,” he scoffs. “One minute you’re chasing me, then you’re taking a break from relationships, and now you’re withhim.”
“I’m not fickle.” My jaw clenches.
He makes a mock cooing noise. “Dear Jensen, I don’t think you know your head or your heart. The last few months demonstrate that. You’ve changed. Maybe you need to find a new therapist. That one you’ve been working with clearly isn’t worth the copay.”
“Asshole.” Garrett lets go of me and starts towards Miles.
“No.” I place my hand on his shoulder, stopping his movement. “Miles is right. I am different.” I look toward the smug literary fuckboy. “There was a time when I liked you. It was a simpler time when I thought you were all I deserved.” My mouth ticks up into a sardonic grin. “But now I know my value. I deserve the best, and you, Miles Calloway, are nobody’s best, especially mine.”
“First, the race. Now this. You’re not what I believed you were. I thought you were sweet. Guess I was mistaken,” he spits out the insult as if he has the power to hurt me.
Be sweet. Don’t be too much trouble.Those little internal commands were my go-to for so long in hopes that I’d be liked. That a man like Miles would want me. But if I have to play at something, that’s acting. I don’t want theatre. I want real.
“But I am sweet,” I say, my stare fierce. “What you don’t realize is that sweet doesn’t mean I’ll wait around until someone decides they want me.”
“That’s not?—”
“It is.” I release a humorless laugh. “You fed me some gaslighting bullshit about me never saying anything. You knew what I wanted. Everyone knew. I’m not subtle.”
“She’s not. It’s one of my favorite things about her,” Garrett says, his tone impressed.
“Thanks, baby.” Preening, I look over my shoulder at him, before turning back to Miles. “I’m not here to fluff your ego, and that’s what you’re mad about.” I motion between us. “This isn’t you being sad about me being with Garrett, it’s about your bruised male ego. You don’t have me around to make you feel wanted anymore.”
“You really aren’t who I thought you were,” he mutters.
