“Um, yeah. That’s what I was hired to do.” I can barely talk past the lump in my throat. “Why are you taking it so personally?”
“Because it is personal!”
“It’s n?—”
“Jesus. Just stop.” He’s back to the scowling stranger under the mistletoe. “Tonight was a mistake.”
My stomach drops at his pronouncement. “A mistake?” A misunderstanding, maybe. An ugly bump that we can navigate if we both calm down and discuss what it is I do, how I can help.
“Yes.” He jams his arms into his overcoat, not meeting my eyes.
And that’s when my temper really takes over. Washing away the pain in my heart. Replacing it with a savage fury at this man who soaked up every word I said tonight, then threw it all away at the first opportunity.
“If tonight was a mistake,” I say with a calmness I don’t feel, “then I suppose it’s possible I’ve made other mistakes too.”
He stills, apparently sensing danger.
“Maybe I should take another look at that draft you’re reviewing.” I tap a finger to my lips in thought. “I bet I’ll find more bloat to eliminate. Sooooo many unnecessary jobs that could help improve your company’s bottom line. Maybe more in your division. Maybe your whole division.”
Wyatt has the audacity to look shocked. “You wouldn’t.”
I shrug, going for confident while everything in me crumbles. I found my soulmate tonight then lost him just as quickly. It makes me sad. It makes me furious.
It makes me mean.
“My recommendations could be much more aggressive. I could go over every little detail.” I give him a smile that shows all my teeth. “I bet your CEO would be thrilled with even more cost-savings options. And you know us bullshit corporate consultant leeches. We’ll do anything to get ahead.”
I wink as he stares at me, his mouth hanging open under the weak glow of the Christmas lights. He looks so stunned, in fact, that it splashes cold water on my anger.
What am I doing? This isn’t me. I’m impulsive, but I’m not vindictive.
I suck in a breath to tell him that of course I wouldn’t intentionally hurt his job. We can find common ground if we can just talk it out. But before I can walk things back, Wyatt opens his mouth and breaks what’s left of my heart.
“I was so fucking wrong about you.”
His words are as hard as his expression, and my voice comes out strangled and choked when I reply, “Not as wrong as I was about you.”
I spin and fumble for my purse, desperate to run away from all of this. For a few hours, I truly thought he saw me. But he didn’t see anything.
“Hey, CJ…”
My head whips up at his voice, a pathetic tendril of hope unfurling in my chest until I see his stony face.
“If we happen to run into each other during this process,” he says in a cold, awful voice, “we’re meeting for the first time, got it? None of this ever happened.”
He wants to pretend this never happened. That we never?—
A sob expands in my chest, and I ruthlessly push it down, reaching for my fury to get me through this last bit.
“No, Wyatt.” I force myself to meet his eyes. “Tonight happened. And you’re going to spend the rest of your life wishing it hadn’t.”
Three
Now
Wyatt
* * *
