Then all at once, she realized why he’d suddenly shown up ather door like this, a mere week after those paparazzi shots of her and Ward in the park. He’d evidently seen them and recognized her.
Rob didn’t want Hannah, but he didn’t want anyone else to have her either. He’d always been the kind of guy who needed to be top dog and couldn’t stand the notion of anyone snapping at his heels. As a fellow sportsman, he presumably viewed Ward as a more worthy rival and was now looking to reassert dominance.
Realizing all this, Hannah wasn’t sure whether to feel disappointment, or relief. She grabbed at the phone, trying to snatch it back. But it was no use. He was taller and faster, and he easily pulled it back out of her reach, sauntering away toward the living room window.
‘Rob, stop it,’ she insisted, holding out a hand. ‘Give me that. I need to take that—’
Glancing back and smirking at her helplessness, Rob accepted the call.
‘Good morning …’ he greeted, haughty superiority oozing off him. She moved for the phone again, but he brushed her off. ‘I’m afraid Hannah can’t talk at the moment,’ he mocked in a suggestive growl. ‘She’s a bit … indisposed.’
Chapter 52
WARD
Ward squeezed the phone tight as the line went dead. He glared at the device and resisted the urge to smash it against the wall. Jealously and protectiveness flared in tandem – hot and intense like a fire. His vision tunnelled and he felt as if a red mist was descending upon him.
He was right. She was still seeing Kendrick. There was no mistaking the voice, not when he’d heard it on that video clip he must have watched a hundred times.
And she was with himright now.
He slammed the phone onto the coffee table, which made Pretzel startle. Quickly composing herself, she looked at Ward with disgust and sprang from the couch, leaving the room. But he wasn’t paying attention to the cat.
Hannah had just spent the night with that guy. They’d probably just crawled out of bed. Or by the sounds of it, were still in it. An unbidden image of Kendrick and Hannah together intruded his brain and his fists clenched at the notion. Then snapping out of it, he shook his head, trying to make sense of it all.
There are boundaries.
Kendrick was still one of Hannah’s clients. Obviously thoseboundaries didn’t prevent her from falling into bed withhim.She had bent those rules for that … that dick.
He tapped his fingers on the coffee table, trying his damnedest to make sense of what he was feeling. Was it primarily overprotectiveness? Or just territorial. Was he jealous of Kendrick because he had something he wanted. Or because he genuinely thought that Hannah was making a bad decision?
He hated feeling this way, hated feeling so helpless and out of control again. All he’d wanted to do was focus on getting back on the ice, getting healthy, getting his career back. Everything back on an even keel.
Hannah had helped him do all that. She had calmed him, grounded him, encouraged him. Made him feel, rightly or wrongly, that she truly cared about him, the person. Not just the athlete or the image.
But that was obviously all bullshit.
Right then, Ward wished that he had never met her. That Bernie hadn’t insisted that he needed to revamp his goddamn reputation. He would have been able to fix his knee, stay off the pills and get back on the ice.
And yes, Hannah had helped him, improved him even. Ward couldn’t deny that. He marvelled at just how well she seemed to get him. How great she had been at creating a strategy that fit his personality just so. She understood him. Shecared.
Ward cared too. Hannah deserved a whole better than that guy, regardless of whether or not that person was him.
Plus he wanted her approval. Craved it. And now some other guy was getting that and a whole lot more too, he thought darkly, despondent and angry at the world once more.
Certain that he’d messed up. Again.
Chapter 53
HANNAH
‘What the hell was that?’ Hannah exclaimed angrily.
Rob raised his eyebrows, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth and casually handed her back the phone as if nothing had happened. He oozed smugness and in that moment she wondered what she had ever seen in him.
He shrugged. ‘I was just messing around.’
‘Messing around with my—’ she began before grabbing the phone and reclaiming it. She looked down at the screen. Yes, it was a call from Ward that had been safely disconnected and her thoughts spiralled, wondering what he must be thinking.
