Page 39 of Say It Isn't So

“Someone’s at the door.”

I turned around and Bianca stood up straighter and slipped her heels on again while I opened it.

For the second time today, I was completely shocked. Standing on the other side of the door was Rina.

“Knox, I had to see you. I got almost all the way to my hotel and I made the driver turn around.” She walked in like she owned the place. “I hope you—” Rina stopped abruptly when she came face to face with Bianca.

Could I be honest? I wasn’t sure whether these two were going to hug or throw it down right here in my hotel room. There was definitely something in the air between them.

When I saw Bianca’s face, though, I knew exactly what it was and it wasn’t good. I also knew Bianca was done, and I wanted to curse Rina for her terrible timing. “I should probably be going,” Bianca told me, then collected her stuff.

“Yeah.” I followed her to the door, my hand on the side of it.

“Call me in the morning. We can have breakfast.”

I nodded and with a final wink from her, Bianca left for her room.

As I closed the door, a certain redhead started talking again—“I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything; the front desk gave me your room number.”

I wonder what she had to say for them to do that.

“What do you want, Rina?” I asked, fearing what she’d say next.

Walking toward me, her hands out, she explained, “I had to see you again. If I’m being honest, Knox, I’ve missed you. Then for you to show up to my debut, it feels almost like you knew.”

“Knew what?”

“How much I’ve missed you. How much I’ve sacrificed. But don’t you see, I’ve made it! The media is going nuts for my designs. Tomorrow morning my designs will be everywhere, and I’ll be the talk of LFW.”

I shook my head and backed up, needing space between us again. “What about me, Rina?” I asked, anticipating that she was trying to suck me into her web again.

Furrowing her brows, a deep-V formed between her eyes. “I don’t understand. You’ve made it yourself. Look at you. You’re not desperate for work anymore, you have a job, a great job, you’re on your way to a promotion. You said so yourself,” she explained.

And that was all well and good and I remembered what I’d said, but I couldn’t understand her point. “So what?”

“You and I can be together, the way we always should’ve been. You’ve made it. I’ve made it.”

So she’d said—a few times. “I don’t know, Rina, a lot has changed.” Like two years worth.

“You’re seeing someone, if not Bianca?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“Then we owe it to ourselves, don’t you think?” Then she walked up to me and did that thing she used to do, playing with the hair behind my ear, her lips finding my earlobe.

It would’ve been so easy to forget about the past, to pick up where we left off. But we hadn’t left off. Rina incinerated us. I had to keep that in mind.

I shook my head and pushed her off me. “Rina, stop. Today has been a lot for both of us.”

Backing up, she didn’t take her eyes off me. “I don’t care. I’m going to fight for you, Knox,” she said pointedly, and I wasn’t sure if I was terrified or touched.

Chapter Twelve

Angelo

Sometimes being afather was a thankless job.

Like with Bianca.

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