Page 51 of Say It Isn't So

I turned to face Rina, who was now leaning her side onto the bar as she took me in. Although, the way she was looking at me reminded me of an animal silently watching their prey. It made me feel on-edge and more than a little uncomfortable.

“Knox, you clean up nicely.”

For some reason, coming out of her mouth, it seemed insincere, like there was something more she was trying to get at. Quick analysis: with old Rina, what she said was what she meant; with new Rina, up was down and down was up, I didn’t know what was going on half the time in her head. I swirled the scotch in my glass around, and shot back, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Rina ran a finger down my arm, but desire didn’t pulse through my body like it should have. Instead, I felt the sudden urge to scratch where she touched because her finger actually made me itchy. She clearly thought it was working, though, because she gave me a sensual look I’d never seen on her before. She flashed a warm smile my way before raking her top teeth over her bottom lip. But instead it looked like she bit herself because her nose wrinkled in discomfort and she began wetting her lips profusely.

Honestly, I hated to be that guy, but she was trying too hard and desperation wasn’t an attractive color on her.

“Come on,” she retorted, “you used to bum around in sweats.”

“Well, I still wouldn’t wear this around my apartment, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Ignoring my remark, she rolled her eyes, took my drink from my hand without hesitation and downed the rest of it before seething. “I don’t know how you drink that stuff.”

“I like it, and you’ve never enjoyed scotch, so what made you think you’d like it now?”

She shrugged, the puffy sleeve on her dress hitting her cheek. If you needed a picture, let’s just say, Rina was wearing an over-the-top black dress that was both a mini dress and swept the floor with a train of some sort coming off her hip.

“Guess you could say I missed the taste of you,” she finally answered.

“Swapping saliva, that’s your answer?”

Looking out at the crowd now, she frowned. “Let me guess, when I got here, it wasn’twhatthat had your attention, but ratherwho?”

I didn’t answer, only stared at her. There was no right answer. Only the truth and the lie that I knew would make her feel better.

I wasn’t a bad guy, you know. I didn’t like to see Rina upset.

I exhaled and raked a hand through my hair before grabbing her chin with my hand and making her face me again. “If you’re really trying to fight for me, you might want to try being yourself. Remember, I never had a problem with the real you.”

Meanwhile, I wasn’t so sure Rina didn’t have a problem with the real me. I was fine with her fighting for me, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was genuinely at odds over it. Here was where my head was at:

Rina had broken up with me without a second thought. I’d never heard from her until our accidental run-in here in London.

But we did have a history, and I knew what I was getting with her. For the most part anyway. She’d obviously changed. Although, people didn’t change that much, did they?

And maybe we needed to break up to get where we were today.

So there you go, you just got a front row seat to what I’d been thinking as far as Rina was concerned, and that was why I couldn’t just tell her to get lost.

Back to the present, though, Rina’s eyes flitted between me and Bianca across the room. But this wasn’t about Bianca. This was about me and Rina.

“I think we could be good together, Knox.” So she’d said before.

I dropped my hold on her and let my gaze fall to her red shoes.Where was the woman who wore ballet flats?“I don’t doubt it, but it’s been a long time.”

As I looked back up, her eyes went wide and she brought a hand to my cheek, letting it trace all the way down to my jaw. I felt nothing, by the way, in terms of attraction.

“I’ll be in Milan next week. You’re going to be there, too, right? We could meet up.”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” I asked, not that I expected she would. She always was like a dog with a bone, even as a teenager.

“I wasn’t kidding, Knox. We’ve both finally made it and I want us to get back together. I’m going to show you how good we can be again.”

I wasn’t sure what that meant and if I was prepared for whatever she had in store, but we both knew I had little say in the matter.

I blamed my penchant for strong-minded women.

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