Page 43 of Her Every Fantasy

‘Behind closed doors, they didn’t hesitate to point out my deficiencies. And it wasn’t just an ugly-duckling-in-a-sea-of-swans situation. It was more like panda-in-a-tribe-of-gazelles.’

For the longest time he didn’t speak. The look in his eyes was equal parts quiet fury and compassion. ‘Was that why they never came to your show or your wedding?’

Pain lashed me hard. ‘My father threatened to cut me off if I pursued the modelling, and he went through with it. I haven’t spoken to them or Willow in...a while.’

‘Savvie, why didn’t you tell me?’

I shrugged and that little movement hurt more than the retelling warranted. Which said a lot about what I’d bottled up over all the years. ‘You had your own issues going on. You couldn’t get enough of the stories they regaled you with about my Ghanaian heritage, and I didn’t want to spoil the illusion. Not at first. And when I tried to hint at it a few times you missed it. Then I kinda grew okay with it because I liked you being a little jealous of me, for a change.’

His brows spiked. ‘For a change?’

I grimaced. Damn my runaway tongue. If this verbal tsunami was the side effect of sex with Bryce, I wasn’t sure I was up for any more. But even that thought left a bruise. I was well on my way to being addicted to sex with Bryce and no amount of apprehension about baring my deep secrets would stop me experiencing more of him.

‘You were the captain of a rugby team, you had girls falling all over you and you have the Queen listed somewhere on your family tree as a relative. Plus you could go without combing your hair for a month and still look like a damnGQmodel. I hated you for a long time before I talked myself into tolerating you.’

He let loose a heart-stopping grin. ‘And how long was this talk? Five...ten seconds?’

I slapped his arm. He gave a short laugh before his expression grew serious. ‘You have a good idea how fucked my family situation is, Savvie. You had no need to be jealous. Not if you knew how hard I worked before you deigned to talk to me.’

It was my turn to frown. ‘What?’

He shrugged. ‘Since we’re telling a few home truths... I didn’t run into youby accident that day at the library. I’d been watching you, knew your routine off the top of my head.’

My mouth dropped open for a few unbecoming seconds. ‘Why?’

‘I said hi to you for a month straight and each time you looked right through me.’

‘Because I thought...’ I stopped, bit my lip, the memory of how off-balance he’d thrown me returning full force.

He nodded. ‘I know what you thought. That because I hung out with meatheads that I was one myself?’

I grasped his lifeline. ‘Something like that. And there was that dating stick-thin girls thing.’

‘I had to pass the time somehow,’ he said drolly.

‘Seriously, what are you saying, Bryce?’

He shook his head. ‘We’re getting off the original subject. Why didn’t you tell me how things were with your family? Besides the jealousy?’

‘Because I was ashamed. Because it hurt. Because I was struggling to understand why they could be loving and respecting of each other but not me. It was like they had membership to a special club I couldn’t join because I wasn’t the right dress size and I despised tofu and politics.’

Mild shock flicked across his face. ‘Savvie—’

I shook my head, on a roll now the dam had cracked. ‘My parents I could understand, maybe. But I didn’t get why Willow hated me so much. She was the most vicious of them.’

‘Is it possible that Willow felt she had to take your parents’ side or get the same treatment from them?’

I frowned, recalling that the very few times when my sister had been less bitchy towards me had been when we were alone. But it didn’t make up for the times she’d piled on me in front of my parents. And the approval inherent in their silence.

‘Either way, it’s on them, not you. You know that, don’t you?’

‘I’m not sure that I do. If I did, I wouldn’t have married Dan.’

His face tightened and I regretted bringing him up.

‘Are we going to fight about him, too?’

Long fingers tunnelled into my hair, toyed with it for a minute before he sighed. ‘No. I don’t want to fight.’

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