Page 73 of Always Knew It Was You

Frustration jumps out of me. “Hewasn’tpawing at me.”

“Yes, he was, and it’s crazy that you don’t see it.”

“Oh, so now I’m crazy.” My voice is loud enough to probably be heard by the workers inside the hotel but, frankly, I don’t care anymore. For the first time in a long time, I don’t care if I’m making a scene, or proving people right. I don’t care about keeping my head down to make up for my family’s reputation.

Since Micah thinks I’m crazy anyway, why not show him crazy?

“You’re the insane one,” I tell him, practically hollering. “You yell at me for defending you in front of your grandfather then you take me back to your hotel and fuck the shit out of me and then you fly me back in your private jet and don’t speak to me for weeks. Now you’re back here assaulting my friends and acting like a jealous husband! Is that not the definition of insanity?”

“I wasn’t jealous.”

“Right,” I scoff, because of course that would be the part he picks up on. “If you can’t even be honest with yourself, that already tells me how the rest of this conversation is going to go. Have a nice life, Micah.”

“Carly.” He grabs my arm as I attempt to walk away. I try to wrench out of his grasp as hard as I can, only to end up nearly losing my balance in the process. He catches me when I stumble and draws me close. Suddenly his scent hits me.

I almost moan from how good he smells.

“Easy there.” His voice is practically a whisper in my ears, soothing, making my pores more sensitive to the wind. Desire instantly flares, but I push away from him, angrier than I can ever remember being.

“Don’t touch me, asshole.”

“I won’t.” He puts his hand up in the air and stares at me with some contrition finally trickling into his expression. “Look, Carly, I didn’t come here to fight with you.”

“Then what on earth are you here for?”

“I came to apologize,” he says, shocking me. “Both for how I acted with my grandfather and… for now. You were right. I was… bothered by seeing you with that guy.”

I blink. I didn’t expect him to admit it that fast or at all for that matter. And now the part of me still itching to fight feels frustrated that it can’t yell at him anymore.

But I’m still mad. “Well, if you’re done apologizing, then get lost.”

“Carly...”

“What?” I raise my eyebrow. “You thought you would come here and say you’re sorry and I would forgive you just like that?”

“Yeah.” A small smile crooks his lips. “I mean isn’t that how apologies work?”

I don’t smile back. “You’re kidding me.”

“Carly, you don’t know how much it’s taking out of me to even be here. How much I have to bury my pride–”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about your pride. What aboutmypride? What about the fact that I tried to do something nice and you threw it in my face, you jerk?”

“Not that I’m not enjoying this soap opera…” A new voice interrupts and we both turn to find Declan and Emma staring at us with a great deal of interest, along with a handful of construction workers behind them. I recognize a few of them like One-Eyed Mark Piedmont and Hal Rojas. Hal, despite looking like the strong silent type, is one of the biggest gossips in town.

“But can you save the pillow talk for later?” Declan continues. “The two of you are distracting my workers.”

“Also, Carly,” Emma points out, “your phone has been ringing for a while now.”

I glance back at my tote bag vibrating on the porch. I didn’t even hear it. All that yelling and the blood pounding in my ears made it impossible to. Sanity only returned once Emma pointed out the ringing of the phone, and my anger recedes as I take a deep breath.

Then I reach for my bag and fumble with it, feeling self-conscious as I pull my phone. The heat fills my face as I finally realize what just happened. What those people heard me say. With Hal, news is going to make it around town by tomorrow.

Oh, God, this is going to be a disaster.

“Hello?” I say as I pick up the phone.

“Took you long enough to answer,” my mother snarls. “Get to the hospital now.”

---