Page 77 of Love, Hate, Love

Alec jerked his gaze from the window, back to me.

“You fucked Leah, didn’t you?” he said.

“I didn’t ‘fuck her,’ if you must know.” Even speaking like that about her irked me.

“You didsomething.”

“I’m not discussing what I did or didn’t do with Leah.”

“It made it worse?” Alec groaned.

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him it wasn’t his business. Yet I felt like I was getting sucked into quicksand and grabbing frantically for any branch or twig within reach.

“It might’ve,” I admitted.

There was a long pause as he seemed to be grasping for what to say. He should be struggling. It had been his suggestion that I succumb to my desires that had backfired. Thankfully, I’d only kissed her. How bad might it be if I’d slept with her?

“Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea,” he said.

Worst part of his admission was that he was fighting not to laugh as he made it.

“Stop laughing and tell me what the fuck I do now.” It didn’t escape me that I was asking the man who’d already steered me wrong.

“This is uncharted territory. This hasn’t ever happened to me. Usually I don’t care what happened after I sleep with them.” At least the laughter was gone. “Thank God, too, because it sounds and looks horrible.”

“You were so quick with the advice before and now this is all you’ve got?”

“Well, who told you to listen to me?” he asked.

Chapter35

Leah

Alec was leaningon the rail, laughing at something on his phone. Instinct told me it was a woman.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, walking over.

“Girl I’ve seen a few times. She’s quite comical.”

“Dating someone funny has its perks.”

Okay, there was someone he was involved with. This boded well. Maybe we wouldn’t have to have the little talk I’d dreaded. When I’d asked Kade to have him come, I must have been delirious and sleep deprived. Why would this ever be a good thing for Missy? Yes, he’d see her shining and be like, wow, maybe she was a woman that wasn’t beneath his attention.

But I’d just come from the ranch after the glam squad had gotten their hands on her. Talk about a glow-up. She would put Dorothy, the OG of glow-ups, to shame, and my blunder was immediately obvious. He wasn’t just going to acknowledge her being a woman. He was going to want her, and bad, because every man here would. She was knock-’em-out gorgeous.

“I’m not dating her. I just saw her a few times.” He tucked his phone in his pocket, as if he had to put the woman out of his mind now that I’d labeled them as dating.

“What’s wrong? You allergic to the worddating?”

“No,” he said with a little too much force. “I’m just not dating her. I wasn’t even planning on seeing her once I got back.”

“You just said she was funny. And clearly you’re attracted to her if you saw her more than once. I know you too well to imagine that it was platonic.”

“Yeah, but the spark has started to die.”

“Bloom off the rose?” I asked without even a hint of fake compassion.

“Yes. Exactly.” He threw a hand up.

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