Page 28 of Built to Last

I give him a smirk of my own. “I was talking about your pants, Dorsey, since they seem to be tighter on you than they were before. Is that a swatch or are you happy to see me?”

His jaw tightens. “Well, I could say the same damn thing about your nipples, Harper. Because those headlights are on, baby, and they definitely seem happy to see me.”

Damn, my overly sensitive nipples. It’s the cold. Except I’m not feeling cold. I’m actually feeling weirdly alive for the first time in forever.

“I don’t know whether to cry or start live streaming this,” Jeremiah says under his breath.

Reid isn’t through. “And if you think I’m going to spend the next several weeks of my life fighting you, you’re wrong. I’m not listening to this. I do not need a contractor complaining constantly.”

Oh, we’re back to me being a harpy. “I’m just some nagging woman out to ruin your life, is that it, Reid? Is that what that night in Ralavia was about? You thought maybe since you couldn’t get my friend to fire me, you could control the pathetic wallflower with sex?”

The smirk on his face is pure arrogance. “I thought maybe I would see if the room got warmer if you lost some of that ice, Princess.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Jeremiah says under his breath as his head shakes. “We should have invited a therapist to dinner. Always. Anytime we have a party, there should be a therapist on call. I would have invited my friend but he’s a vegan, and I really wanted some red meat.”

“I’m an ice princess?” It’s nothing I haven’t heard before, but it hurts. And when I’m hurt I tend to…well, hurt right back.

He gets in my space, looking like a gorgeous, angry bull about to charge. “If the frost fits…”

“You are a lying cheater,” I shoot back. He wants to do it this way, he’ll find out I can throw it right back in his face.

His head shakes. “Oh, am I? Who exactly am I cheating on?”

“History for one, and that blonde idiot for another.” I don’t care what Jeremiah told me. He’s looking out for his brother.

“First off, I can’t cheat history. I simply choose not to worship a time when they didn’t even have running toilets. I also think we’re not talking about the same history. You don’t care about Banover Place because it was once a smuggler’s home or because some famous author once lived there. This is about you. You want to take this place back to some sad-sack moment in time when you and your friends thought you could take on the world or something. It’s the sad dream of a pathetic teenager, and I’m not going to wreck this project so you can feel like you’re seventeen again.”

The words split something inside me. Is that really what I’m doing? Am I causing all this trouble because I’m desperate to hold on to some moment in the past when the world seemed softer and warmer than it does today? When life held promise?

Reid’s expression falls and he runs a hand over his hair. “Harper, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. You came at me with claws flying and I…I wasn’t ready for a fight tonight.”

“Harper, I would like to speak with you privately,” a deep voice says, and I look up to see Luca St. Marten standing there looking especially regal in a button-down and perfectly pressed slacks. And he is pissed. His eyes are narrowed, and every muscle seems rigid with irritation.

I started this fight and I’m about to get fired.

Chapter Ten

“Luca, we were having a minor difference of opinion,” Reid says, stepping back. “Nothing to be worried about.”

“Oh, that was more than minor.” The king of Ralavia, and more importantly my bestie’s husband, shakes his head. “Is there a place we can go to talk?”

“Maybe you should talk to me first.” For some reason Reid seems nervous about letting Luca talk to me.

“I can handle myself,” I assure him even when my gut is in turmoil. Maybe it’s for the best. Maybe a clean break is better. Not that we’ll call it a break. We’ll get busy in our lives, and time and distance will do their work on our friendship.

“I said some things I shouldn’t have.” Reid moves to my side. As though if I’m being called into the principal’s office, he’ll go along for the ride.

“Yes, we’ve had a lot of that tonight,” Jeremiah agrees. He looks to Luca. “Your Majesty, they have serious problems with sexual tension. I know. It’s weird because grumpy and even grumpier shouldn’t, like, go together, but here we are.”

Reid frowns at his brother. “You do not have to help.”

Jeremiah’s voice goes low. “Well, if I didn’t, she might have taken your balls, brother.”

Luca’s gaze goes between me and Reid, and then his lips curl up the slightest bit and he loses some of his obvious irritation. “Which one is grumpier?”

Jeremiah takes a long breath as though realizing the danger passed. “I think it depends on the day. They pass the crown between the two of them.”

“We are not attract…” I begin.

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