Page 4 of With this Ring

“He’d have been fun until he fucked you, then abandoned you. He’d have sweet-talked you into not using a condom, then refused to take responsibility.”

She gasped.

“You’re an investigator.” He lifted a shoulder in a casual shrug. “Look up the men you’re considering inviting inside your home.” He paused. “Or your body.”

Jesus.“I wouldn’t have let that happen.”

“Tell me he didn’t try to take you upstairs.”

Flushing, she looked away.

“He’d be good for a minute, maybe two.”

She opened her mouth to speak but no words emerged.

“If he could get it up after consuming all that alcohol.”

Sasha longed to argue, to tell him he was wrong, but the words stuck in her throat.

“Selfish bastard wouldn’t have even gotten you off first.”

Emotions crashed through her—longing, desire, the illicit, forbidden thrill that came from having this conversation with a man she’d had a crush on. “How is that different from most men?”Why did I say that?She was in dangerous territory with him, and she shouldn’t poke the bear. Heat chased up her neck and settled on her cheeks. No way should she be in the arms of her former brother-in-law, talking about orgasms. Desperate to change the conversation, she narrowed her gaze. “Are you jealous?”

He chuckled, immediately dismissing her taunt—his sound one of pure male superiority. “Of him? Not a chance.”

“What I do and with whom I do it is not your concern.” She paused, then breathlessly rushed on. “And it never was, actually.”

“Still telling yourself pretty little lies, Petal?”

Petal?

The nickname hit her hard, a flashback, a timeless moment. It was so much more suited to the teen she’d been than the fully capable adult woman she was now, and yet she liked it more than ever.

“You’ve always needed a protector.”

Fuck off.“Just because—”

“Obviously, you still do.”

That she didn’t have an instant comeback was likely because she was reeling in shock from seeing him again. Even though Leah had talked endlessly about the people who’d be in attendance, Gregorio’s name had never been mentioned.

Even though they worked at the same place, the irony of running into him at a wedding didn’t escape her, consideringshe’d been seated in the front row of the divorce proceeding between him and her older sister—a place she wished she’d never gone.

It had been one of the most awful days of her life, watching two of the people she loved most in the world tear each other apart. She’d clenched her hands, body frozen, as the lawyers had laid out the sordid details of their failed marriage—the lies, the betrayals, the slow, painful unraveling of a love she’d once thought was forever.

“I was hoping for a memorable experience tonight,” she lied.

“Memorable? Maybe I can help you out.”

You?

“And I’ll make sure you get off.”

Almost missing a step, she blinked and searched his face for some hint of mockery but found only an intense sincerity that made her breath catch.

In an instant, he released her, only to immediately clamp a hand around her wrist and all but drag her from the packed ballroom and down the hall into a janitor’s closet.

Never pausing, he kicked aside a bucket, sending the mop clattering to the floor, the noise so loud it echoed in her ears and covered the sound of a lock being ratcheted home.

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