Page 134 of Unrivaled
“For what?”she asked, leaning her weight back a little to create space between them.“Specifically?”
I resisted the urge to applaud.From her position beside Audrey, Yasmine looked at me quickly with wide, shocked eyes, the same expression I’d expected Luca to wear—but there was joy there, too, hesitant and fragile.
Had Luca, in that moment, pulled back, he would’ve lost her.The tell wasn’t in her expression or posture.I knew it from watching her negotiate.She had the same cool demeanor she wore when she was ready to walk out of a bad deal.
Unfortunately for all of us, he leant in.
“I think I misread the situation,” he said, the words coming out slowly.“Ithought I was offering you a treat you weren’t comfortable to take for yourself.But you aren’t acting like a woman offered a treat.So I’m apologizing for not paying closer attention to what you needed.”
I hated him.There were no two ways about it.
Outside of the tent I saw a big shape in a black tabard shifting.The chime of Chay’s frog on his belt left me with no doubt who else hated Luca.
For all his wisdom, the young knight had been a fool.Unlike Luca,hehadn’t apologized for it, either.He could just stand in the sun and hate.Igot to glare from her side.
“Do you understand why I’m unhappy?”she asked him.
“No.Can you tell me?”
“I didn’twantthe perfume you chose.”
Luca stayed silent, as if those words were a complex puzzle he needed time to consider.He didn’t look away from her.Outside the tent, a wave of laughter came.If he heard, he gave no sign.“You said you liked it.”
“I like a lot of things.I don’t purchase them all.I don’t want to wear them all.”
“It was the most expensive one there,” he said, as if he, too, was sitting at the negotiating table.“You’d looked at both the scent and the bath oil.I didn’t expect offering to purchase it would be an insult.”
I held my tongue at the way that was delivered, as if her response wasunreasonable.
“It wouldn’t have been, the first time,” she said curtly.“After the fourth time, when youshooed me away,it became insulting.And I looked at the items because they were pushed on me, Luca, much as things are ateverystall.If they’d been smart?—”
“You weren’t being coy?”he asked, frowning in earnest as he cut her off.“Pretending you didn’t want it?”
“When have Ieverpretended I didn’t want something I did?”she asked.
Beside her, Yasmine kicked back her feet, arching her brows.I enjoyed the way her gaze travelled from the tips of his boots slowly up his body.Finally, a topic Yasmine and I would agree on: how utterly lacking Luca was.
“It’s something a lot of women do,” Luca explained.“It’s uncomfortable for some women to directly ask for what they like.”
Audrey let out a mirthless laugh, lent forward, and put her hand on his knee.He stiffened.I felt a tingle of battle-energy ripple through my body and breathed deeply into the strength.I knew this pose, too.
“I promise, Luca, I will tell you what I want,” she said firmly.“And what I want is for you to listen to the words I say andbelieve them.”
She stood, but he caught her hand.She could’ve avoided it.She didn’t.I waited, knowing she didn’t need my help, but more than happy to offer it all the same.
“I’ll change the order,” he said.
“You actually, truly bought it?”she asked, her lips barely moving with the words, her hand still relaxed in his grasp.
“As a gift,” he said with raised brows.“I know you don’t love surprises, but it was an item I believed you wanted.”
“It was status for you,” she said, disgust in her words.“You wereseenpurchasing that.Gossip will follow me, Luca, closer even than you, and I refuse to allow it.If those items are delivered to my door, by the Wife, I’ll give them away as publicly and as patronizingly as I can and leave no doubt as to what oursituationis.”
His expression went utterly blank as he stared up at her, his grey eyes locked on her face.
“You,” she said, the word razor sharp, “are chasingme.AndIam being polite.”She dropped her gaze to his hand on her wrist.“I’ve little manners left, Luca.”
Instead of releasing her, he lifted his other hand.“Wait.I’ve deeply misunderstood something, and I’m sorry.”
