Page 81 of Forty and Fighting Dirty
Piper looked frazzled, glancing from her boys to me to her ex. “Um?—”
“I just wanted to drop this off,” I cut in, handing thewine over. “Piper hit a big milestone at work this week, and we’re going to finish the project ahead of schedule. I wanted to thank her personally.”
“I’m sure you did,” Jacob mumbled, eyes narrowed.
“Rhett—” Piper started.
“Enjoy your dinner.” When she didn’t take the bottle from my hands, I leaned over and put it on the staircase’s bottom step. Then I ducked my chin, gave the ex one last look, and slipped out the door. I closed it behind me and hightailed it to my truck.
“Rhett!” Piper called out. Her footsteps echoed on the porch steps, then crunched through the snow as she cut across the grass toward me. She hopped once, pulling the back of her boot, nearly stumbled, then came running toward me.
“See you on Monday, Darling,” I replied, opening the driver’s-side door. She caught the edge of it before I could close it, coming around to stand in the opening. Wind whipped her hair around her shoulders, and she couldn’t quite hide a shiver. “Go inside,” I grumbled.
“Stay for dinner.” Her eyes were wide and pleading, but I’d seen that look before. Sarah looked at me like that when I asked her who was texting her, or why she was grabbing drinks with the coworker she pretended to hate. I couldn’t believe I’d fallen for it again.
“I have no desire to watch while you entertain your ex-husband,” I replied.
“I’ll tell him to leave.”
“And how will the boys take that?”
She exhaled, closing her eyes. “He showed up withoutwarning, Rhett. I dropped my phone and the screen smashed, so I couldn’t call you and let you know.”
That was convenient. Kind of like when Sarah’s car magically broke down and she had to get a ride from that coworker she told me not to worry about.
I watched Piper, waiting for those big, liquid eyes to open again. I hardly recognized my own voice when I asked, “And if your phone had worked, would you have told me to stay away?”
“I…” She frowned. “I don’t know.”
I grunted. “Don’t kid yourself, Piper.”
That made her eyes flash. “He’s the father of my sons, Rhett. I can’t exactly turn him away.”
“No, but you could have told him that I’m more than just your boss and the co-owner of your home.” The words hissed out of me, and I hated that I hadn’t been able to hold them in. I clenched my hands around the steering wheel and ground my teeth together. “Back up, Piper. I need to close the door. I’m leaving.”
“You need to get your head out of your ass, Rhett.”
My head snapped toward her. “What?”
“We’ve been sleeping together for a few weeks.” Her eyes flashed. “You expect me to, what, call you my boyfriend when I haven’t even broached the topic with my sons? Invite you to sleep over in the bedroom next to theirs?”
“I expect you to chooseme,” I snapped. My jaw clenched, and I tore my eyes away from her.
“Rhett,” Piper said, and the softness of her voice hurt more than if she’d mocked me for my neediness. I couldn’t take the fact that she’d dragged that confession out of me, that evenwhen I was furious, she still managed to make me feel weak and vulnerable and pathetic.
“I’ll see you on Monday,” I repeated, not meeting her eyes. “We never got the paperwork for the lease on this place signed, so I’ll get that finalized this weekend. Will three months be enough? We should really list the place in the spring. Otherwise we’re just pissing money away, and you’re right. This is too complicated. We work together, we’re in business together, and we’re sleeping together—sneaking around, whatever you want to call it. It’s messy.”
When Piper didn’t reply, I turned my head and met her gaze. She was looking at me like she didn’t know me, like I’d suddenly revealed myself to be some kind of monster. And that was a bit rich, wasn’t it? I was just trying to give her the payout she’d always wanted. I’d been more than generous with her, paying for all the renovations and not asking for more than half the profit after I’d recouped the money I’d spent. And now she wanted more. It was so typical that I almost laughed.
I couldn’t believe I’d thought she was different.
“What?” I sneered. “Thought you could milk me for more than that?” I knew I was being an asshole, but what was the point pretending to be the good guy when we both knew I wasn’t?
Piper swallowed and finally let go of my truck’s door. She took a step back and wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her biceps against the cold. “I’ll see you Monday,” she replied, and walked back to the house without looking back.
THIRTY-THREE
PIPER
