Page 102 of My Ruthless Opponent

Unintentionally, I handed him the reins of my feelings. Ihaveto take them back.

Taking a deep breath through my nose, I nod. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Raleigh’s eyebrows snap together.

I nod again. “Can we get back to the shoot? We have to get to mine before sunset.”

His eyes narrow. “You want me to apologize to you? Is that what this is about?” He takes a step closer.

“No. I don’t need your apology or anything else, to be honest. And lower your voice. We don’t want them to know our reality.”

Raleigh arches a brow. “Our reality?”

I level him with a cool gaze. “Reality. You know, about our fake engagement. They’ll know we are afakecouple if they hear us arguing.”

My chest squeezes. Just uttering ‘fake’ is making me sad. It shouldn’t hurt. We are indeed a fake couple. We are using each other.

I just have a convenient relationship with Raleigh. A relationship that had an expiration date since the beginning.

An unfathomable emotion plays over his face before he clenches his jaw. “Fake?”

Tears sting my eyes. Anger rises with it. He has no right to make me emotional. “I’m leaving.” I stalk across the room for the door.

He blocks my path. I take a step to the side and he moves along with me. “You’re not leaving this room until we finish talking.”

I grind my teeth as I try to blink back the tears. “You don’t have the right to dictate me.”

“The hell I don’t.”

“There’s nothing to talk about!”

“Your wrath says otherwise.”

“I don’t want to talk to you!” I throw my hands up in frustration.

“Tough shit. We are going to talk. And you’re going to tell me what’s bothering you.”

“You! You are bothering me!” I pinch the bridge of my nose.

“Hannah?”

When I feel his warm hands settling on my shoulders, I jerk away. “Stop! Just stop, don’t touch me.”

That gets him angry. He catches me off guard when he pulls me in his arms. “What have I done, huh? This can’t be about the photoshoot. Why are you so uptight?”

I push at his chest with all my might but his arms are banded around me with vicious strength. “Since when did my silence begin to get to you?” I grunt. “I’ll scream this building down if you don’t let me go right this second!”

He leans in, his lips hovering over mine. “Do it.” He is calling my bluff. He knows how much this project is important to me.

I can’t scream. But I can do something else. Like, knee him in the balls.

I bring my knee up but he dodges it.

My breath is knocked out of my lungs when he bends his knees, digs his shoulder in my stomach, and picks me up. He strides deeper into the room.

“What the—” My words get caught in my throat when he tosses me on the queen-size bed.

My body bounces before I steady myself, my hair all over my face.

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