Page 96 of Reckless Harmony

He opened the door with a derisive snort. “Trust me, Ms. Abrams, it would take a lot more than a rejection from you to hurt my feelings. The sex wasn’t that good between us.”

“You can’t help being a dick even when someone is apologizing, can you?” she snapped.

Stark stepped out into the cold and slammed the door shut behind him.

CHAPTER 33

Rayna opened the door of Stark Entertainment and stepped inside. The reception desk was empty, and she stood awkwardly next to it as a burst of laughter came from somewhere inside the bullpen.

Rayna, just go! You’re so pathetic right now. You know that, right?

Her insides squirmed as her gaze landed on Stark’s open office door. She wasn’t here in the hopes of catching a glimpse of him. The fact that she hadn’t seen Stark once in the last six days didn’t bother her in the least. It was what she wanted.

She definitely hadn’t spent the last six days obsessing over their last conversation or the hurt on his face or how, despite her new compulsive habit of checking out her windows every hour to see if she could catch a glimpse of him coming or going, even a single sighting of him had eluded her.

As the minutes passed with no sign of Aditi, she looked for a bell or something to ring. More laughter drifted down from upstairs, and she chewed indecisively at her lip as her gaze turned to Stark’s office again.

Leave before you embarrass yourself.

Shit. What was she doing? Her inner voice was right. She was being ridiculous. She turned to leave, grimacing when a voice said, “Rayna?”

She turned back, smiling at Hollis. “Hi, Hollis. How are you?”

“Fine, thank you.” Hollis glanced at the empty reception desk.

“Um, I’m not sure where Aditi is,” Rayna said.

“She had to leave early for a doctor’s appointment,” Hollis said. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Um, yeah, uh, I just wanted to check in to see if it was all right if I used the gym right now,” Rayna said.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Hollis asked.

“Well, I normally come by later at night when there aren’t any employees using it, but it’s, um, only four thirty, so I imagine employees will be using it now, and I didn’t know if that would be a problem.”

She sounded incredibly lame, even to herself, and she forced a smile at Hollis as her cheeks flushed.

“It isn’t a problem,” Hollis said. “You’re welcome to use the gym at whatever time you’d like.”

“Right, okay. Well, thank you for confirming that,” Rayna said.

“Sure,” Hollis said.

Her gaze slipping to Stark’s office door again, Rayna said, “So, I’m gonna go and… work out now.”

“Enjoy,” Hollis said, one perfect eyebrow raising slightly.

“Thanks.” Feeling absolutely ridiculous, Rayna turned to leave as the front door opened, and a blast of cold air washed over her. Her cheeks went hot and then ice cold as she stared at the two people standing behind her.

Her hand tucked securely around Stark’s arm, Phoebe Edward’s smile turned condescending. “Hello, Rayna. This is a surprise.”

As pointless and inappropriate betrayal pumped through her body, Rayna stared at Stark. His look of indifference morphed into concern, and his brow creased. Before he could speak, Rayna said to Phoebe, “What are you doing here?”

Phoebe’s patronizing smile turned sickly sweet. “Isaac and I had coffee, and now he’s giving me an office tour. I think the better question is, what are you doing here? Is there a toilet backed up somewhere?”

Hot jealousy poured over Rayna, and that feeling of betrayal intensified until she thought her head might pop right off. Phoebe’s use of Stark’s first name kept clanging in Rayna’s head. Were they fucking? Is that why she was so comfortable with calling him Isaac? Had he spent the last week in Phoebe’s bed instead of Rayna’s?

Anger swallowed the jealousy and betrayal. Anger over her pointless emotional response and that Stark could so easily go from fucking her to fucking Phoebe - a shallow, spiteful woman who had spent the last decade taking every opportunity to belittle and mock Rayna.

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