Page 8 of Scarred Heart

Until her jaw tightened, her teeth grinding almost audible as her gaze hardened to a glare.“Is that all you have to say?You didn’t know my real name?Somebody certainly did.”

If there was one thing I hated above all else, it was the sick sensation crawling its way up my spine as I fought to catch up with her meaning.Nothing irked me worse than being behind the curve.“What does that mean?Somebody?Who is somebody?”I asked.

She leaned in again, her voice turning to a hiss while a bright color bloomed on her cheeks.“Here’s some news for you if you’re really interested in catching up.I’m not the naïve little idiot I used to be.I’m not going to fall for a line about how hard you tried to find me after what happened.We both know that was never the real problem.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” I admitted.It was not something I felt comfortable announcing, but it was true.She had me at a loss.“What was the real problem?”

Again, her lashes fluttered before she shook herself a little.Her posture straightened, her chin lifted.“Why don’t you tell me what your problem is instead?I have somewhere I need to be.”

A date?The idea left me clenching my jaw.It was a strange reaction, considering how little I had thought of this woman in the years since I forced her out of my head.Since she vanished on me.Suddenly, she was in front of me again, and I couldn’t imagine anything I’d like better than wrapping my hands around the neck of whoever she was in a hurry to see.

She arched an eyebrow, expectant, challenging me.“Anytime now,” she murmured, which did nothing but take my blood from a simmer to a slow boil.

I had to remember what was at stake.I could handle a blow to my pride if it meant protecting what was mine.We had come too far for me to drop the ball now over a blonde with a wicked attitude.“Someone may approach you,” I explained, watching her closely.“I need to know you aren’t vulnerable to bribery.”

“Excuse me?Bribery?”Her head snapped back, a look of confusion crossing her face.“Where is this coming from?What did you do?”

“It’s all business.”She leveled a disbelieving look at me, her mouth going thin in a smirk that threatened to get my blood boiling again.“It’s true.An opponent has already used my business partner’s past against him.Miles Young.You may have heard something about him in the media.”

I was surprised when she shrugged.“Honestly, no.What line of work are you in?This is the first time hearing about you doing more than cruising around the strip, getting into trouble.”

That, I couldn’t believe.“You’re lying.”

Her face went slack for a second.“Excuse me?”she hissed.“You don’t have the first idea?—”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t google me the second you had a free minute today.Come on, Rowan.”I sighed, shaking my head.For the first time since she sat down, I had the upper hand, and I wasn’t about to squander it.“We’re both adults.We both know how the world works.Drop the shit.”

Folding her hands on the white tablecloth, she offered an empty smile.“By all means.”A wall may as well have come down between us.Hell, we may as well have been doing this over Zoom, hundreds of miles apart.That was how far she felt from me.It was easy enough to pretend it didn’t strike me as sad, that I wasn’t disappointed.The problem was, I couldn’t lie to myself.

“I had hoped to approach this from a place of friendship,” I made sure to tell her because I wasn’t the one bringing hostility to the table.She needed to know that.“A piece of technology I’m looking to patent is being pursued by a competitor who plays dirty.He already scoured my partner’s past and found something to dredge up.He’s trying to stir up drama, get our investors questioning their involvement, all in hopes of slowing down our work so he can get the patent before we do.”

I watched as understanding dawned.The slight softening of her gaze, the gentle parting of her lips once she realized what this was all about.“I see,” she whispered.“You’re afraid this will come out too.”She waved a hand to indicate the thin web of scars that marred her otherwise perfect beauty.

“It occurred to me,” I confirmed.“There’s no delicate way to say it.Has anyone approached you?”

“That’s all this was about?Making sure I keep my mouth shut?”She laughed softly while lifting the glass to her lips.Lips that used to feel so damn good sliding up and down my shaft.The thought hit me with surprising force, making me forget Damian and the patent and everything else but the increased pressure in my pants.

“You make it sound pretty ugly.”

She touched a hand to her chest.“Oh, I’m so sorry to offend you.That’s the last thing I would ever want to do.”Finishing her wine, she almost slammed the glass onto the table.A couple sitting nearby noticed, giving each other a meaningful look before returning to their conversation.

Rowan either didn’t see them or didn’t care.Considering who I was dealing with, I would go with the latter.“Have you forgotten the contract I signed?”she asked.

There was more to the question than what was on the surface.I knew it, thanks to the intensity of her stare, almost like she was daring me to argue.The mention of a contract made my skin crawl.Did she think it was my idea to have it drawn up as if Dad would’ve given me a say in anything once I made the biggest mistake of my life?“I never saw the document, so I wouldn’t know the terms,” I explained, and it was the truth.

I had forgotten the sound of her laughter, the way it started as a rumbling in her throat before bubbling up and out.It was almost bawdy, like a woman remembering a dirty joke she wanted to share.It never did match her almost supernatural beauty.

“Right,” she barked out, her laughter dying as she abruptly dipped a hand into her bag and pulled out a wallet.“Well, this was fun.Thanks for catching up.You have nothing to worry about.”

We were in public, meaning the impulse to restrain her had to be suppressed.My fists tightened under the table, trembling from the strain of staying civil for the sake of appearances.“Wait a minute,” I gritted out through a tense smile, my eyes darting from side to side in case we had observers.The last thing I could afford was bad publicity.“Don’t make this ugly.”

“Me?You’re accusing me of making things ugly?”There was that laughter again, and even as I stared at her in amazement, I couldn’t help but remember hearing it late at night, in my bed, when we would talk until dawn.Wrapped up in each other, limbs tangled, sharing breath along with the rest of ourselves.

“Here’s what’s really happening, Spencer.”She lifted a hand to signal for the server, holding up a credit card—the international symbol forbring me the check now.“You don’t want your regrettable past coming back to haunt you and your business partner, whoever he is.That’s what this is about, so let’s not pretend otherwise.Don’t worry,” she concluded, looking at me with nothing but contempt.“I won’t ruin anything for you.As usual, everything will go exactly the way you want it.Isn’t that the way life has always worked for you?”

“Could we not turn this into something it doesn’t need to be?”

“If anything, I should thank you for this little meeting.You showed me something I wasn’t aware of until tonight.Four years ofundergrad, three years of law school, busting my ass to pass the bar and survive my first associate position, and I’m still naïve as hell when it comes to you.I honestly thought for a second there that you might have invited me for a drink to clear the air.To apologize for what happened and how it happened.”

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