Page 3 of Heart on Ice

I nod. “He did. And I liked hearing it too. I always knew you were destined for big things. Just always thought I would be by your side when you achieved them.” She frowns. “Listening to him talking about all the great things you’ve done in your life made me feel like I was still a part of it.” We stare at each other for a long moment, as my hand comes out and cups her face, my thumb slides across her cheek. “If I never messed up all those years ago, I’d be by your side right now. I wish I could go back in time and change things,” I confess as I continue stroking her face.

“Don’t,” she whispers.

“It’s the truth.”

“Please, Pierre, don’t.” More tears fall.

“I know it’s not the right time. For years I’ve been trying to tell you how sorry I am for hurting you. I fucked up, Issy.”

“No,” she whimpers.

“You are the biggest regret of my life.” Issy gasps as we stare at each other, the unspoken truth now out there.

Next thing I know, I’m leaning forward and kissing her. And even more shocking is that she lets me. The first sweep of my tongue forces her mouth to open, and I feel her tongue against mine. I’m done for. As if muscle memory has taken over, her fingers dig into my suit as she kisses me back.

“Fuck, I’ve missed you, Issy.” I groan as I press myself against her and deepen our kiss until she bites me. “Ouch,” I say, jumping back, a metallic taste in my mouth.

“Fuck you,” she shouts. I’m so surprised by her biting me that I stumble back a couple of steps. “You fucking asshole. You’re engaged,” she screams at me.

Shit.

What the hell did I think I was doing?

“Why the hell did you kiss me?” she asks, looking angry.

“I don’t know,” I yell back at her. Shit. This isn’t good.

“I see the leopard never changes his spots.” Her eyes narrow on me as she folds her arms in front of her.

“I’m not a cheater.” She scoffs. “Issy, come on. That’s not fair. What I did to you was years ago, I was a kid. It still haunts me.”

“You’re not a kid now.”

“I know, but that was different.”

“You broke my heart into a million pieces that night. I will not be an accomplice to inflicting that pain on another woman.” She points at me angrily.

I have no recourse. She’s right. I’m engaged. What was I thinking?You weren’t thinking. I shouldn’t have touched her, but having her back in my arms after all this time, in her childhood bedroom, it felt as if all those years of us being apart vanished. For the first time, the tension in my shoulders released, the thing in my chest started beating as if she had awoken it from a slumber. Having Issy breaking down in my arms broke me, and all I wanted to do was make it all better. By kissing her. Not the brightest of plans, but she kissed meback. Then attacked me for cheating on my fiancée. True. But she doesn’t know how bad things are between Kitty and me. Everyone says it’s the stress of the wedding, that it’s natural to have cold feet, but I’m not so sure. Something is going on with Kitty. She’s disappearing more on work trips when I’m on the road, she’s attending a lot more red-carpet events instead of spending time with me when I am back home, and we hardly have sex. Still, not reason enough for you to cheat on her. I know, okay. I don’t feel good about what I’ve done but also … fuck … I feel alive for the first time in a long time.

I run my hand through my hair. “You broke me, too, when you fled to London,” I throw back at her. Issy gasps. Yes, I messed up that night, but then she disappeared, totally ghosted me, and I never saw her again.

“Where is she?”I scream at Harper.

“A long, long way from you,” she spits back at me. I heard she left for Europe for Spring Break. I had to create an anonymous profile so I could follow her. It killed me watching her and Harper have fun with all those men. Seeing their hands all over her made me see red.Imagine what it was like for her seeing you with Missy Jenkins.Fucking torture. I hated it. I thought I would see her again, that she would come back after Spring Break, and we could talk. Sort it out. Maybe start again. I will never touch another woman ever again. I know how much I fucked up. A week had passed, and she hadn’t returned, then I heard around the school that she had transferred to somewhere in Europe. I didn’t believe it. There’s no way she would have left her family.

“I need to talk to her.”

“What are you going to say, sorry you found my dick down Missy Jenkins throat? Sorry for fucking all her friends,” Harper throws back at me.

She’s not wrong. I fucked up. I wasn’t faithful to Issy, and the stupid thing is, I don’t understand why I did it.

“What happened to you?” Harper asks, looking at me with disgust.

“I don’t know,” I say, running my hands through my hair.

“Really?” Harper says, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring at me.

I throw my hands up in the air. “I let my fucking ego take over. Are you happy?” I shout my confession at her.

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