Page 43 of Cocky M.D.
He widened his stance, defensive. “For?”
I looked him up and down. I crossed my hands like I would do with a student who’d spoken when he wasn’t supposed to. It was overdramatic but well practiced. “For me to look exactly as I always have. If I think my clothes aren’t fitting me anymore, then I’ll go get something of my choosing.”
He scratched his head. “What?”
If he wanted to show me that I couldn’t afford his life, then he would deal with a woman who refused to dress the part.
I walked away. My heart raced as I went to my bedroom. I heard Bradley in his room. Fire coursed through my blood, and he didn’t need to see me like that.
I glanced at the shopping bags that Johnny’d had delivered. I would never wear any of it, so I wrote a note and called for a maid. I read it one more time.Here are the bags you had delivered to my room. I wore the skirt outfit, so please send the bill so we can settle up.
Yes, those were fighting words. I handed the note and the bags over and closed the door. It was time to go. All of my things were still in boxes. I put them near the door and started packing the few outfits that I’d taken out.
The adjoining-room door opened, and Johnny stormed in. He waved the paper in his hand, and he was holding the bags. “What is this?”
I stuffed a shirt into my backpack and said, “What you bought me.”
He dropped them onto the floor and asked, “Why?”
The hairs on my arms stood on end, and every cell in my body tingled. I lifted my nose in the air. “Because these are too expensive for me. I’ll feel more like myself in my own clothes.”
He didn’t say a word as he stared at me.
Curling my lip, I said, “Oh, and one more thing.”
I quit.The words were on the tip of my tongue. I should just walk out the door and never come back. I’d packed my bags, but my heart whispered to calm down. Bradley was great, and Johnny had only made one mistake. I squared my shoulders and decided to give it one more chance. “We’ve agreed to two nights a week, and this week is done. From here on out, I’ll sleep in my own room.”
I then walked toward him and motioned for him to go to his room. He didn’t move. The air near him smelled like his aftershave. I asked, “Why do you want me to hate you, Johnny?”
He put his hands in his pockets. “I don’t want that.”
I winced and stepped back. I didn’t need to be near him. “Then why are you trying to find ways to push me away?”
His eyebrows rose. “I was a jerk. Money has always been the reason I have no heart to give you.”
My shoulders slumped. I had no more fight in me. Tears formed in my eyes, though I wouldn’t let them fall. “Well, I bought a dress, but I asked you if your heart might be open one day, and all you’re doing is showing and telling me it’s not.”
His voice was low when he said, “I can’t give what I don’t have.”
I stepped back again and pressed my hands on my heart. “Money is so important to you that it keeps you warm at night?”
“No.”
I let out a breath and returned to my packed bag then picked it up and said, “That’s too bad, really. I was seriously falling in love with you, but you don’t feel the same.”
“It’s impossible.”
The crack in his voice made my muscles quiver. “Impossible?”
“Yes.”
One of the tears rushed down my cheek. I wiped it away. I’d made a mistake in giving him another chance to rip my heart out of my chest. “I’m going to go tell Bradley goodbye and go home.”
His face went white. “Don’t. I still want to marry you.”
No.I picked up my keys. I’d been honest since the beginning. I wasn’t a bad person, and he had no right to test me. I shook my head and said, “You want a nanny you can be fuck buddies with, but that can’t be the status of my relationship.”
As I opened the door to leave, he said, “Wait.”
