Page 43 of The One Night Match
“Oh, hi.” I smile politely, stepping out of her way so she can get past me. I’m sure there are at least three other bathrooms in this place, but if this is the one she insists on using, more power to her.
“Don’t give me that shit, slut,” she snaps, her perfectly lined lips sneering down at me.
Now that we’re both standing, I realize she’s tall for a woman, and even more so with the heels she’s prancing around in, giving her a good few inches on me.
“I was just being polite, Monica,” I say carefully. “I’m going to get back to the table before Cruz comes looking for me.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about him. The men are probably talking business by now, and he won’t even notice you’re gone.”
I sigh. “Well, regardless, I don’t have anything to say to you, so I’m going to head back.” I try to step around her, but her hand shoots out, grasping my arm with her sharp nails.
“You’ll leave when I say you can leave,” she growls.
“Get your hand off me,” I say calmly.
“Get your hands off my man.”
I scoff. “I’m going to say this nice and slow for you so you can process what I’m saying. If Cruz wanted you, he wouldn’t have signed up for a matchmaking service in order to find a wife. If he were interested in you, you would be the one living in his home, with his ring on your finger. Does it suck that he didn’t choose you? Sure. But it’s the reality that you’re going to have to learn to live with.” I shake off her hand and take a step back toward thedining room. “Oh, and Monica? Desperation isn’t a good look on you.”
Before she can process what I’ve said, I make my way back to the dining room and take my seat beside Cruz.
He immediately turns his attention from his men to look me over before wrapping his arm around my shoulders and tugging me closer, causing butterflies to erupt in my stomach.
Falling for Cruz might destroy me, but I’m starting to think I’m not going to have a say in the matter.
TWENTY-TWO
CRUZ
It’s not until we’re back in the town car that my body finally releases some of the tension it’s been holding.
Riley held her own throughout dinner, through every snide remark, every suggestion that I’ll move on, every thinly veiled insult. None of it seemed to affect her, but as soon as we pull away from the house, I watch as all the emotions, all the insecurities come rushing back.
Without thinking, I tug her across the seat and into my lap, holding her tightly against my chest where I can finally pull in a full breath.
I’ve been trying to give her space to process everything that’s happening between us, and that means not touching her anywhere near as much as I would like to.
Except at night when I climb into her bed. Every morning, she grumbles about waking up against a furnace, and every morning, I tell her that I must have cuddled her in my sleep. A lie. But only a small one. The reality is, the second the bed dips with my weight, I reach for her, and she rolls right into my arms, her subconscious finding me even as she tries to push me away at every opportunity while she’s awake.
“Your employees are real pieces of work, you know that, right?” she murmurs into my chest, making no move to pull away from me.
“Believe me, I’m aware.”
“Why do you keep them around? They have no respect for you. No respect for your authority. I’ve seen Sergio banish people from the family for fractions of the disrespect I watched tonight.”
I tighten my hold on her as I consider my options. Mom never wanted to know what was happening in the business when Dad was alive. She said it was better she not know. But I don’t want to keep any secrets from Riley. I find myself desperate to share every piece of my life with her, because then maybe she’ll realize I’m not in this because I just need a wife. I’m in it because I genuinely want to be with her.
“We have a rat in the organization. A few of them, more than likely. Colten and I have been weeding them out for a while, but in order to cut the cancer out, we need to make sure we get all of it. We’re still identifying who is a part of it, and who isn’t.”
“And Monica?” she asks, flinching slightly.
“She’s a problem I’ve been telling Dennis to deal with since the first time she showed up at my office in nothing but a trench coat.” I shiver dramatically.
“She did not,” Riley gasps, blinking up at me with amusement.
“Oh, she did, many times. Usually right after whatever plastic surgery she’s had most recently.”
Riley laughs, the sound falling straight to my dick, which promptly realizes it’s pressed against her ass and stirs. “She is too much. She cornered me in the hallway as well. I’ve met a lot of delusional women in my life, but god, I don’t even think she and reality live on the same planet.”
