Page 21 of Filthy Rich Temptation
‘We’ve been together a year. Long enough to know that I want this.’
‘But Ireland?’
‘It’s his home.’
‘This is your home.’
It hasn’t really been my home for two years now. Manchester has. I threw my all into making a new life up there, one that allowed me to put the whole mortifying incident with Theo behind me. And it’s where I met Danny and he’s amazing. He makes me feel seen. Special. Loved. And…
‘I love him, Tay.’
‘No. You don’t.’
I choke on a laugh. ‘I think I know how I feel.’
She folds her arms, her fingers biting into her skin. ‘You only think you’re in love because—’ She breaks off abruptly, her eyes shimmering with whatever she won’t say.
‘Because?’ I press, dread becoming a living, breathing thing in my gut.
‘Because you’re desperate to be loved.’
I stare back at her, my heart twisting with my gut.
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ I say quietly.
‘I do, honey.’ She steps towards me, hand outstretched, and I shift away.
‘You don’t!’
‘I’ve seen it your whole life. You chased scraps from Dad. Clung to friends who didn’t care. You remember Miss Winters, in primary school? You sobbed for days when she went on maternity leave and never came back.’
‘I was seven, Tay.’
‘And then there was Theo.’
The box slips in my grip. ‘What about Theo?’
She wets her lips, her eyes penetrating mine and I swear, I’m going to puke.
‘The way you lit up when he came over. The way you followed him around like he hung the moon…’
Humiliation claws through me, burning hot behind my ribs, my cheeks, my eyes.
‘You grew out of the blushing. But it was always there. It’s textbook abandonment stuff.’
Abandonment! First, daddy issues from Theo, and now this from Tay. I’m not having it.
‘If anyone’s got abandonment issues here, it’s you!’ I throw back at her. ‘You’re the one who can’t let me go! You’re the one suffocating me, refusing to let me move on.’
‘Because Danny’s not right for you.’
‘You don’t even know him!’
‘I’ve seen him around you enough to know his type. He’s possessive. Controlling. Jealous?—’
‘Like looking in a mirror, then.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
