Page 48 of Rebel Bride
He sounded so passionate, and I had to admit I loved that. Dash was so blasé about everything. Nothing stoked his fire, not even hockey, yet here was a man getting riled about kissing and the desire to always be improving.
In his passion, he had moved a touch closer, his thigh pressed against mine, the heat of his skin searing mine.
I smiled, unable to help myself. For the first time in weeks, maybe months, I felt lighter. “I apologize for casting aspersions on your mission to become the best kisser in all the land.”
He grinned back. Oh wow. “As you should.”
And there we were, smiling like fools. We’d achieved some semblance of a truce, though we hadn’t been enemies before. Well, he hadn’t been mine, but I think he thought I was his.
I would question that later.
His grin faded. “What I said, about the roles you play—that was uncalled for.”
“You were right. I do play different parts. I always have.”
He waited for me to elaborate. It was one of the many things I enjoyed about him. He didn’t try to fill silences. He just let me be.
“I’ve always wanted to fit in, and sometimes that involves being a chameleon. Becoming who people expect in a particular situation. The perfect fiancée, the good employee, the fun friend.” The hard worker, the dutiful daughter, the subservient wife. “I might be a lot of those things you said, but I’m not a gold digger. That’s the one thing I take issue with. Dash and I were casual for the longest time. When we first started dating, I had to pay for all our dinners and movie tickets because he wanted to make sure I wasn’t ‘in the relationship for the money.’”
“What a jerk.”
Yes and no. “He had a right to be wary, even if the way he expressed it was weird. I don’t think it even occurred to me that we would get married. I wanted other things. A career. A life that wasn’t dependent on anyone else. But he was persuasive, and I suppose I fell for his charm and maybe I was blinded by his wealth. I never had that, growing up. Suddenly I’m being offered the world on a platter, and it fried my brain a little.”
His stare was so intense, yet I couldn’t look away. His close regard fueled me.
“But then I started to see that every day we were engaged, every day counting down to the wedding, felt like a death march. Like I was heading for a life that hollowed out every part of me. And it was all my fault. Not Dash’s, or not really. I think he started to realize that he’d invested all this time in me—in us—and he didn’t want that to go to waste. But I was in so deep that I couldn’t see everything that was wrong with us as a couple. Until he told me to give up my job.”
“You liked your job,” he said quietly.
“I loved it. And I know it doesn’t seem that important, helper to the general manager, but I was learning so much. And I wanted to keep learning. Maybe do something bigger instead of signing on for something smaller. I barely resisted, Hatch. Dash told me I didn’t need it, and I let that dream go in service to what I thought was another. Being a rich man’s wife.” I swallowed. I could hardly believe I’d spoken all these words aloud to this man. “Never again. Now I’m going to focus on me. My career, even if I can’t get back with the Rebels. Ryder might give me a good reference, or … something.”
So a bit of a damp squib there at the end. Go, girl to oh no, girl.
“Sounds like this is the role you were born to play.”
I searched his face, looking for hints of humor and saw none. He was being his usual, serious self.
“What role is that then?”
“Summer Landry, the girl with the world at her feet.”
Chapter Fifteen
Hatch
* * *
Summer needed access to a computer, so I made her a guest login, and she sat out on the patio in her bikini and worked away. She had the decency to cover up with a white shirt she found in the laundry room—my shirt—and I had the indecency to think this was hitting another one of my fantasies.
Summer wearing my clothes. My sweats, my tee, my tuxedo jacket, now my shirt.
Teammates first, H. Always.
I needed to get away for a while. “I’m heading into town to get some supplies for the boat.”
Her head shot up. “The boat?”
“Thought we might go out this afternoon. If you’re still interested.”
