Page 60 of Dangerous Love

With an intro like that, don’t be surprised if he kicks you out.

“Why’d you break up?”

“With Riley?”

He cocked his brow. “Well, unless you’re into multiple boy toys at one time.”

I leaned back, my neck tense from where this conversation was headed, despite the smirk on his face. “I met him a few years ago. He’s a great guy.”If you ignore his gene pool.“But, yeah. Complicated as hell, and right now, he’s very focused on some stupid revenge plot and I’m not a priority.”

Michael pursed his lips. “Revenge plot? Sounds veryMean Girlsif you ask me. How old is this guy?”

I shrugged. “Twenty-three. Why? How old are you?” Now was as good a time as any to actually find out.

“Twenty-nine.” He flexed his bicep in an exaggerated power move. “A real man, right?”

I exploded in laughter when he waggled his eyebrows. “Jesus...”

“All right,” he said, before he lowered his arm again. “I’ll put these babies away if you tell me where things stand with you and this Riley dude.”

A little slice of my heart burnt, and I forced myself to ignore how much I actually missed him. His smile, his voice, his arms as he hugged me.

He’s gone. He didn’t want you, remember?

I cleared my throat, unsure as to whether I was ready to face the truth, or even worse, admit out loud that both Riley and Avery had had me completely fooled for months. Like the need to exorcise him out of my soul was unstoppable, I blurted it all out, the relief almost instant. “I’ve had feelings for Riley since I was sixteen, but long story short, it wasn’t gonna work. Then I came back from a sabbatical, and by some miracle, Riley and I stumbled upon each other in a coffee shop and rekindled.”

Michael nodded a couple of times. “That’s… nice.”

I scoffed. “Nope, not at all. It turns out that my brother had actually sent Riley to hunt me down. And they pretended it was all coincidental, on purpose, just to drag me out of my hole.”

“Shit. That’s cold.”

“Yep.”

“So, how much of the boyfriend act was genuine?”

I clenched my jaw, swallowing the tears building behind my eyelids. “None of it, clearly.”

His hand landed on my thigh. When I stared at it, he pulled back with a sheepish look on his face and said, “I’m sorry this happened to you, babe. It’s shit. You’re better off without him. Without both of them.”

Was I?I couldn’t deny that I was angrier than I’d ever been in my whole entire life. The betrayal stung like nothing else. And yet, hearing that triggered a void in my heart until all I craved was to be in Riley’s arms, knowing that it was all a misunderstanding and he still loved me.

“He never loved you.”

I jerked my head up, the harshness in Michael’s tone startling me.Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

“But now you know. And you can start over.” Right as Michael pointed to the juice in my hand, my phone went off, breaking the awkward silence with a screeching sound. Panic shook me as my mind tried to process the alarm. My heart skyrocketed in my chest as I put the juice down.

Crap.“I completely forgot. I have a shift at ten.”

“I know, babe. So do I. It’s barely eight. We have plenty of time.”

I sighed. “Thank God. I freaked out for a minute.” Then I tilted my head, my brow cocked. “Hang on. I didn’t know we worked the same shift today?”

He jumped over the tray and settled next to me on the bed. He extended his legs and crossed his feet before he brought his palms behind the back of his head. He was the perfect picture of the chilled Aussie. Without one wrinkle in place, he smirked at me. “We never work the same shift on Monday. But I gathered it would be easier if I swapped mine so I could drive you there, rather than let you problem-solve the prehistoric public transport in this town.”

Awww. That’s so sweet.My heart fluttered at the gesture. This was unexpected. Not that Michael wasn’t attentive, but this was going above and beyond the call of duty of a work colleague turned roommate.

A wave of anxiety swirled in my belly. How long before I was on the road again and looking for my next move? I sighed. “Why are you being so nice to me? It’s like you’ve fallen out of the sky as my guardian angel.”

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