Page 49 of The Bad Wedding Date

She nodded softly. “And I hate that you’ve seen them like that because they’re not who I want you to be. I want you to be the opposite. I want you to be strong enough to handle your business but soft enough to let yourself be vulnerable. That’s the key to happiness, Fraser. Being hard on the outside, but soft on the inside. You think you can remember that for me?”

“Even when you’re sixty.” I grinned.

My heart rate began to slow, and the blurred edges of my vision drifted away when I opened my eyes again.

Keira Scott once demanded that I take control of my anger and not let it rule my life but seeing Matteo Vega in the flesh had been a test I hadn’t been prepared to fail. Failing it in front of Charlotte had been a blow to the ego I’d built up over the years. I thought I’d had this under control. I thought I could remain calm in his presence. All that had gone to shit the moment I saw him looking at Charlotte like she was nothing more than a snack.

Is that the way he’d looked at the other women, too? Right before he’d—

“Have you seen the fucking arms on that guy?” came a familiar voice from the other side of the stall. “He’s like John Rambo or some shit.”

Tristan’s zipper lowered, and then he took a piss loud enough to sound like a small waterfall.

“And she’s all over him like, like…”

“Play it cool, man,” responded another voice—one I wasn’t familiar with. “Bide your time. This is Charlotte we’re talking about. She’s always made men work for her attention like she’s some royal piece of arse that needs wooing before she can serve up even half a smile.”

I turned towards the door as though getting two inches closer would make those gut instincts of mine quieten.

“I don’t even know what the big deal is,” the unknown guy said, his voice deep yet confident. “Half of the bridesmaids out there are lining up to fuck you tonight. What’s so special about Charlotte?”

Tristan laughed, finishing his piss and zipping himself back in. “This, coming from you—the guy who fucked her for two years straight. Come on, Penn. You know she’s magic.”

My hands curled into fists by my sides.

So, that was Penn, her ex.

“Tell me, will you?” Tristan went on. “Just put me out of my misery and tell me she was dynamite between the sheets. It’s the only answer I’ll take from you.”

“I wish I could help you, but I also cheated on her for two years straight. That was for a reason.”

“Whatever. You can tell me she was boring and frigid all you want. I don’t believe you. I’ve seen that look of mischief in her eyes. She’s a dark horse, and I want to ride it until she bucks beneath me.”

Penn laughed. “All right, all right. On the few occasions I managed to remove the stick from her arse, she became a wildcat.”

“I knew it!”

“She had to be drunk to let her inhibitions go, though.”

“Have you seen her tonight? She’s swaying all over the place when she isn’t in the arms of He-Man.” He paused. “Who the fuck is that guy, anyway? Where did she get him from?”

“I don’t know,” Penn said. “He looks serious about her.”

“No way. No way. She deserves better. He looks like he’s serving time in her company.”

“Who can blame him?”

I had to close my eyes to stop myself from tearing the cubicle’s door off at the hinges and throwing it straight at their heads.

“Listen, I’m telling you… you need to get over this obsession with her,” Penn said. “It’s eating away at you. You’re losing your mind, and it isn’t because you want her. It’s because she doesn’t want you! I know that feeling, Tris. I know it because that’s what Charlotte does. She lures you in then makes you feel like you’re not good enough. It fucks with your head.”

“Is that why you cheated on her so much?”

“Damn right. No way I was letting her run the show.”

Tristan groaned, and I heard him smack something. Maybe the mirror. Maybe the wall. “I just want to fuck her once. Just once.”

“Well, unless you’re going to take it without her permission, that’s not gonna—”

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