Page 44 of Beautiful Enemy

“Raegan.”

She turns, and I soak her in. This time it’s not the way she looks in that dress, though she’s stunning. It’s the expression on her face—hurt and disappointment.

Words always come easily, but now I’m reaching for them. “What happened to your shoes?”

She blinks up at me, ignoring the question. “The woman inside. Your ex, right?” Surprise slams into me, but she continues. “You could’ve brought her. It looked as if she would’ve been more than happy to come with you. Or leave with you.”

My mind races to process her frosty tone, settling on something as fascinating as it is improbable.

Is she jealous?

Raegan Madani? The woman who ruined her career to score a few points on me?

The possibility fucks me up.

We had a truce, but this is something new.

I could tell her it wasn’t what it looked like. That all night I was thinking of having her at my side, not Eva.

“I get that the only reason you hired me was to play your club and make back what I cost you,” she goes on, and her dark eyes are big enough to swallow me whole. “But you do not get to dress me up and drag me here anduseme like this.”

She points at her bare feet, and the red welts have me wincing.

“Dammit. You should’ve told me the shoes didn’t fit.”

She shoves me, hard enough that I stagger. “I shouldn’t have worn them at all! Your stupid favor didn’t involve footwear. I came because I said I would, and I thought maybe you wanted me to come with you. Which is crazy. This is your world. These are your rich, entitled people. Enjoy them.”

I didn’t know I had the ability to hurt this woman. Even Eva, whom I thought I loved, proved to have an icy heart I could never penetrate. But this woman—this girl—who’s so extraordinary on a stage and is so stubborn off it…

It makes me wonder what other good things she hides beneath her tough exterior, pretending she cares for nothing and no one.

“I didn’t know she’d be here,” I say at last. “She left me for Mischa Ivanov. My rival, the man I hate.”

Her eyes widen with disbelief. “Your fiancée left you for the man who killed your parents?”

I nod. “She wanted a different kind of power than I could offer. But I don’t regret her leaving.”

The light from the torches dances along the curved driveway, reflecting in her dark eyes. Emotions collide on her face.

Compassion.

Hurt.

I wish we were alone instead of here at this party.

Fuck it.

I close the distance between us, take her face in my hands.

I invited her tonight because I needed a date, but now it’s not enough. I want more. The surge of adrenaline when I touched her, when we locked gazes, is real.

The pull between us is real.

There’s only one woman I wanted on my arm tonight. And since she left it, she’s been missed.

I have no business saying it because that’s not how we are. Howthisis.

But I need to…

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