Page 76 of Beautiful Enemy

He braces himself on the railing, a warrior guarding his wound.

But the vulnerability was one he endured on purpose. For me.

I don’t know how to respond to that.

But I try.

“My parents split up on my birthday. That’s why I hate it.”Part of it, anyway.

“How old were you?”

“Sixteen.” The muscles in my chest and stomach knot. “But high school was pretty shit even before that.”

I lean over the railing a few paces down from him.

“You want to tell me about it?”

The lights of the harbor are visible from where we’re anchored. Ibiza looks like a fairy island.

But I only half see it, remembering how many birthdays passed without the friendship and love I felt on this one. How many other days, too.

I shake my head. “Today was good. I don’t want to mess with it.”

He’s silent a long time. “I’m not trying to diminish what you experienced. But if you ever think you’re damaged, or broken, or less of yourself because of what happened in those years… you’re not.”

The backs of my eyes burn.

I don’t talk about my life with men. Not my life before or now. Hell, I don’t talk about it with my friends.

Letting him in makes the distance between us feel smaller. I shouldn’t want that, but sometimes I think I’m drifting.

A boat without an anchor.

“You asked me why things were weird between us earlier,” I start. “I saw you in the city with a woman yesterday.”

He shifts off the railing, crossing to me. “You were jealous.”

“It threw me,” I correct when he stops close enough that when I breathe in, I can’t tell him from the ocean.

His eyes dance, his hair lifting in the breeze as his tight lips curve. “You were jealous.”

I exhale an exasperated breath. How is he amused by this?

“Stop—”

“You were jealous. Say it.”

“Why? So you can tell me I can’t have you? Trust me, I’ve already told myself enough times.”

His eyes flare with heat before he banks it again. “She’s Christian’s daughter. He asked me to take her around town as a favor.”

He lets that sink in before continuing.

“The only woman on my mind is a brat who plays in my club. Lives in my house. Is altogether too distracting.”

His confession cuts my protests off at the knees.

My gaze drags down to his shirt hanging open to reveal his firm pecs and abs.

---