Page 9 of Best Friend's Dirty Ex

She inhales deeply, as if struggling to catch her breath and refuses to meet my gaze as she regains control of herself. “If we're going to work together, you need to control your urges.”

I can tell by the way she squeezes the words out that she doesn't want to say them. But that's okay. I didn't honestly think she'd yield this easily, and I'd much rather play a good game of chase and seduce her. The more work it takes to get her into bed, the more accomplished I'm going to feel in the end.

I take a step back, watching her chest rise and fall. She continues, trying to calm down. I can see her pulse thundering in the side of her neck and see the hollow at the base of her throat bottoming out. Her delicate throat flexes as she swallows hard, and she finally meets my gaze with those pretty brown eyes of hers.

“And I think I should tell you right now, I will never be interested in you that way.” She says the words as if they're a dagger aimed at my heart, but we both know she's lying. She wouldn’t have responded in such a sexy, heated, sultry fashion if she wasn't interested in more. Even now I can smell the heat and dampness of her, and it makes my mouth water.

Her gaze lowers to my lips as if she's thinking along the same line of thoughts. I subtly touch my tongue to my lips and I see her inhale, her gaze darting back to mine. She's hot as hell when she's aroused.

“You can say the words all you want, little one. But we both know they're not true.” She can tell me she's not interested until she's blue in the face, but I absolutely don't want her to think I'm falling for that nonsense.

She crosses her arms, a challenging expression on her face. “That's where you're wrong. They are true. I will never be interested in the person that broke Lyla’s heart.”

And that's where she's wrong; I didn't break Lyla's heart, no matter how she wants to spin that story.

“Did Lyla ever tell you why we divorced?”

The wind seems to escape her sails slightly, and she deflates. “She said you were a dog, you were never there for her, and you cheated on her.”

That's all I need to hear. “It's interesting that if I did all those things to her, why am I the one that filed for a divorce? And if I'm such a dog, why am I still paying alimony?” I take another step closer to her. “I cheated on her. Why wasn't she entitled to half of everything I owned?”

I'm not about to share what actually happened between myself and my ex-wife, but for just a second, I want Everly to be off balance and to think about what she knows and what she’s been told.

Her lips part and the urge to kiss her rises up in me. Instead, I reach my hand out, gently run my thumb along her lower lip, then turn and walk toward the door.

When I glance over my shoulder at her, she's still standing in place, her fingers touching her lips, her eyes wide, as if she can't believe what I just did to her.

I might be a bastard, but I absolutely love the stunned, aroused look in her eyes.

Chapter Five

Everly

Did Lyla ever tell you why we divorced?

It's been a week since we had that conversation, and I haven't been able to get his words out of my head. The fact that he challenged everything I thought I knew about my best friend has me worried that maybe she hasn't been completely honest with me because it doesn't make sense. She told me that he's the one that initiated the divorce, but she didn't tell me he pays alimony, and she certainly never explained why she didn’t get half of everything.

And now, while I'm talking to her on the phone, I'm trying to think of a diplomatic way to bring things up that won't make her suspicious. “Did I tell you that Troy hired me to remodel his office?”

I hear her sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. “You didn't. You turned him down, right?” There's a hopeful note in her voice that has me wondering why she'd want me to turn down a well-paying job.

“I kind of needed the money, so I took it on.” That's not completely true, but I absolutely am not going to turn down a well-paying job. I won't sleep with the guy because she's my friend and I don't want to betray her, but taking his money doesn't seem like a betrayal.

“Oh.” Her short, clipped answer tells me she's unhappy with my response.

I can already tell there's no way she will tell me anything about what happened between them, but his words are still circling my mind like sharks, and I desperately want to know what happened. “So why did you guys split up? Other than the fact that he is a cold bastard.” I say the last line in a humorously flippant voice to ease the confrontational turn of the conversation.

“Why? Are you interested in him?” Her defensive tone surprises me and I inhale, lifting my eyebrows and pressing my hand to my forehead as I sit back in the loveseat and watch the lights in my room shift from white to a pale, calming blue.

“It’s nothing like that. I was just curious.” I know how weak my answer is the second it leaves my lips.

“Don't believe anything he says, okay? The guy is a liar, a cheat, and a jerk.” I hear the bitterness in her voice, and I can't help but wonder what actually happened between them, because it doesn't make sense that he would cheat on her but also be the one filing for divorce. I guess it's possible that maybe they weren't an abusive relationship similar to the one James and I were in. But the difference is James didn't want to let me go. He wanted to cheat on me and have me on the back burner. In my mind, that's the mark of a truly horrible individual, one that doesn't care about you so much. They're willing to use and abuse you while stringing you along and keeping someone else in their bed.

But I know for a fact that he was the one who initiated divorce, because I've heard Lyla chronicle events of him cheating on her, lying to her, and ultimately divorcing her.I don’t know why I never thought to question why before, though.

“I don't doubt that.” I tip my head back and stare up at the ceiling as the calming lights fade from pale blue to a soft purple.

“Then why are you asking?” There's a sharp edge of her voice, and I jolt.

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