Page 48 of Fighting Words

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

I want to squirm on my seat.

“Like you’re hungry.”

He chuckles and looks down, studying his wine glass, but it doesn’t last long. He’s too intrigued by this conversation to let it go.

“You’re not curious?”

“I never said that.”

His gaze flits back up to me. “Interesting.”

“Should I give Oliver a call?”

His jaw ticks, and I smile, feeling like I’ve won. What have I won exactly? I’m not sure. This game feels inappropriate and wrong onsomany levels.

“So there’s a chance you’ll run right back to Andrew?” he asks, barely concealing his sneer.

I shrug one shoulder casually. “That’s the most likely possibility, yes. We’ve been together for a long time. He knows my family. It just fits.”

“‘It just fits’…is that going to be in your vows?”

I scowl at him. “Why do you get to pick apart my relationship? Huh? Why don’t we turn the tables?”

“Because your love life is so much more interesting than mine.”

“You’ve never been in love?”

He reaches for his wine glass and shrugs. “I never said that. But to be clear, this thing you have with Andrew isn’t love.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” I say with an indignant laugh. “God, you’re so arrogant.”

“If it were love, you wouldn’t be here right now. You wouldn’t have accepted an open-ended job in the middle of nowhere, with me.”

I roll my eyes, waving my hand. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

“Out of sight, out of mind,” he retorts.

I scoff. “What a romantic.”

His eyes narrow in challenge. “‘Day by day and night by night we were together. All else has long been forgotten by me.’”

I can’t place the quote.

“Who is that?”

The side of his mouth rises. Those dimples sear. “Whitman.”

“Ah, so youareromantic. I bet that drives women wild. Handsome, rich, mysterious…”

“Who exactly are you referring to?”

“Andhumble, too!”

He laughs and shakes his head, drinking his wine. I swear there’s a faint blush on his cheeks. He really doesn’t see it then.

---