Chapter 12
Chapter twelve
Kate
Dinner had been strange.
I was still struggling with the whole play-pretend thing. Mostly because every time Tristan’s thumb would skate over my shoulder or he’d stare at me with that intensity in his eyes, I wanted to squirm in my seat.
I swear, if I’d been wearing my smartwatch, the damn thing would’ve given me a “relax reminder” every few seconds.
It was unnerving.
It’d always been so easy to not fall victim to the Tristan-effect. That damn charm of his hadn’t been directed at me. But after tonight, I finally understood why the women he’d spent his limited time with went to the gallows so willingly.
And why I could never be one of them.
“Cat got your tongue?”
Tearing my gaze from the city whirling past my window, I glanced at Tristan. Both hands were on the steering wheel, but those damn dark eyes were trained on me.
“Road’s over there.” I pointed toward the windshield. “Might wanna look that way.”
“I like this view better.”
I could not stop the eye roll. “Seriously? There’s no one here but us, you can drop the act.”
A deep crease formed on his forehead. His lips parted, and I waited for his snarky comeback. Only it never came. Instead, he shook his head and turned his attention to where it belonged.
On the road.
For whatever reason, a sting of disappointment slithered down my spine. A lot like the feeling I’d had when he first arrived at my apartment and saw me but didn’t say a thing.
This couldn’t be right.
There was no freaking way I wanted any of Tristan’s attention.
Was there?
“I think we did a good job tonight.” The low timbre of his voice yanked me from my crazy thoughts.
“Hmm?” Apparently, it’d stolen my ability to form proper words too.
He didn’t notice. Thank goodness for small miracles.
“Mr. Livingston came to me before we left,” he said. “His wife is so crazy about you; they want to have dinner with just the two of us.” His grin was breathtaking. “See, I told you we could do this. I mean, you’re so likeable, and I’m so damn amazing, failure wasn’t in the cards.”
A smile touched my lips. “Careful there, the size of your head is getting a bit too big for this car.”
He laughed. A low, happy rumble that might as well have been a wrecking ball aimed at my chest. Goodness, I really shouldn’t have liked the sound of it so much.
Or enjoyed the feeling it woke inside me.
Desperately needing a distraction, I changed the subject and asked him something that’d been bugging me for a while.
“Why do you want to make partner so badly anyway?”
His chuckle vanished, and that dark stare was back on me. “What?”
I licked my lips and didn’t miss the way his gaze tracked the movement. “Most people do it for the money. Higher positions mean a bigger paycheck. But I know you don’t need it.”
He came from old money. Really, really old money.
He didn’t even have to work. Rumor had it, his trust fund was so large, he could’ve easily bought his own island and lived there for the rest of his life without lifting a finger.
His gaze went to the road again. Those long fingers curled tighter and tighter around the wheel until his knuckles turned white.
I’d struck a nerve.
Shifting my attention to the outside world, I mumbled, “I’m sorry I asked.”
I got a grunt in response.
Yup, definitely hit a nerve.
But instead of deterring me, I only became more curious about the man I’d spent so many years with. There were layers to him. Layers I wanted to peel back one by one until I got to the center of who he truly was.
With that thought, I realized I’d finally lost my damned mind. There’d be no peeling of anything where Tristan was concerned. It didn’t matter what his motivations were or how weak my traitorous knees got when his dark gaze and crooked smile were aimed at me.
It didn’t matter because the one thing—the most important thing—I knew was how incompatible we were.
He didn’t want long term. He was down for a quick fuck and nothing more. Where I, even after everything with Bryce, still wanted the white picket fence life. I wanted to know that when I slept with someone, it meant as much emotionally as it did physically.
That was exactly why it didn’t matter how fast my heart beat or how hard that tug in my belly was when Tristan looked at me.
We’d always want different things.
I needed to remind myself of that every day until this charade was over.
“Here we are,” he announced when the car rolled to a stop. Not a moment too soon. Silence mixed with his musky cologne hadn’t done wonders for my thoughts. I needed a cup of cocoa, Millie’s hugs, and my favorite BTS song.
Unaware of my scattered brain—because really, how could he know—Tristan poked the button to turn off the engine then shot me a quick sideways glance. “Don’t move.”
He was out, rounding the car a few beats later.
I opened my door before he reached me. With all the weirdness going on inside my brain and body, I didn’t want this man doing anything sweet for me.
“I would’ve done that,” he said when I stepped into the night.
I smiled. “You don’t need to. There’s no one here to impress.”
“Not why I wanted to do it.”
For my own sanity, I pretended not to hear him. “Good night, Tristan.”
With that, I headed for my apartment building. I’d taken five steps when I heard the boop-boop of Tristan’s car and three more before he fell into step next to me.
“What are you doing?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed him shove his hands into his pockets. “Walking you to your door.”
I shook my head. “You don’t need—”
“Not up for debate.”
I came to an abrupt halt. Crossing my arms over my chest, I glared at him. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.” He threw my words back at me with a stupid crooked smile. “Now, would you like to give me the death stare a while longer or are you ready to go inside?”
Stubborn asshole would stand there all night to prove his point. And if I weren’t so desperate to get away from him, I would call his bluff. Another night maybe. Unfolding my arms, I headed for my building. Tristan fell into step with me.
Silence stretched between us. It was welcome and comfortable while managing to freak me the hell out at the same time. How could I be on edge and completely at peace in his presence all at once?
“So,” he drawled after a while. “Was tonight okay?”
I stopped in front of the building but instead of going in, I faced him. When our gazes connected, I knew he wasn’t asking about the dinner. He wanted to know whether I was comfortable with the amount of touching and invading of personal space he’d done after our little bathroom incident.
I wasn’t.
But that was on me, not him.
Nothing about the way his hands had skimmed over parts of my skin had been sexual; my traitorous body had simply chosen to interpret it that way.
So I lied, “It was.”
Something delicious and so utterly forbidden sparked in his eyes. Or maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. I didn’t want to find out.
Curling my fingers around the cool metal of the handle, I pushed into my building. And since I couldn’t help myself and just had to sneak a peek at him over my shoulder, I didn’t see the person in front of me.
We collided with a resounding oof.
“I am so sorry,” I said. It took a moment, but when the woman looked up and I realized who she was, my heart almost stopped beating. “Mrs. Humphreys, what are you doing here?”
A smile touched her lips. “Unscheduled visit. It’s my second one this week.”
“Second one?” It was impossible to keep my voice steady.
“Yes.” Mrs. Humphreys nodded. “The first one was two days ago. When you weren’t here, I went to your sister’s place.”
Why hadn’t Izzy mentioned the social worker had stopped by? And more importantly, why was she here? We’d had these unscheduled visits in the beginning, but they became less frequent over the years.
“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this,” she said. “But these visits will have a huge impact on your case.”
Panic rose inside my chest, shoving the air from my lungs and clogging up my throat. “Wha-what do you mean?”
“Well,” Mrs. Humphreys started.
Her mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear a thing past the whooshing inside my ears. I blinked and there were two of her. Why were there two of her? And why the hell wouldn’t my damn lungs work?
The anxiety took over. It drowned out everything else until a warm hand slipped through mine and grounded me.
“...could exploit this since she doesn’t work and will probably argue she can be there for Millie at all times.”
I’d only caught the last part of her sentence, but that’s all I needed. I wasn’t here enough, and Taelyn could and would use it to her advantage.
“Right.” The word barely made it past the grogginess inside my throat.
Pity flashed in Mrs. Humphreys’s eyes, but when her gaze dropped to Tristan’s hand tightly wrapped around mine, that pity turned to curiosity within the space of a breath.
I probably had to introduce them.
“Mrs. Humphreys, this is Tristan. He’s my...” I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t lie. And apparently, I didn’t have to.
Tristan, oozing confidence, held out his hand—the one not holding mine. “Her fiancé.”
What?
My gaze snapped to him so fast, my freaking head spun.
“You’re engaged,” she gushed. “That’s wonderful. I didn’t even know you were seeing someone.”
In the back of my mind, I knew I had to answer her. I just couldn’t stop glaring at my fiancé.
Not that me staring daggers at him fazed him one bit. Oh no. Not this man. Laying it on as thick as ever, he released my hand to wrap his arm around my waist. One tug and I was pressed tight to his side.
I almost choked on air and the delicious smell of his stupid cologne.
“We’ve kept it quiet,” he said smoothly. “We work together and didn’t want to get the rumor mill going. You know how it is, right?” The bastard drew me even closer.
Mrs. Humphreys all but melted into a puddle at his feet. “Aw, this is wonderful.”
You’ve got to be shitting me.
“I’m so happy for you, Kate.” Her smile was way too big and way too bright. With her lovesick gaze flicking between me and Tristan, she leaned in. “This is fantastic. When is the wedding? Oh, I hope it’s soon.”
Giving me a quick, and maybe a little creepy wink, she pulled her purse strap higher over her shoulder and strode away.
I waited until I was certain she couldn’t hear or see us.
“What the hell?” Stepping out of his grasp, I backhanded him in the chest. It was hard and my hand hurt, but I ignored the throbbing and shoved my finger in his face. “What were you thinking? Fiancé. Fucking fiancé.”
I covered my face with my hands and groaned.
“Oh. Kitty Kat’s claws are out again.”
I didn’t have to see it. I heard the damn smile in his voice, and it just infuriated me even more.
“Don’t you Kitty Kat me.” My finger was back in his face. “You told the social worker we’re engaged. What were you—”
A loud gasp replaced the rest of my sentence when Tristan grabbed my hand and, with the speed of freaking light, held my arm behind my back. The move put us so close, my chest grazed his with every furious breath I took.
Ignoring the way my skin buzzed and the heat flooding my veins, I tilted my head to look at him. I’d never felt so small in my life. At five-five, I was by no means short, but even in heels, this man towered over me.
“You done?”
Not trusting myself to speak, I glared some more.
“Engaged is better than dating. Things seem more serious, more permanent.” His face inched closer to mine, and my poor brain short-circuited. “I believe that what were you thinking should really be thank you, Tristan. You’re so smart, Tristan.”
“Fuck you.”
I had no idea where that came from. The words slipped from my mouth completely unchecked. Rolling my lips over my teeth, I prepared to apologize.
He was faster.
Gripping my chin with his free hand, he invaded my space some more. Eyes turning a few shades darker, his gaze flicked to my mouth before rising up to meet mine again. “That can be arranged.”
With that, he pressed his lips against my cheek in a quick chaste kiss then strolled into the night, as if he hadn’t just upended my entire fucking world.