Chapter Two
Paisley
" W hat is his problem?" I mutter, my eyes trained on Ridley as he spots me walking toward him down the path that runs the length of the vineyard, and immediately mutters what looks like a curse. The scowl on his face says everything.
He hates me. I'm just not entirely sure why. If anyone should be pissed here, it's me. He's the one who left the freaking country while I was still asleep in his bed!
Funny how that hasn't stopped me from thinking about him incessantly over the last three years. No matter how many times I try to tell myself that I'm not going to be that girl—that sad, obsessive girl who can't move on—I've been her all along.
Ridley Goodson broke my heart and my stupid brain. A week later, my whole life detonated.
Three years later, the proof of just how deep those fissures still run is staring me in the face. He's back…and seeing him hurts like hell.
Unfortunately for me, in the forty-eight hours I've been here, I've seen him everywhere.
It's like he's making a game of being exactly where I plan to be.
Dinner with Lucy? He's at the bar. A walk around the vineyard?
He's working in the field. Lunch in town?
Guess who strolls his fine ass through the door?
The man is haunting me, and he didn't even have the decency to drop dead first. Rude.
I briefly consider turning around and going the opposite direction, but that scowl on his gorgeous face changes my mind. I didn't do anything wrong. If anyone should run here, it should be him.
I've had three years of pain and heartbreak to forge armor. And what life and loss turned to steel, law school tempered. He can't hurt me now unless I let him, and there's not a chance in hell I'll be letting him. Been there, done that, will not be repeating that mistake.
I lift my chin, shove my hands into my pockets, and keep walking. It feels like I'm wading into battle. The man helps run a vineyard, and he's more intimidating than opposing counsel could ever hope to be.
His scowl slips, dark amusement curving his lips at the corners as he stops directly in the center of the path. Why can't he be normal instead of a giant pain in my ass?
And why does he have to look so damn good? It's really unfair. Life and law school added twenty pounds to my already curvy frame, and Italy added about the same amount of muscle to his. He's even bigger, even more ridiculously sexy, and somehow that smile is just as devilish as it was back then.
My stomach flutters, and I don't even have to check to know my nipples are diamond-hard. He may be the last person I want to see, but my body still remembers him, dammit.
He doesn't even attempt to step out of my way, his big body blocking the entire path. My only options are to speak to him, walk into the vines to avoid him…or plow through him.
Hell will freeze over before I touch him. And it's June in California, so I'm not holding my breath on it freezing anytime soon. Pity, really. He could do with a little frostbite, preferably in his nether regions.
I don't really want to break through the vines like I'm Jill of the Jungle, either. If they were only his, I'd be tempted to do it, but the vineyard belongs to his entire family. I'd rather not mess it up for them just to spite him.
"Excuse me," I snap. I tried being polite to him when I got here. He was a dick, so now, he gets attitude and aggression.
He doesn't say anything, not a single word. He just continues to smirk at me like the little devil on his shoulder has taken the reins. Not that it needed to take them or anything. Oliver swears he's his brother, but Oliver is a saint. This man was forged in the bowels of hell.
Huh. Guess that's how God feels about Lucifer and Raphael.
"Ridley, I'm not in the mood for whatever stalkerish crap you're pulling today. My head hurts," I growl. "Move."
"Stalkerish crap?" One dark brow rises toward his hairline. "You're mighty full of yourself, Dimples. Some of us are working, not following you around like your little acolytes."
"Do not call me that. Just get out of my way and go back to not speaking to me, please." I attempt to step around him, but he moves with me. "Ridley, I'm serious."
"So am I. I'm not fucking stalking you, Paisley."
"Whatever you say. Now, move."
"You in a hurry to go meet someone?" His expression darkens. If I were more delusional than I am, I'd think it was jealousy. "Got some stupid motherfucker waiting to fall at your feet somewhere else on the vineyard?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Right." He laughs without humor. "You're up to the same old tricks, aren't you, Dimples? Who's the sucker you've got your sights set on this time? Jax? Gabe? One of the farmhands?"
"Maybe all of the above," I snap, planting my hands against his hard stomach to shove him out of the way since he won't move on his own. "Wouldn't you like to know who I'm fucking? I'll tell you a little secret. It's not you."
In reality, it's no one. I've never been able to move past him. And believe me, that's pissed me off plenty over the years. I was nothing to him, but he still had too much of my heart. And with everything else…well, I was a little too broken to even try getting over him.
He growls, an unholy, dangerous sound. Instead of me moving him, he moves me. His hands lash around my wrists, yanking me up against him. Before I can even draw breath to tell him not to touch me, he's hauling me off the path toward a storage shed.
"Let me go right now!" I yank against his hold hard enough to send us both stumbling into the side of it. We land with his back against the metal, and my tits crushed to his chest.
Electricity races through my veins, sparking everywhere his body presses to mine.
His breath rasps in my ear as he locks his arms around my waist. "Fuck no," he snaps. "Not until you tell me why the fuck you lied to me."
"About who I'm going to see? Because it's none of your damn business!
" I stare at him, irritation, frustration, and far more desire than I'm willing to admit crashing through my system in a tidal wave.
His hands are on me. I'm in his arms again.
It feels like heaven and hurts like hell at the same time.
Every part of me wants to sink my hands into his overly long hair and kiss him until it stops hurting. But I already know I won't survive that. He'll break me all over again.
"You know damn well that isn't what I mean, Dimples. Why the fuck did you lie to me back then?" He barks another humorless laugh. "Christ, I believed every fucking word from your lying mouth. Was any of it real?"
"I never lied to you," I snap.
"Right." He reaches up, the back of his fingers brushing my cheek and leaving little fires in their wake.
He looks pained—like I hurt him somehow.
But we both know that's a lie. He's the one who ripped my heart out.
He's the one who broke me. "Not a fucking thing you said was true, was it?
And I'm a fucking fool because I still can't stop thinking about you.
Three goddamn years, and I still wake up with your name on my lips. "
I stare up at him, shocked silent. And then cold rage sets in.
"You wake up saying my name?" I ask, incredulous.
"Well, good for you. At least you didn't wake up alone in my bed after giving me your virginity, just to find out from my cousin that I left the country!
" I shove myself out of his arms, wheeling around to glare at him.
"That's how I got to spend the morning after Lucy's wedding. "
He blinks at me like I said something shocking. "What are you talking about?"
"As if you don't know." I bite the inside of my cheek, refusing to cry over that memory again here and now.
This man has had more than enough of my tears.
"I fell for every lie you told me, hook, line, and sinker, and the whole time, I was just a wedding hookup to you.
You didn't even have the balls to tell me the truth or say goodbye.
I had to find out from Haven that you left.
So I don't know what your problem is now, but get over it, Ridley.
I didn't come here for you. I came for Lucy. You can go to hell."
I was delusional to feel even a sliver of excitement when I saw him again in the parking lot the other day.
I should have known better. If I hadn't promised Lucy to stay for Lyra's party, I'd be packing right now because this isn't what I signed up for.
Seeing him again wasn't supposed to hurt like this.
I'm supposed to be strong, confident, and over him. Except…I'm very clearly not over him. And it's been a long damn time since I felt strong and confident.
I turn to storm away, but his voice stops me.
"Paisley, wait."
I hate that I'm still weak for him. I hate that I stop. But I do.
"Is that really what you think? That I just left the country while you were in my bed?"
"No, it isn't what I think," I murmur without turning around. "It's what I know. So do us both a favor and stop acting like I did something to you. We both know you're the one who ran."
He doesn't say anything. It's not like he can anyway.
"You know the worst part, Ridley? I would have ended up in your bed even had you told me the truth. That's how hard I fell for you."
"Paisley, I–"
"Just stay the hell away from me." I shake my head tiredly, wrap my arms around myself, and walk away before he sees the tears rolling down my cheeks.
" H ey. Whoa." Oliver narrows his eyes, his lips pulling down into a worried frown as soon as he opens the door and clocks the look on my face. "You okay, P?"
"Peachy." My quivering bottom lip gives away the lie as soon as I tell it.
He sighs, pulling me into a hug. "Ridley?" he guesses.
I lean my head against his shoulder. "Do you really need a brother, Oliver? Because beaming yours over the head with a shovel and then feeding his pieces to the sharks sounds like a good time to me right now."