Chapter 19
Summer
Everyone has this false illusion that love is beautiful, that love can conquer all.
Those poor suckers were so wrong.
Because love – true love – was not just beautiful. It was colorful, so bright that it blinded you and made your soul sing. But then, in a flash, it could become ugly – dark and twisted in ways you would never be able to understand because loving someone made you vulnerable for the day they broke your heart. No matter how many times I’d been promised that my heart wouldn’t be broken, men were all the same at the core.
They all promised not to break my heart, and yet, each one did. Even the good guys were heartbreakers because how could a man be trusted with something so fragile and complex?
Liking him made me stupid.
Falling for him made me a fool.
But loving him made me vulnerable, and here I was, yet again, with a broken heart.
Loving someone wasn’t just sunshine and rainbows. Loving someone was darkness and rainstorms.
Because when you truly loved someone, loved every part of them – their perfections along with their flaws – you didn’t just pick the parts you loved. You took on everything about that person because love saw no flaws.
Some days, just a glance from your soulmate would make your heart sing, and the whole world around you would freeze because he was the best thing you ever got to call yours. But then, you had days when just looking at him made your blood boil, and you fleetingly wondered what would happen if you strangled him.
Love was ugly. Love was beautiful. But love couldn’t conquer all. It would either make you or break you.
And he was only breaking me.
By not choosing me over her, he was breaking whatever was left of my battered, worn heart, and if I didn’t guard it soon, I would be left heartless for I had trusted too many men with my fragile heart, and none of them knew just how delicate it really was.
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Colton hesitated to answer my question. His mouth was softly parted, his tongue dry because clearly, he still loved her, and I was just a na?ve, shallow girl that he could kiss and play a sick, twisted game with.
No more.
Taking a step back, my knees trembled, and I stumbled. I quickly regained my footing just as he reached for me.
I wouldn’t let him touch me again. I was weak to his touch, no matter how many times I rebuilt my defenses.
“Don’t,” I warned him, reaching behind my back for the door. I had to get away. I had to protect myself.
“Summer, wait,” he begged, that sexy baritone of his voice making me weak at the knees once more.
God, please give me strength.
Shaking my head, I finally felt the cool handle beneath my searching fingertips. I yanked the door open, but he was there in a flash, caging me in against the door.
“Don’t walk away from me, woman.” His hot breath brushed against my ear. I fought every instinct in my body to melt into him. Instead, I stiffened, clutching the door handle tightly.
“Get away from me.” The words were strangled as they ripped from my throat. He didn’t listen.
“You don’t just stop loving someone, Summer.” His toned chest was hard at my back. I wanted more than anything to turn and trace those hard, sinewy muscles that I knew were beneath his tight shirt.
God, please give me strength, I begged for a second time.
“You don’t kiss girls when you’re engaged either, Colton.” I sneered, fighting against his hold, needing to get away from him before I did something I knew I would regret.
“I’m going to leave her for you, darling. Can’t you just wait for me?”
Was he serious?
I had already waited long enough.
“No,” I snapped. “Now let me go before I scream.”
“Don’t fight me, Summer. You know this thing between us is right. You have to feel it, too,” he whispered. As much as I didn’t want to, I felt myself caving into him.
I stiffened my back, steeling myself. I wouldn’t agree with him because he wouldn’t pick me. Yet again, I wasn’t enough.
“Let go, Colton.” I clenched my teeth to stop myself from saying anything more.
“I’ve fallen for you, darling.”
I squeezed my eyes shut at his words and took a steadying breath. My heartbeat quickened like a lovestruck teenager who had been told she was special for the first time, but I knew better.
Colton was playing me.
Beat him at his own game, I heard Maddi’s voice in my head. I decided that she was right. She was always right when it came to men.
Turning in his arms, I looked up at him, fighting every instinct to knee him in the balls for being a complete and utter dipshit. I smiled sweetly instead.
“Really?” I leaned up on my toes, my nose just about brushing his. His green eyes bore into mine, and I saw relief flicker through them.
“Really, sweetheart.” He dropped his arms, his defenses lowering just enough for me to rear back and slap him across the face.
My hand burned from the sting of hitting his gorgeous face. His jaw was slack as he stared down at me. I could only grin all while anger simmered just below the surface.
“Don’t play with me, Colton, I’m not a toy. I’m a woman, and I deserve better.” Turning on my heel, I sauntered through the doors, fighting back a giggle as I pictured the obvious shock that had been plastered to his face.
Clearly, no one had ever beaten him at his own game before.
Winning sure did feel good.
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Colton POV
She fucking slapped me.
Rubbing the sting away from my jaw, I stared after her. Boy, would I show her what happened when she played dirty.
I should have known better than to get lost in her ocean blue eyes. They were so big and innocent-looking, and those lips had curved up into the sweetest smile, making me need to kiss her again.
I needed to hear her little whimper when I bit down on her plump lip.
She had never been kissed by a man before, never been shown what it was like to be swept off her feet, and I wanted to be that man.
I had to let Shannon go.
But breaking up a four-year relationship just as she had started her chemo sessions really wasn’t high on my bucket list. Cheating on her didn’t make me any better.
The relationship had been loveless for the last year between her constant need to take care of everything to me working every hour possible. I barely saw the woman. We used to spend every night wrapped in each other’s arms, but that had stopped, as had all the fun parts of our relationship.
I couldn’t remember the last time she kissed me. Every time I went to kiss her, she turned her head and gave me her cheek.
Summer, on the other hand, was a needy little thing that wanted my kisses, wanted to be suction-cupped to my body, and God, I loved the feel of her soft curves against mine.
Shannon’s first round of chemo would be done in a few weeks, and the doctors expected her to be in remission. I would break up with her then. I wouldn’t marry her. I would end this stupid engagement and pursue Summer, show her how a real man loved a woman.
I stood outside of her office later that day, trying to build up the courage to stand there. I had waited for the final bell to ring and almost everyone to leave before coming over here.
Twenty-four hours ago, I had been kissing her against the wall until my fiancée had almost walked in on us.
I needed to feel her lips against mine again. I needed a hit of my new, favorite drug.
“Don’t hit me, darling.” She looked up immediately, her cheeks flaming my favorite shade of red. She truly blossomed like a rose every time she saw me.
“Don’t flirt with me.”
“This isn’t a game, you know?” It had started out like that, but along the way, I fell in love with this beauty.
I walked around her desk and turned her chair to face me before leaning forward, placing all my weight on the arms of the chair so it leaned back, and she was forced to look at me. “I don’t see you as a toy.”
“Could have fooled me,” she breathlessly responded, swallowing loudly when I inched closer to her, my nose skimming the soft skin of her jaw.
“I want you to be mine. I need to kiss you every time I see you.” She inhaled sharply. “I’m going to make you mine, Summer. I just need you to wait for me. I can’t end a relationship overnight.”
“Why?” If only she knew.
“That isn’t important.” She scowled at me, still managing to look absolutely breathtaking. “I just need you to promise that you’ll wait for me. Have your fun with Dylan, but when the time is right, you’ll be mine.”
“What if I fall for him?” She closed her eyes on a breathless moan when I nibble the delicate skin of her ear.
“Does he make you feel like this, sweet girl?”
“N-no,” she stuttered.
“Then I don’t see a problem. Promise you’ll wait for me.” I pulled back from her, and she looked up at me, her blue eyes swimming with desire.
“I’ll think about it.” She smiled and winked – fucking winked.
Leaning my head back, I rolled my eyes. She was really going to make me work for her.
She could have it her way – for now. But I would win this little game she wanted to play.
Plus, if I won her over, then the company would be mine one day and that would be the cherry on top – to be financially secure, to have a legacy to uphold. But ultimately, she was the best prize of all.
Looking at her, staring into those beautiful eyes, I became lost in the depths of her pure, innocent beauty. The more I got to know the gorgeous, resilient girl, the more I didn’t care about the company or a secure future. All I wanted to do was repair her broken heart and make it all mine.
Money meant nothing when the right person was standing beside you.
I needed to show her how a real man treated his girl.
I would win this game and claim her as my prize. I would be damned if someone else would even dare to take her from me.
Her heart was mine, whether she knew it or not. Next, I would implement myself in her mind so she only thought of me. Lastly, I would treasure her body – worship it.
Leaning my forehead against hers, I inhaled her sweet, delicate perfume.
Winning wouldn’t be easy, but she was worth it.
She was the forbidden fruit, and I just had to have a bite, consequences be damned. She would be all mine.