Page 25 of Royal Desire

Payne demanding to know why I’m back causes it all to crash down on me. I hate that I can’t control it. Tears fill my eyes in an instant. “Don’t pretend to care about me, Payne. Please. With everything swirling around me, that will do me in.”

“I never claimed to care about you.” His tone is so sharp and detached, it slices through me like a knife. “I said I don’t buy your excuse for coming home. I think there’s another reason you’re here.”

I bite the inside of my lip to control my damn tears. “If you don’t care about me, then why does it matter?”

“Because every time I turn around, there you are. It’s like the universe has thrown you in my fucking face and I can’t escape.”

That’s it.

Tears spill down my cheeks as a result of anger and frustration, but beneath it all is a thick foundation of anguish. This isn’t the Payne I know.

Not my Payne.

I swipe away the emotions streaming down my face and shake my head. “I do not want to go head-to-head with you. I was afraid this would happen if I came back.”

“And here I thought you weren’t afraid of anything. You’ve changed and not for the better.”

The most unhumorous laugh erupts from my lips. “You think I’ve changed? That’s rich coming from you. You never wanted to live here, and you’re back. You never wanted to work for your father, and you’re running his damn company while he rots in prison—as he should. But what really gets me is you spent your entire life doing everything you could to not be like him. Maybe I should ask why you’re here.”

He closes the last bit of distance left between us leaving barely enough room to take a breath. His heat radiates into me right along with the hatred that might as well be tangible.

The hate.

I so get his hate for me.

I was honestly banking on it all those years ago. I needed him to hate me, or else I’d never get over him. And seeing as how he still has me in knots, that proved to be a failed attempt.

I forgot how it felt to be this close to Payne.

Damn.

I’m more pathetic than I thought, because when he growls his next words, my lips part just so I can taste his breath on my tongue. “You’re right and you’re wrong. I have changed. I had no choice. I thought I knew where my life would take me, but you ripped that out from under me. I am a changed man, but that doesn’t mean I’m anything like my fucking father.”

I stand my ground purely because this will probably be the last time in my life I’ll be this close to him. I want to savor it, even if my last memory will be incensed smoldering tension from Payne Deacon.

I lick my lips and let my eyes wander down his body. I take my time and wish I could touch him, but there’s no way I’ll allow myself the privilege. When I work my way up his wide chest, corded neck, square jaw, and finally land on his whiskey eyes, I shoot him a fraction of a smile. I don’t mean what I say, but I need him to leave me be. “Spoiler alert—if it walks like it, talks like it, and looks like it, then that’s it. You are your father.”

Rage rolls off him in waves as his jaw tenses, and a muscle jumps in his cheek. “I’ll find out why you’re back. It won’t take me long. Despite the last decade plus some, I know you, Ruby. I hate it, but I do.”

I used to love it that he knew me almost better than myself, but not anymore. No one knows why I’m here but Grandma, and she proved she can keep a secret.

“Good luck.” Payne will never find out why I’m really back if I can help it.

This time, it’s his turn to drag his gaze over my face. My skin warms when his gaze wanders down to my breasts that are still sitting high and tight in my red dress. A smile tugs at his lips, but it’s sly and scares me. “I don’t need luck, Ruby. I’m that good. If anyone is intimately familiar with that, it’s you.”

I suck in a shallow breath of air.

He doesn’t stop there. “And because I know you’re wondering, I’m not just good anymore. I’m a fucking beast. Brace, baby. I’m going to get to the bottom of what’s going on with you for the sheer fact you don’t want me to.”

Oh, he did not call me baby.

I wish I had a comeback, but his endearment—no matter how nasty it sounds—wipes the snark right out of me.

I fold my arms across my breasts because my damn nipples don’t give a shit that Payne has turned into a grade-A asshole. They only care about his proximity after all these years. I shift to the side and take a step back. “She’ll be fine, by the way.”

The spot between Payne’s brows crinkles.

I hike a brow. “My grandma ... Alice? Remember her? She’s the reason we’re here, and the so-called reason you stayed.”