Page 46 of Some Kinda Romance

I shrugged, arching an eyebrow at her. “So what? Those pictures were nothing, and what they wrote was bullshit.”

“Exactly,” she said emphatically. “I believe you, so why can’t you believe me?”

Practically feeling the exasperation vibrating off her, I stared into those eyes and wondered if I could believe her. Realistically, I could probably have talked things through with her. I could’ve asked what he’d been doing at her place that night if it hadn’t been for a reconciliation and I could’ve asked where they’d gone together so late, but I didn’t want to fall back into anything with her.

Not while her husband was still on the scene and there was a chance they were trying to fix their marriage. It was a marriage, for God’s sake. Not a damn fling. A marriage. I wasn’t the type of guy who fucked with those kinds of vows, so I decided to push her away instead.

Even if I didn’t believe what I was about to say, I didn’t like the way she made me feel. I didn’t want to lose someone I loved the way my mother had lost my father and I definitely didn’t want to risk falling head over heels for someone who was already taken.

“Do you have a reality show coming up or something? Is that why you’re trying to stay relevant? Is it for exposure, or do you just really enjoy the spotlight that much?”

She did a slow double-take, blinking hard. “Excuse me?”

I scoffed. “You heard me. Trying to create a love triangle between us and Ethan has to be about something, and that’s the only reason I can come up with.”

She flinched and my gut burned with hatred at myself for hurting her, but I dug deep and tried to force myself not to care. “I’m not interested in being a way for you to stay in the papers, and honestly, I can’t believe I let you fool me like that. Good luck, Serenity.”

I left her sitting in her office, not about to listen to another word she said. Striding out, I felt like the biggest fool in the world, but I’d done what I had to. Now I just had to work on putting it behind me all over again.

When I arrived back at work, I struggled to focus. The guilt gnawed at the edge of my consciousness at all damn times. A little while later, Lance walked in with a client, and instead of being annoyed that he’d dropped in on me, I welcomed the distraction.

“Dash!” he said, waving a hand for the client to follow him in. “You remember Jennifer, right? From college?”

The woman appeared behind him and I grinned, recognizing her immediately. With her flaming red hair and vibrant green eyes, she was as hot now as she’d been back then. Judging by the wide smile that spread on her lips in response to my own, her personality had also remained unchanged.

“Dash St. Clair,” she said enthusiastically, opening her arms and beckoning me to her for a hug. “It’s good to see you’re as scowly as ever. Come on in. Give an old friend some love.”

I rolled my eyes at her but gave her a quick hug anyway. “What are you doing here, Jen? It’s been ages.”

“Yeah, it has, which is why, as soon as my company started considering venues for our annual brown-nosing the clients festival, I knew we had to use the estate. Gives me an excuse to see you two beautiful boys, at least.”

I chuckled. “Thanks for choosing us.”

She gave me a quick squeeze before she let go and nodded at me. “Of course, babe. Where else would I choose to have a thing like this? It’s the estate. I mean, there’s no better.”

“We should all go out for dinner sometime,” Lance said. “It could be fun, right? How about tonight?”

“Sounds great,” Jennifer replied easily, then checked her watch. “I need to get going, but call me with plans and I’ll see you there.”

“Great. See you tonight, Jenny,” I said, waiting while she said goodbye to Lance and then turning on him once she was gone. “What was that all about? Dinner?”

He shrugged. “Didn’t you hear her? It’s been ages. I figured it was the least we could do. How did it go with Serenity?”

“The way it used to at the beginning,” I said. “Honestly, I’m not even sure why I tried with her.”

“I know why you tried, but I won’t tell you yet. Maybe one day, you’ll stop getting in your own way.”

He said it lightheartedly, so I flipped him off and rolled my eyes as I went back to my desk. “What’s the deal with Jennifer? For real, this time. Are you going to try with her? Who knows? If you play your cards right, you could have some fun together.”

He laughed. “I guess we’ll see at dinner tonight.”

I nodded, not really feeling like going but knowing I needed to. Despite my best efforts, Serenity was all I could think about and I was going to drive myself nuts if I kept obsessing about her. For better or for worse, I’d made my decision about us.

Now all I had to do was stick with it—no matter how miserable I was.