she’d have known in her heart it was all a farce. And as it stood now, she was looking at certain heartbreak…If she gave in.
Her eyes closed as the weight of the moment settled around her.
Nate wanted her. She wanted friendship.
She didn’t stand a chance. Because deep in her heart she wanted way more than that.
Blinking open, she found the tilt to Nate’s lips evened, the brilliant blue of his stare gone flat and focused behind her. Her stomach tensed—
“What the hell’s going on, Payton?” The question came quiet and accusing from the one person she hadn’t considered through all of this.
“Clint.” She spun to face him, heat prickling her cheeks as she faced the man she’d nearly married. Tall, with a lean but healthy build, Clint was typically a well-ordered man. Tucked in. Buttoned down. Only this evening, all of that perfection seemed to have slipped the slightest degree. “I didn’t know you’d be here tonight. I thought—”
He cut her off with the wave of a hand. “We finished in New York early so I’m back in town.” Through with the pleasantries, he glared down at her. “Do you know what people are saying?”
She bristled at his tone of affront and the disapproving glint in his eyes. He had no right. They’d ended the relationship six months before and she knew for a fact he hadn’t been sitting home alone that whole time. “People are always saying something. It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me, Payton. What they say about you definitely matters to me.”
More to the point, it reflected on him. That was what this was about. What everything was about.
His hands went to his jacket, where he adjusted the hang, checked the button. All the while, his gaze tracked over her head, scanning the room behind her. “What are you even doing with Nate Evans?”
Her fingers tightened around the stem of her glass. “Nate and I are friends.”
Clint’s eyes narrowed. The lines at his mouth pulling down. “No, you aren’t. Brandt hates him, and in the years we’ve been together I can’t remember you exchanging more than a passing hello.”
She opted to let the answer sit. The seconds ticked past as each waited for the other to back down. It wouldn’t be her.
His chin jerked back, his brow furrowed and he reached for her arm. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m sorry. I should have called you so you didn’t find out this way.”
“What are you trying to prove, Payton?” Anger flashed in his eyes as the grip at her elbow tightened; she winced, trying to pull free. “He’s a player. A predator. The last thing you are to Nate Evans is his friend. Mark my words,” he hissed, “you’re nothing more than a f—”
Tension snapped through the air and a wall of solid muscle closed in behind her. “That’s enough, Clint,” Nate cut in, his voice deadly low and serious.
Clint’s hand released her, his eyes widening as she rubbed her arm then seeking hers apologetically for the unrecognized force of his hold. Taking a step back, he smoothed his jacket as a flush of pink tinged his cheekbones.
“Evans, this is a matter I need to settle with Payton. I’d appreciate it if you gave us a few minutes.”
Nate leveled him with an unyielding stare, pulling Payton into his side. “No.”
Clint seemed to gauge the moment, notice the growing attention surrounding them, and shook his head. “Payton, this is a mistake.”
If she gave in, he would be right. Her heart would pay for her body’s wants. But regardless of her personal indecision, publicly she was committed. “It’s my mistake to make.”
He held her stare a moment. His features hardening as he acknowledged with a terse nod.
And then he was gone. Retreating through the crowd, offering arm claps and boisterous laughter by way of damage control as he went. Stopping for only one furtive glance back.
“You okay?” Nate asked, a single vein throbbing in his neck as he ran his big hands gently over the place where Clint had bruised her.
Payton placed her palm at the center of his chest, felt the violent punch of his heart beneath. The tight rein on his fury as he fought for control. “I’m fine. Clint wouldn’t hurt me.”
She took a deep breath as Nate’s arm crossed her back, his hand settling possessively at the flare of her hip. It was obvious and so good and not at all what they’d discussed. “I thought the plan was to keep some distance. Play hard to get with the press?”
Nate peered down at her tucked beneath his arm. Wide brown eyes met his and he felt the pull of them straight through the center of his body. A little too far north of his belt for his comfort, truth be told, but it was there nonetheless. “The plan changed.”
Yeah, like the second that jerk touched her. But in all honesty, things were pretty shaky before that. “Clint just gave us the perfect opportunity to bring this to a head…Tell me to get the hell away from you.”
She jerked out of his hold. “You’re pretend breaking up with me?”
As furious as Clint had made him, he couldn’t help but smile at the indignation in her expression and tone. “No, princess. I’m not pretend breaking up with you. To the contrary, we’re going to have our first public spat. And then I’m hauling you out of here to pretend make up with you.”
The corner of her mouth twitched with the amusement overtaking the tension of a moment ago. “What exactly is involved in pretending to make up?”
He leaned that much closer, absorbing the rising heat from her skin. “Tell me to walk away and you’ll find out.” Her eyes widened, pooling dark at his proximity. Giving into the pull of her so close, Nate brushed his knuckles across her shoulder, over the tiny strap of her black dress. “Tell me to keep my hands to myself before someone realizes what’s going on.”
Her arms crossed as she gave him her shoulder and spoke toward the crowd using one of those hushed tones that sounded convincing but still managed to carry. “You need to stop. Walk away, Nate.”
“Do I?” He let out a gruff laugh followed by a deep sigh, close enough to her ear to stir the fine hairs around it. “Why?”
She shivered. “Someone will notice.”
It was exactly what was happening. More eyes turned their way with every passing second. “Mmm, notice how close I’m standing? How long we’ve been talking? The rapid rise and fall of your chest? Your heightened color suggesting an escalated pulse? Are they going to notice that I want you…or that you want me?”
She spun back to him, face flushed, lips parted with a frustrated plea that flickered between hostility and desire. “Nate…”
He caught her chin in his palm, lowering his face to within an inch of hers. “Let them see. I’m done playing games.”
Turning her cheek into his hand,
