Calling the girl over to me, I pointed to the earrings in question. “Do you have these in sapphire?” She looked down at the earrings and shook her head. “Not these exact same ones but I have a similar pair. Follow me.”
We walked over to another case and I saw them. They were the perfect color that matched Brandy’s eyes. “That’s them.” I smiled triumphantly. Kyle looked at me his eyes were laughing even through his stoic face. “Don’t say a word.”
“About what?” He shrugged but knew enough to keep a lid on the whole fake girlfriend thing. “Brandy is gonna love them.”
“I hope so.” I handed over my credit card and she wrapped them in that iconic blue box before putting them in a bag and handing the bag and my card back to me.
“She’s a very lucky girl.”
Tell her that. If anything, I’m the lucky one.
**
We’d decided, well Delia decided, that we should host the AMMA Christmas party at my house. Brandy had helped me decorate and the caterer had been busy setting up the food. It was all set to be a fun night. I just had one thing to do first. Pulling Brandy into my bedroom, I sat her on the bed with a grin. “I got you something.” Handing her the blue bag I noticed the subtle gasp as she realized where it was from just before she started shaking her head.
“It’s too much.” Her voice quivered as she spoke.
“Just open it.” I pushed her hand back waiting with bated breath for her to open the delicate wrapping. Her eyes filled with tears as she opened the box and saw the white gold and sapphire earrings nestled in the velvet.
“Pete—” she started but I cut her off.
“You remember when we started our twenty questions game?” I asked and she nodded. “You asked me what my favorite color was and then called bullshit on my answer. Do you remember what I said?”
She looked at me trying to grab the memory before a tiny gasp left her lips on a hiss. “Sapphire.” Those sapphire eyes of hers mesmerized me. Tears streamed down her face as she shook her head trying to push the box back into my hand. I took it, but instead of closing it, I reached for her cheek, turning her head so that I could place the earring in one ear and then moved to the other.
“These are for you. No matter what happens, I want you to keep them.”
“But, this isn’t real,” she cried standing up and turning her back on me.
“Why? Because it started out that way?” I huffed angrily, standing and prowling toward her. “This is the most real relationship I’ve ever had. I want it to be real.” The last part was a mere whisper as I stood before her practically bearing my soul.
“It can’t be real because once you know the truth you’ll never want me.” Her eyes were cast down and a sob caught in her throat. “How can someone who loves sex as much as you do ever be with someone like me?”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” She wasn’t make a damn bit of sense. What was this really about? I wondered if she’d been hurt before and it made my protective instincts flare. Grabbing her arms in the palms of my hands, I forced her to look at me before crashing my lips down on hers. The kiss was desperate and needy. It felt different than every other kiss, and it felt final. I hated it. I pulled her body in closer, I could taste the salt of her tears. My hands came up cupping both cheeks and I brushed the tears away with my thumbs and leaned my forehead against hers. “How bad can it be? Just tell me.”
“I’m a… I’ve never….” It took a minute for me to understand and my hands dropped to my sides. Brandy took a step back and the hurt in her eyes intensified.
“You mean? How is that possible?” I asked completely dumbfounded. I mean after that first night and what had happened, I figured there was something wrong, but she was a sexy as hell woman in her twenties? How could that be? Shit. That’s what she meant. I was so inside my own head I almost didn’t hear the whispered words or the snick of the door closing behind her. “Goodbye, Pete.”
Chapter Ten
Brandy
I wished that I could leave, but I still had a part to play. I couldn’t let everyone down just because of the clusterfuck my life had become. When Pete said he wanted it to be real between us, my heart had leapt at the words before I remembered that there was still a very big secret between us. We could never have something real. It was obvious by the look on his face when he realized what I was trying to say.
I made my way to the bathroom to attempt to salvage what was left of my make-up. Something glittery caught my eye and I looked at the gorgeous earrings he’d so carefully placed in my ears. They were absolutely stunning and matched my eyes perfectly. Holy shit, why hadn’t I seen it before? No guy said his favorite color was so specific. He’d been talking about my eyes when I thought the only things guys like him noticed on women were their tits and ass. God I felt like such a judgy bitch.
I made quick work of fixing my make-up and went in search of Pete. I needed to apologize. I was such an asshole. I went across to his bedroom first but it was empty so I made my way down the stairs. He wasn’t in the front living room area either, and I found myself staring at the spot where we’d sat on the floor eating Chinese and playing twenty questions. It had been one of the most fun nights I’d ever had with a guy.
A soft giggle came from the kitchen and it filled me with dread. What the hell was going on? My feet felt like I was wearing cement boots and I was sinking fast to the bottom of the ocean. It didn’t stop the scene from unfolding in front of me. Pete was leaning against the wall the pretty caterer had her breasts pushed up against his chest. He was smiling at her. A yelp filled the room and Pete looked over. I guess it had come from me because his eyes widened as he pushed the girl away.
“I thought you’d left.” He winced as soon as he’d said it but it didn’t stop him from moving toward me. My hand flew out to halt his progress, but it didn’t stop him for long.
“Brandy, wait. I can explain. Nothing happened.”
“Not yet, it didn’t happen yet,” I growled at him through my tears that were ruining my freshly applied make-up. “It doesn’t matter. You could never be happy with someone like me. I already told you it was a bad idea.” I turned to leave but he grabbed my arm.
“I was happy with you.” He tried to pull me into a hug but I pushed at his chest.
“That wasn’t real.” I screamed. “Please, just let me go. It wasn’t real.”
“To who? To you? Apparently not, because every second of every minute with you felt real to me.” His hand balled into a fist and flew at the nearby wall. I gasped fleeing from the room on unsteady legs. The roar that followed in my wake was more like a pained cry and the desperation in it broke my heart a little more. I had to go. It was over and no matter how much it killed me to leave him, I knew it was for the best. It had to be.
To be continued… in Addicted Sin City Gym book 2
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More Books by Ember-Raine Winters
Pride and Honor Series (Romantic Suspense)
Beautiful Delusions
Beautiful Sacrifice
Beautiful Confusion (A Pride and Honor Prequel Novella)
Beautiful Deception
Beautiful Surrender
A Beautiful Christmas (A Pride and Honor Novella
Las Vegas Nights Series
There’s Something About Vegas
Vegas, Baby
Viva Las Vegas
Fighting Vegas
Hot Pants Books
DJ Hot Pants
Professor Hot Pants
Daddy Hot Pants Daddy Duet part 1
Bossman Hot Pants Daddy Duet Part 2
Sin City Gym
Exposed
Addicted (Spring 2019)
Speechless (TBD)
Standalone
Christmas for the Byrds (A standalone Novella)
Crazy
Leprechaun’s Kiss
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Screwed: A Sin City Gym Novella Page 4