Page 61 of Bargaining

I shouldn’t have been so angry. He was right. I’d signed the contract. I should have known I’d be looking around this city alone. He drank his water quietly. Of course he would put the onus on me to make conversation.

“I suppose you’re wondering why I’m hiding from my husband?”

He arched a dark brow. “Not especially.”

Tough luck. You’re going to hear it anyway.“Because he’s an arsehole. He’s such an arsehole it’s literally on his Wikipedia page.”

A wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows. “You know you can’t trust these things. I’m sure it’s not verified.”

“No. I trust it. But I don’t care about him, anyway.” I drained the rest of my limoncello and put the glass down too heavily on the bar. “It doesn’t matter that he’s an arsehole. I only married him for his money. He’s an excessively rich arsehole.”And excessively sexy, but he won’t be hearing that from me. His head is already too big.

He ran his elegant fingers up through the condensation on the side of his glass. “And why do you think he’s an arsehole?”

“Everyone does.”

“Right, but why doyou?”

“I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

His gaze met mine. “Try.”

Fine. If that’s what he wanted. I wasn’t in a good mood tonight. Rome was wonderful, but Cole’s behavior this week and all the walking around in the heat had made me tired and irritable.

I pierced him with a sharp look. “For a start, he brings me here to this beautiful place and then he ignores me and makes me feel like I’m invisible. He hardly ever talks to me. He’d be happy with casual sex but looks physically ill at the idea of any kind of commitment.”

I could have stopped there, but all this shit-talking while he watched me moodily was cathartic, so I sucked in a breath and plowed on.

“He’s rude and patronizing. He acts jealous and possessive even though he couldn’t care less about me. Years ago, he ghosted me and treated me like dirt. I thought I loved him once, but I was just a deluded kid. A long time ago. He’s never cared about me.”

He turned his face away. His clipped, unfeeling voice twisted like ice around my heart. “I’m surprised you married him if he’s that bad.”

“Like I said, he’s very rich, and everything ends. Anything with an end can be endured.”

His voice dripped with icy disdain. “Is that how you feel? Your husband is something to beendured?”

“Yes.”

His disaffected gaze roved over me. “Pity you’re stuck with him. I just hope he’s paying you well.” He pulled his phone from his jacket pocket. “I have to go back to work.”

Of course you do.He turned his back on me and disappeared.

Chapter 29

Cole

“I’ve been here over a week. Where the fuck is Gabe Rivers?”

Theo’s gravelly voice came down the line. “I had it on good authority he’d be there. He must have changed his—”

Crackling filled my ears. I stormed to the other side of the balcony to pick up better reception.

“I can’t hear you. What was that last part?” I barked.

“His football team has had a big win. He’s probably got caught up in the celebrations.”

“Keep me posted on his movements. I need to know exactly when—” Crackling filled my ears again. “Theo? Are you still there?”

The line went dead.For fuck’s sake.The sun beat down. I unfastened the top button of my shirt. It was too early to be this hot. I hadn’t even had an espresso yet. Anger made my nerves raw. I was paying five grand a night for patchy Wi-Fi.