Page 106 of Twisted Knight

“They’d clash with my dress.”

“Then change the dress.”

“You son of a bitch,” I murmur, then let out a chuckled sigh as I pick up one of the earrings and admire it. The sapphires are a deep blue, haloed by a row of diamonds that are small enough not to overpower the center stones. They’re feminine with the perfect balance of sharpness and softness.

All I can do is shake my head. He can’t seriously think I’ll accept these, can he?

I place the earring back in its case and pick up my cell. Holden picks up on the second ring. There’s a brief moment of background noise before it falls silent.

And then Holden answers with, “You haven’t been talking to me.”

“This is not the way to get me to talk to you.”

“No? Because it seems to have worked.” I can hear the hint of a smile in his tone.

“Holden, I can’t accept these.” I say the words, but my smile remains. He remembered. He thought of me. He sent me something to make a statement.

“What do you mean by ‘these’?”

I roll my eyes. “The sapphires.”

“The sapphires? There were just random sapphires floating around in a box that was delivered to your house?”

“You know what I mean. The earrings.”

“You don’t like them?”

Is that the slightest tinge of hurt in his voice? And why is my reaction to that sound in his voice so very different from when I hear it in Chad’s?

“I didn’t say that. They’re stunning in every sense of the word, but I can’t accept them.”

“There is no accepting, Rowan. They just are. I told you that the first night we met.”

“Things were different then.”

“No, they weren’t.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose and lean against the back of my couch. “You can’t send something like this to me. I’m not a whore who needs to be paid. I’m—”

“I know you didn’t just say that to me.”

“What am I supposed to think? What happened, happened—”

“You mean the sex part.”

I sigh. “Yes, the sex part.”

“How quickly you forget. Should I show you again—”

“Holden. I’m trying to be serious here. Think of how this would look to someone on the outside.”

“When are you going to understand that I don’t care about how things look to anyone? And for the record, I’ve had them for a month.”

“You’re so full of shit.”

“Would you like to see the receipt? The date’s on there. I can screenshot it for you, if you’d like.”

I don’t even know what to say to him. He’s making no sense. These earrings make no sense.