Free The Bluffing Game by Verona Vale Page B

longer second, but still broke contact. “What do you mean?”
    “I don’t know. I feel like there’s something you’re not saying.”
    He shook his head. “Not that I can think of.”
    “How are the dogs?”
    “Good.”
    “How’s your sister?”
    “Great.”
    I couldn’t stand the formality. “You seem down.”
    He put the menu back on the table. “I’m just waiting for a shoe to drop.”
    What did he mean by that? “Are you expecting me to drop one?”
    “Don’t you want me here to listen? That’s all I’m trying to do.”
    His defensiveness made me suddenly defensive too. “Listen to my sob story about losing a billionaire crush? I think I’m done sobbing about it.”
    “All right, then why am I here?”
    “I don’t know, why are you?”
    “Because you asked me to lunch.”
    “And isn’t that enough? Isn’t it fine to just have lunch with me?”
    “Sure. Lunch is fine.”
    “Then let’s eat.”
    “Fine.”
    We looked at our menus. Nothing looked appealing.
    I put mind down. “Nick, I just need some human comfort. I just want to have a fun lunch with a dear friend. Is that so hard?”
    “No, that sounds great.”
    “Then why are we snapping at each other?”
    “I wish I knew. I just wasn’t expecting this lunch to be a whole lot of fun.”
    “Then why did you agree to come? You don’t owe it to me.”
    “How could I say no, when you were so upset?”
    “Well if you don’t want to be here, leave. I’ll call someone else.”
    “I want to be here now, I just didn’t want to before.”
    “I get it. You didn’t want to hear me vent.”
    His eyes flicked to mine, flicked away. “No, it’s because I thought you might try to make it more than that.”
    I crossed my arms. “Really. You thought that.”
    “You seemed desperate last night.”
    “I am desperate. But that doesn’t mean I want to ruin our relationship by trying to resurrect the past.”
    “So you’re not trying to imply anything when you complain about how your house feels so empty? You’d genuinely agree with me that it would be a bad idea if I came over tonight and made it feel less so?”
    That was brutal, but I understood his need to hear me say it. I looked away from him. “It would feel like heaven. And then I would regret it in the morning.”
    “Yes, you would. Which is why it’s a bad idea.”
    I still couldn’t look at him, even though he wouldn’t hold eye contact. “I know.”
    “Then we agree.”
    “Yes. But I don’t know why you had to describe it so temptingly.” I knew why he did, but I thought he still deserved to be called out on it.
    “Look,” he said, “this is what I didn’t want to deal with. It’s just so much easier when we only talk on the phone. Seeing you in person is just… too much.”
    Well, if things were already not going smoothly, I might as well throw in the towel and be honest.
    “Because you’re still attracted to me,” I said, looking at him now.
    “That surprises you?”
    “No, it doesn’t surprise me. I just thought we had a different understanding.”
    “We did.”
    God, it was pulling teeth getting him to say things out loud. “Are you saying it’s not working?”
    “I thought it was. Until yesterday.”
    “Why was yesterday so different?”
    “You called me after a breakup.”
    “It wasn’t a breakup. It was a fling.”
    “You made it sound like a breakup.”
    “It felt like one.”
    “Then call it breakup. Why argue semantics?”
    “I’m an attorney. Just doing my job.”
    “Very funny.”
    A moment passed.
    I said, “I’m just trying to sort things out.”
    “And I’m saying things never needed quite so much sorting before.”
    “Sometimes things change.”
    “My point exactly.”
    I felt like we were talking in circles. “And why is that a problem?”
    “I wasn’t sure how much things might change. And I didn’t want to get convinced into doing anything I might regret. Or that you might.”
    He looked at my eyes now.