22

                                    

                                          
☆
T A T I A
22 | love me
"You're overthinking. She doesn't hate you," I reassure Reece once we get into the elevator of the hotel.
He has a sulking expression on him which gets reflected on the polished elevator walls. His hands are buried in his pockets and he has his jaw clenched as if he has just lost a match with a fierce rival.
"She told me that if she passed away and ended up seeing me, she'd be pretty certain she'd taken a wrong turn somewhere," he grumbles dryly.
I giggle, failing to keep quiet once the memory of that replays in my mind.
Lizzie blew up on him and Ryan after the family picture incident which had the entire party rolling in laughter. The media will even publish the picture tomorrow from what I heard from whispers. I had to drag Reece into the car before Lizzie showered more of her wrath on him.
"Oh yeah...that was mean..." I choke between spills of laughter. "Lizzie is fantastic."
Reece gives me a squinty-eyed look. "Whose side are you on?"
I punch his hard bicep, licking my lips when his immense strength hurts my knuckles. This man knows how to stay fit. He must be ashamed of my lack of care. "C'mon, dude. Men are on one side and sisterhood is on the other. Unfortunately for you, sisterhood triumphs."
"You women are so mean."
"As if men leave us with any other choice."
He draws a step back, surprise crossing his face while he lays a hand on his chest. "I'm not mean to you."
"You are!" I persist.
He seems to mull over my response before sighing in reluctant agreement, "Just a little."
I grin, patting his cheek.
"Good boy," I coo in a seductive voice, leaning closer to erase the distance between us. "I like a man who accepts his mistakes."
He whips his head towards me, his eyes flaring as if he has seen something incomprehensible for the first time. One of his hands reaches out, slamming on the elevator buttons and bringing the vehicle to a screeching halt.
I stumble, gathering my balance and staring at him with wide-open eyes. "What's wrong?"
He grabs my arms, pinning me to an elevator wall, the holding rail digging into my body as his grip tightens on me. He gazes at me with so much possessiveness that my body feels the touch of him everywhere. The air in the small space we are enclosed in thickens—the tension rising to a boiling point.
"You," he states, voice raspily low. "You are wrong."
"What?"
He draws nearer, brushing his nose against mine, the silent gasps of breath escaping us making me warm all over.
"You're so fucking right for me that you feel wrong," he whispers, skidding my heartbeats to a second's halt. "You can't be true."
With parted lips, I glance up at him, unable to stop staring as the charge of sexual tension between us intensifies.
"Reece..." I say his name, barely audible to myself.
"Are you here to break my heart?" he asks abruptly.
I revert my thoughts, an ice-cold sensation gripping me in the face of his unexpected question.
"No," I respond firmly.