Page 16 of His Scarlette Obsession

And...so do I.

Because I can’t believe I just said that.

But...it’s just...Vaughn...I mean...

“You’rein love.”

The way he stresses the last two words makes me want to bristle for some reason, and that’s never happened to me before either. I used to adore everything Vaughn says and does. So why does everything feel so different now?

I lift my chin. “Yes, Vaughn. I’m in love, and that’s why we’re getting married in three weeks—”

“Three weeks?”Vaughn’s voice rises enough that several heads turn our way. He lowers it again. “Scar, that’s insane. You can’t marry someone you just met.”

Wait a minute.

The sharpness of his tone makes me look at him. Like,reallylook at him, and I can’t help but wonder.

Is Vaughn actually...jealous?

But that’s not possible.

Is it?

I mean, he’s always been there for me, but he’s never beenintome.

Never.

In fact, I can’t even count the number of times he’s indirectly but oh-so-politely let me know this, with how he always emphasizes what a goodfriendI am to him, or how I’m like the babysisterhe doesn’t have but didn’t knew he wanted.

“You need to think this through,” Vaughn insists.

“I already have—”

“Clearly not enough,” Vaughn derides, “if you still insist on marrying him.”

“I’mnotinsisting—”

“Lykan Qahiri—”

“It’s actuallySheikhLykan—”

Vaughn gives me the evil eye.

“But you can call him Lykan, too, because we’re all going to be friends.”

“He’s from a different world, Scar.”

“You make him sound like an alien,” I protest.

“He might as well be,” Vaughn snaps. “Men like him see themselves as above the law. They see something they want, they take it. No matter what.”

Don’t look away, Scar.

Because what Vaughn just said is pretty much my so-called love story with Lykan Qahiri in a nutshell. He came, he saw, he blackmailed.

“I know what I’m doing.”Really.

Vaughn opens his mouth to argue, but the bell over the bakery door chimes, and the words die on his lips.