Page 4 of Point of Contention

“Rylan.” His tone cut my sentence short and injected my spine with cold steel. “We arenotengaged.”

I swallowed hard, the sound audible in the quiet elevator.

He stepped toward me and slid his hand around the back of my neck, sending that familiar wave of heat through my veins, then paused and reached out to press the redstopbutton. The elevator clanked and complained as it came to a stop halfway between the fifth and fourth floors, making my stomach swoop unnervingly.

Cabot looked into my eyes, his deep blues so intense I forgot how to breathe. “When I propose, it will be onmyterms.Ourterms. Do you understand me?”

My mouth went dry.

Did he just saywhen?

But that meant… did heplanto do that someday?

My head grew light and my stomach dropped. So much had happened in the last forty-eight hours. When was the last time I ate? I couldn’t remember. Bile burned in my throat.

A rush of saliva drenched the desert that was once my mouth.Oh god.I couldn’t swallow with the way he had my head tilted back.

My face twisted as a wave of nausea burned through me.

“Rylan, say something.” His gaze flicked around my face, eyes widening with concern. “You’re white as a sheet.” He loosened his grip around the back of my neck and I swallowed hard, then said, “I don’t want to get married.”

Brows furrowing, he searched my gaze. “To me?”

An unnerving sense of weightlessness crept into my limbs before I could answer him, then encroaching blackness blurred the edges of my vision. The adrenaline of the morning was gone, leaving me nauseous and weak as everything sank in. Completely spent. My stomach rolled.Oh shit.“Cabot,” I said, the word choked. “I think I’m going to throw up.”

“Christ.” He released me and released thestopbutton, then punched the button for the fourth floor.

As the elevator resumed its descent, he pulled me close to his body, then the doors opened and he whisked me off the elevator into a hub of chaos. I didn’t have time—or clear vision—to focus on anyone as we passed, my mind distantly registering rows of cubicles and a multitude of voices that hushed as we strode quickly down the hall. He held me close, stabilizing me even as my legs grew weak and nausea made my steps falter on more than one occasion.

Then we were in a brightly lit restroom, and Cabot barked at people to leave as he slammed his palm against door after door until one of them swung open. He moved me into the stall quickly and stood behind me, his body curving around mine as he wrapped one arm around my waist to steady me and reached up to gather my hair with his other hand.

And then I vomited in front of Cabot Reed.

Because apparently things actuallycouldget worse.

Chapter Two

Cabot

Rylan hadn’t said a word since we left Reed Enterprises, hadn’t touched me since I carried her out of the woman’s restroom on the fourth floor and down to ground level. She’d hidden her face in my chest as my security team led us through the media circus that was now camped outside Reed Tower and growing by the second, but once inside the town car, she’d pulled out of my arms and curled up on the opposite side of the seat with her back to me.

It was only a foot and a half, maybe slightly more, that separated us, but as each moment ticked by, those eighteen inches could have been the goddamn Grand Canyon for how far away from her I felt. Every inch of that distance was a corporeal ache in my bones.

She didn’t seek comfort in me.

Didn’t need me.

And she didn’t want to marry me.

A month ago, this information wouldn’t have bothered me one bit. Hell, it shouldn’t have bothered me now. But her admission had twisted something inside me. I’d been shocked to hear her say the words, but even more shocked by my reaction.

Because it fuckinghurt.

I clenched my hands into fists atop my thighs, desperate to reach for her and a breath away from losing the battle. But every minute of my life since Rylan entered it had been a test to my self-control; why should today be any different?

She was in shock, had already been through hell the last few days, and I’d thrown her to the goddamn wolves this morning. As soon as the pictures of us were leaked, I should have ferried her away, protected her from the aftermath of such a story, kept her safe and satisfied until the news died down and someone else was in the spotlight.

Because I should have known my father would pull something like this.