Page 20 of Rival Hearts

“It’s always good to have a support system.”

I nodded. It was great to have my friend close by. And Gabe.

When I thought about him, my stomach twisted with guilt. I hated that I’d lied to him. I hated it even more that I’d slept with his best friend. It just seemed so wrong, and it wasn’t the kind of person I was.

“What’s on your mind?” Victoria asked, noticing my shift in mood.

“I did something I feel terrible about,” I admitted. I could talk to Victoria. She didn’t know Gabe directly, so it wouldn’t come out, but I trusted her.

I took a deep breath and told her about Alex, what happened between us. She listened while I talked.

“I feel so bad,” I said. “I didn’t mean for it to work out this way. I just can’t tell Gabe. He’ll be so angry with me and I just moved to Newport.”

“You should be open with him,” Victoria suggested.

I shook my head. “I can’t do that. Besides, it doesn’t matter, right? I mean, nothing will come of it.”

Victoria hesitated before she spoke again. “I don’t believe that’s entirely true, but I do believe that it only has tomeansomething if you let it.”

That didn’t make me feel much better. I didn’t want what had happened between me and Alex to meannothing. I just… didn’t want it to be somethingbad.

I started telling Victoria about other things, moving away from the topic of Alex because I didn’t know how to put what I felt into words. When our time was up, I stood.

“You just keep fighting,” Victoria said in conclusion. “I know it’s tough, but we’ll get through this together. You can come to me about anything, you know that.”

“I appreciate that,” I said and left her office.

I felt better about my campaign now that I’d talked to her, and the drive back to Newport was a good one. But I hadn’t gotten all the answers I’d needed.

I wished I’d been able to get more answers about Alex. The truth was, I couldn’t tell Victoria how it had been with him. I couldn’t explain to her how real it had felt because it wouldn’t change anything—we were still pitted against each other. More than ever now the press was starting to come after me. Alex was the CEO of one of the biggest yacht manufacturing companies in the country.

It would never work between us. That was aside from the obvious reasons nothing could happen between us again.

When I got home, I felt empty. The conversation with Victoria had been good, and I had the courage to keep going—it turned out that what had been written was proof that it was working. They were trying to scare me off, and I wouldn’t let them.

That didn’t change the fact I felt like something was missing.

I showered, getting rid of the day, and changed into my pajamas before I crawled into bed.

My new apartment settled around me, making noises I wasn’t used to yet, and it wasn’t so easy to fall asleep right away.

I lay in the darkness, listening to the sounds of the night outside and the apartment groaning and breathing as the air cooled and the world quietened down.

Alex flashed in my mind again.

Why did I keep thinking about him?

I knew why, though. He was fun. And interested in me as a person. He hadn’t wanted Candice, the one girleveryguy I knew of always wanted.

There had been so much more to him than just a single-minded asshole who wanted nothing more than a good night between the sheets.

And then there had been the good night between the sheets… God. It had beenincredible.

Was it just because he’d been so good in bed or because of who he was as a person, too?

I liked to think the latter, but I couldn’t let myself think that. If I saw him as an asshole who’d just wanted to get laid, it would make it so much easier to forget about him.

Which, right now, was proving impossible.