Page 118 of Rock Giant

They rode the lift standing in opposite corners.Two levels down, their shared room was a mirror of Rock Giants.Smaller, and with a single double instead of two side by side, and no egg chair or balcony.Nash went straight into the bathroom and locked the door.He came out again five minutes later, freshly showered, his lithe body wrapped up in three bath sheets.

She turned away from the window to face him, her nails now chewed to the quicks.

Ignoring her, Nash crossed to where their suitcases sat side-by-side on the luggage stand and began rummaging in his for fresh clothes.

Every layer he pulled on felt like an additional barrier being erected between them.

Usually, he took pains to iron out the natural curl that caused his dark hair to form uneven waves, but having rubbed it over with a towel, he didn’t even pull a brush through it before perching on the end of the bed to lace up his boots.

“Where are you going?”

Silence.

“We should talk about—”

He gave a huff through his nose.“Not sure what we’d say.I thought we were happy.I thought we had something.I really did, but since he turned up, it’s like you’re somebody else.I’m not sure I know who you are anymore.”

She could have levelled similar accusations at him.He’d changed, too, or maybe she was seeing him more clearly than she previously had.

“You can have the room.”

“Where are you going?”

He gave another snort.Okay, as if she needed to ask.Back to Balin’s room most likely.

“Nash, stay.”

He shook his head, while sucking on his teeth.“Nah.I can’t do this now, Jo.I need to...”

“What?”He needed to what?

He raked a hand down his pretty face.“Process.I need to fucking process what it means that my fiancée comes… You know what, it doesn’t matter.”Right by the door, he swung back around.“You fucking came, Jo.You came for him.Just like that.No effort.No nothing.And...fireworks.”

That was what had him rattled?

“I told you; we’d been together before.”

“Right.And I’m supposed to believe that he fucked you once in the murky days of your past, and that makes him the authority on what it takes to get you there.Nah.Nah, I don’t think so.”

“God, Nash, it’s not like it’s never happened with you.”

Maybe it would’ve been wiser to hold her tongue, because clearly, she’d said the wrong thing.

He took a hike straight out of the door, leaving her behind in the sterile, impersonal silence of their suite.

CHAPTER 33

Paul “Rock Giant” Reed

Paul kept waiting, expectantly listening for the tap of her knuckles against the door signalling Jodi’s return to him.It was long past dawn when his faith in that happening finally collapsed.She wasn’t coming.She was never coming.

He’d played his hand, given it everything, and he’d fucking lost.All that remained now was the lingering trace of her scent on his skin, and her fingerprints on the tabletop.The threads of fate hadn’t led them towards the happily ever after he’d seen written in the stars.

Now all that lay ahead for him were endless nights of loneliness, because getting it wrong didn’t undo anything.He’d still made those vows.Sacred vows.They didn’t unravel because she’d rejected him and set him free of his promises.That wasn’t how it worked.Forever meant forever, not until you didn’t feel like it anymore or somebody gave you an excuse to fail.

In any case, his feelings hadn’t changed.They were constant.Nope, the swinging pendulum in this relationship was Jodi.He’d thought when she’d let him inside of her...Well, he’d thought that meant acceptance.Fool him.

Christ!Fuckduster couldn’t even get her there, and he sure as hell wasn’t interested in her as anything more than a trophy he’d won.