Page 22 of Ruin Me With Lies

“I’m so,sosorry, I didn’t realize the time,” I lie.“Let me just grab my things and get out of your air.”

I spring up from the bench, but he stops me with two fingers to my shoulder.Just thebaresttouch.Like he’s scorning me.

Understandable.No one wants to be smeared in someone else’s sweat.

If only my body would register it for what it is.Scorn,nota caress.

Instead, it’s going haywire.Twisting in on itself with giddy betrayal.It’s been like this for a long time.My brain hears “Stefano Castello” and everything short-circuits.Turns into a full-blown mental institution.

This is the first time I’ve ever been in his presence.It almost feels like an illusion.Like a lie.A trick of the mind.

But scorn or not, thattouchis very real.

I resist the urge to lean in, breathe him in, touch him…

With my fingertips.

With the tip of my tongue.

“Do—” Stefano tilts his head slightly, a faint crease between his brows.“Do I know you from somewhere?Your eyes...”He shakes his head, as if clearing a thought.“Have we met before?”

The eyes.It’s always the eyes.

“Is that your best pickup line?”I deflect with a mocking smirk.“Unoriginal, don’t you think?”

He steps back, sweeps me up and down, then lets out a dismissive snort.

No words needed.That look said it all.

This is nothing new.I’m an acquired taste, and I know it.Not my fault my selfish, conceited mother didn’t pass down her luscious feminine genes.Where she turns heads, I fade into the background.

But it never bothered me.I’ve neverwantedto turn heads or be seen as sexually appealing right off the bat.It’s kept me hidden.Kept me safe.Shielded me from the unwanted male gaze.

Until now.

Butthisman’s instant dismissal stings.More than I expected.

Feeling inexplicably dejected, I grab my water bottle.“No, we’ve never met before.If we had, only one of us would still be breathing.”

His chuckle is dark, curt, and humorless.“You’ve got a lot of lip for a desperate runaway living onmyproperty and needingmyprotection.”

“You’re right.Forgive my manners.”

With that, I bite the tip of my tongue and walk off.

I’m almost at the door when his voice stops me.“Are you done?”

I stop and glance over my shoulder.Goodness gracious,look at him.Obnoxiously hot in that all-black gym fit.“Pardon?”

“Were you done working out?”

“No, but…” I wave a hand around the empty gym.“It’s restricted hours for me...as you’ve pointed out.”

“It’s fine.You can stay.Carry on.”

With that, he strides off toward Gio, who’s warming up on a treadmill.

Up until two minutes ago, I didn’t know I had an ego.And now?That surprise ego issorelybruised.I feel like a wilted rose, sapped of life and energy.