Uncontrollable Bachelor (Bachelor Tower Series), стр. 6

“You’re mistaken,” I said in a firm tone.

“Hate to disappoint you again, but she did. Actually, she works for me.”

Betsy never mentioned working for Jace before. Had she been intentionally keeping that from me? Sure, I’ve been out of the country for more than three years and we have a lot to catch up on, but I still didn’t think she’d send me the one man I hate to have dinner with.

“Let me guess, you threatened to fire her if she didn’t let you join us.”

Jace laughed. “I’m not sure we know the same woman. Betsy doesn’t seem like one who’d cave to such a threat.”

He was right, she wouldn’t. That didn’t explain why he was here and she wasn’t. “Well, what happened, then?”

“You might want to ask her when you go bowling tomorrow.”

I can’t believe he even knows that. Not cool, Betsy. “Trust me, we will be discussing this.”

I had two options. I could get up and walk out, even though I was starving, or I could power through dinner and hopefully do more eating than talking.

The waitress approached and handed us our menus. “Did you want to hear the specials today or would you like a minute with the menu?”

I want to be anywhere but here. “I’ll have the stuffed lobster tail.”

Jace said, “Me as well.” We handed the menus back without even opening them. “Now we can talk.”

We can sit here in silence for all I care. But that won’t get me any answers.

I met Betsy at college. That’s a long time to be friends and then pull a stunt like this. I need to know why Jace would use her like this to get to me.

“Jace, why are you here? And don’t say it’s because you were hungry or felt like lobster.” He used to be able to make me laugh so easily. I’m not in the mood for his jokes right now.

“Betsy mentioned she was having dinner with you. I hadn’t seen you in a long time and thought we might…”

“Catch up? Pick up where we were? Because I’m not interested in either.” I could feel the tension rising within me. Jace had a lot of nerve showing up, even if Betsy had agreed. Was he really so clueless as to what he’d done to me?

“All I wanted to do was talk,” he said.

That was more than I wanted. “You’re about twelve years late for talking.”

Jace nodded. “There wasn’t anything I could say back then. Nothing that would’ve made it easier for you.”

My anger was building, and if I wasn’t careful, this sweet kitten would soon show her claws. But I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he still had an effect on me. “We have a few minutes until our dinner arrives.”

It was obvious that Jace wasn’t as comfortable as he had been a moment ago. Deep conversation hadn’t ever been his strong point. Then again, we had found activities that didn’t require a lot of words, except for “Yeah, baby” and “Fuck yes”.

I could feel the heat building between my legs. It’d been too long since I’d been with someone who could make my toes curl, and after all these years, Jace had probably picked up a few new techniques. Not that he needed any.

Damn, I miss that. But there’s no way Jace and I could just go off to a hotel and have a good fuck and it end there. At least not for me. My emotions are tied to the physical attraction. And since I still want Jace now, it means somewhere deep down inside of me, I still care. That pissed me off even more.

“I wasn’t planning on talking about the past, but if you want to --” he started.

“I don’t.” It didn’t matter what he had to say - it wouldn’t mean anything to me twelve years too late.

“I hear you’re a doctor,” he said.

“Yes.” I also didn’t want to spend the time talking about me.

“I had no clue that you wanted to be a pediatrician.”

Neither did I. “People change.”

“Betsy told me you travel all over the world,” he tried.

“Seems Betsy has kept you informed.” I’m going to need to watch what I say to her from now on.

“Actually, today was the first time she’d ever mentioned your name to me.”

That was hard for me to believe. Betsy wasn’t good about keeping her mouth shut. But if that was true, then she might just survive our little talk later. “Why did my name come up now?”

I could see something in his eyes, a slight hesitation. Was he trying to hide something from me? Whatever it was, I didn’t care.

“I believe Betsy was trying to set us up on a…date. She’s not aware that we…know each other already.”

Know each other? You were my first lover. I think that’s more than just knowing someone.

It appeared that Jace had no clue that Betsy and I are best friends. Of course, she never bothered to tell me that she worked for him, either. Might have misjudged you, Betsy. You’re not the bigmouth I thought you were. But definitely an instigator.

“And you didn’t bother to tell her?”

“I saw no point in it. I mean, if you wanted her to know anything about me, I’m sure you would’ve informed her already,” Jace responded. “Does she know about me? About us?”

He wasn’t about to turn the questions back on me. No way. “That doesn’t explain why you accepted her offer. I’m sure you knew that I had no interest in seeing you again.”

“With good reason, too. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want to see you. I’m glad to see that you’re --”

“Happy. Just not as happy as I was before you sat down.” Not sure ‘happy’ truly described me, but my life was full of things I enjoyed. Helping others made me feel fulfilled. I had a purpose in life, a good one. There was nothing between me and happiness. There just seemed to