About That Night by Beth Andrews Read Free Book Online

dating him.
    Lucky woman.
    “Right. So, anyway, we’re going skiing in Colorado,” Andrew said. “Have you ever been?”
    “The only places I’ve been are Pittsburgh and Erie.”
    He shook his head. “I meant have you ever been skiing?”
    “No.”
    “It’s fun.” He took his hands out of his pockets. Put them back in again. “Maybe we could go together sometime. I could teach you.”
    “Why would you want to do that? And why on earth would you think I’d ever agree to it?”
    Color swept up his neck and into his cheeks. She refused to feel bad about it.
    Not after what he’d done.
    He shrugged. Dropped his gaze. “I thought maybe we could, you know...start hanging out again. Like before.”
    She went cold all over, a deep freeze that chilled her to the bone. She couldn’t breathe through it, couldn’t move for fear that she’d shatter into a million pieces.
    “You want to hang out?” she managed to say through stiff lips. “Like before? God, you must think I’m an idiot.”
    She turned, but he caught her arm. “No! No,” he repeated, more softly this time as he glanced around. “Not like that. I just meant...you know. As friends.”
    “I don’t want to be your friend.” Her voice was even. Dismissive. A miracle as there was a scream building inside her, one she was terrified would escape if she didn’t get away from him. “I thought I made that clear the last time we spoke.”
    He flinched and dropped her arm. “Sorry. I thought...” He sighed. Ran his hand through his hair, leaving it all messy and, yes, sexy. “I thought maybe you’d have forgiven me by now.”
    She clamped her teeth together to hold back the ugly words in her throat. She didn’t owe him anything. Refused to justify her feelings or explain her thoughts.
    “Andrew,” the blonde girl called. “Come here. I want you to meet my uncle.”
    He gestured he’d be a minute, then turned back to Gracie. “I, uh, guess I’ll see you in school.”
    She didn’t respond. Just walked away.
    Of course they’d see each other. She could hardly avoid it in a school the size of Shady Grove High, especially as they shared a few classes.
    But she wouldn’t acknowledge him. Wouldn’t make eye contact or speak to him.
    I thought maybe you’d have forgiven me by now.
    Her fingers curled, her nails digging into her palms. She’d already forgiven him for pretending to like her, sleeping with her and then treating her like dirt. She’d had to. Hating him hadn’t made her feel better. Hadn’t stopped the pain or the tears that had come when she’d thought about how stupid she’d been. How gullible.
    In the weeks after his betrayal, she’d spent countless hours imagining ways she could exact her revenge. Things she could do or say to humiliate him. To hurt him.
    The way he’d hurt her.
    But being angry at him had only given him even more power over her—over her thoughts and feelings. So she’d forgiven him and moved on. But she hadn’t forgotten.
    And she never would.

CHAPTER THREE
    I VY HAD THOUGHT about the cowboy all night, like some hormonal teenager in the throes of her first crush. Or a stalker with a new obsession.
    She jabbed the elevator’s button with her knuckle, tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for it to arrive. Worse than thinking about him? She’d sought him out. Had caught herself scanning the ballroom, the bar—even the hallway for God’s sake—more than a few times, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
    There had been plenty of good-looking men there tonight, an abundance of pretty faces for a woman to ogle, but had she stared at any of the Montesano brothers—a trifecta of dark-haired, dark-eyed, handsome men? Or taken a few minutes to appreciate the beauty that was Kane Bartasavich, with his long hair and that hint of danger in his sexy grin?
    No and no. She’d skimmed her gaze right over all of them in search of one green-eyed cowboy.
    Yeehaw.
    The elevator doors opened and she stepped inside.