Page 46 of Mateo & Nicole
“No buts. I don’t owe you anything else. And you don’t owe me anything.”
“How dare you,” she seethed.
He stiffened, his own anger returning. He’d given her a chance to apologize, but all she seemed interested in doing was turning the conversation over to him. What did she think this would be? Did she actually believe that he’d take her back with open arms? Because that was what this felt like.
“You seriously want me to believe that you’ve found someone better than me? I mean, I know that I hurt you, but you clearly weren’t over me. Otherwise, you would have been married by now. I bet you anything that you barely know this woman, whoever she is. And soon enough, you’re going to kick her to the curb because she won’t compare to me.”
He leaped to his feet, his hands slamming on the table with enough force to have it shuddering. “You’re right. She’s nothing like you. She’s a hundred times better than you because she would never hurt the person who loves her the way you hurt me.”
Emotion flickered in Caroline’s eyes. Anger, surprise, pain, then triumph. “See? You love me.”
“Ilovedyou,” Mateo emphasized. “I really did. But the second you walked out on me with someone else, that love fizzled out. I don’t love you anymore. And there’s nothing you can do to change that.” He stormed for the door without waiting for her to respond. She’d manipulated an emotional response out of him, and he hated her for it.
It had been a mistake to meet with her. He should have told her to leave the second he’d bumped into her.
Mateo got all the way to his car before he realized he’d left the flowers behind. A groan dragged itself from his lips, and he rested his forehead against the steering wheel. There was no way he’d go back for them. He couldn’t risk seeing her again. And that meant he wasn’t going back to the floral shop either.
Caroline was smart. If she really wanted to corner him, she’d figure out a way to do that. And those flowers were ammunition.
21
Nikki
Nikki couldn’t breathe. Her brain had ceased to communicate with her lungs as it was wholly distracted by what she was staring at. Rubbing her eyes wouldn’t help, no matter how much she wished it could. Her worst fears had come to fruition, and now she was left a hollow shell of herself, not knowing what to do.
She spun from the sight of Mateo and Caroline sitting at a table in the coffee shop where she was supposed to be meeting Caroline in about five minutes. There was no way this wasn’t planned. Caroline must have somehow figured out that Nikki was involved with Mateo. This was Caroline’s way of showing just how superior she was.
Chatter, car engines, and other sounds felt like they were coming from somewhere far away. Her ears weren’t picking up the subtle nuances of the city with all the blood rushing in her head. Heat crawled and seared beneath her skin as she slinked away from the door in desperate search for somewhere to hide. She couldn’t be caught staring. That was what they wanted. And yet she couldn’t just bail, either.
Caroline was a conniving woman who knew how to get what she wanted, and she wanted Nikki’s pain.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Nikki gulped in breath after breath as she leaned against the building in an alleyway. She’d wait for Mateo to leave. She’d have her coffee with Caroline. And then…
Then,what?
It wasn’t like she had anywhere to go. This job at the ranch had been the best option for her. It provided her with a place to stay, food, and even childcare for the most part. There was nowhere else she could have possibly gone to get the deal she had now.
The heat in her face intensified as she considered what would happen if she stayed. She’d have to see Mateo every day. She might even have to witness him with Caroline again. Dread filled her. She couldn’t believe he’d go back to her.
Maybe he hadn’t.
That desperate thought wriggled its way into her heart and took root.
Maybe she’d walked in on something that he had a perfectly reasonable explanation for. That was possible, right?
Nikki wanted to cry. No, she wanted to scream. She wanted to march right back to that coffee shop and confront the two of them—demanding answers.
Okay, no, she didn’t.
A groan burst from her lips, and that sick feeling in her stomach returned. She didn’t have the courage to confront the two of them—at least not together. She didn’t think she’d be able to stand seeing the look of guilt on Mateo’s face as he told her he was sorry but he was still in love with his ex-fiancée.
Nikki covered her face with her hands and focused on her breathing, not caring that people wandered past the alley and gave her strange looks. She’d go into that shop as planned. She’d tell Caroline to crawl back into the hole that she’d clawed herself out of. Then she’d tell Caroline that she’d lost.
Her hands dropped to her sides, and she turned toward the entrance of the alley. Slowly, she crept to the edge, her eyes sweeping along the street in search of Mateo. There was no sign of him. Hesitantly, she emerged from the alleyway and strode toward the coffee shop, stopping at the edge of the large windows that let in all the natural light the shop could ever need.
Immediately, her focus landed on Caroline. She was alone.
Thank goodness.
