Rowan

“Holy shit. What’s he doing here?” Hannah points to Hunter, who happens to be standing in the middle of my living room.

“Go to my room and get changed,” I tell her. “And clean yourself up. You smell like cheap beer.”

Hannah glares at Hunter before sauntering to my bedroom, disappearing from sight.

“Yeah, Hunter, so what are you doing here?” I ask, arms folded as I keep a careful distance from him.

I was in the midst of applying for another job while simultaneously watching the newest Bridget Jones movie when there was a knock at my door.

Hunter was the last person I expected to see, and while every part of me was screaming to ignore it, to let him stand there and walk away without the privilege of seeing my face, my curiosity overpowered all of that in an instant.

So I opened the door. I let him in. And then Keir showed up.

Hunter slides his hands into his pockets, studying me from where he stands. “I just came to tell you how sorry I am for ending things the way I did.”

I don’t smile, my shoulders stay tense. “That’s it?”

“I came to tell you …” he pulls in a deep breath before his gaze falls to the ground for a moment. My stomach is in a free fall. I need to know where he’s going with this. Hunter’s eyes flick onto mine. “I came to tell you I’m engaged, Rowan.”

The room spins.

“Engaged? You said you didn’t have time to dedicate to a relationship with your campaign coming up. Those were your words, Hunter. That’s what you told me.” My words spew faster and faster as I pace the room. “Were you with someone else the whole time you were with me?”

I stop pacing, searching his eyes for my answer because he’s taking way too damn long to respond.

“No.” His words slice through the air. “Never.”

“Then explain to me how the hell you’re suddenly engaged.” My arms fold across my chest again, tighter.

“Before you, I was with someone else. For a long time,” he says. “We took a break and she went overseas for work, but we always planned to get back together, to get married someday. I never expected to meet you, Rowan. I never expected to fall for you, to feel the way you made me feel.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better about all of this?” I shake my head, refusing to look at him a moment longer.

He moves toward me, but I wish he wouldn’t. He’s the last person I need an ounce of comfort from.

“Rowan.” His hands glide down my arms and he turns me to face him.

I stare over his shoulder, out the window behind him.

“Rowan,” he says my name again. “I’m sorry. I truly cared about you. I did. Still do. That’s why I’m here. Our engagement announcement will be in all the papers tomorrow. I wanted you to hear it from me first. I wanted you to know the truth.”

“The truth? That you’re a goddamned coward?” I brush his hands off of me and step back.

“I won’t argue with that.” Hunter sighs. “The way I ended things … the way I left … it was selfish of me. I own that, Rowan. And I’ll spend the rest of my life regretting the way I handled that, the way I hurt you.”

Spoken like a true politician.

I don’t believe a word of it.

“How have you been?” he changes the subject, his tone softer.

My brows furrow. “We’re not friends. You don’t get to ask me that.”

Hunter lifts a hand in protest. “Fair enough. I just … I heard you were dating again. Keir Montgomery? Is that true?”

I fight like hell not to smile right now.

“Yet another question you don’t get to ask me,” I say, maintaining a steely tone.

Hunter releases a frustrated breath. “You can hate me all you want, Rowan, but I still care for you. I want you to be happy, that’s all.”

“You know what would make me really happy right now?” I ask.

“What?”

“If you turned around and walked out of here and never bothered me again,” I say, nodding toward my door. “I’d be elated. Truly.”

“Don’t date Keir,” Hunter says. Just like that.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. He’s not right for you.”

Lifting a hand to my hip, I say, “Yeah, well you don’t get to make that decision.”

“I know him,” he says. “I’ve known him a long time.”

Rolling my eyes, I glance away, pretending to have grown bored with this conversation.

“He’ll hurt you, Rowan,” Hunter says. “He’ll hurt you a million times worse than I did. I just don’t want that to happen.”

There’s something different in his eyes, the way they squint when he studies me. And his feet are planted, like he could stay here for hours, debating the worthiness of Keir Montgomery.

“He uses everyone. That’s what he does,” he continues, his expression hardened. “He’s not a good person.”

He’s jealous.

That’s it.

“Are you done yet?” I ask, yawning.

My bedroom door swings open, banging against the wall as my sister strides down the hall in a pair of my pajama pants that are four inches too short for her and a faded Wellesley t-shirt.

“He’s still here?” She points at Hunter. I’m about to tell her he’s just leaving when she storms up to him, her finger in his face. “Leave!”

“I’m on my way out,” Hunter says to her, though he looks to me. “I was just telling your sister to be wary of Keir Montgomery.”

“Keir?” Hannah wrinkles her nose. “Keir’s a saint compared to you, asshole. Now leave. Before I call Bob the doorman.”

Hunter gives me a look, though I haven’t a clue what it means. Maybe he’s taking me in one last time? Maybe he’s imagining Keir’s hands in my hair, his fingers exploring places Hunter will never get to experience for the rest of his days.

Either way, it doesn’t matter.

He leaves.

And I collapse onto the sofa, shell shocked.

“I was going to kick him out myself,” I say when Hannah takes the spot beside me.

“Yeah, well you were taking way too long and I can’t stand his face, so …” She’s managed to find an old pint of freezer-burned ice cream, and she’s fixated on scraping the ice crystals off the top with a spoon. “Anyway, enough about that douche. Let’s talk about Keir.”

Rolling my eyes, I say, “Pass.”

Hannah turns to face me, yanking her spoon from her mouth. “Pass? What? What are you talking about?”

“I’m not interested.”

“Are you blind?” she asks. “I’m not being facetious, I’m literally asking if you’re blind because he’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. And he’s nice, Row. And he likes you. A lot. He grilled me about you the whole way here. I think he thought he was going to get some good intel out of me, but I played it cool.”

“Thanks.” I chuckle because I can only imagine the way the conversation went between those two.

“He really wants to get to know you,” she says, digging her spoon into the frozen cream again. “Like on a whole ‘nother level.”

If she only knew …

“I’ve made it perfectly clear to him that I’m not interested in dating anyone right now,” I say. “It’s nothing personal. Besides, I’m a little burnt out on politicians, and he’s from a big political family. No thanks.”

“You can’t judge him based on who his parents are. That’s not fair. You hate it when people do that to us.”

Drawing in a deep breath, I nod. “Fair.”

“Anyway, I don’t see the harm in talking to him, hanging out, seeing where things might lead …”

“He only wants me because he can’t have me,” I say. “The more I play hard to get, the harder he chases me. Bringing you here tonight? Instead of to your own place? He knew what he was doing. And he called me the other night, asking why I didn’t like him. Who does that?”

“Was he drunk?” Hannah’s nose wrinkles.

“Yes,” I say. “Very much so.”

“Oh, okay. Drunk guys. That’s who does that. Let that one go. I bet he doesn’t even remember it.”

“I think it’s sweet that you think he likes me, Han, but I’m telling you, if I flipped a switch and suddenly started fawning all over him, I guarantee I’d never hear from him again,” I say.

“I don’t think so.” She takes another bite.

“Watch,” I say, desperate to prove that I’m right. “For the next week, I’ll throw myself at him. I’ll act like he hung the moon. I’ll slip into girlfriend mode. I’ll make it too easy for him and by day seven, he’ll want nothing to do with me.”

“You’re seriously going to do all that?” Hannah asks, head cocked. “Seems like a lot of work. And what if you’re wrong? What if he genuinely likes you and you end up hurting him?”

Smirking, I shake my head. “I won’t be wrong.”

“So you’re going for it?” Hannah asks.

“Yeah,” I say. “I am.”