Just One Night(83)
deserved? Even after Payton’s Place made the offer, a part of him had still
wanted to believe it was more of a lucky break than a hard-earned reward.
Just like Riley had been more of a perfect fantasy he’d had to release before he
broke it.
But what if he was wrong about that too?
It was time. “Hey, I need to talk to you about something,” Sam said, taking a sip
of his drink and cupping it between his hands as he stared at the bar.
“ ’kay, but hold on. I’ve got a question for you first,” Liam said as he rummaged in
his briefcase.
Sam nearly choked when he saw the magazine Liam pulled out.
Shit. Shit.
The very thing he’d spent the past week and a half trying to avoid, and the weeks
before that trying not to think about, was now a foot away from him. For one
childish moment, he actually contemplated batting it out of Liam’s hands so he
wouldn’t have to see so much as a headline on the latest Stiletto issue.
He’d known Riley would write about him—about them. She’d threatened as much
when she walked out that day, and he’d known he didn’t deserve to ask
otherwise.
But he wasn’t brave enough to read it yet. Hell, he still remembered walking in on
the weepy McKenna women when they’d read one of Julie’s article from the year
before—the one where she’d put her heart on the line for Mitchell. Sam knew
Julie only a fraction as well as he knew Riley, and even that had clawed at his
heart.
This one would rip him apart.
“Put that away,” Sam said, trying to keep his tone joking. “You worried about how
to combat winter weather’s effects on your delicate skin?”
Maybe Liam wouldn’t notice that Sam was about to rip the magazine out of his
hands and either burn it or devour it.
“You read this?” Liam asked.
“Nope.” Was it his imagination, or was Liam studying him more closely than
usual?
“Well, you probably haven’t heard about it, since you haven’t been to a family
dinner in weeks, and you missed Thanksgiving, for God’s sake. Mom couldn’t
even make it to pumpkin pie before she started crying over your absence.”
Dagger. Meet heart.
Liam continued. “But it’s the magazine’s fiftieth-anniversary issue, and all the
writers had to do this personal behind-the-scenes type of story.”
Oh, I know about it all right. In fact, your baby sister propositioned me to sex her
up so she would have something to write about.
“And?”
“Well, Riley’s article was … weird. Alarming, even. But what’s even weirder is that
when I brought it up to my family, they all pretended it wasn’t weird. They’re hiding
something from me.”
Sam’s palms began to sweat. So she’d told the rest of her family. It would explain
the voice mails from Erin. And Josh.
And Meg.
And Kate.
Even Patrick had called from Boston.
Damn it, Riley.
Still, he supposed that was a good sign. They’d still called him instead of showing
up at his door with torture devices.
And nobody had threatened death, so that was a positive.
Except … none of them had been Liam, so she hadn’t told him.
She’d left that to him.
He didn’t know if he was incredibly grateful or disappointed.
“So what did the article say?” Sam hated himself for asking, but maybe it was
better that he hear about it here and now, where Liam’s fist would prevent him
from doing what he wanted more than anything.
Which was going to her.
“Honestly?” Liam asked, flipping through the pages. “It’s got kind of a man-hating
thing going on. Apparently this guy stomped on her heart, but Riley, being Riley,
isn’t heartbroken. She’s pissed. And she let the entire Stiletto readership base
know it.”
Sam tossed back the rest of his drink.
Her heart wasn’t broken?
His chest felt like it was splitting further and further apart every day.
Sam flicked his finger toward the bartender. Another.
“Give me the magazine.”
“What?”
“Give. Me. The. Magazine.”
Liam slid the glossy pages in front of him, and Sam’s eyes went first to the tiny
picture of Riley next to her name, his eyes taking in her perfect, familiar features.
She was smiling here. She hadn’t been smiling when she’d called him on his
bullshit and walked away.
He hadn’t been smiling when he’d let her.
His eyes finally moved up to the bolded headline.
CAUGHT IN A BAD ROMANCE
The anger in the headline surprised him a bit.
Well then. At least she was finally getting it. Good.
But the ache in his throat didn’t feel good. Especially when his eyes skimmed