"First, shut your face. If you want to talk shit about Boone, you're not gonna do it around me. I've thrown men three times your size out of my bar, and I guarantee I'll have no problem kicking your skinny little ass. Second, Boone didn't want you because you're a cheating whore on top of being a self-righteous bitch. So, chew on that, Amber. If you ever think you're getting him back, you're sadly mistaken. He's too damn smart to fall for your game again, and you'd have to do it over my dead body."
Her mouth drops open, making me wonder if this is the first time someone has given her an ass-ripping using her own brand of meanness.
"You don't know shit about shit, girl. You won't make it in this business. You're a joke."
"I'm not the one who cheated on my boyfriend and married another guy in Vegas. That was all you, Amber. By the way, thank you for fucking it up so royally that he fell in love with me."
The elevator doors open and I step out, but she's right on my heels.
"He doesn't love you! He still loves me. I know it."
"Is that why he left the engagement ring he was going to use to propose to you as a tip at the bar the night he found out what you did?"
Her eyes nearly bulge out of her head.
"What?" Her screech fills the lobby of the building.
"You lost the best thing that ever happened to you, but you better believe I'm a hell of a lot smarter. All you had to do was treat him right, and Boone would have been yours. Now he's mine, and I'm not giving him up."
I spin on my heel and make the exit of a lifetime, set to the sound of Amber Fleet's meltdown.
When I step out onto the sidewalk, the truth about what I said hits me.
I'm not giving him up . . . because I'm in love with him.
36
Boone
I come home to an empty house around one o'clock. My radio interview ran over because I got sucked into telling them about the album I'm writing and how I've never had song lyrics rolling through my brain nonstop like this. There were a lot of questions about the tone of the album, but I deflected and told them they'd have to wait and see.
The note I left Ripley this morning on my pillow has been moved to the counter, and under what I wrote, she added a response.
* * *
Going to meet with Holly at 11 a.m.
* * *
My lips stretch with a smile.
That's my girl.
I'm lifting a piece of fried chicken out of the bucket when the door from the garage opens and shuts. I wait for Anthony to call out that he came inside to get some lunch, but instead Ripley blows into the house like a tornado.
"I don't care what that bitch says, you're never going to be dumb enough or desperate enough to get back together with her. Over my dead body." Ripley slaps a silver envelope onto the kitchen island with a decisive smack. "She can scream and cry and rant all she wants, but you see right through her now, don't you?"
Ripley's chest is heaving, and when she puts her hands on her hips, I recognize a woman on the warpath. I choose my words wisely.
"Sugar, what are you talking about?"
"Amber! She showed up at Homegrown after my appointment, screeching at the receptionist about wanting to meet with Holly, and then she turns her venom in my direction. I told her she was barking up the wrong tree if she thinks she's ever getting back with you because . . . You. Are. Mine." She punctuates each of her last three words with a slap of her hand on the island. "So I'm sorry if I overstepped, but I had to put it in terms she'd understand."
I drop the chicken into the bucket and come toward her. "Is that right?"
"Yeah, that's right. There was more, but I'm not wasting another minute thinking about that woman."
I crowd Ripley against the counter and meet her thunderous gray gaze. "I agree. I'd rather talk about your meeting with Holly."
"Before we get to that, you need to tell me what the hell you did with my car."
I lean in because her lips are dying to be kissed. I nip at the bottom one. "I stole it."
Ripley's hands flatten against my chest. "We already covered that fact."
"That's all I'm telling you for now. Drive the BMW until I tell you otherwise."
With a shove, she pushes me a step back. "You know Holly and I talked about what it's like to be with a guy who thinks he can do whatever he damn well pleases."
I use the distance she put between us to grab her hips and lift her onto the island. "Oh yeah? What else?" I tug at her lip again with my teeth, and Ripley's fingertips dig into my shoulders as she presses against me.
"You're distracting me."
"Welcome to my world, sugar. You distract me just by breathing. And now you're all riled up, the only thing I can think about is feeling that fire beneath me."