Category:

Suddenly, my dress is too small. Too noticeable. I'm worried that the stick-on bra cups I'm wearing are going to peel off from all this sweat and plop down on the floor between my legs like I birthed them. Is red even my lip color? This was supposed to be my power outfit. My Trojan horse. If I looked hot and powerful, I'd feel hot and powerful inside. It's not working, though, so I have no choice but to fake it.

I shoot out an invisible SOS to all the boss babes of the world and beg them to telepathically send me their strength. When Ryan's mouth tips into a smirk, I don't smile. When his dark eyes skim over me, I don't flinch. And when he straightens to his full height, refastens the middle button of his suit jacket, and begins stalking toward me, I don't drop to the floor and hide under the table. But I really, really want to.

"Oh, shoot! He's coming over," says Stacy. "Listen, there's a lot you should know—"

"Shhhh," I hiss back at her. "I have to use all my energy to look confident and irresistible." I haven't broken eye contact with Ryan yet, and although I don't like that he just saw the frantic exchange between Stacy and me, I'm glad he knows I'm not running from him.

My stomach jumps into my throat as he gets close, and I think I might be sick. I hate that I was expecting Elmer Fudd, and instead, I'm getting Adonis. He's closing in on me now, and so is the music, and the rapid pounding of my heart, and Stacy's French manicure. I rip my arm from her dramatic grip and break eye contact with Ryan only long enough to give Stacy a look that says Don't embarrass me! She recognizes the warning, because she's given it to me often. It's how we keep each other from becoming the next meme circulating the internet.

I turn back to find Ryan right in front of me, hands in his pockets, smirk dialed up to one thousand, and his gaze burning a hole through my face.

Mistake number one was looking away from Ryan.

Mistake number two was ever underestimating my greatest opponent.

Ryan's eyes used to be the color of mud. Now, they are deep pools of hazelnut spread rimmed in 90 percent dark chocolate piping.

"June Bug," his voice rumbles at me—southern drawl a little less than it used to be, but somehow sexier and...NO! No. No. No.

This is not how this was supposed to play out. I am the successful one. The one who fought tooth and nail to become an entrepreneurial success. The one who had to jump in the air while squeezing myself into the highest-powered shaping underwear I could find so I could stun my nemesis with my faux smooth form. How am I supposed to crush him under my stilettos if he's towering over me like that?

"Don't call me that name." My hands fist at my side.

We are engaging in a standoff now. We might as well be outside of a saloon in the middle of a dust storm, because both of us have our hands on our pistols, just daring the other to flinch.

"Soooo," says Stacy with an uncomfortable chuckle, looking between us. "Ryan, you obviously remember June."

Neither one of us says anything. Neither of us smiles. Well, I should say, I don't smile. Ryan still has that wolfish smirk etched on his mouth. I hate him so much. It's like he's reading my mind and laughing at me because he thinks he's already won.

"Okay, well, I'm just going to go...somewhere far away from here." Stacy shuffles off toward the bar where Logan and the rest of the party is gathered.

And now it's just me and Ryan all alone in the corner of this dark, loud bar. The perfect place to murder someone and get away with it.

"Listen, June—"

Nope! No way does he get to start this conversation and claim the upper hand right out of the gate. I learned to never let Ryan be the first one to speak during our junior debates. He might have won most of those, but he's not winning this one. Trojan horse, here I come.

I inch closer to him, square my shoulders, and poke his firm chest. "No, you listen, Ryan Henderson. I can see it in your eyes that you still think you're better than me. But guess what? You're wrong, buddy!" I really wish I hadn't said buddy, but I do like my enthusiasm. "I am not that same little girl from high school who let you push her around and didn't push back."

Ryan interrupts my epic monologue with a chuckle, trying to steal my thunder. "In what world did you not push back?"

I ignore him, resisting the urge to settle the sharp point of my heel on the top of his shoe and press down, and instead, continue on, thunder unstolen. "I might've tipped my chin up for you back then, but not anymore. I am a grown woman who has scraped and worked my ass off to open my own bakery and establish a brand that is recognized across all South Carolina. I am a force of nature, so don't mess with me this week unless you want me to cancel your birth certificate." I take a step back and finally let a smirk touch my lips. "But who knows? Maybe if you're nice enough, I can give you a position scrubbing dishes in my kitchen."