RHINO: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (With FREE Bonus Novel OFFSIDE!) (7 page)

“
Anyway, I know you don’t do relationships. You didn’t then and you don’t now.”

“
Yeah, well, that’s the old me.”

“
The old you? When was the last time you had a long term relationship?”

“
Never, but that’s not the point.”

“
Ok, when was the last time you fucked someone?”

“
Have you always been this direct?”

“
I’ve been refined into it.”

“
Last year.”

“
Bullshit.”

“
I’m serious.”

“
And now?”

“
Open to suggestions.”

“
You know, the world would turn around on its axis if it heard that Alex Vann Haden was looking for a serious relationship.”

“
And if he was in one already?”

“
Are you?”

“
I was thinking about the future.”

“
Then we’d have to wait and see.”

“
I guess we will.”

“
The truth is a lot more believable when it’s carried out, you know?”

“
Then I guess I’ll have to find someone who’s available.”

“
Interested might help too.”

“
It might make it last longer.”

I push my plate away and reach for the coffee pot. I rarely get to eat breakfast outside so this is an absolute luxury.

“
Why do you want to give this up anyway?”

“
This?”

“
Relationships are overrated, everyone says so.”

“
I used to think that, and then I realized that the people saying that were the people who were single and unhappy.”

I dive straight into it like a dentist taking the drill to a rotten tooth.

“
Are you unhappy?”

“
Are you?”

“
This isn’t about me.”

“
I can see you are, without you even needing to tell me. I can see you’re lonely. I could see that at college and I wish I’d been brave enough to change that.”

“
Alright, drop the act, Alex. I get you want me to sing your praises so the general public change their opinion of you, you don’t need to invent some story in order for me to do it. I’m not going to sleep with you so you can get some kind of weird kick out of it.”

“
You see how difficult it is, all your life someone telling you it’s an apple.”

Alex suddenly looks sad and I wonder if I’ve misunderstood him. I let the moment pass. I’m usually good at reading people, you kind of get good at it in my job, but with Alex it’s proving pretty fucking difficult.

“
Someone tells you often enough you begin convincing yourself, right?”

Alex thinks over this for a while before changing the subject.

“
There’s a storm coming in, I didn’t expect it until the following week, but the Atlantic winds have changed and they’re pushing it right over us.”

The sky is blue and the sun is hovering above us shimmering in the haze like a flat yellow frisbee. A storm seems like a million years away.

“
If we want to go out in the boat, we might not get another chance. Also, if you want to leave before the end of the week, you might have to do it today.”

“
You’re serious.”

“
I’m always serious, Lucy. You’ll know when I’m not.”

“
So, either I leave today or I’m stuck here, indefinitely.”

“
Or until the storm passes. Whichever comes first.”

“
Are we safe?”

“
Of course.”

“
I don’t have a story yet.”

Alex smiles. “Then you’ll have to stay.”

“
This isn’t some ruse is it? Some weird psychosexual flirting game and you’re going to fuck me and then cook me and then eat me. You’re not going to do that are you?”

“
Not unless you want me to.”

“
I’m not that kinky.”

“
You always looked it.”

“
I said I wasn’t
that
kinky.”

“
Now it sounds like you’re flirting with me.”

I’m not, I can’t be, I wouldn’t allow myself to. Maybe I should go, just to avoid the possible. Just to avoid the ego and what could happen here if I let it. And by that, I mean my absolute embarrassment when I ultimately fall for all this bullshit and let him get to me only to push me away again when he’s done what he wanted. This is a game isn’t it? It must be. This is Alex getting what he probably never even wanted first time around. If I let him in, he’s bound to either just laugh at me for being an idiot and believing he was genuine, or we’ll sleep together and then he’ll usher me out of his life like everyone else. Not going to happen. Can’t let it happen. Not even once. Not even just to see what it’s like. Not even to finally get my hands on The Rhino’s horn.

“
You’d know if I was flirting with you.”

“
Don’t tell me, your nose would be buried in a book for four years.”

“
You know that didn’t work the first time around.”

“
I thought you said that wasn’t true.”

“
You weren’t the only guy at school you know.”

“
I was the only one you wanted to be with.”

I’m trying so hard to not, but I think I’m going red.

“
You’re going red.”

Thanks, Alex, very fucking subtle. “Too much sun.”

“
Then we should get on the boat.”

“
Maybe I should just get in the helicopter.”

“
You said you haven’t got your story yet.”

“
Maybe there’s less of one than I thought.”

“
And maybe there’s more and you’re just too scared to find out what it is.”

I lean in but I don’t know what to say. Leaning is all I have. Leaning and undressing what few clothes he still has on with my eyes and hating myself for it. Why the fuck do I have to be attracted to Alex Vann Haden? Someone normal, someone nice would have done, someone that’s going to treat me well, that’s not going to dump me when the next best thing comes along, someone that wants more than just a fuck, but no, I have to crave him, this object of perfection in front of me.

“
Fear is good, it helps protect us.”

“
That’s what I thought for a long time. You know what I realize it does now?”

“
What?”

“
Takes the things away from us that we should have.”

“
And what do you want?”

Alex’s eyes twinkle as though I’ve asked the key question.

“
The same as everyone else. The same as you.”

“
I’m not answering that question for you.”

“
I want to find my place.”

“
That sounds way too philosophical for a man that got a 1.6 GPA.”

“
I was misunderstood.”

“
Clearly.”

“
Why do you dislike me so much?”

“
I don’t dislike you, I just don’t like you.”

“
There’s a difference?”

“
Of course. In order to dislike you, I have to have liked you first.”

“
That sounds about right for a girl with a 4.0 GPA.”

“
I was clearly very well understood.”

Alex leans back in his chair to contemplate me. Any bluer, those eyes would pass as gemstones. Hundreds of years ago, people would think this man was a God, I suppose not much has changed. God’s are often arrogant, aloof people, and they are often not liked at all.

I fold my arms and Alex folds his in a gesture that looks anything but natural. I tilt my head, he tilts his, I raise my eyebrows, he raises his. An impasse.

“
Are you sure you still want to place that bet?”

“
I want to raise it.”

“
This ought to be good.”

“
You will not only have changed your opinion of me, you’ll have slept with me.”

I can hardly believe what I’m hearing. Just when I thought he couldn’t get any more arrogant. My mouth hangs open in genuine shock.

“
I already told you I don’t like overly confident men.”

“
It’s a good job I’m meek then.”

Another head tilt. An unfold and refold of our arms.

“
I don’t mix business with pleasure.”

“
That’s why I told you not to bring the notepad.”

“
You’re unbelievable.”

“
Thank you.”

I can’t help but laugh. Shake my head and laugh.

“
Boat or helicopter?”

Is this the beginning of the worst decision of my life. If he can convince me he’s a good person, or even a person of any substance at all, It’ll be like trying to convince me the world is flat. That money is as good as mine. Even if I sleep with him, there is no chance he’ll be able to make me change my opinion of him. Zero chance. Nada. Nil. Zip. Zilcheramo.

“
I hope you’ve got your checkbook here.”

“
I haven’t told you my stake yet.”

“
Does it matter?”

“
You might begin to realize I’m serious.”

“
Go on, humor me.”

“
You win, I retire.”

“
Being right means that much to you?”

Alex shakes his head. “Finding my place.”

“
You’re awfully convinced of yourself.”

“
Confident.”

“
A fool rushes in.”

“
Now you have your headline.”

I have to pause before I respond. I have to think carefully, divide the emotional from the sensible, the rational from the irrational. I have to weigh it all up in the blink of a pair of one-in-a-million gemstone eyes. Fuck it. I’m not that rosy cheeked undergrad anymore. I’m not that college virgin with big brown eyes and a heavy heart because a certain someone wouldn’t look her way, and I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.

I let my eyes find his and I take care to form the words without faltering.

“
So, let’s go and find that story.”

Alex

It takes two hours for Lucy to get ready. That’s two hours to pack a bag, prepare herself for the next few hours, prepare herself mentally, perhaps, for me, and come back to where I’ve been sat, calmly waiting for her.

I’m calm because I know I’ve won. Lucy looks anything but calm as she looks at the boat, looks at the sea beyond and then looks at me.

“
I thought you had a yacht.”

“
I never told you I had a yacht.”

“
It’s much smaller than I expected, Alex. I have to say, I’m a little disappointed.”

“
Just wait until you feel it.”

She’s watching it bob up and down as the waves lilt against the rock at the side of the island, carried there by the late morning breeze.

“
Is it safe?”

“
Come on, Lucy. I know you’re a city girl, but you must have been on a boat before.”

“
You’ve got the real one moored up on some deserted beach island right?”

“
You’re changing your mind.”

Lucy shakes her head, too stubborn to refuse now that there’s a chance she might have to show weakness. I like that about her, it means she’s not going to give up easily.

“
So, where are you taking me?”

“
Get in and I’ll show you.”

It makes us both laugh watching Lucy take tentative steps towards the edge of the wooden jetty, before stepping carefully onto the boat, stumbling a little before holding on, righting herself and finally sitting down.

“
You’re a natural.”

“
Born to sail.”

I watch her sit there for a while, a vest top on to let her shoulders breathe, glowing lightly in the hazy sun.