Gold (All that Glitters #2)(43)

“Oh?”

“I want to see you more, Bri. I don’t know where this is leading, but I know I enjoy my time with you. I feel alive when I’m with you. I don’t want to lose that feeling. So, I decided I wanted to make a plan to be here every other weekend to be with you, if you’d like, and you can have access to the penthouse and everything else your heart desires in my resort while you’re here.”

She couldn’t rein in her shock fast enough. He was giving her an all-access card to WC Resorts—penthouse, spas, gambling, dinner, pool. Everything.

“This is so much,” she breathed.

“It’s not. I want you to be nearby when I’m in town. I’ll have to work, so I won’t always get to spend all my time with you, but I want you to have every luxury when I’m here.”

“I love this. Thank you so much!” How the hell is he going to top that?

“I’m glad you like it.” He handed her the second box.

“You give me your world,” she said, holding up the card, “and then offer me another gift?”

“My world comes with a lot of them,” he admitted.

She smiled and then took it out of his hands. She opened the lid and stared at bracelet inside. Her stomach plummeted. She felt sick.

Inside the box was a Harry Winston diamond tennis bracelet with a B that matched her necklace. The necklace Jude had given her.

“What is it?” Hugh could obviously see her disgust.

She pulled back the sickness threatening to overwhelm her and reminded herself that this was an unbelievably expensive gift. She should be thankful that he had been thoughtful enough to match the jewelry she wore on a regular basis. The necklace was her reminder, but he would never and could never know that.

“Nothing. It’s lovely. Will you put it on for me?” she forced out.

He clasped the bracelet around her wrist, and she pretended to admire the thing. It was beautiful—if only it didn’t reek of Jude.

“You seem tense.” Hugh kissed her shoulder.

“Sorry. I’ve had a taxing week.” She swallowed hard and decided to blame it on something else. “My stepbrother moved in with me. He’s a deadbeat, and he basically has nowhere else to go. Since my dad owns the house, he decided my stepbrother had to stay with me.”

She felt dumb, admitting it all. But wasn’t part of all this gold-digging thing to have the guy support her? It would be nice to have the penthouse to disappear to when she needed to escape from Pace.

“That does sound stressful.”

“You’ve no idea.”

“Well, I’d offer to help reduce that stress.” He brought her lips to his again. “But I do have some work to finish. Why don’t you take that card down to the spa and try not to let anything bother you? I promise you a stress-free weekend.”

That was exactly what she needed. One goddamn weekend without stress. She wasn’t sure that was going to be possible with her new scarlet letter staring back at her. Just another notch in the belt.

“I’LL NEED THAT PAPER TURNED IN ON FRIDAY. Don’t forget!” Bryna’s film professor said at the end of class.

Bryna packed up her MacBook into her Kate Spade case and carried it out of class. A lot of her classmates stayed behind to debate the finer merits of their latest assignment, but she couldn’t really relate to any of her classmates. She was already happier in her intro film class than she was in any of her core requirements, but that didn’t mean she wanted to stay after class for discussions. People already thought the only reason she was in the class was because of her director father anyway.

Besides, she had plans to meet Eric for lunch this afternoon. Her schedule ended after noon, and he had a light load this semester. It ended up that they both had a break on Wednesdays. She was supposed to meet him at the sports complex after the end of his class.

She made it across campus and into more familiar territory. Pulling open the double doors to the sports complex, she walked to the room where he was supposed to be but found it empty. She pulled her phone out and saw she had a text from Eric, saying he was downstairs, meeting with the coach.

She shrugged and took the stairs down to Coach Galloway’s office. She found Coach and Eric standing in the hallway, talking to a man with his back facing her. He looked familiar, but she was sure her eyes were playing tricks on her.

Then, Eric noticed her. He smiled brightly and waved. “Hey, Bri. I’ll be just a minute.”

The guy they were talking to jerked his head around. They made eye contact across the short hallway, and everything stopped. No wonder he had looked so familiar.

It was Jude f*cking Rose.

Everything in her world screeched to a halt. She was staring into the utterly gorgeous face of Jude Rose. It was like the last year fell away from them, and she was the young high school girl staring at a married man, thinking he loved her. She couldn’t breathe or think. Everything felt muddled, like she was wading through water.

She could tell Jude was shocked to see her. They hadn’t seen each other or spoken since he walked out. He had chosen Felicity. He had chosen to stay with his wife and son. Part of Bryna had understood why he had done it, but it didn’t cure the wound opening in her chest at the sight of him.

Bryna stumbled backward as she came back to her senses. “I’ll wait outside,” she gasped.