Crash Into Me(106)

She extended her long, skinny arm and shook my hand with her bony hand that had just been fondling Tristan's tie. Her blue eyes slid over me from head to toe and back up again, and I was sure she was judging me.

"My pleasure. We're just getting ready for his interview this afternoon with Executive Homes. They plan to do an entire spread on him and this stunning house of his."

Ours. I wanted to correct her but as she stood looking down at me, I suddenly felt small and insignificant. All I could get out of my mouth was, "That's nice."

Then she asked, "Will you be staying?"

The way she said it made me feel like I was an intruder. I looked at Tristan for some support, but he simply stood behind her looking back at me. His silence was deafening and hurtful. I felt like a visitor in my own home, and suddenly, all I wanted to do was run.

As well as I could, I calmed my anger and said, "I'll leave you to your business. I don't know what time I'll be home, Tristan. Perhaps I'll stay in the city with Jordan. She's been wanting me to go out. I'll let you know."

Kacey looked relieved to see me go and returned to fiddling with Tristan's collar, but I noticed as I turned to leave that Tristan's eyes had narrowed ever so slightly. If he could hang out with his little friend, I could hang out with mine.

I marched out of the living room with my head held high and hoped neither of them saw how shaky my legs were under me. On top of the jealousy and insecurity churning in my stomach, now I was angry. Not only had he never told me his assistant was a female—a stunning one who looked like the actresses who accompanied him to formal events, no less—but he stood there like a statue, never saying a word to let her know how much I supposedly meant to him.

Jenson was nowhere to be found, so I waited outside by the car, preferring to shiver in the late fall weather of upstate New York than stay inside with Tristan and his assistant. It could have been twenty below and I wouldn't have felt the cold I was fuming so badly. The man who had made me the happiest woman in the world less than twenty-four hours earlier now had just let some gorgeous Amazon woman make me feel like an outsider with my own fiancé.

The front door opened and I heard footsteps, but when I turned around I saw it was Tristan. I quickly set off down the drive, but he kept pace with me and overtook me in mere seconds. I so didn't want to have the conversation we were about to have.

"Nina, I think we should talk."

I turned my back on him and stomped off in the other direction. "I don't think so. Go talk to your assistant if you need someone to listen to you."

His hand touched my shoulder and I jerked my body away from him. He wasn't going to get a pass on this one with just a touch or a few sweet words.

"Nina, I'm not going to chase after you," he said as he followed behind me.

"Fine. Don't. It's not like I'm anyone you should be chasing after anyway."

"You're acting ridiculous. You can't be jealous of Kacey. All she did was adjust my tie. It's not like she saw me half naked."

I stopped dead and turned around to see him standing there grinning like some sexy Cheshire cat. So that's what this was all about? Blake and my dropping bikini bottoms?

"Don't even tell me she's not a total bitch who made me feel like I was unwelcome in my own home and you didn't just stand there and let her do it."

"You saw what your jealousy wanted you to see. Sound familiar?"

"So it was just a coincidence that Kacey the blond bombshell was here today after what happened with your gardener? I doubt it. And why didn't you ever tell me your assistant looked like that?"