The Right Time by Delaney Diamond Page B

never wanted to come out again.
    He slid from the booth.
    “Ransom, wait!” Sophie jumped up and stood before him, breathing hard, worry in her eyes. “I’m sorry. Maybe I—”
    “Sorry for what?” He wasn’t going to make it easy for her, because it wasn’t easy for him. Unbearable tightness filled his torso, made his chest hurt and his stomach contract with intense pain. “You made the right decision going back to your boyfriend. We were both having a good time. Using each other. There was never going to be anything between us.”
    Her breath hitched on a sharp inhale, and a wounded expression filled her eyes. He’d done exactly as planned—hurt her by diminishing their time together to nothing more than a night of screwing that was going nowhere. And he felt like shit.
    Steely resolve shifted into her features. Her jaw firmed and her spine straightened. “You’re right. Clearly, I made the right decision,” she said.
    The verbal dig cut across him like the sharp edge of a sword.
    Lips pressed together, Sophie leveled one last hard look at him and stalked away.
    Ransom watched her swaying hips and beautiful legs move across the floor. When he could no longer see her, he snatched the gift from the table and rushed back to his room, almost knocking over a teenaged boy ambling along with her parents.
    He slammed the door to the suite and tossed the gift onto the dresser. Standing in the middle of the room, he stared at the bed and recalled the passionate night he and Sophie spent together. The thought of her lying under another man—even one who had more right to claim her than he did—drove him insane.
    He grabbed his phone but stopped before dialing her number. What could he say? There was nothing he could say. She was with the person she wanted to be with, and her decision made him furious. Furious at her. Furious at himself. Because deep down he’d wanted to not just give her great sex, but hit it so good she’d forget all about the ass who allowed her to come to the Bahamas alone.
    In a rage, Ransom slammed his phone on top of the dresser, over and over again until the screen cracked and the device fell apart in his hand. Pieces flew off the furniture in multiple directions and onto the carpet.
    Breathing heavily, he stared at the shattered phone. “Forget her,” he muttered.
    That was what he planned to do. Forget he ever laid eyes—or mouth, or hand—on Sophie Bradshaw.
****
    The weight of rejection pressed down like a hand onto Sophie’s sternum as she plodded back to her room. She could hardly breathe against the pressure, and stopped near her building to catch her breath and clear her head.
    There was never going to be anything between us.
    The brutal words crushed her, and she clutched a handful of the white dress, pressing her fist against her stomach to ease the pain.
    His rejection shouldn’t hurt so much. She shouldn’t care so much.
    She wanted to run back and tell him she didn’t mean it, but the fact that he didn’t try to stop her or change her mind showed the glaring truth of the meaningless tryst they’d shared.
    Taking a deep breath, she straightened her spine and prepared her mind for the evening with Keith. Before going to see Ransom, she hadn’t been sure she would forgive Keith, but she seriously considered doing so now.
    Since Ransom didn’t care enough to pursue a relationship with her, she’d give her boyfriend a chance to prove that he was not only a better man, but the type of man she needed.

Chapter Eight
    Sophie parked her Jeep on the street in Midtown Atlanta and walked toward her mother’s juice shop. The Juice Fox was the brainchild of her parents, long before juice bars became trendy. It was an Atlanta staple, known for selling juice and smoothie concoctions, with many of the ingredients sourced locally.
    The bright green and yellow awning showed an illustrated fox on two legs, wearing a red polka dot dress, with hands on her hips in a pose reminiscent of