Ryan’s POV

Ryan did not whistle and skip as he made his way out of a successful business meeting but it was a near thing.

Humming softly under his breath, he tried to convince himself that he was only happy because the meeting had gone well. But he failed dismally at that. His entire being knew that the reason for his joy was none other than Vivian Rose.

That woman did things to him that Ryan just could not explain. How sex could be that good no matter how many times they did it, he had no idea.

After their previous encounter, Ryan’s mind was once again settling back to that offhand idea he’d had to name an island after her. Now that she was no longer a one night stand, but somebody whom he met up with regularly, surely it would not be that weird.

A smile slipping onto his face as he thought about what her reaction to such a thing would be. Ryan found himself slowing down and taking deep breaths. Were he not in public he would have already been staring down at his groin in admonishment.

For all he knew Vivian would maybe just say thank you in response. Why his dick was jumping to conclusions and thinking of all of the wicked things she would do to it to show her thanks, Ryan had no idea.

After a few more deep breaths and thoughts of infected pimples. The smelly kind that went everywhere when burst. Ryan finally had the situation under control and he resumed walking again. This time giving in to temptation and whistling as he neared the exit.

"Ryan? Ryan Terrell, is that you?"

The familiar voice had Ryan’s easy gait faltering as he came to a stop.

’Don’t look back, keep going, keep going’. A frantic part of him whispered. But Ryan felt like a puppet with its strings being pulled.

Against his better judgment, he turned back and finally saw who had called out to him.

It was exactly the person that he had been expecting to see.

Lead settled in his bones as the woman began making her way towards him. ’She is still far away, turn around and leave, save yourself’. But Ryan was helpless to do anything but stay.

His focus completely consumed by the beautiful woman.

She was none other than Ryan’s ex, Gwendolyn Stuart the fourth.

***

The thing about people was that no matter how much most of them would deny it. Their memories really were not that good. If most of the people in the city were asked about Ryan Terrell, they would say that he had always been a playboy.

But that was not true.

For you see, once upon a time, Ryan had been a solid guy. A steady man who only went out with women who meant something to him, never one to have a wandering eye.

And then of course there had come, Gwendolyn.

The brunette waltzing into his life with her wide green eyes and carving a place for herself into his world like she had always been there.

Like it was her right to have a special spot in his heart.

Ryan had loved her in a way that he had never loved another woman before.

Gwen had known that and she had taken full advantage of that fact. In the end the heiress had not just toyed with Ryan’s feelings for her.

She had trampled on his heart, chewed on its spit it out and had even taken the time to kick him while he was down. That was the sort of emotional damage that the woman had done to him.

The damage that had turned Ryan from a steady one woman kind of guy, into a playboy who made sure to never ever be vulnerable with a woman.

***

But strong emotions were often confusing.

That was why there was a thin line between love and hate.

So as Ryan watched her walk towards him. Despite the majority of his being wanting to get away from her. There was still a part of him that looked at Gwendolyn and did not want to run.

Instead he wanted to bask in her warm smile, to meet her halfway and hug her. It seemed that whatever he was going through, she caught an inkling of it, because when she finally came to a stop in front of him, the look in her eyes was warm and her tone was warm as well.

"Hey Ryan, long time no see," She lifted a hand towards his face, probably intending to cup his cheek. But the little self-preservation that Ryan had when it came to her finally kicked in, and he took a step back. Instantly the warm look in her eyes vanished, replaced by something cold and flinty.

’There you are,’ Ryan thought, giving her a cold look of his own. She instantly adopted a hurt look.

"Come on Ryan, don’t be like that. I just want to talk. Can we talk?" Now the hurt look was replaced by a teasing softness.

It would have been very easy for Ryan to fall for it. But he clung to the memory of the cruelty he’d just seen in her eyes.

"Unfortunately, Gwendolyn, I have places to be. Goodbye," Not prolonging the conversation any further, he turned and walked away, putting all of his effort into taking slow measured steps. He would not give her the satisfaction of seeing him run away from her.

***

Sometimes, Ryan worried that with the amount of time that he and Mark spent together, they would grow old as bitter bachelors who spent their days cursing the injustices of the world.

But that evening, as he ate dinner with his best friend, Ryan did not care about that. He was just glad to have the other man’s company. Halfway through dessert, Mark, who had been throwing looks at Ryan the entire night, finally snapped.

"All right, what is going on, and do not tell me nothing because I can see that something is eating away at you," Glad to have his friend be the one to bring up the subject. Ryan spit the words out without any further prompting.

"Gwen is back in town," Mark’s fork fell to the ground and he ignored it completely.

His eyes focused on Ryan, his mouth open in shock.

"Gwen as in, as in Gwendolyn Stuart the fourth, the heiress of the Stuart family. Your poisonous ex?" Ryan nodded. "I saw her earlier today. She wanted to talk and I-" Not even waiting for Ryan to finish,

Mark threw his napkin down onto his plate and stood.

"Ryan, that woman is no good for you. What do you mean she wanted to talk? If you slept with her, I swear to you I-"

Ryan banged his hand against the table, shocking his friend into sitting back down.

"I did not sleep with her. As I was saying, she wanted to talk and I turned her down and walked away,"

Mark looked so relieved at those words, Ryan was worried he might start crying.

"Oh thank goodness, I was worried that she still had some sort of hold on you," Ryan scoffed, picking up his glass of wine and taking a sip.

"Gwendolyn slept with my brother. That is not something that I can ever forgive,"

With the devastating truth that they never brought up, spoken for the first time in years, an oppressive mood fell over the table and they could not even finish their meal. Mark, excused himself and left soon after.

Alone in his penthouse once again, Ryan contemplated drinking himself into oblivion.

But he found he did not want that. What he wanted was somebody to hold him, to make him forget.

Taking out his phone, he stared at Vivian’s number, wondering what she would do if he told her he wanted her attention that night.