I was yanked into the stairwell.
"Patrick!"
Pain flared through my wrist. He shoved me away from him.
"You saw what happened out there today."
His voice was ice.
I rubbed my aching wrist and stared at him.
"Effie and I are engaged now. It's time you found someone and settled down."
"Settled down?" I let out a cold laugh. "I have no plans to do that anytime soon."
"Do you really have to keep throwing yourself at me?"
I froze.
Then it clicked. He'd gotten the wrong idea.
"What I meant was, I'm not getting married because my career is still taking off."
Patrick stared at me for a long moment.
Then he laughed.
"You don't think that excuse is a little pathetic?"
I blinked.
"The CEO of Ascend Group is a woman about your age. Even she still thinks about settling down. So what exactly are you pretending to be?"
I couldn't argue with that.
Everyone knew I used to be hopelessly lovesick. So now that I'd actually wised up, nobody believed it. Not even my business partner.
"Let me make this crystal clear, Celeste."
He leaned in.
"I didn't like you before, and now that I'm engaged, there's even less chance of that happening. The more you cling, the more I despise you. Unless..."