Rhea could not sleep a wink as her mind went over and over what had happened the previous night. It was so atypical of the Crightons. Well, she knew them from the day she was born and despite their massive wealth, they were not society people. The Crightons and Coopers rarely attended parties and social events if not for a really good cause.

For them, family was everything. That was why Aunt Selena had been so affected when Zach had not shown up. But Slade Palmer had been part of their circle too and for a long time. Rhea could not believe they had chosen her over her father. She had been in that family because of his connections with them and it was weird that they had sided up with her. And Adam had been acting as her hero again.

When would he ever learn? He wanted to make her happy she understood that. She felt the same way about him. But it was not love he felt for her; it was only pity. She knew the difference well since pity was the only emotion she was familiar with.

Lost in her thoughts, she jumped when her phone buzzed beside her and frowning she looked over at the screen. It flashed Adam. Rhea suppressed a groan. Not again! Why was he so hell-bent to prove to her how much he loved her? Sometimes she wondered if he was proving his feelings to her or himself.

She was even starting to have doubts about his feelings for her now. She might as well admit to herself that at first she had believed that Adam must have been harboring strong feelings for here. When Zoey had talked to her about him being faithful for two years without mishap, it had certainly looked like he was sincere. And Rhea had run scared.

That was why she had executed her perfect plan. It was more to convince herself that such a thing never existed. And she had been proven wrong every time. But after the fiasco kiss experiment, she was sure it would never work out between them. And if Adam could not see that then he must be seriously delusional.

Even Rhea was not stupid to believe that bad sex was not enough incentive to put a man off. Her next move had been proving him how unfit she was and that was going to be a piece of cake. She had no effort to put in here since she was really out of shape unlike Zoey. She rarely worked out and this was going to change.

And she would start with their morning joggings which Adam and Zoey had the habit of every Wednesdays and Sundays. And today was Sunday.

Jumping out of her bed, she picked up the phone when it rang again.

“Good morning A.D.C,” she chirped. She rarely called him that name now especially after being so awkwardly aware of him. But today was an exception. She was sure that her plan would work out. Everything was in her favor. Even her evil father was out of picture now and she was going to get back her apartment in two days.

“Good morning,” he replied sounding surprised. “In a good mood, aren’t we?” he asked his voice muffled like he was doing something else at the same time.

“Yah. Are you going for your usual run this morning?” she asked casually already knowing the answer. Zoey was already in the bathroom getting ready while Rhea had been ready for the past thirty minutes. She would not miss that for the world.

“Sure. Let me guess. You’re joining us?”

And Rhea was amazed at how much he sounded normal. Wasn’t he even surprised? He had practically begged her to join the gym with him once but Rhea had categorically refused. Sports was simply not her cup of tea.

“Well, yes. If you don’t mind that is,” she replied a bit taken aback. Damn! Why was her plans always backfiring on her when she least expected it? Wasn’t he the one who was supposed to be perplexed instead?

“Mind? No. Of course not. I love you, remember?” he said impertinently and like always he had his way around her. Rhea was hoping he would forget to mention that sentence but it would seem that it was all he had in mind. Well, she would make sure he ended up hating her eventually when she was done with him.

Maybe not hate her as a human but definitely hate her as a prospective girlfriend. If only Adam was not so hell-bent to prove himself how much he loved her; it would be so obvious to him that she would make a terrible life partner. She was no wife material and even Zoey had pointed it out to her once. She was really doing him a favor by convincing him of that.

“Sure,” she could not care less if she sounded a bit sarcastic. “Meet you downstairs in a few minutes. Zoey is almost done.”

Excited to put her plan in execution like always, she did a few stretch exercises to already exhaust herself. In that way, she would not survive the jogging episode.

“My! My! Are we trying to beat Armstrong today or what?” Zoey asked her skeptically as soon as she came out of the bathroom and caught her doing her stunts.

Rhea grinned at her already short of breath. “No, this is my next plan. I’m trying to show Adam how unfit I am.”

Zoey sighed. “Aren’t you done with that stupid plan?” she muttered crossly which caused Rhea to frown. Had she missed an episode here? Last she knew Zoey was as ecstatic as her to get her plan in action. What had happened suddenly for her to change her mind? Even when she was choosing her horrible dress, Zoey had been here to help her select the ugliest one.

“What’s with you?” she asked not hiding her puzzled expression as she straightened up to face her friend. Rhea could not understand why Zoey was acting like she was against her idea so suddenly and it annoyed her to realize that her friend was not as enthusiastic as her.

Zoey shrugged. “I don’t know. I just believed that after the way Adam supported you yesterday you might have seen some sense. Do you really wish to break his heart after he sided up with you in front of everyone?”

Rhea threw her a dark look. “I am doing him a favor. Trust me. And I’m already tired of this conversation. Let’s go.”

Without giving her the time for another retort, Rhea stormed out of the room to join Adam downstairs. She was royally pissed off with her friend at the time being but no one would deter her from her mission. As usual, Adam looked dashing in his black jogging suit which outlined his unique eyes and his fair complexion.

Refraining from any comment to ward off her foul mood, she waited until Zoey joined them before they started on their usual track. Within minutes, Rhea felt like she was already out of breaths while both Adam and Zoey looked at her with repressed indulgence.

“H…H…how do y…y…,” she huffed and gave up. It would take her a while before she would be able to make a decent phrase.

Adam stopped jogging and stood looking at her with his hand on his hips and grinned widely at her. “Are you done already Rhea? Why don’t you sit over there and wait for us?”

Zoey had continued with her run not bothering to wait for her and Rhea wanted to sulk. Her early attitude had pissed her off but she would be damned if she would show her how much she was affected.  And besides it was a good thing; she was getting all the time she needed for her mission.

“No n…no. I’ll m…manage,” she managed to articulate still holding her hips which was hurting as she was drawing too much air at the same time. “We’re almost d…done anyway?”

“Almost done?” Adam asked cocking his eyebrows at her which gave him a sexy boyish look and Rhea chided herself for such thoughts. Of course Adam was handsome in every possible way that could exist. He had every girl of the park drooling over him but it seemed that he was immune to the hot looks that were sent his way.

Not once had Rhea caught him looking at some other girl or react to someone being outrageously flirtatious towards him. And it was a lot to say since it was summer which meant that the park was full of half-naked bimbos.

“Well, we have been running for quite some time now r…right?”

Adam sighed at her benignly. “Rhea, we’ve only jogged for less than five minutes.”

He was kidding! But when she removed her mobile phone from her suit to check the time, it was indeed only five minutes since they had started their journey. And five minutes was all it took her to be in a chaotic mode. That was great news.

Inwardly gloating at her success, she tried a puppy expression in Adam’s way. “Right. Well, go on without me. I’ll tag along just fine,” she said in her best “poor me” voice bending her head and waiting until the nail hit home.

This was where Adam would ask her to go back home and never come running with him again. She felt a small smile tug at the corner of her mouth. Adam would realize how different they were and all the subtle things she had enacted for the past week would fit like a puzzle.

He would realize that he did want a pathetic wife like herself. Bracing herself for his outburst, she suppressed the traitor smile and schooled her face into a sad expression. Damn she deserved an award for such fine acting skills.

“Don’t worry. It’s always like that on the first day. Really, Rhea you should join us more often. I will make sure that I drag you out of your bed every time we jog now. Now slow down your pace and let your limb get used to the jog. I will keep up with you,” he said in his best trainer voice and Rhea could not help it this time.

Her jaws sagged with disbelief. What kind of stuff was he made of? Didn’t it annoy him once or twice to find her so annoying? She had done her best to rattle him with each and every little move or word of hers during the past week but here he was. As cool and calm as ever. As solid as a rock.

Adam Crighton was insatiable and she was almost out of ideas. Rhea had been relying pretty much on the jogging experiment to conclude her genius plan since it was the only thing which she knew was going to be a real show. She was so bad at sports that there was not even the need for her to pretend.

But instead of realizing that she was a douche bag, Adam was instead having ideas of asking her to join them more often. How was that even possible? Rhea wanted so badly to ask him why he was wasting so much time with her but she knew it would only give him a clue about her plan.

And besides, everything was not lost yet. She still had her trump card. She was a bad kisser and it had worked once. It had the exact effect that she had been trying to achieve with her stupid ideas. And she had been reserving that idea for the next step.

For the time being, she would focus on being unfit and Adam would eventually tire with her. Trying her best to show her unfitness, Rhea humphed and puffed behind him but he slowed down his pace and stayed with her. And he did not even look at her to ask her to hurry or anything.

And fifteen minutes later, Rhea was not only dead tired but she was also frustrated again that her full-proof plan had pathetically failed. It was not fair. How could Adam behave in such a gentlemanly way all the time? Didn’t he get bored of himself?

Just when she was about to open her mouth to speak, she spotted Zoey in a corner of the park talking to a man. No make that hunk. And Rhea forgot all about her unease to rudely stare in their direction unaware that she had her attempt at jogging.

It was only when Adam frowned at her from a distance that she realized she had stopped. When he joined her, she signaled to him discretely and they both shared a conspiratorial look at the picture in front of them.

Zoey Cooper looked flushed and her two best friends knew that running had nothing to do with it and the hunk facing her had everything to do with it. And it was such a rarity to see her so affected by a male that they could not help gaping at her.

Until Zoey had no choice than to call them over for an introduction. Curious beyond words, they shuffled in their directions and they found out that the hunk was called Matteo Alvarez. And it was the Spanish client of Zach who had inadvertently spoilt the brother and sister diner meeting the other night. Not that Zoey seemed to be holding a grudge.

 They seemed to be cozily chatting in Spanish but Mr. Alvarez had greeted them in fluent English. Rhea could not help wondering why Zach had wanted an interlocutor when his client already knew their language. She would point it out to Zoey later.

Rhea was satisfied to see her friend so flustered and finally, Adam dragged her away from the two. She grunted because she was having a time of her life watching the impassible Zoey so way out of her league. It would serve her right if she learned one or two lessons that she was so ready to preach all the time.

Love was overrated. It was not the wonderful feeling that was always portrayed in movies and novels. Love was a feeling which made one dependent on another person and it eventually destroys one’s own persona.

Pessimist thoughts filled her mind which aggravated her foul mood even more. Normally, she was an impatient human being and wanted to resolve her pending issues as soon as possible. It was more than two weeks now that she had returned from New York and she wanted to get back to her old life rapidly.

That had been the plan all along. Not that anybody else knew about it. The other day she had been having a conversation with Aunt Selena who seemed to assume that she would be staying with them and work in GEMS enterprise. Rhea had purposefully not corrected her foster mother; she did not want to complicate things further.

She was back in town for only one reason. Make Adam see some sense so that he would be able to go on with his life with minimal damage. And then she would flew back to her old life without any ghosts in her cupboard. Even Zoey was unaware of her plans and she preferred it that way.

Rhea Palmer was a loner. Even if they had given her their name, she never referred to herself as Cooper. No, she knew who she was. Calling herself by another name might make her more confused. She was a loner and she would stay that way all her life. The Crightons and Coopers were awesome but they tend to crowd her sometimes.

And it made her want to run in the opposite direction instead of feeling a sense of belonging. All that excess love made her scared because she knew it was not something permanent. It would not last a lifetime and the day everything will be taken from her, she will be devastated.

That was why she was so reluctant to invest in relationships and emotions. Adam would never understand since he was one of the privileged ones. Not that she resented that fact but she needed her distance for her survival.

And her plan was not working out. She should be realistic; all that she had planned for the past two weeks had gone berserk. Now she needed an emergency plan. Nothing of her anti ideal girlfriend had worked earlier except the fiasco kiss. And now she had to improvise.

It wasn’t actually improvising since her next strategy was to show him how bad a lover she was. The next tip of the article was good sex and since she would go to the extent of sleeping with him to show him that, a kiss would have to suffice.

It was the only way she had to prove to him how useless she was and even he would not accept her after knowing she was such a lousy lover. And she already had a trailer to prove her that she was on the right track. Their first kiss had left him sour and even if he had tried hard to hide it, she knew it was a total put off in a relationship.

Stopping in her track, she stood bent in an attempt to retrieve her breathing. She had to accelerate her plans now as it was taking too long. If it would not work, she would have to use her trump card. But that would be her last step. It was too far-fetched and all she had to do was pull it off because it was a full-proof plan.

“I’m done,” she said sitting on the green grass trying to catch her breath.

Adam looked like he had just taken a stroll in his garden with no hair out of place and not even a drop of sweat on his forehead. Rhea patted the place next to her and he joined her by handing her his bottle of water.

Rhea gave him a thankful glance and gulped down almost half of it; needless to say that she had forgotten to bring something to drink and she was thirsty by that time.

“Thanks,” she replied handing him back the bottle when he was seated. “I really should do this more often. It feels quite nice to be out here so early in the morning.”

“It does,” he acquiesced. “But you love to sleep until late,” he retorted back looking at her with hooded eyes. It was almost as if he was surprised when she derived from her plans! And that was queer; she had not meant to say that since it was in complete contrast of her plan. But it had seemed so peaceful out there and she enjoyed Adam’s company very much.

It was amazing how the silence between them said so much. Even in her worst moments, they did not have to utter a single word. Of course it was because they were best of friends even before she had known the meaning of the word.

And that was why she wanted to keep it that way. Friendship was safe. It included love but not with so much heart. And with the lesser heart involved, the lighter the heartbreak. Rhea was still thinking about how to kiss him when he touched her hand and enlaced it with his.

And when she looked up at him there was no need for words. His dark green eyes was so full of emotions. Desire. Tenderness. Affection. Love.

Rhea gulped at the inevitable kiss which would follow. Now would be the moment of truth between them. If he still hated the kiss, it meant she still had a chance at saving herself from the ultimate destruction.

When it came, it was an amalgam of emotions which surrounded her and she forgot all sensible thought. His lips devoured hers and all she felt was the stinging sensation of his taste mingled with hers. She was used to the taste of him now and she opened her mouth to give him more access.

Gone was her plan. Gone was all the barriers she had set around her. Gone was all her insecurities. She felt the love he was portraying in the kiss; the desperation he was feeling and the depth of his desire. And it gave her the sensation of being a powerful woman for the first time in her life.