Ryan’s POV

If there was one thing about Ryan, he did not like being caught off guard. He prided himself in always avoiding nasty bombshells, by planning for all possible outcomes. His ability to analyze a situation, and then move accordingly had gotten Ryan many successes in life.

It was one of the reasons why many of his business deals had gone on to make him a lot of money. Unfortunately though, sometimes what worked well in the business world did not translate in people’s personal lives. That was a lesson that Vivian had just reminded him of, completely free of charge.

She had said ’no’ when he had asked for their relationship to progress from being no strings attached, to something serious.

There had been no hesitation, no stuttering. She had simply turned him down with very little effort on her part.

Ryan had been there in that moment, he’d heard her rejection loud and clear, and yet he still found himself unable to believe it.

What had she meant by no? It made no sense.

He’d read the signs, and had felt the chemistry between them. As such, he had not even thought that he would be taking a big risk when asking her to get into a relationship with him.

He had truly thought that the only answer Vivian could give him would be a yes.

But she had gone and surprised him in the most unpleasant way possible.

Ryan had been so certain that she would agree to be his girlfriend, that he had not even thought to guard his heart in case she said no. Now he was feeling all of the pain of somebody that he liked not feeling the same way about him and then some.

Amplifying all of that pain was the fact that he could not even give himself a possible reason why Vivian did not want to be with him like that.

Ryan had thought they were doing good. So he had absolutely no answers that he could give himself to explain why Vivian had turned him down.

It was horrible.

***

Could she have said no to him because it was against the rules of their friends with benefits arrangement? Had she truly turned him down because they were not supposed to develop feelings?

Groaning in frustration. Ryan quickly tore that thought to shreds. No, that could not be it.

People in situations like theirs often got serious with each other, so it could not be that.

Plus, even if Vivian had not been feeling him the way that he had been feeling her. He truly believed that she would have told him she did not want their relationship to go that way.

In the beginning she had had no problems telling him that she did not wish for monetary compensation in order to be with him. So he knew that if she just wanted them to remain friends with benefits, she would have had no problem letting him know.

Her telling him she only wanted things between them to be physical would have stung. But Ryan was in so deep when it came to her that he would have swallowed his pride and allowed things to carry on as they were. A part of him hoping that somewhere along the line she would change her mind and develop feelings for him as well.

Certain that he had not been turned down because he had broken the rules, Ryan tried to find yet another reason.

Could it be that she had felt uncomfortable because of the differences in their social standing? Perhaps she did not wish to be viewed as a gold digger by the outside world? Had she decided to nip things in the bud before that happened?

Ryan quickly dismissed the thought. Vivian was not a gold digger, that much he knew,(getting her to accept things from him had been insanely difficult).

It would not have bothered him if people thought that. He also knew from the glimpses of the confidence that he’d begun to see more often in her that it would not have mattered to Vivian as well. So that could not be the reason.

Could it be, had she perhaps ended things with him because she had been dealing with bad sex the entire time, and when faced with an indefinite period of having to deal with that she had chosen to jump ship. Running his palm over his face Ryan took a deep calming breath and shook his head.

Of all of the possible reasons why Vivian Rose did not wish to be with him. He knew that his latest one was impossible. He had been with her when they had done all of those things together. He’d heard every moan, every whimper. He had felt all of her tremors as she’d climaxed

and his dick still remembered how tightly her walls had clenched around him.

They had been fire together, and even the memories of all that they had done still managed to stir Ryan’s dick.

Bad sex could not be the reason why things had ended.

So why?

Why?!

Why did Vivian not want to be with him? What was so awful about him that she did not think him worthy of a relationship?

***

It was so very tempting for Ryan to stop playing detective. To just accept that his relationship with Vivian was over and bring out the alcohol. But he could not let himself fall apart until he had an answer, and so Ryan kept thinking.

Closing his eyes, he went back to that horrible moment. Trying his best to control his emotions as he did so.

He focused on the memory, viewing it as though he were an outsider looking in, instead of as a man who’d had his heart torn in two.

’No,’ Vivian had said, and now that Ryan thought on it, the coldness when she had delivered her refusal, and the blank look in her eyes told a story. Those had not been the reactions of somebody who was flustered, or unsure of themselves. That had been somebody driving a blade as deep as it would go, and then twisting it around for good measure.

The realization of what that meant had Ryan going numb. The pain in his heart intensifying as he finally understood why he had been rejected.

Vivian had enjoyed turning him down. In fact she had been waiting for that very moment for quite some time.

For whatever reason Vivian had been playing with him. The whole no strings attached relationship had just been a ploy. She’d wanted to lead him along, get him hooked on her, and then shatter his heart, and the worst part was that she had succeeded

Ryan had been so busy listening to his dick, and his heart, that he had not seen the trap.

Why would she go out of her way to hurt him like that though? Before that night at the bar Ryan had not known her. So why would she do such a thing to him?

The answer to that question came much easier now that he knew that he had been played with. Vivian had toyed with Ryan, and had then broken his heart for the thrill of it.

’I bagged a billionaire and then broke his heart,’ That was what she had been after the entire time...bragging rights. Knowing her, she would not even run to the media with it. She would probably keep it quiet. Just enjoying Ryan’s suffering and knowing that they were the only two people who knew how much of a fool he had been.

How could he not have seen her true intentions? How had he missed her eyeing him as nothing more than a trophy the entire time?