Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“Walker—”
“I want to see you again.”
“I…” I want that too, I think but don’t say, because admitting that to him is opening myself up to getting hurt. “I don’t know if I can offer you that right now,” I murmur quietly. “And the truth is, I don’t trust my judgment, and even though I really like you, I—”
“What happened?” he cuts me off. “Why did you decide you needed to take a break from dating for a year?”
“Besides the fact that I have the worst taste in men?”
“Besides that,” he agrees, and there’s no missing the anger and frustration that’s filled his tone since starting this conversation.
“I was seeing a guy for a few months. He was a pilot for another airline, and I thought things were pretty serious. He insisted we be exclusive and talked to my mom and dad, and he was planning on going home with me to meet them.” I rub my lips together. “Then, we were out to dinner one night, and his wife showed up at the restaurant we were at.” His arm around me tightens. “I had no idea he was married or that he had kids.”
“What the fuck?”
“He had a whole other life and was also dating other women besides me. He got one of them pregnant,” I whisper as I go back to that evening in my head, all the hurt and embarrassment I felt washing over me like it was just yesterday.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?” Benjamin asks, and I laugh as my stomach warms under his gaze.
“A couple of times.”
“I hate that I haven’t been able to see you as often as we’d like.” He reaches across the table for my hand. “Hopefully, things will slow down here soon, so I can change that.”
“I hope so too, but I get you’re busy,” I say quietly.
“What did I do to deserve you?” His fingers squeeze mine. “How about we go out of town next weekend?”
“Really?”
“Yeah, we can take the train to Paris and stay near the Eiffel Tower.”
“I would love that,” I whisper, and he grins.
“You said you were going to your mum’s,” a woman’s voice cracks across the room, and I glance around to see who the blonde I catch weaving her way through tables is talking to. “Instead, you left your wife and kids at home to go out on a date?”
As she’s getting closer, a weight lands on my chest when I realize she’s looking directly at the man sitting across from me.
“You’re married? And… and have kids?” I whisper, looking at Benjamin. He doesn’t hear me, or maybe he does, but his panicked gaze is focused on the woman now heading right to our table with rage in her pretty blue eyes.
“Terry, honey, this is my coworker, Hanna. We just happened to run into each other tonight and decided to get dinner,” he tells her in his British accent I found so charming the first time he spoke to me.
My hands ball into fists, and I open my mouth to call him a liar.
“Liar!” Terry gets there before I can, then she drags her eyes off him as she begins digging into her bag. “I knew you’d think I’m a bloody idiot.”
My back straightens, and my muscles bunch when her hand comes out of her purse. Honestly, I’m not sure what to expect, so when she tosses a stack of papers onto the table between him and me, some of them sliding across the crisp white tablecloth and onto the floor, I blink, then my heart lodges in my throat when I realize what I’m looking at. Photos I had no idea were being taken of Ben and me together—or mostly of him and me. In more than a few of them, he’s with other women.
My stomach rolls, and my fists clench tighter.
“I can explain.” He starts to push back from the table like he’s going to stand, but she doesn’t give him the chance.
Instead, she pulls out one of the two extra chairs and takes a seat. “Please do. I’d love to hear this.” She places her bag on her lap and turns to me. “Since you’re not the only one, I’m sure you’d like to hear this as well.”
If I was a spectator and not a participant, I would absolutely be interested in what’s about to come out of his mouth. But I don’t want or need to stick around for this.
She looks back at her husband.
Her husband… who she has kids with.
Oh God, I’m going to throw up.
“Well, go on then. Explain to me why you’ve been cheating on me for the last year, if not longer. I’d also like you to tell me about the baby you’ll be expecting in three months’ time.”
“What?” I breathe, and she swings her head in my direction.