Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 68688 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68688 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
“I don’t think I will.” It meant a lot to me to have that kind of respect, to be privy to information that a normal man would have concealed. “Adrien says there was no one else, but I don’t trust him. What I would give to hear his answer and know it’s the truth…”
His smile faded and his eyes hardened, like I’d said the wrong thing.
“What?”
He gave a slight shake of his head. “Where do the two of you stand?”
Marriage was sacred, and I didn’t blame anyone for wanting to fight for it until their dying breath. When I’d married Adrien, I assumed it would be forever. That we would have babies together, grow old together, and then be buried side by side in the cemetery. It was hard to accept defeat, but surrender felt like the right option for me. “It’s over.” It still made me sad to say that, to know that our relationship had been destroyed because he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants until he came home to me. “I said I would try…but then we met with the marriage counselor, and it just went to shit.”
“Why did it go to shit?”
My eyes dropped down, remembering how many times I’d thought about Bastien as I sat there, unable to get those blue eyes out of my goddamn mind. It had been as if he were there in the room, watching the whole thing unfold. “There was a vase on the corner of her desk, and she accidentally knocked it over.”
He continued to stare at me, his fingers relaxed on the cool glass, giving no discernible reaction to that.
“Glass…everywhere.”
He definitely had edges of arrogance, but he didn’t display them now.
“Adrien helped her clean it up, but I still spotted pieces in corners…and I didn’t say anything.”
“And then you left?”
“Yeah. We talked at the apartment, and I pulled the plug. He accepted it this time—I think.”
“And that was it? Nothing else was said?”
I studied his face, trying to understand why he continued to push the needle. “Should something else have been said?”
He brought the glass to his lips and took a drink. A long one, unnecessarily so. When he set it down, he licked his lips. An answer didn’t seem forthcoming, like he’d somehow forgotten my question. “You made the right decision.”
“I thought you were too biased to give advice?”
He smiled slightly then looked at the glass sitting at the bottom of his fingertips. “In this case, my advice is pretty fucking objective.”
Bastien walked me to the lobby door hidden between the two rows of hedges. There was a mist in the air, visible in the lights outside the buildings, drops of rain so light they floated like snow. “I’ll leave you here.”
I scanned my phone into the computer so the lock on the door released. It was as heavy as the gates to an old keep, something that couldn’t be broken down by a herd of Clydesdales. I looked at him standing in the mist like the cold didn’t bother him at all, didn’t leave bumps on his arms as his body tightened to stop the heat from escaping. “Why?”
That boyish smile moved in that rugged, manly face. “I assumed you needed some time.”
“I do.” There wasn’t a word to accurately describe the way I felt, a mixture of sorrow and unstoppable rage. There was a special kind of anger felt by women who had to leave their lying husbands. Wished I knew what that word was. “But I also want you to stay.” How could I be so heartbroken over one man but so desperate for another? How could I want this man so much that it made me sick when we were apart?
“I’m trying to be a gentleman, but I’ve never been good at it.”
“I don’t want a gentleman,” I said as I continued to hold on to the door. “I want you.”
His smile widened like I’d vanquished his restraint. He moved to the door, and even though it weighed a hundred pounds at least, he opened it like it weighed nothing. We entered the warmth of the lobby and began the walk up the circular staircase, the carpet an olive green with white flowers in the center.
We made it to the top floor, and I scanned the door to get it unlocked. My apartment was quiet and cold because I turned off the heat before I left. The first thing I did was move to the thermostat and turn it up so I wouldn’t freeze during the night.
I was about to drop my jacket over the back of the chair but changed my mind. “I’m so fucking cold.”
“Here.” He pulled his shirt over his head, revealing a body so hard it looked like a sculpture rather than living flesh. “It’s a lot warmer than that jacket.”