My mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. “I need something else to talk about besides the shit show that was waiting on my porch tonight.” It sounded like a good enough save.
“How about this? Let’s park, and I can even play real estate agent and give you a tour? So, you don’t, you know, get lost in there or anything.” He gave me a shit-eating grin as he pulled into the garage. There was only one other small, zippy looking car.
“It’s just … this house is stunning, Donovan. It’s not what I expected. I apologize for being rude.”
“No more apologizing tonight. I know it doesn’t exactly fit my situation.” He tapped his steering wheel and took out the key. “Let’s go.” And with that, he hopped out. I was floored. Wait, what was his situation? What single guy needed all these bedrooms? Did he have a family that would come to visit? Of course, he had a family somewhere, idiot. He opened my car door right before I convinced myself he fathered triplets as a teenager, and that’s why he needed the space. “Are you coming?” he asked as he opened my door.
He held out his hand to help me down. “So, Miss King, welcome to 1443 Stonemill. As you know from the listing, this house is about 7,500 square feet,” he started. I swatted him in the chest as I laughed.
“Stop, you fool.”
We entered the house in the kitchen, and it was something else. Gorgeous man in his gorgeous kitchen. The cabinets were navy and reminded me of something you’d see in a swanky design magazine, not some small South Carolina town. A huge island sat in the middle, and it looked like there should be a dozen people sitting around it. Even his light fixtures were beautiful.
“Want something to eat or drink?
“Just some water would be great,” I replied.
He pushed the sleeves of his henley up, and I saw the smallest tease of ink on his forearm. My eyes bulged out of my head. Because if I didn’t think he could get hotter, I was wrong. Tattoos were my kryptonite. I wondered what he was hiding under there besides muscles for days.
He handed me my water and then opened up the conversation. “So, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I’m curious who Theo is to you,” he gently asked.
I knew that question was inevitable. “He’s my ex.”
“I gathered that. So, you broke his heart?”
“No. He broke mine. We broke up almost three years ago.” Those words tasted like acid in my mouth. I wasn’t going to get into the nitty gritty of him using me for six months and then sleeping with me a final time a couple of months ago, so I settled on the simple explanation.
Donovan’s eyes got wide as they snapped to me. “Three years?” He asked with surprise and dismay in his voice. “Has he been acting like this since?”
“No, this past couple of months is the first time he’s been like this.” I felt the need to defend myself. “And we’ve both been in town since it all happened. I’ve seen him plenty because he’s Eli’s best friend.”
He looked at me incredulously. “Your dart partner who wants to get in your pants is your ex’s best friend? Holy shit. You are a world of chaos, you know that, Audra?”
My defenses shot up immediately, and I indignantly replied, “Eli doesn’t want to get in my pants; he’s just a friend to me. His sister works with me at the hospital and convinced me to do it. Plus, not that I want to get into this with you, but it had the bonus of proving to myself that I could stay strong against Theo, because I wasn’t always able to keep my distance.”
“That’s a hell of a plan there, Audra. Did it work?”
“Yep.” I popped the P for emphasis. He raised his eyebrow at me, calling me out.
“Ok, we slept together one more time at the beginning of darts, but haven’t since.” I took a long drink of my water. “Did you give me truth serum here, Wright? Because I’m not one to air my dirty laundry.”
“No judgment here, Audra. I’m just trying to make senseof things. I have another personal question. Have you dated anyone since?”
“I have. I’ve casually dated, nothing too serious or too long. And I’ve had a couple of hookups, and that includes some repeats. Gossip gets around this town, so I’m sure he got wind of it. At no point did he act like this.” Good Lord, was I seriously time-lining my sexual history for this man?
“That makes things seem even more strange. If you’ve been with other people, but this is just happening now, what flipped the switch? How are you feeling about all this?”
God, it felt like he was just looking into my dark corners. “I mean … I … in full disclosure, I’m a little creeped out. The domineering behavior is new for him, and the fact that he keeps just showing up gives me a real uneasy feeling in my gut.”
“Okay, should we call the cops?”
“I don’t know. I think for the first time since we split, he actually feels threatened by…” My voice cut out, and I looked at Donovan. I didn’t want to insinuate anything between us, and I certainly didn’t want to put any thoughts in his head. Lord knows I was trying to make sense of a lot of things with him.
“By me.” He finished for me.
I nodded at him. “I’m sorry...”
“Nope.” He held his hand up, cutting me off. “No more of that. You have done nothing wrong. How about I show you the guest room? Maybe we can save the full tour for the morning.”
