I had some serious work to do.
“We’ve met a few times at award shows, but not really. We’d know each other to say hi to.”
“Oh, okay.”
“I’ve never been out partying with him.” I answered the question she didn’t want to ask.
She visibly relaxed in a way I wasn’t sure I was comfortable with.
“Your comment earlier about pro-athletes - was that because of Jupiter?”
She sighed and nodded. “I love him, he’s one of my favorite people, but I also know what he’s like, even on the nights I’ve been out with him and his teammates and he’s toned it down or tried to shield me from it. I’m not judging him, I see what happens, but that’s not me - contrary to what happened in Vegas.”
I frowned at her, not liking what I was hearing. “Hey, we were both in Vegas. Don’t do that. Vegas was amazing; the best night of my life so far, and we’re here now because of it.”
“I know. You’re right.” She gave weak smile.
I put my coffee down and took her hands in mine.
“Without wanting to dig myself into a hole, I’m gonna say that Jupiter is a single guy. Could he be a little more discreet? Probably. But until you meet the one, that’s the single life for the majority of pro-athletes.” I took a deep breath, “And you should know the reason I’ve never been in a relationship is because I knew I could never stay faithful. Never met anyone I wanted to spend time with, and never met anyone I wanted to commit to - until you. Before you, my life wasn’t much different to Jupiter’s.But I told you earlier, I haven’t even looked at another woman in nearly a year, and that’s the truth. I promise I will never give you a reason to doubt me.”
She reached over and brushed my cheek, her touch electric, the imprint of her fingertips still warming my skin after she dropped her hand back.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I started on the omelets. “Now, tell me why you left California.”
It was her turn to wince. “My ex-boyfriend and I came here together. He was relocated to a new job in the city.”
My fork stopped mid-air as I quickly did the math. Ex-boyfriend. She’d been here nine months, three months after Vegas.
What the actual fuck.
I narrowed my eyes. “Emerson, were you in a relationship when we met?”
She shook her head violently. “No. My girlfriends took me to Vegas because I’d broken up with my boyfriend. I broke up with him. But after I got back to California, he spent a month begging me to get back together, so we did. And when he was offered a new job here, we saw it as a fresh start. But three months in, I caught him with one of the nurses at his hospital, and I moved out that same day.”
“He’s a doctor?”
She nodded. “A surgeon at Mercy on the Upper West Side.”
“Why did you break up in the first place?”
She laughed, although it wasn’t filled with any humor. “Because I caught him with one of his nurses.”
I frowned. “Why did you get back together with him then?”
Her face dropped again.
“Luck?”
She took a beat before answering, and I watched in silence. “Because I was sad. Because I gave you my number and you didn’t call me. You didn’t come and meet me after you begged me to wait for you. Because I was embarrassed that I wanted you to come, I wanted to see you again so badly. And I thought maybe I’d imagined our connection and the chemistry hadn’t been real, that it was just my one chance at glimpsing what incredible sex could be like.”
My heart was torn, cracking a little at the pain she’d suffered and the pain I’d inadvertently caused, but skipping a beat at hearing how upset she’d been that we hadn’t got our second chance. That she felt how I felt. And my dick stirred again as I thought about our first night together.
“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She looked up at me, with a shrug of one shoulder before her face split into a toothy smile. “I guess it’s what the universe wanted, right? I’d never be in New York and we wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t got back together with him.”
