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“Miles was angry for a different reason. He did a background check and discovered that Kelly had misrepresented herself. She’d claimed to be an only child. She’d said her parents were dead and she’d inherited their wealth. When we decided to get married, she’d said that a traditional wedding would make her too sad since her father wouldn’t be able to walk her down the aisle and her mother wouldn’t be there to help her plan it. I believed her. In reality, she was divorced and financially strapped. She had maxed-out about a dozen credit cards trying to pull off her rich orphan charade. And the coup de grâce? Her parents weren’t dead. They were in jail—convicted con artists.”
Felicity’s jaw fell open. She couldn’t help it.
“Wait, there’s more. She promised me that she was nothing like her family. She begged and pleaded for me to believe her. She said she couldn’t tell me the truth because she was afraid that I wouldn’t give her a chance, much less be able to love her, because of her family’s wrongdoings. She said that my family’s anger was case in point. She swore she loved me with all her heart and wanted our marriage more than anything in the world.
“Miles cut me off financially. I realized that would be the true test as to whether she wanted me or my family’s money. And I wanted to prove my parents wrong. I wanted to believe Kelly and show them that we could make the marriage work. Plus, I was really pissed off at my father for taking it upon himself to dig into Kelly’s background.
“So, to make a long story short, we managed to hold the marriage together for two years before other parts of Kelly’s past began to catch up with her. I learned that I wasn’t her first mark when a man that she’d stolen money from turned up, threatening to press charges and expose her. Miles bailed her out, for fear of what the scandal would do to our family and the business. No one wants to work with an investment company that has ties to swindlers, especially when they’re trusting you with their money. But I had to pay back my father the money he’d spent to get the guy off our backs. Things went from tight to lean.
“Kelly grew restless. A few months later, I discovered she was having an affair and divorced her. After that, I learned that being married to my job was a whole hell of a lot safer than investing in a relationship.”
It was a lot to digest. She knew he was divorced and judging by the way no one ever talked about it, she figured it had been a very unhappy marriage, but she never dreamed he’d been through something so horrific.
“I’m sorry that happened to you. Kelly really did a number on you, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, I was pretty stupid to fall right into her trap.”
“You know it’s not your fault, Austin. She’s the one who’s to blame. You cannot blame yourself or let her make you jaded about love.”
He shrugged. “Love? I don’t believe in love. I don’t think there’s such a thing.”
“How can you not, Austin? I’m one hundred percent sure love exists.”
“But?” he countered.
“But what?” she asked.
“I heard an implied but at the end of your declaration.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Oh, my God. He could read her like a book. Or read her thoughts, which was an even scarier prospect.
Austin, if you can read my thoughts, it’s okay for you to kiss me. Right here. Right now. Just do it.
She discreetly moistened her lips, just in case. But he didn’t lean in.
“It’s okay,” he said. “You don’t have to tell me. I know how hard it is to talk about things like that. You’re the first person outside of my family that I’ve told the full story of what happened with Kelly.”
He’d trusted her with something so intimate, which made it even more crucial to not ruin his trust by doing something stupid like overstepping boundaries.
“I know love exists because I feel it—err—I’ve felt it. But I believe it never lasts. Once those feelings are pulled forth from behind the veil, it’s as if there’s a countdown to the end.” She pointed to the bottle of Chandon that the server had left in the standing silver ice bucket.
