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Giving myself a moment to breathe, I give it to her straight. “It was supposed to be mine and Sara’s fifth wedding anniversary today.”
Gigi gasps and her eyes fill with pain before she closes them and holds me a little tighter, her hand so soothing against my chest. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers.
“I know,” I tell her, and with that, I pull her tighter against me, desperately clinging to the comfort she can offer, and as her fingers draw little circles against my chest, I close my eyes and finally allow this hellish day to come to an end.
Chapter 21
GIGI
Lounging on my couch with my feet carelessly hanging over the side, I cradle my coffee mug in my cold hands when the front door flies open and Mel barges in. I peer at her over the back of the couch, taking in the startled look on her face. “Just getting in?” I grin.
She lets out a sigh before dumping her handbag and the mail on the entryway table. “Yes,” she groans.
She flops down onto the couch beside me before taking in the heavenly aroma of my coffee and changing her mind. She gets back up again and heads into the kitchen to start fussing with the old coffee machine, hoping it’s down to play ball twice in one morning. “How was your night?” she questions, her tone low as she watches me from the kitchen, her brows bouncing. “Is he still here?”
A smile tears across my face at the chance of talking about Sean. “Yeah, he’s still in bed,” I tell her. “He’s going to have a wicked hangover though.”
“I bet,” she murmurs, tapping on the side of the coffee machine when it doesn’t start up straight away. “Did you guys happen to talk?”
“Not really,” I tell her with a heavy sigh, feeling a little lost after everything that happened last night. I was only just starting to feel content in this relationship. Hell, I’d even told him I was falling for him, and then he had to go and hit me with that. But I get it. He has every right to crumble on days like that, but it was an eye-opener to just how much he’s still hurting.
“Oh,” she murmurs, her brows furrowed as she comes over and leans across the back of the couch as the coffee machine finally kicks into gear. “So, you don’t really know what last night was about then?”
“Yeah, actually,” I say. “It would have been his fifth wedding anniversary with Sara, but apart from that, he didn’t give me anything more.”
“Oh shit, that must have been hard,” she sighs, pressing her lips into a tight line and catching my eye. “But what about you? It’s hard enough trying to navigate a new relationship, but you’ve got that to think about as well. Are you . . . okay with it all?”
“Yeah,” I tell her, truly meaning it. “I’ve come to terms with the fact that there’s another woman in his life, but I’m not going to lie. Nights like last night . . . It can make me feel second best, but we have a unique situation, and I want to be there for him.”
“You sure?”
I reach over the back of the couch and give her hand a squeeze. “Yes, I’m perfectly fine with it. Sara made him the incredible man he is today, and I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. You know, apart from the crippling hurt. If I could take that away, I would.”
“Good,” she smiles. “I’m happy for you. You’ve been so desperate to find Prince Charming and you finally have.”
“Hey,” I scold. “I wasn’t desperate.”
“You were, babe,” she laughs, prancing back into the kitchen to collect her coffee from the machine and double-checking that it’s not going to give her third-degree burns. She makes her way back to the couch and drops in beside me, pulling her legs up under her. “So, tell me all about it. Did you finally get him in the sack?”
The second her question is out, coffee comes sputtering out of my mouth, and I have to wipe my sleeve across my face to mop it all up. “I’ll take that as a no,” she grumbles, clearly disappointed in me.
“Shhhhhhhh,” I demand as my eyes flick back to the hallway to check he’s still safely in my room and out of earshot. “We’re taking it slow, remember? Besides, it’s not like it’s been easy for us. He has his demons to deal with, and I got shot.”
“Excuses,” she grunts. “If you guys take it any slower, you’ll be going backward. I mean, you’ve been dating for nearly two months, you should be screwing like rabbits instead of acting like an old married couple.”
She’s completely right, but then, she doesn’t understand our reasoning. Sex to her is for fun, it’s not romantic, it’s not about love, it’s about who’s the first to reach the finish line with a screaming orgasm.
