Page 46 of Be My Bride

Thad doesn’t fight. He gets up. “I know you too, Asia. And there’s no way you chose that guy.” He nods at Hansley. “He won’t be consistent. He won’t be reliable. You won’t ever feel safe enough to count on him. I don’t know the circumstances behind your marriage and I don’t care. He’s going to break you. You and I both know that’s true.”

My nostrils flare. “Goodbye, Thad.”

“It’s not goodbye, Asia.” He grabs his wallet from the table and stares into my eyes. “I’ll see you soon.”

Twelve

Hansley

“When do I get to punch that guy?” I ask, grabbing the chair directly beside Asia and plopping down next to her.

“Why is violence your answer to everything?”

I snag one of her pieces of bacon. “Might I remind you that only a few days ago, you were planning to key his car?”

“You talked me out of it.” A smile trembles on her lips.

Damn.

I need that.

Need to see her smiling like she did last night. When she was carefree. When nothing mattered except the present.

She stopped smiling the moment String Bean showed up.

Technically, she stopped smiling when we woke up in bed together.

But there was still a fight in her eyes. A spark in her expression.

Thad sucked the life out of her.

In fact, every second with him seemed to drain her. I saw her unravelling like a ticking time bomb. She kept worrying her bottom lip. Kept glancing down. Looking away.

He was drumming up feelings in her that stole the confidence right out of her pretty brown eyes.

I wanted to destroy him for that.

And then I wanted to get up and wrap my arms around her.

Wanted to kiss her forehead and whisper you’re so much better than that punk in her ear.

Which is a problem.

Because I don’t do the ‘white knight’ thing.

Never have.

Except once.

Except with Sharon.

The fact that Asia stirs a similar level of protectiveness in me is troubling. I keep forgetting who I am when I’m around her. I keep crossing my own lines.

“Would you stop eating my bacon.” She smacks my knuckles.

“There’s an endless buffet. You can get more.”

“That’s why you can order your own.” She pushes me away.

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