AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I lifted it to my lips and blew to cool it before taking a sip. My eyes rounded. “Okay, I like this one a lot.”
She grinned, too damn pleased with herself. “See? No sugar necessary.”
I drank more, and while I enjoyed the flavor, it didn’t miraculously heal my damaged heart. Placing the cup on the table, I let out a weary sigh and stared out Poppy’s kitchen window.
“I really stepped in it this time, didn’t I?”
There was a brief pause before she answered. “It’s nothing you can’t come back from.”
I looked back at her, my vision fuzzing over again as I fought another torrent of tears. “I really am sorry for lying. I’m an asshole, but I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
She waved me off. “Don’t worry about that. I’m not mad. Not about the lying at least. If you recall, Jase and I didn’t exactly start out normally. Hell, I agreed to marry him basically so he could stage a hostile takeover and push his father right out of the company. I barely knew the man when I agreed to his insane plan, and look at us now.” She held her arms out and grinned wide. “I didn’t think I stood a chance; now the man’s basically obsessed with me.”
I let out a small laugh because she wasn’t wrong. Poppy and Jase’s engagement might have started out fake, but in his eyes, his wife basically can do no wrong. The man would walk through fire for her, something he’d been forced to prove, unfortunately. But luckily, it all worked out in the end.
“What Iampissed at you about is letting me give that nasty bitch of a woman a room all this time and not saying anything.”
I lifted a single shoulder in a shrug and bit down on my bottom lip. “She was a paying customer. I didn’t want to screw with your business.”
Poppy’s expression grew dark. “She’s a pain in the ass customer is what she is, and I’m going to be more than happy to kick her ass out after this.” She shook her head in disgust, letting out a grunt. “I don’t think I’ve had a ruder client in all the years I’ve run this place. There’s absolutely no pleasing her.”
My lips pulled into a wince. “Sorry about that. She is pretty terrible, isn’t she?”
Poppy’s blue eyes went wide. “The absoluteworst. Which is why I know Gage couldn’t possibly still have feelings for her.”
Almost as if he’d felt us discussing him, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my back pocket and placed it on the table as his name flashed across the screen.
“You going to answer that?” Poppy asked with a curious lift of her brows.
“Not yet,” I whispered, emotion expanding in my throat. “I’m not ready yet.” I collapsed back into my chair on a heavy exhale. “I don’t know, Poppy. If what you’re saying is true, why has he kept the ring all this time, huh?”
She shook her head, sympathy washing over her expression. “I don’t know, babe. That’s something you’re going to have to ask him.”
I wasn’t sure I was brave enough for that. Which only pissed me off because I wasn’t a big fan of taking the coward’s way out. It wasn’t in my nature. But Gage had me all twisted up. I was doing things totally out of character.
My phone signaled an incoming message from Gage, but I couldn’t bring myself to read it.
“You should have heard his mom, Pop. To hear her tell it, he’d been wrecked. And if anyone wouldreallyknow, it would be her, right? And for as long as I’ve known him, he’s always sworn up and down that he was never going to get married. Hell, he didn’t even want a steady, committed relationship. That’s how bad she screwed him up. What kind of shot do I have against that?”
She gave me a knowing look over the rim of her mug as she drank more of her dirt tea. “If I remember correctly, you swore off the entire male gender after what happened with Darrin. Looking back on that relationship, do you still feel that way?”
I rolled my eyes and blew out an obnoxious raspberry. “Obviously not. I mean, I’m in love with Gage. That should answer your question.”
She jabbed a finger in my direction. “Exactly,” she exclaimed so loudly I jerked in my chair, nearly spilling tea in my lap. “Now that you’ve had time to look back and gained a little perspective, what you felt for Darrin wasn’t nearly as strong as you originally thought, right?”
“Well... yeah.”
“Then who’s to say that isn’t the case with Gage? I mean, the guy moved you into his house, for crying out loud.”
“That was his grandmother and mom,” I argued. “They basically strong-armed me into breaking my lease and moving in with him.”
Her look saidhow dumb do you think I am? “Oh please. We both know Gage Langdon isn’t the kind of man to do anything he doesn’t want to do.” She threw a challenging look my way. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“No,” I said hesitantly. “I mean, not really.”
“He’s not,” she said definitively then leaned across the table to rest her hand on mine. “Wynn, honey. You should see the way the man looks at you. Even when you aren’t looking.”
My heart stuck in my throat, making it hard to swallow. “H-how does he look at me?” I asked, my voice watery.
