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He fills a different place in my heart that I’ve not felt before. I couldn’t have asked for a better time than this, but something is missing without Emery.
I’m not ready to let him go.
Ford and Ash put their cards on the table. But if I want a relationship with Emery too, will Ford and Ashallow me to be with him as well?
Now is where I need Stella, but I’d have to tell her how it is I’m seeing three men. That I needed money. She won’t believe I just stumbled on three unbelievably hot, single men in New York City who were dying to share me for the hell of it.
Even if that’s what happened to her.
With the sun setting, a chill sweeps through the city.
On the way back to Ford’s apartment, he stops at a fish market to buy fresh salmon for dinner.
Ford cooks while Ash and I drink wine. Both their lips are never far from my mouth. It’s truly one of the happiest days of my life.
Then I remember, I felt the same way in the Hamptons a few weeks ago, and I came home to a nightmare.
TWENTY-NINE
EMERY
“Why is Mom such a bitch?” Jess’s reddened cheeks when she comes back from saying goodbye to her mother enrages me.
“I’m sorry.” I open my arms, and my daughter falls into them.
“It’s not your fault.” Jess snuggles against my chest.
In a way it is.Igot Warren pregnant.
We’re standing in the condo I bought for her to share with two friends who escaped hours earlier when their parents went home.
“Maybe there was more I could have done. I worked too much.”
“I was there, Dad. You were no different from my friend’s fathers who worked hard. Mom just always nagged you.”
It hits me that my daughter is triggered by her mother’s behavior. Jess is an adult now, but emotional trauma could last a lifetime.
After my divorce and before I joined Club Dare, my personal life consisted of one-night stands. I never made promises to anyone. Stated my position upfront. I had a good time for a few hours and nothing more.
My business consumed so much of my time and energy. I saw what my sad state of emotional emptiness did to one woman, and by extension,my daughter.
I vowed not to get involved ever again. The hurt in a woman’s eyes is devastating.
Then I found Club Dare. Bought women for a month at a time, so I could walk away.
I may have bought Bernadette just the same, but I can’t see myself walking away from her so easily, and that scares the shit out of me.
When my phone buzzes as it has all weekend, I check it.
“Sorry, honey. Give me a moment.”
“Is it Bernie?” Jess smiles down at my phone.
I love how she calls Bernadette by that cute nickname and... Holy shit. I forgot to call her Friday night. Not so much forgot, but my brain and emotions were completely highjacked with everything going on.
My COO kept me on the phone during the drive to New Haven, and the moment I got to the hotel, Warren had a tantrum over her room. A ruse, I suspected to get herself moved into mine.
Wanting no part of that, I gave her my executive duplex and took herunacceptabletwo-bedroom villa with a view of the college.
