AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He hadn’t, but I already knew that.The only reason my insecure self could conjure was that it hadn’t mattered enough for him to bother.
“You’re wrong.”
I’d been looking out the side window but turned to face him. “What did you say?”
“What you’re thinking is wrong.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking?”
Lynx reached over and brushed the bare skin of my thigh with the back of his hand. “Because I do.”
“Why didn’t you try?”
“Because I woke and you were gone. Because you were a wide-eyed twenty-five-year-old on your first time in London, at a conference you didn’t believe you belonged attending.”
“You remember all that?”
“I remember everything, Emerson.” He slid his hand down so it rested above my knee. “Why did you leave?”
Why had I? To avoid embarrassment. To avoid the ugly morning after when the hotter-than-hell guy wishes the girl had just left rather than having to endure an awkward conversation in which he’d say he’d call, yet never would.
“Here we are,” he said, pulling into the driveway before I had a chance to answer. The suddenness of our arrival jarred me.
Why had I agreed to this? How would he introduce me? Would I be the crazy woman who spilled water on him and then bonked her head on the table, requiring Stephen to give her medical care when he was really in Boston to attend a conference?
Lynx unfastened his seatbelt but didn’t get out of the car. Instead, he took my hand in his. “They’re going to love you.”
“I feel so…”
“What?”
I shook my head.
“I’ll tell you how I feel. I’m happy you agreed to come with me.”
“Who will you tell them I am?”
“A woman that I’ve recently reconnected with. One I’m very anxious to get to know better.”
“Lynx?” I said, looking down at our hands. “When do you think Tommy—Saint—will be back?”
The look on his face made me wish I hadn’t asked.
“I don’t know.”
—:—
Dinner with Stephen and his wife was delightful. While initially I felt like an imposition, Nora put me to work almost immediately, perhaps sensing I’d be more comfortable if I was doing rather than watching.
“I have to warn you, I’m a bit of a klutz.” I pointed to my head.
She washed her hands, dried them, and refilled my wine glass. “The first time I met Stephen’s parents, I dropped an entire carton of eggs on his mother’s feet.”
I choked on my wine when I laughed, which was better than spitting it out, which was what I almost did. “You’re kidding.”
“They surprised us, Stephen really. I don’t think they expected he’d invite them to dinner here. Let me tell you, it was disastrous. On top of everything else, Stephen had planned to propose to me that night, and I was pregnant with the twins.”
“Wow.” I had nothing else. I couldn’t even imagine what that night must’ve been like.
