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I flinch. Ouch.
He shakes his head. “But then I started to get to know you. The real you. The one you hide from the world. The one who picks her peas out of her fried rice and makes everyone believe she’s nothing but a party girl. The woman who ran straight into danger to protect her friend and who didn’t fall apart when one of the most infamous crime bosses in Boston threatened her life. The woman who looked at the man she’s been repeatedly told is responsible for the death of someone you held dear and didn’t run in the other direction. You’re an extraordinary woman, Isla, and I’m lucky to be your husband.”
I open my mouth to respond but snap it shut again. Even when Aunt Clarissa was alive, I heard all the time how emotionally stunted Doc was, but right now I’m not seeing that. I’m seeing a man who is laying it all on the line, and while I’m not naive enough to believe he’d let me go if I asked, I do believe there’s more to his feelings toward me than just obligation.
“Get dressed, we’re going out.” He presses a kiss to my cheek and disappears from the bathroom as quickly as he came.
What the hell just happened?
I take my time getting ready and applying a light layer of makeup before tying my hair up in a messy braid. It’s a little wild after sleeping with it down last night, and I don’t have the temperament right now to try to tame it.
I tug on a pair of ripped jeans, a black sweater, and pair the outfit with my favorite black boots.
Once I’m satisfied, I slip my arms into my coat and move into the lounge room.
Doc’s nowhere to be seen, but I shrug and pick up my purse from the side table he must have left it on last night, riffling through the contents looking for my birth control pills. I’ve been notoriously bad at taking them pretty much since I was first prescribed them four years ago, but now that there’s a possibility I might actually need them, I should probably start taking them religiously.
There’s no way I want to be barefoot and pregnant at twenty with to a man who has never wanted to be a father.
I could have sworn I took them out with me last night.
I look around the apartment, seeing if maybe I left them somewhere else, but they’re nowhere to be seen.
Just as I’m about to give up, Doc steps out of his office wearing a pair of black jeans and a tight black Henley with motorcycle boots, pretty much his standard uniform.
“You ready?”
I nod, taking another look around. I’ll have to remember to look for them when we get back.
Doc reaches into his pocket and produces exactly what I was looking for. “These must have fallen out of your bag when you dropped it last night.”
I let out a sigh of relief and take them from him. “I was just looking for these!”
He takes my hand and leads me toward the front door.
For the first time since I walked down the aisle, I’m starting to believe this entire marriage is more than just one of convenience.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
DOC
Spending time with my late wife was usually a chore.
Not so much when we were in college, but after that, after we got married, the expectation of having kids started tugging at her.
Admittedly, I was a shitty husband. I never bought her flowers or took her on dates. Anytime we went out, it was planned by her, and I spent as much time out of the house when I was in Boston as I could.
But this is different.
Isla is different.
I should have known it from the moment my need to protect her kicked in, but I was in denial, just like she is now.
I hold onto her hand as we cross the road toward the coffee shop she visits each morning, ignoring the way she glances at me with confusion like she has no idea how I would know something like that. But my spitfire will learn that there’s nothing I don’t know about her, and just because I haven’t been home the last week doesn’t mean I haven’t been watching.
At first it was because I didn’t trust her, but after the first few days, it was because I couldn’t help myself. I needed to knowwhere she was and what she was doing at all times, and I could barely handle the times I couldn’t see her.
To the point I’ve spent a little too much time at the University of Chicago for someone who finished their education twenty years ago.
