AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He thought about it for a second or two. ‘Why not. Give me a sec.’
Reaching for his phone, he scrolled through until he was holding a photo with him and his ex-wife in front of me.
‘Wow. She is beautiful.’ I focused on William’s face in the photo. He was smiling, but it didn’t feel right. Her smile was bigger, but hers didn’t look right either, somehow.
‘That’s it?’
I shrugged and gave him a small smile.
‘Your turn. Let’s see your short-tongued ex.’
My grin got bigger, and I lifted a finger. I found a picture of us together and showed William.
His fingers touched mine as he took the phone from me and our eyes met, briefly. Then I had my hand on my lap, and he was looking at the photo.
‘Huh.’
‘What?’
‘Nothing.’
He looked at it some more then put my phone down.
‘And…?’
‘I don’t like him.’
I laughed. ‘Okay, I guess.’
‘Yes, I don’t like him for you.’
Weirdly, hearing that from him made me happy.
His eyes dropped to the almost empty beer glass I was moving on the table. ‘Want to get out of here?’
I didn’t have to think about that. ‘Sure.’
In just a few minutes we had said goodbye to everyone at the table, whom we had completely ignored the whole time we were there, and then we were back out on the crowded New York streets.
I did my best not to fill the silence with mindless chatter. But I did keep stealing glances at him as we weaved around people and ended up walking side by side each time. I’d seen more than a few women trying to catch his attention as they were walking past, but I don’t think he noticed any of them.
He was extremely good-looking, that was unquestionable – even more so than he was years back. But more than his looks, I was drawn to his personality, the way he talked to me, the way he’d smiled when he was looking into my eyes, and just the way he’d given all of his attention to me tonight.
We caught the next train and as we stepped out on our stop, William surprised me.
‘I have a personal question to ask you, so ask me something personal first.’
I glanced at him in confusion.
‘Go for it,’ he encouraged.
I looked up at the starless sky as we walked up the stairs. Okay, I could do that. ‘Can I ask what went wrong with your ex-wife? You know a lot of details about my non-dating life now so I feel like it’s only fair if I know more about yours.’
I watched him as he focused on the sidewalk as we slowed our steps. ‘We had our differences even from the beginning. Essentially, I’d say we didn’t want the same things out of a marriage. She told me some lies, changed her mind about a lot of stuff after we got married. Long story short, we tried to work on it, but grew apart. It was a mutual decision to end it.’
‘Is she still in California? Is that why you moved?’
‘Not just because of that, no, and yes she still lives there. As much as I liked the firm I was working at, we were starting to accept all kinds of cases I wasn’t comfortable taking on, and I think after the marriage failed so miserably, I thought coming back here didn’t sound so bad. Being closer to my family felt right too. Plus the university offer came through at a perfect time so I put things in motion and gave my resignation. Then right before I got here…’
‘My dad got in touch,’ I finished for him.
He nodded.
Feeling a little chilly, I pushed my hands deeper into my pockets.
‘Are you cold?’ William asked.
‘Nope. I’m good.’
Instead of listening to me, he started to take off his dark grey jacket and, despite all my protests, draped it over my shoulders.
As his scent surrounded me, making me feel all kinds of things at once, I ignored each and every one of the goosebumps across my skin and quietly thanked him.
‘What was your question?’ I asked.
‘My question is,’ William started as he turned his head to me. ‘If you haven’t kissed anyone in six years… does that mean you haven’t had…’
I raised my brows and waited for him to go on with a small smile on my lips. ‘If you want to ask me, you’re gonna have to say the whole thing.’ Then I couldn’t hold it in and chuckled, and like two idiots we smiled at each other. ‘I’m not gonna answer unless you can say it out loud.’
‘I’m not shy, Charlie,’ he warned in a low and rumbling voice.
I scoffed, ignoring what the tone of his voice did to me. ‘You can ask then.’
‘Okay. Does that mean you haven’t had sex in six years?’
My lips twitching, I faced forward again. Because I actually was shy, even though he probably couldn’t tell from the things I’d blurted out this evening. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying being completely honest with him. ‘Five years. Give or take a few months.’
