Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
When his bright brown eyes meet mine, I pull my hand back, overwhelmed by the intense connection I feel with him.
Maybe it’s because I’m filled with a myriad of emotions—between my life feeling up in the air and being in the city my mom once loved—but I feel exposed, and as much as I want to let this man in, I can’t risk being hurt again. We’re both nothing more than two strangers who happen to be in the same place at the same time, and once we check out of this hotel, we’ll go back to our lives and never see each other again.
And then it hits me…
“Are you in a relationship?” I ask, needing to know.
Before John cheated, I wouldn’t have even thought to ask. But now, I feel like I can’t assume anything. My trust has recently been destroyed, the wounds still fresh, and while I shouldn’t take it out on Nate, I can’t help how I feel.
“What?” He looks at me like he’s been slapped.
“Are you dating anyone? Engaged? Married?”
“No,” he bites out. “If I were, I sure as hell wouldn’t be sitting here with you, hoping you’ll spend the next few days with me.”
“Sorry, I had to ask.”
“I get it,” he says. “Unfortunately, I experienced almost exactly what you went through.”
“You did?”
“Yeah.” He sighs. “I dated this girl throughout college, and when we graduated, I went to work for my family’s business. Some personal stuff was going on, so I was working a lot of hours, and I thought she understood. Until I came home early one night to surprise her and take her to dinner and found her in bed with my best friend.”
“How did you get past it?”
“With time,” he says with a shrug. “But also, I was glad I found out then, before we got married and had kids.”
“Yeah,” I agree, having thought the same thing earlier. “The last thing I’d want is to put my kids through a divorce. I know divorce rates are high, but my hope is that I’ll find someone who will want me forever. Before my mom got sick, I felt what it was like to have a family. Even though I hated moving around, no matter where we moved, I had my parents. Now”—I exhale a harsh breath—“I feel like I have no one.”
“It’ll take time,” Nate says, giving my hand a squeeze. “But one day, when you’ve met the man you’ll spend your life with, you’ll look back and be grateful that asshole showed his true colors so you could move forward.”
“You haven’t moved forward,” I point out since he said he’s not in a relationship.
“No.” He smiles sadly. “I’d like to. I’d love to meet someone I can share my life with. My parents have been married for over thirty years and are still madly in love.”
“But…”
“But sometimes, I think maybe I’m destined to be married to my job.”
“Or maybe you just haven’t met the right woman yet.”
“Maybe.”
His eyes lock with mine, and butterflies, which have no business being anywhere near me, attack my chest.
“So, what do you say?” he asks. “You going to show me the magic of London?”
I open my mouth to say yes, but stop myself because maybe I’m thinking too much into this, but I can’t risk it. It’s easy to get swept up in a city like London, and right now, I feel extremely vulnerable.
“I live in Houston, Texas,” I tell him, not bothering to mention Rosemary since it’s too small of a town for anybody to know. “Do you live anywhere near there?”
The chances of him living near me are slim, and since I’ve already experienced the heartbreak of being in a long-distance relationship, I’m not doing that again. Which means, if I’m going to spend time with his gorgeous man, I need to make sure the line is clearly drawn so there’s no risk of it blurring.
He quirks a questioning brow, but then says, “I live in—”
I shake my head. “Don’t tell me. Just answer my question. Do you live near Houston? Close enough that if there were an emergency, like, say, if a huge spider appeared in my shower and I needed you to come save me, you could be there before the spider killed me?”
He snorts out a laugh. “What the hell kind of spiders do you have in Houston?”
“The kind that nightmares are made of,” I deadpan, making him laugh again.
“No,” he says with a sigh. “I don’t live close enough to save you from the deadly spider, but—”
“No buts,” I say, refusing to let him come up with an argument. “I did the long-distance thing and have the heartbreak to show for it. I’m not saying this thing between us could be headed in that direction. And I don’t want it to sound like I’m being presumptuous. But I need to protect myself, just in case.