A Mate for York(25)

Her eyes filled with tears. York really seemed to care. His voice sounded rough with emotion. He was really sorry for what he had said. “It’s okay.”

“No it’s not.” He pulled her away from him so that he could look at her. “I’m a serious dick for thinking the worst of you. I’m sorry!” He cursed. “You’re crying.”

“I’m not crying.” She sniffed. Her eyes might be filled with tears but none had spilled over yet so technically she wasn’t crying.

His eyes narrowed. “You are.” Using his thumb, he rubbed at the moisture that had gathered at the edge of her eye. “You must have really loved him. I can’t imagine how much you must miss him.”

As in, not so much.

“Stop. Please.”

York shook his head. “It hurts too much to talk of him…I understand.”

“No, it’s not that. You’re wrong. Totally off base.” It just slipped out.

“Wrong? What do mean by that?” he frowned.

The can of worms was already open, might as well let those suckers run free. “In hindsight my relationship with Sean, my husband, was not all that great. We were just going through the motions as a married couple. We didn’t have the best sexual relationship…we didn’t have the best relationship period. I just didn’t see it at the time.” She took a deep breath. “I found out some things after his death that made me realize that I didn’t know him nearly as well as I had always thought. I don’t miss him…not one tiny bit.”

York was frowning. “What did you find out?”

“You really don’t want to know. No one knows about it and I’d rather it stayed that way.” She bit down on her lower lip, hoping he would leave it alone.

“I do want to know,” he whispered. “I really think you should tell me. I can see that you need to talk. You can’t let whatever it is stay inside you like this. I promise not to tell another living soul.” He touched his heart and she was oddly affected by the gesture.

“I found some receipts after his death. It turned out that Sean had a little gambling problem. Not only did he clean out our savings account, he also maxed out three credit cards. I’m buried under a ton of debt.”

Although York’s eyes darkened and his jaw tensed, he didn’t say anything.

After a long minute, she carried on. “I worked out that if I lived on beans, it would take me five years to pay it off at my current rate of pay. That’s why I’m here. I need a fresh start. I really need the money.” Her mind went to the credit card statements and phone text messages she had found and the feeling of betrayal hit her all over again like it had happened just yesterday.

“There’s more.” York took ahold of her hand and squeezed. “You can trust me with this.”

Cassidy licked her lips and nodded. “I had a long look at the credit card statements. I was trying so hard to decipher where all the money had gone. Trying to understand what Sean had been thinking. I suspected that there was more. It turned out that he had used the cards every week at a local club called ‘The Kitten’s Paws’. It was a standard two hundred dollar deduction every Thursday afternoon at around his lunch break. It made me curious so I went to check it out.” Her lip wobbled as she remembered the utter horror she had felt at her discovery. “The Kitten’s Paw is an escort agency. A really dirty, dingy one at that. After checking his cell phone, I found that he messaged one of his hookers every week to confirm their appointment. He bounced between three or four girls at the club.” She scrubbed a hand over her face.

“Forgive me.” York sounded unsure. “What is an escort agency? I am also not familiar with the term hooker.” His eyebrows drew together under his deep frown.

“He was paying a woman every week to have sex with him.”

“Why the fuck would he do that?”

She had to laugh at his response. “Why do men do the things that they do? Not only men, women can be just as bad.”

“He had you warming his bed yet he paid money to fuck someone else?” York shook his head. He looked both shocked and disgusted. “What an idiot.”

His words warmed her.

“I can tell you right now that if you were mine, I wouldn’t need anyone else.” A growled whisper so sincere that it had her holding her breath for a few seconds.

“Thank you.” It slipped out before she could stop it. It made her sound really pathetic.

“Why are you thanking me?” York looked confused.

“I don’t know…” She felt embarrassed to admit that he treated her better than any man ever had. Certainly better than Sean ever treated her.