Pretend It's Love(24)

"The redhead," the first voice said. "That's his new girlfriend."

"No way. He finally stopped fucking his way from here to kingdom come?"

"Maybe she'll be able to do what I couldn't." The first voice definitely belonged to Sadie.

"What, tame him? Please. Some people aren't meant to be the settle-down,  get-married type. Hell, he wasn't even the hold-a-job type … if it wasn't  for his brother, he'd still be out of work and mooching off Zia Leone."

"I tried so hard to encourage him to do something with his life." Sadie's voice wavered.

"Don't cry."

"It's these bloody hormones."

"That's the reason you're upset now, not because of Paul. You made the right choice to be with Michael instead."

"You have to say that, he's your brother."

"I believe it."

"I shouldn't have cheated on Paul."

"Sure, but he more than made up for it after you left by screwing anything that could walk."

Libby's hands trembled in front of her. How dare they talk about him  like that. Judging by how he'd treated her in the last month and  considering they weren't even in a real relationship, Libby had zero  doubt in her mind that he'd been a great boyfriend to Sadie. Perhaps he  hadn't lived up to everyone's expectations, but who would even try with  people like that putting you down? These people were his family and yet  they talked about him as though he were the scum of the earth.

And she knew exactly what it was like to have your own family push you into the ground. No one should have to experience that.

"You chose right, Sadie," the second voice said. "Paul's a lost cause, but good luck to this girl in trying to change him."

Sucking in a breath, Libby pulled back her shoulders and walked into the hallway.

"For the record, I like Paul just the way he is," she said, not even  pausing to let them close their mouths. "He's a wonderful, supportive  boyfriend and I wouldn't be with him if all I wanted was to turn him  into someone else."

Sadie's face paled and the girl next to her, who Libby assumed was  another of Paul's cousins, blinked rapidly. Neither girl said anything  to fill the void.

"And, for the record," she said, putting her hands on her hips.  Adrenaline coursed through her, the high from standing up for Paul  fueling her words. "We're thinking about getting married because he's  never been so happy, and neither have I."

She regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth, even more  so when she realized that Paul's mother had walked into earshot. Libby  wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole, so she could stew  over her bad life decisions in solitude.

"Married?" The look on Leone's face was like a stake through Libby's heart. Paul was going to kill her.

"We're just talking about it," she said, trying to smooth the situation  over. "It was supposed to be private, but it just … popped out."

Sadie blanched. "He told me marriage was old-fashioned."

Libby shrugged, grappling for how to recover. She had to get to Paul and  tell him what she'd done so they could come up with a solution. But how  could she tell him that without revealing what his family was saying  about him behind his back?

Her stomach swished, the floor tilting beneath her feet. What had she done?

Leone looked so excited Libby wondered if she might spontaneously  combust. She rushed over and enveloped Libby into a tight hug. "This is  wonderful news!"

"You have to keep it a secret," Libby begged. "He'll be mad if he finds out I mentioned it without consulting him first."         

     



 

Or even alerting him to this mystical fact.

"You have my word," Leone said. "I won't make a peep."

Now all Libby had to do was figure out how to tell Paul that she'd made things worse for him.



Paul turned his mobile over in his hands, contemplating what to do about  Libby. Guilt weighed on him. Maybe Noah and Des were right. He should  have told her the full story about Sadie.

But the last thing he wanted was her pitying him or, God forbid, saying  something at the wedding. He didn't need anyone feeling sorry for him.  The whole point of his "relationship" with Libby was to change that  power dynamic. Except now these complicated feelings of guilt and  obligation had clawed their way in-along with a few other, more primal  feelings-and he was debating how to break the news to her.

He held his thumb over her number when a knock sounded at his door.  Libby stood on his doorstep as if materialized from his thoughts. Her  long, copper-colored hair floated around bare shoulders, draping over  the top of a strapless dress in shades of pale blue and yellow.

"Don't you look like a fantasy?" He looked her up and down, taking in  the details he'd come to expect from her. The shoes matched perfectly  with the tiny green leaves on the flower pattern of her dress.

It was that level of attention and care which made her such a fantastic  businesswoman. Everything she did was thought out to the very last  detail … even if it did drive him crazy when she expected the same from  him.

"Hey, I hope it's okay that I dropped by without calling first." She  stepped through the door, her hands knotted in front of her.

"Of course."

"So we had the kitchen tea today," she said, walking through to the  living room and dropping down onto the couch. She slipped her feet out  of her heels and rubbed at a mark on her ankle where the strap had  bitten into her skin.

"What's the point of that again?" Paul took the seat across from her.

"It's like a wedding shower. Traditionally people buy gifts for the  kitchen, but these days it's just all the women getting together to chat  about the wedding and play games." She tapped her fingertip to her  chin. "Think of it as a super tame version of a hen's party."

"No male strippers then?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No strippers, no penis-shaped straws or lollipops."

He stared at her. "Girls really have that?"

"Oh yeah, I've even seen cupcakes decorated with them at one hen's party."

"I feel cheated."

"I don't prefer the cupcake if that's what you're worried about." A cheeky smile pulled up on her lips.

"Damn straight."

Silence settled over them and again Libby knotted her hands. Underneath  the jokes and her beautiful smile he sensed a wariness in her.

"I met some interesting people at the kitchen tea." She sucked on her lower lip, her eyes avoiding his.

Paul's stomach dropped. It would be just his luck if she met Sadie today after he'd come close to calling her and fessing up.

"Anyone in particular?"

"I met your ex, Paul." She looked up and nodded slowly. "I was chatting  with her, but I had no idea who she was. Then Gracie introduced me as  your girlfriend and she filled me in afterward. I never realized the guy  she cheated with was your cousin."

He watched her face, waiting for the pity. Waiting for any sign that she  thought him pathetic for being duped by Sadie and his cousin.

"You can understand why I wasn't keen to share those details," he said drily, interlacing his fingers behind his head.

She nodded. "I do understand but … "

"But?" he asked, his defenses rising like great shadows around him.

He fought the urge to push up from his chair and stalk out of the house.  Storming off was his usual way of dealing with problems. Lord knew how  many times he'd walked away from his brother or his parents in such a  manner. If he was being honest with himself, he'd done it a number of  times to Sadie as well.

Libby deserved more than that. He'd dragged her into his problems by  keeping information from her. She shouldn't have to deal with his temper  as well.

"It would have been better if I'd known. I was taken by surprise." She  was working up to something-her leg bounced and she fiddled with the hem  of her dress, picking at some invisible flaw.

He nodded, gritting his teeth. "I didn't want to put you in that position."

"I know." She sucked in a breath, her chest rising and falling. She continued to pick at her dress.         

     



 

"What's wrong, Libby? Did she say something to you?"

"It wasn't what she said." Libby looked up, her brows creased as she chewed on her lip.

"I don't understand."

"I said something, Paul. Something bad." The anguish on her face was killing him.

"Spit it out. I can't help if you don't tell me what's going on." The  hypocrisy of his statement wasn't lost on him, but right now all he  wanted was to wipe the tension from her face.

"I overheard Sadie talking with someone, I didn't catch her name. Some  things were said, things that weren't true and I just … reacted."

The muscles in his neck bunched, his hands curled into fists. He knew  exactly who Libby was talking about-Miss Goody-Two-Shoes Gina who always  looked down her nose at him. She and Sadie stuck to each other like  Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Gina thought her brother was God's gift and  that no one else in the family deserved what he did.