Sleeping with Mr. Sexy(9)
“I’m ready to go now, Sweetheart.”
My mouth drops open as a leggy brunette with ice blue eyes and long eyelashes slides under his arm and rests her hand on his shoulder like she owns him.
His eyes flicker to mine, concern and unease covering his features—always concerned. He’s always been so concerned about me, but now I feel what we were sharing a moment earlier was false, a charade just for me.
Chase’s arm slides around the draping woman’s waist, and he makes the introductions. “Darcy, this is Lydia, my—”
She turns to him quickly. “Your what?” The woman asks confused by the possessive he just used.
I’m feeling a bit confused myself, but stand there and watch as he shakes his head, and continues, “Lydia, this is Darcy—”
“His fiancée. We just got engaged last week.” As the contents in my stomach lurch, I press my hand flat against my middle, and she talks on. “He wanted to surprise me before Christmas. A ring for Christmas would have been so passé, if you know what I mean.” She holds her hand out flashing her rock at me.
I don’t remember responding, but I must have, because she seems pleased with my reaction. Looking at Chase, the pain in his eyes is clear as crystal to anyone who really knows him.
My heart aches in my chest knowing I had him. He was mine, and I let him go. I let him get away, or more accurately, I forced him away.
Racing, pounding heartbeats cease altogether as I realize this is love. I love Chase. I’m in love with Chase, and now he’s going to marry someone else. How could I not see this before? Why did it take an act of jealousy to make me see what’s so obvious?
“Here’s your jacket.” Jack interrupts my inner thoughts and Darcy’s blathering.
Unable to face Darcy any longer, I turn to Chase, and say, “Congratulations.” It’s weak and has no true feeling behind it, but it’s the polite thing to say, so I force it out.
“Thank you. We’re so happy! Right, Sweetheart?” She says, patting his chest. She keeps blabbering, leaving no room for his reply. “I think we’re going to have an early summer wedding. Why wait when you know it’s meant to be?”
The heavy tension is felt between Jack, Chase, and myself as we glance slowly from one another in silent understanding.
“I should walk Lydia to her car… for safety,” Chase says, looking at me then to Jack again with a firm nod.
Jack picks up the cue that Darcy is oblivious to, and says, “Caris would love to hear about the ring again. She wants to get a diamond necklace, but is a bit conflicted whether clarity is more important than cut—”
“Oh, it’s all about the carats, Jack. I’ll set her straight right now,” Darcy says, playfully hitting Jack on the arm, and ignoring the fact that her fiancée just offered to walk another woman to her car. She’s either too trusting or too stupid for her own good. I’m undecided how to fault her yet.
After swinging my jacket on my arms, I head for the door. “You know you don’t have to walk me. I’m perfectly capable of getting to my car all by myself,” I say, calling over my shoulder.
He quickly steps next to me, and says, “I know you are. You were always very independent. Sometimes too independent.”
I stop when I reach the sidewalk, the cool of the air and the heat of his words battling for a reaction from me. “Even after all of these years, why are all of our conversations full of innuendos?”
“I wasn’t aware—“
“Yes, you are. You’re an intelligent man. You know what you’re saying, and you know what you mean.”
“I meant that I wasn’t aware that we had conversations anymore,” he replies coolly, correcting my assumption. I continue walking, and he continues talking. “You’re not going to talk about it?”
“It?” I ask, hoping to avoid this conversation from delving any deeper.
“You know what ‘it’ is. ‘It’ is the big fucking elephant between us right now.” I press the key fob to unlock the rental, but he stops me against the trunk, his voice lowered to a breathy whisper. “Don’t do this. Don’t run away from me again. I deserve answers—”
My knees weaken from the closeness, and his breath warms me over. My mind stays strong and I strike back. “I don’t have any answers for you, Chase. Okay, here, try this one on for size. I’m a coward. It was… it was too much to handle and too late. I needed to stay focused. We were a mistake.”
“No, we weren’t!” he says, raising his voice. “Lydia, it was… it was just bad timing. That’s all.”