Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
My answer had come automatically, a piece of knowledge I hadn’t known I had, and now everything was different. I hadn’t stopped thinking about it since, and that was definitely a valid reason for murder.
Or maybe not, but even though it wasn’t my dream career, I was good and could get myself off on some kind of technicality. And I was really pissed at him.
Or maybe not that either. Damn him. It would be easier if he wasn’t so endearing. I’d enjoyed getting closer to him since the wedding. We talked…and honestly, more than West and I did.
I looked at my open laptop, sitting on the desk in my home office, just as a video call came through.
“Hey, Bobby,” I answered when my ex-husband’s face filled the screen.
“Hey, you. How’s everything going?”
“Not too bad. Just trying to figure out why in the hell I’m in a rut.” I didn’t do ruts. At least, I never had before, but my life had been feeling off-kilter for a while, and I couldn’t seem to sort through it.
He frowned. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing…Everything…I don’t know. Nothing. I’m just being weird. Darren asked me last month about work, and now I can’t get it out of my mind.”
“He’s the football player, right?”
“Yeah.” Bobby wasn’t a sports fan. It was one of the reasons I’d dragged West to the game where he’d seen Anson and realized the sexy guy he’d chatted up in the bar the night before was a player. Well, that, and Bobby had been busy. Bobby had always been busy.
“The two of you have been talking a lot.”
I nodded. It was true. There was no reason to deny it. “Yeah, we’ve become good friends. I don’t even know how it happened, but it’s…nice. Feels new. Different.” Which I needed at that moment in my life. Christ, I really was in a rut.
“I’m glad you have him, then. Also, as far as work goes, we both know it’s not something you’ve been passionate about for a long time, if ever.”
“We do?” That was news to me. I was good at what I did. I made a lot of money. I almost always won.
“Yeah. You don’t feel the same? I always figured you would move on to something else.”
“You did?” Apparently, all I could do was ask two-word questions. “Sorry, I just didn’t know that. What did you think I would do?”
Bobby shrugged. He was older than me by twelve years. His hair had started to gray, but it only added to his physical appeal. Toward the end of our relationship, I wondered if Bobby had put himself into some sort of father-figure role in my life, not in an uncomfortable way but as if our relationship had changed yet again. I’d met Bobby not long after my parents died, and while we hadn’t gotten into a relationship right away, I’d been lonely and had needed something, someone in my life.
“I don’t know, sweetheart. That part’s up to you to figure out.”
Well, shit. He was no help.
We talked for a while, and when my phone buzzed, I looked down to see a text from Darren.
Troublemaker: Remember that time the Lightning won our first preseason game of the year?
Which they did every year, basically, but I got it. He liked to win.
Troublemaker: Tell me I’m awesome.
Me: Darren, you’re so awesome. I don’t even know how to handle your awesomeness. I’m in awe of the sheer power of your awesomeness. Is that good enough?
“Who are you smiling at?” Bobby asked.
“Sorry. Darren texted.”
He cocked a brow at me. “Uh-oh.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I recognize that smile because you gave it to me in the beginning.”
My pulse sped up to the point where it became uncomfortable. “No, that’s crazy. We’re just friends. I’d have to be an idiot to get a crush on him. Darren is straight. He also happens to be my best friend’s husband’s best friend.” Too much drama for me. Getting feelings for Darren would end in my heartbreak and would cause problems between our friends.
“If you say so,” Bobby replied, but I knew the nuances in his tone by now. He didn’t believe me.
“I’m serious. He makes me laugh because he’s a dumbass. That’s the extent of it.” I’d never done the whole falling-for-a-straight-man thing before, and I didn’t plan to start now. I was too old for that shit.
“I’m not arguing. Just…be careful. We might not be married anymore, but I still care about you and don’t want you to get hurt. I didn’t see it at the time, but I realize now I did enough of that toward the end.” Bobby hadn’t hurt me, at least not in the traditional sense. As if reading my thoughts, he added, “We ended up wanting different things. Even though it was all mutual and we’re still friends, it still hurt us both in some ways, didn’t it?”