Sin City Alibi by Sophia Ryan

Author:Sophia Ryan [Mansfield, Maxine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Erotic Romance
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2015-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

At Matt’s protracted silence, Dani lifted her head from his chest and looked at him, waiting expectantly for his response. He kept his eyes glued to the ceiling, but she could see in their depths the shadow of the dark secret chained inside his heart.

“Matt?” she asked softly, prompting him, her chest going tight at what his hesitation meant, instinctively knowing she wouldn’t like his answer.

He glanced at her, then right back at the ceiling. “My family had fallen apart, and I wasn’t capable of or interested in pursuing anything substantial.”

Dani didn’t break the silence that followed his brief, vague answer, hoping he’d say more. When he didn’t, she prompted him with the answer she hoped she’d hear him give. “By family, you mean your parents? Siblings?” She thought she’d read that Geoffrey Linton had two children.

Matt pulled in a deep breath and released it. “No.”

She didn’t want to know the truth, she had to. Their relationship was already too tentative, too fragile. Lies would weaken it even more. Lies destroyed relationships.

“A wife. A child,” she suggested and held her breath on his response.

His slow, short nod spoke volumes.

Her heart stopped, frozen in her chest, but she moved into his arms and hugged him to show she cared about him, to show he could talk to her. “If you want to talk about it, I want to hear it.” After a long pause he began.

“Jessica and I married right out of college because she was pregnant. We loved each other, I guess, but…” She heard him swallow and felt his heart pounding against her chest. Was the truth that thorny? “Months later, I was in law school and had a good job, we had a healthy son, and Jessica was fulfilling her dream of being a wife and mom. After a couple of years, she grew restless, resented the hours I was gone, in school and at work to support her in the lifestyle she wanted, resented being left alone all day with an energetic toddler. She said she wanted a career. To support her in that goal, I hired the best nanny money could buy and found her a good job in one of my father’s businesses. In less than a month, she’d quit, saying she’d made a mistake in leaving our son in someone else’s care. I just wanted her to be happy, so I supported her decision. I thought things were improving, but six months later, I found her in bed with her best friend’s husband. She blamed me, said that being a wife and mom had sucked the joy from her life. Said she didn’t want to do either anymore.”

Anger surged through Dani at the careless actions of the woman and the anguish that it caused him, the anguish that had frozen his face into a mask of grief since he started talking about her. “But she had choices. You never forced her into a role.”

Her eyes never left his, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.