“It’s hard for me to believe that you guys have shared all you have over the past week and he never mentioned her. You’ve been at his apartment, Jules.”
“I know, it doesn’t make sense. Trust me, no woman lives there. It’s a total man’s place.” I shrug again and shake my head. I don’t get it.
“Maybe they’re separated?” Nat frowns and rubs her belly again.
“As long as there is no “ex” before “wife”, I don’t give a shit where she lives,” I mutter. “Besides, even if there were an “ex”, he should have told me.”
Suddenly the doorbell rings and we all look at each other, our eyes wide.
“How do I know who that is?” I ask.
Luke clears his throat. “Um, Nate called right before I came out of my office and asked if you were here, and I thought I’d heard your voice, so I said yes, but I didn’t know what was going on, Jules.”
I glare at him. “Tell him to go away.”
“No, don’t.” Natalie walks to me and takes my hand in hers. “Just hear him out, then if you don’t like what he says, let Luke kick his ass.”
The doorbell rings again, twice this time. Luke stalks to the door and opens it. He murmurs to Nate, and I can’t hear what they’re saying. After about thirty seconds, Luke steps away from the door and allows Nate to enter. His eyes search the room and find me, and he moves swiftly through the room, and suddenly he’s right in front of me, his arms on either side of me, braced against the breakfast bar, but he’s not touching me.
“Why did you run?” His voice is cold, matching his steel-gray eyes. He’s winded and he just looks… pissed.
“Well, let’s see.” I lean back against the counter and go for sarcasm. “I’d just been introduced to my boyfriend’s wife, after catching her with her hands on him in his office. And the fact that I’m using the terms boyfriend and wife in the same sentence really fucking pisses me off.”
“She’s my ex-wife, Julianne.”
Oh.
“Do you really think I’d pursue a relationship with you if I was married to another woman? Do you really think so little of me? Jesus, you know me better than that.”
I look frantically around the room, but Luke and Natalie have disappeared. Great.
“Apparently I don’t know much,” I snap back at him. “You’ve never told me you were married. She introduced herself to me as your fucking wife, Nate.”
“What could I do? Jenny was right there. If I tried to explain it would give away our intimate relationship.”
“You didn’t correct her.”
“You didn’t give me a fucking chance to!” He pushes angrily away from me and paces the room, rubbing his forehead. He takes his suit jacket off and throws it on the coach and continues to pace.
“We’ve been divorced for seven years. We were only married for two.” He shoves his hands in his pockets and scowls at me.
“Do you have kids with her?” I whisper.
“Hell, no!” He shakes his head and looks down, then back up at me. “I was fighting back then, and she was what we call a ring bunny.”
Bile rises in my throat. “I know what a ring bunny is.”
“Yeah, well, I was twenty, and stupid and she wanted a fighter on her arm.” He shrugs. “I rarely speak to her.”
“Why was she there today?” I ask.
“She comes around when she wants money.”
“You support her?” I ask incredulously and his gaze whips up to mine at my tone.
“No, not anymore.”
“What does that mean?”
“I helped her out for a while.” He frowns and looks down again, clearly uncomfortable.
“How long is a while?” Do I really want to know this?
“Until I met you.” His eyes meet mine again, and they soften, and there’s the man I know and love.
“Why?” I whisper.
“Because if I keep giving her money, she’ll never leave, and I don’t want any skeletons from my past fucking this up.” He takes a deep breath and eyes me warily.
“Well, apparently she’s still coming around,” I shout.
“I told her no. You heard me. I said it in front of you for a reason.”
“Did you sleep with her until you met me too?” I ask.
“On occasion.”
Fuck.
“Baby, I cut all ties with her when I met you. I’ve told you, you are the only woman I’m interested in.”
“She has your name.” I blurt it out before I know I’m thinking it. This is killing me.
“She never changed it.” He shrugs again, looking lost. I take a moment and just look at him, this handsome, smart, sexy man. I don’t want another woman to have his name. It means that he once belonged to her, legally, and it tears me up inside.
“Look,” he rubs his forehead again and looks at me warily. “I’m sorry that you found out about her that way. It was shitty. But it was nothing. She is nothing to me, and has been for a very long time. I helped her out because I felt responsible for her, and I slept with her because she was convenient. I don’t feel about her the way I feel about you. I never did.”
I watch his face, his eyes, and my stomach starts to settle. He’s telling the truth. Thank God.
“You guys can come out of hiding,” I call out and Luke and Natalie emerge from the hallway, hand in hand. I smirk at them.
“Hey, I had to make sure you didn’t need me to kick his ass,” Luke says with a grin.
Nate laughs, “You could try.”
“You okay?” Natalie asks quietly and I nod.
“So, the shower is tomorrow afternoon at my place.” I stand and walk over to Nate, kiss his cheek and run my fingers down across his jaw, reassuring myself that everything is right again.
“Do you need help setting up?” Natalie asks.
“No, I’m having it done professionally. I hired a party planner.”
“For a shower?” Natalie asks, her eyebrows raised to her hairline.
“I have a demanding job, Nat. And it has to be perfect, so yes, I hired it out.” I grin at her and do a little happy dance. “I’m so excited!”