Page 23 of Gary

“What about him?” He asked casually.

“Was he as devastated as you were?”

Gary shrugged. “I suppose he loved her in his own way.”

“You don’t get along with him,” she intuited.

“Something like that. More wine?”

She looked at her glass, surprised to see she was almost finished. “I had better not, I am driving.”

He almost suggested she spend the night but managed to refrain from voicing his desperate wish.

“It’s not exactly potent.”

“I have a light head.”

“Good to know.” He murmured casually, his eyes wandering over her exquisite features. “I am curious about something.”

“You want to know my political affiliation,” she teased.

“I would rather not. It might just force me to end this date prematurely.” His expression sobered and became intense. “Why are you single?”

She fiddled with the delicate stem of the glass and made him wonder if she was going to respond.

“I had a bad break up.”

He found himself tensing. “Are you open about telling me what went wrong?”

She lifted her head to look at him and made a stunning discovery. She was going to sleep with him. The thought of it reverberated inside her head and made her dizzy. She was attracted to a complete stranger, a man she just met and suddenly she did not want to wait. She wanted to experience him, to feel his long, lean, muscles against her flesh.

“I…“ She had to clear his throat before resuming. “He cheated on me.”

“Is he a moron?” His astounded expression sent the fire charging into her system.

“I asked myself the same thing.” She fiddled with her fork, and he waited for her to continue. “We knew each other from my neighborhood. I usually go on a run very early in the morningand I would see him doing the same. Very soon, we started working out together and then we became a couple.

I had no idea how and when things evolved, but they did, and we started seeing each other. He is a lawyer, and we were both busy people, so dates were broken, but we understood that it could not be helped.” Picking up her glass, she took a contemplative sip while he watched her.

“One Thanksgiving we had made plans to go out of town. I had it all arranged. Mom said she would stay in the store, and he said he would take the time off. Two nights before we were supposed to leave, I decided to surprise him at his place.” She grimaced. “That was a very bad idea.”

“He was with someone.”

She nodded. “I had a key and let myself in. I thought he wasn’t in at first, but his car was parked in front of the garage. I went into his bedroom, just pushed the door open and I saw them. They were both naked and going at it as if their lives depended on the outcome.”

“What did you do?”

“I just stood there unable to believe my eyes. He told me loved me and would like nothing more than to spend his life with me. I started into the room, ready to create a big old scene, when something stopped me.

I decided it was not worth it, that I was not going to be one of those women who refuse to let go when it was glaringly obvious the man did not think you were enough for him.

He looked up then and saw me and the expression on his face was priceless. I did not wait for him to put on his clothes, I just ran and got into my vehicle. He came over later and tried to explain that it just happened.

The woman was his secretary, and he said she came over to help him with a case and things started. He never expected me, and I should have called. I told him to go to hell and lose my number. He tried several times, but finally got the picture. The bastard caused me to choose a different route for my run and that really pissed me off.”

The tightness around his chest eased off and he felt light. If she was bemoaning the inconvenience of having to choose another direction to get her exercise, she was not in love with the son of a bitch, and that was going to make things easier for him. It was not going to take long for him to erase the man from her thoughts. He would see to it.

“How long ago did it happen?” He asked softly.