Page 29 of Into the Woods

I shrugged, not wanting to admit that the last time I’d had alcohol I’d been drugged and almost raped. I wasn’t looking at tonight with Eric as an actual date, but even so, that wasn’t the kind of stuff I was comfortable sharing with just anyone.

But damn, looking back, that night had been the turning point that made all the difference. It had put me on a collision course with my past and present.

I’d be damned if it screwed up my future, too.

“So, are you and Alex close?” I asked, needing to change the subject. Maybe Eric could give me some insight into his big brother that would make him seem less like an entitled frat boy douche canoe.

Eric coughed and shook his head. “Hardly. Separate upbringings aside, Alex and I have never been close. He favors our father while I favor our mum… flaws and all.”

I waited until the waitress set our drinks down and turned away before leaning in. “Flaws?”

His cheeks flushed an adorable shade of pink that spread to the tips of his ears as he ducked his head. He picked up the glass of water and swished the contents like it was a fine wine, watching the ice cubes clack together. “My mother suffered from a speech impediment as a child. A stutter,” he clarified with a grimace. “I also had a stutter as a boy.”

I remembered Alex’s taunting comment in the elevator. The way Eric had flinched.

In that moment, Alex leveled up from frat boy douche canoe to ignorant twatwaffle.

“I’m sorry,” I offered, not sure why I always felt the need to apologize for someone else’s character flaw. Maybe that was my flaw. Well, one of many. Staring at the sangria, I started to wish it had alcohol in it.

“Thank you,” Eric said, surprising me by reaching across the table and touching my hand.

Stunned, I blinked at him.

One corner of his mouth tilted up in a half smile. “You hear people say that they’re sorry a lot in life. But you seem to genuinely mean it.”

“Maybe I know what it’s like to have people ridicule and mock you for things beyond your control,” I hedged, not willing to deep dive into my tragic middle- and high-school years.

“That’s a damned shame, love,” he murmured, his fingers stroking the top of my hand in a way that wasn’t unpleasant. His eyes were soft as he studied me. “I’ve only known you for a few minutes, and I can already tell that you’re not like the others.”

“Others?” I echoed.

He pressed his lips together. “Look, may I be honest?”

“Please.” It would be a nice change of pace from most of the other men in my life.

“I grew up in a world of unimaginable privilege and wealth,” he confided, his expression somber. “I’d imagine you did as well.”

I inclined my head slightly. While my family might not have been as rich as those of some of the kids I went to school with, I’d never wanted for a thing. There’d been stacks of presents under every Christmas tree and a limit I’d never hit on my credit cards.

No, not my credit cards. My parents’ cards, which they paid off every month without question.

Eric blew out a breath, his chiseled jaw tight. “I never asked for it, and while I can see the many things it has afforded me, it also left me with the realization that there’s very little substance in my life. It’s all filters and photoshop, I suppose.”

“That’s a good way of putting it,” I agreed, and sipped my drink.

“When I talk to you, I don’t get that impression.”

I stilled, my head tilting as I tried to puzzle out exactly what he meant. His gray eyes seemed to glow under the dim lights, and he reached for my hand again.

“I refuse to be the type of man my father and brother are,” he told me. “Constantly flitting from one pleasure to the next. One thing my mother taught me was to trust my intuition, and right now, it’s telling me that you are exquisitely different from the other women in my life.”

Okay, as far as lines went, that might’ve been the best one I’d ever heard. But it wasn’t just a line; Eric was a guy who felt the way I did—utterly lost in a sea of false promises and feigned adoration.

It was why I’d come to Paris. For clarity… and healing.

My heart flipped over, and I glanced down at where he was touching my hand before flipping my palm up and lacing our fingers together.

Eric cleared his throat, the blush from before reappearing. “I expected to meet another one of Alex’s friends and prepared myself to be bored to tears before making an excuse to go home early. But you… I like you, Bex.”