“Remember it?” He set the knife down. “I wasat the engagement party, remember?”
I closed my eyes, remembering the night of the engagement party. And the bruises I’d earned that night when my fiancé grew irate because he saw Xavier talking to me out on the rooftop. Not just talking to me, but congratulating me for graduating law school, acknowledging my accomplishment, when Ethan and my father belittled it. Looking back at Xavier, I swallowed down the bitterness of that memory.
“It just didn’t work out.” I hoped he’d accept that flimsy answer.
“Why not?”
No such luck.
“Uh, he wanted me to be a stay-at-home wife, and I didn’t want that.” It was a half-truth. No, that was a lie that was aquartertruth, but I wasn’t up for discussing the real reason I’d left—no,fled—Ethan. Gabby was the only person who knew the dark secret of my relationship with Ethan, and even she didn’t know the whole story.
Xavier eyed me. “So, he wanted to get married and have kids right away? And he didn’t want you to work?” He frowned.
“It was tradition in his family that women didn’t work. The men in his family took pride in that.”
“And you didn’t want that?”
“I’d wanted to be a lawyer since I was five years old. I’ve told you how I had to defy my father’s wishes just to be able to afford law school, although he had more than enough to pay for me to go ten times over.” I had to swallow the bitterness ofthatmemory as well—that one actually stung more. Probably because, unlike Ethan, my father had never acknowledged it or apologized. “I wasn’t about to give up my dream in order to become a wife and get pregnant at twenty-five and settle down into Susie Homemaker.”
Xavier ran his tongue along his bottom lip before pulling it in between his teeth. “Hmm,” was all he said, before turning to the stove.
I didn’t want to ask what that was about, because I didn’t want any more questions about my past relationships. So, I decided to turn the tables on him.
“And what about you?”
“What about me?” he questioned as he dropped the vegetables into the butter sauce he’d already added the shrimp to. Turning down the temperature, he turned and looked at me, hip resting against the back counter.
“What about your past relationships? Ever been engaged? An ex-wife…or current wife…running around somewhere?”
The sound of his laughter floated to my ears and warmed me from the inside out.
“A wife?”
I shrugged. “You never know. I’ve had clients who kept their spouses a secret from the rest of the world.”
“I bet, but nah. No secret wife you have to worry about popping up. No engagements either.”
“Heartbreaks?”
“What?”
“You ever had your heartbroken?”
He gave a manly chuckle. “That sounds corny as shit. ‘Have I ever had my heartbroken.’”
I rolled my eyes.
“So, you’ve never been in love? As many women as you’ve dated?”Shit.I wanted to slap my hand over my mouth after that comment. I never wanted to reveal I was aware of Xavier’s reputation. I didn’t want to come across as the jealous type. Yeah, I had a plethora of trust issues, buthedidn’t need to know that.
“Yeah, I’ve dated, hung out with, and fucked plenty of women, but relationships? I can count on one hand, and heartbreak?” His eyes rolled up to the ceiling. “Just once.”
I propped my elbow on the counter, making a fist and resting my face on it, ready to hear this. “Do tell.”
“My college girlfriend. We dated all four years, having met the first weekend of orientation.”
I pulled my lips in, biting down on the inside of my lip, trying to tamp down on the bite of jealousy his confession elicited.
“It was great for four years, but I was busy. I was taking classes, working and building my businesses at the same time. By the middle of our senior year, we barely saw each other. I started hearing rumors here and there that she was stepping out. Of course, I asked her about it. Rule number one—”
