I frowned. “No.”
“Liar,” she shot back. “Why don’t you just tell me? It’s not like I’m going to get mad.”
“I don’t want to tell you because I don’t want to talk about it.”
“So, it’s true?”
I let out a long sigh, and my feet stopped moving.
“Yes, okay? I got with someone, everything was great until I realized that things were getting a little too serious, so I broke it off, and now I’m miserable all over again. Are you happy?”
She shrugged one shoulder, and we went back to dancing slowly. After a minute, she said, “You do know that it is OK to move on, right? If you’re ever going to be happy again, you’re going to have to let a relationship get serious at some point.”
“Not with her.”
“Why not?
I wasn’t usually the type of guy who wanted to talk about his problems, but I did notice that it was helping me to feel better. Letting out the words made me feel lighter somehow.
“Can you keep a secret?”
“Of course.”
I wet my lips. “And you promise you won’t judge me?”
She tilted her head to the side. “Roman, I’m a paid escort. Do you think I have any room to judge anyone?”
“Alright.” I took a deep breath. “The woman I’ve been seeing… I had to call things off because she isn’t just any woman. She’s the woman I hired to be the live-in help with my daughter.”
She snorted. “You’re not the first guy to get with a paid staff member.”
“She also happens to be Chloe’s little sister.”
Her brows arched high. “Chloe? As in your late wife, Chloe?”
I nodded, feeling the wave of guilt wash over me again.
“Okay. Wow,” she said, taking it all in. “And when you say little sister… How young are we talking?”
I rolled my eyes. “She’s legal. Twenty-one. In college, but still much younger than I am.”
“And you’re breaking things off with her…why?”
“There’s a hundred different reasons,” I replied. “She’s too young. By the time she’s my age, I’ll be eating my nightly pudding cup before bed.”
She laughed. “That isn’t true. Forty isn’t old. So you have ten years on her. Big deal. My parents have a fifteen-year age gap between them.”
“It’s complicated. Eventually, Sophia will get old enough to figure things out. I don’t want to embarrass her, especially when she has to explain her family situation to people in her life. Plus, I’m sure her parents would lose their fucking minds. I think breaking it off is best for everyone involved.”
She nodded. “And how does little sis feel about calling it off?”
“Last time I saw her, she was pissed off. I haven’t faced her since. I don’t know what to do. Sophia needs her.”
“She needs a father, too,” she reminded me.
As we danced, I glanced around the crowded room. That’s when movement caught my eye, and I looked up to see Sasha walk into the ballroom. She was wearing a little black dress with her hair a mess of curls around her. She entered the room and stopped, scanning over every face until her eyes locked with mine. I saw the way they softened for just a moment before she started toward me. That’s when I put my attention on Casey as I pulled her closer.
“What’s going on?” Casey asked.
