But Rick doesn’t respond to my overt flirtation. Instead, he frowns, his dark brows drawing down.
“Sweetheart, I just—" he pauses. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
I stare because my man is never hesitant with me. Instead, Rick is assertive and confident, and I’m surprised to see him in this unsure space. Immediately, I pull a dressing gown on and place a hand on his arm reassuringly.
“What is it?” I say softly. “You know you can tell me anything, Rick.”
The handsome man stares down at the dressing table, his expression conflicted. Then he jerks his head up and looks at me, blue gaze dark with unnamed emotions.
“Sweetheart, I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love a woman, and yet I’m not doing right by you,” he says in a tortured voice. “I haven’t been honest.”
I stare at him, my heart in my throat as a thundering noise pounds in my head. Oh my god, is he married? Does he have a wife somewhere, along with three kids? Or is he an axe murderer, and somehow managed to obscure that part of his past?
“What is it?” I ask in a low, trembling voice. “Tell me. I can handle it.”
Rick’s shoulders slump as he stares at the tabletop.
“I used to be married,” he says in a low voice.
I pause for a moment, letting the knowledge sink in.
“But you’re divorced now, right? That’s okay!” I say. “Lots of people are divorced these days. There’s no stigma attached, and it’s fine. I forgive you already, Rick.”
The huge man shakes his head, still looking down at the dresser top.
“No, Jenna,” he says in a slow voice. “I mean, yes, I was divorced many years ago. But whom I was married to matters because actually … I was married to your mom.”
The blood in my veins freezes. I literally can’t breathe, talk, or even compute. I merely stare at this man, my feet rooted to the ground.
“What?” I ask in a hoarse whisper. “What did you say?”
Rick looks conflicted.
“I was married to Sally many years ago. Your mom never told you how she got hired at Tatti, did she?”
I shake my head.
“No, because it happened when I was two or three. Why? Tell me.”
Rick shakes his head, his black hair in tousled disarray.
“Your mom used to work as a stripper, and that’s when I met her,” he says. “At the Kitty Kat Club one night when I was a young man and dead drunk. Sally was gorgeous then, and I took one look at her and fell into lust.”
“Okay,” I say in a trembling voice. “My mom said she used to work as a stripper before she got the job at Tatti. I knew that. So you met and then…?”
Rick looks uncomfortable.
“So I fall into lust and propose to the stripper with a heart of gold. I got it into my head that Sally was the perfect one for me, and if I could put a ring on her finger, everything wrong in my life would be fine. So we did it. We got the license, and that same day, had a ceremony before an officiant. I was a rich man even back then and found a “judge for hire” who put the stamp on our marriage.”
I still can’t breathe. There’s not enough oxygen in the room and I stare at Rick, my inhales fast and shallow as my pulse races.
“And then what?”
He looks rueful.
“And then reality struck. Sally wasn’t who I thought she was, and I wasn’t who she thought I was either. We weren’t a match. Meanwhile, my family found out and convinced me to divorce her, which Sally took with grace. I suppose it wasn’t that unexpected after a shot gun ceremony.”
I stare at him, practically hyperventilating now.
