Page 45 of Let’s Be Real

There wasn’t a lot to say. Another failed relationship had just ended, and I’d decided to be single for a while to get my priorities straight. I did want to get married, maybe have a family, if it was in the cards, but I wasn’t getting things right and needed to figure out why. Dragging Nate through that wouldn’t be fair.

Besides, would Nate have been interested anyway?

Last night had been incredible.

But maybe that was all it was:

One really great night.

Getting back into my routine didn’t take long, even with Kelly now along for the ride. She’d taken two weeks off work for her aborted honeymoon, so she’d decided she would be camping out with me at least for that long.

She wasn’t terrible, as far as roommates went. She cooked and cleaned up after herself. When I was at work, she did my laundry, including hand-washing my G-strings.

Which I made her promise never to do again.

I didn’t really trust her and her shifty eyes, but there were worse things.

She’d been with me for a week when she stopped me on my way out the door.

“I’m bored,” she whined, her gaze flicking over my suit. “You look nice.”

I tugged on my lapels. “This old thing? Thanks.” Then I cocked my head toward the door. “I’m sorry you’re bored. Maybe we can go for a hike or something tomorrow. I have to get to work now—”

“I’ll come with you.” She hopped up from the couch, her eyes alight. “Give me two minutes to get dressed. I promise I’ll be fast.”

I held up a hand. “No. You can’t come with me. Mile High is a private club. Besides, I’ll be busy doing my job. There won’t be anything for you to do.”

She wasn’t listening. “Come on. It’s a sex club. I’m sure I can find plenty to keep me busy.”

I shook my head. “No, Kell. You really can’t come with me. We can talk tomorrow. Right now, I have to go.”

I pulled open the door, and she was right behind me, following me onto the porch. Since she wasn’t wearing shoes, I wasn’t overly worried about her chasing me down the sidewalk to my car.

Before I could get down the steps, a man appeared from nowhere, yelling Kelly’s name.

Kelly collided with my back, and I had to grab the railing before I went tumbling down the steps.

Josh didn’t look great. Haggard was the best word I could think of. Possibly drunk too. His hair was disheveled, eyes bloodshot, baggy sweatpants stained and sagging low on his waist.

He shuffled to the base of my stairs, deep shadows beneath his eyes. “Kelly, you’re here. My love, I—”

Kelly screeched next to my ear. “Get out of here. I don’t want to see you ever again.”

He raised his hands. “No, baby, you have to let me explain. We have to talk. I can’t breathe, baby.”

When he put one foot on my steps, I moved in front of Kelly, blocking her from his view.

“You heard her, Josh. She wants nothing to do with you.” I pointed to the street behind him. “I’m asking you to leave. You’re not welcome at my home.”

For a moment, a nasty sneer replaced his anguish, but Kelly whimpered, and he crumbled.

“I get it,” he said, softening. “I made a huge mistake and hurt her. But I’m here to make it better. I’ve been going out of my mind trying to find her. No one knows where you live. It took me all this time to track down your address, and I wasn’t even sure she’d be here.”

Another pinprick on top of the millions. None of my family knew my address. They’d never asked and had certainly never visited. Not a surprise, but it hurt all the same.

Still, I kept my chin held high. “She said no. You need to leave her alone. If she wants to talk to you, she knows how to reach you.”

He shook his head hard. “No. I’m not going anywhere. This isn’t going to get better until we talk it out. I can explain everything—”