She wasn’t always impossible but walking in on your boyfriend of three years screwing his secretary on his desk in the most clichéd douchebag move in history, did it. Plus, if he was going to cheat on her and completely humiliate her, break her heart and shatter the future she thought she was going to have, why couldn’t he do it in some creative fashion?
“Am I just bugging you?” Cason lowered his menu at the same time she did.
He peered at her over the edge of it, so seriously, that she almost giggled. Yes, giggled. Thankfully, she managed to stifle it.
“I- er- uh- sorry. It’s just been a rough couple of days.”
That menu lowered a couple inches further and his gorgeous blue gaze locked with hers. “Want to talk about it?”
I would if I could get words out past the massive lump lodged in my throat. Or if I wasn’t ten seconds away from having to be scraped off the floor as a giant melted puddle of human mush.
“No.” She shook her head so hard that tendrils of hair flew up and stuck to her cheek. She didn’t miss the way Cason’s eyes darkened, like he wanted to brush them back for her. She beat him to it, quickly sweeping them back behind her ear. “I mean, it’s stupid. You probably wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
His menu hit the table with a dull plunk. “Try me.”
Noemi scanned the front of the diner for any servers, but they were still MIA. She swallowed hard. What was the harm in telling one person her predicament? Maybe it would make her feel better. She could leave out whatever details she wanted, and it wasn’t like she was ever going to see the guy again. Why not totally humiliate herself a little further?
“Well- I- a year ago- I was seeing this guy. For a long time. Three years. I thought he was going to ask me to marry him. We were looking at houses together. It turned out, he probably just wanted to be with me for the money. My dad owns this company.” She rolled her eyes like it wasn’t a big deal. “None of the money is mine, but he was probably hoping… anyway, I caught him cheating on me with his secretary.”
Cason actually rolled those marvelous eyes, and god, they looked incredible doing it. “How original.”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”
“The guy sounds like a first-rate anus. Did he happen to have one in the middle of his forehead? Any scars from where he tried to get it removed? Did he grow his hair out so long so you would never actually noticed that giant butthole in the middle of his face?”
This time, she couldn’t smother the surprised giggle that burst forth. It felt strange to laugh, like she hadn’t done it in a long time, at least not genuinely. Strange in a good way.
“Now that you mention it…”
He grinned back at her and she had to wonder how many women had found themselves falling under his spell because of it. By spell she meant the spontaneous desire to strip naked and rub themselves along every hard plane and muscle beneath that plaid and denim exterior.
Was wanting to lick a complete stranger totally wrong, or was her moral compass just way the hell off?
“Anyway, that can’t be it. I mean, you said it happened a year ago. Did the assface try and come back into your life? Crawling back with some sob story about how his two-inch dick made him do it?”
“No.” She had to stifle another giggle. She’d never actually laughed about Rob’s infidelity before. She was shocked that she even could. She took a deep breath and even though she had no idea what she was doing, she just went for it. “It’s worse. So much worse. So my dad-”
“Your rich dad?”
“Yes. I- I guess, my rich dad- he was so in love with my mom. She died a couple of years ago.”
“I’m sorry.” It wasn’t just the perfunctory words. Cason’s eyes glowed with emotion and she could tell he actually meant it.
She nodded, acknowledging the gift of his empathy. “Yeah- well- I don’t know if he’s not really in the right headspace. He’s been different since she died. Or if he’s trying to do me a favor or if he feels sorry for me because of the whole Rob thing and wants to spare me further heartache. I just have to imagine that he had the best intentions in mind when he arranged it.”
Cason leaned forward a little, brow scrunched up in a way that only made him that much more attractive, even though it would have looked silly on anyone else. “Arranged what?”
Noemi leaned back. She’d started this and now she had to finish it, even though she wished she could just shut up and be saved by an absentee server. It was like Cason’s heady, spicy scent drifting across the table and flooding her nose every single time she breathed in was like some truth telling serum she couldn’t escape.