“We need to talk,” Shaun said again. “In private.”
“Do you want us to stay?” Darla asked, completely ignoring Shaun.
“No. It’s okay. We do need to talk.”
She kept her gaze on his, and he didn’t make a move. The door closed, and the room fell into silence. This was how it always was between them, silent.
Biting her lip, she waited for him to talk.
“When did you get this place?” Shaun asked, breaking the silence.
“Er, I got this place about six months after we were married.”
“You don’t live in our house?”
She snorted. “No! That place is a damn museum. I hate it there.”
“That’s your house, the one you wanted.”
“No. I hate that house. I never wanted that place. You pretty much dumped me there, and left.”
Shaun cursed. “Your mother said that was the house you liked.”
Addison laughed. “My mother? My mother doesn’t know much about me, Shaun. You’d be best asking Darla. My mom, she likes to have a certain status, and as we’re not a family, there’s no way future Woodsides would ever be caught in a place like this. A home.” She held her hand up, looking around them. “This is my home.”
Her large apartment had color and character. Everything that she enjoyed about life was in this very place. She loved artwork and life, love different experiences. The kitchen was her domain, very similar to her grandmother, who ruled over the kitchen in any house where her grandfather took her.
This was all of hers, and that house she shared with Shaun, it was nothing more than a cave.
“Fuck, I hate that house. I can’t stand that house.”
“The white walls and old furniture don’t do it for you?”
“Fuck no!” Shaun placed his hands on his hips, which showed off his rather impressive expanse of chest. She’d seen him naked many times, but hadn’t taken the time to enjoy what she was seeing. Even covered, he was a gorgeous man. “I didn’t like that place. I thought you wanted it.”
Addison shrugged, and covered the cake with the dome for the stand. “I don’t like that kind of thing. I take it you’re here because you’ve discovered my blog, my book?” She tried to show him a blank face, but the truth was, she was scared that he’d laugh at her love of cooking.
He shouldn’t be surprised. Look at you, you’re not exactly slender.
“I saw your interview. Why did you keep this a secret?”
“I didn’t keep it a secret. Paula, my agent, tried to reach out to you. You weren’t interested, so we continued on with the process of the book.”
“I can’t believe you had this whole other world.”
“I don’t miss our monthly appointments. This isn’t your world.”
“How did you afford this? I checked your statements, and the money I put into a personal account for you hasn’t been touched.”
“My grandparents. They left me a large inheritance.”
“What about Evangeline?” he asked.
Ah, her older sister, the one he was supposed to marry instead of her.
“My grandparents didn’t leave her anything, nor did they leave my parents. They have the billion dollar corporation, and I’m just me. They believed I wouldn’t get anything, and they wanted me to be safe, and comfortable.” Her grandparents had known that Evangeline was destined to marry a rich, successful businessman, whereas she had been cast aside as scraps. It was only because Evangeline screwed up that she wasn’t married to Shaun. “You and I both know you were going to marry my sister.”
“I wasn’t. I can’t stand her.”