Page 83 of Unfaithful

My chest tightened. "And by 'special,' you mean...?"

"That I dated her. That we were in a relationship."

I absorbed that for a moment. He wasn't the type to commit easily. So for him to be in a relationship, she must have really meant something to him.

And I didn't know what to feel about that.

I shouldn't be this confused, right? Nicole was his past. But that past had called him, and he left the table to talk to her in private.

Was I overreacting? Was it because Cole had betrayed me so badly that I was now perpetually suspicious?

"It seems like you still have more questions to ask me," Archie said.

"Yeah... Why did you break up?"

"Irreconcilable differences."

I frowned. "That's pretty vague, Archie."

He chuckled.

I gave him a flat look. "Tell me."

Archie sighed, swirling his coffee. "She wanted something I couldn't give."

I tilted my head. "Commitment?"

He hesitated, then shook his head before he said, "Love. Not the way she wanted me to."

His words caught me off guard, not expecting him to be so honest. I studied him, searching past the guarded expression, trying to read his mind, to glimpse the depths of his heart. Archie was always hard to read—his thoughts carefully tucked away, his feelings even more so. But now, for the first time, it felt like he was letting me in, just a little.

"I could never say it to her," he murmured, his green eyes softening as they met mine. "So, we broke up."

"But you still work with her?"

"Yes." He nodded.

"And that's not complicated for you?"

"For me? Not really." He shrugged. "As for her, I wouldn't know. We never talked about it."

"I heard you say she's coming back?"

"Yes. From her family home in Italy."

"Right..."

Archie watched me closely. "What are you thinking about, Peaches?" he asked softly.

"I..." I let out a slow sigh. "I don't know, Archie..." My eyes met his, trying to find the right way to express myself. "I have a very confusing feeling about you."

He leaned back slightly, surprise flickering across his face. "How so?"

I hesitated, unsure if I could even put it into words. "I don't know how I feel about you." I rested my elbows on the counter, pressing my head against my hand. "One minute, I see you as a friend, and the next, I'm throwing myself at you like a cat in heat. Then you rejected me, and I realized you were right. I'm still broken... not even healing yet." I let out a slow breath. "And now there's Nicole, and my feelings are all over the place."

When he didn't respond right away, worry instantly crept in. I straightened up. "Was that too blunt? Should I not have said that?"

He shook his head, though the surprise was still clear in his eyes. "No, it's okay. I like that you're being honest."

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