Page 44 of Hungry Hearts

If he’d been beating her, I’d help her cover her tracks. Or I’d have Nolan and his SEAL people do that since all I know how to do is hide vegetables in an entrée.

“No.” She shakes her head and squeezes her hands together in front of her. Fresh tears stream down her face. “He died five years ago.”

My shoulders sag with relief. I let the door close, but I don’t move closer to her. There’s still a mountain of lies between us. All on her side. My life’s an open book.

“Why did that douche you were with make it sound like you were still married?”

She swallows and takes a deep breath. “He’s very protective of me. We’ve been friends since childhood. Adam, Flynn, and I. He’s never seen me with another man since Adam died, and he’d promised Adam he would look over me. He’s my closest friend. It...it was his way of warning you off.”

The anger isn’t completely gone, but it’s subsided. I no longer have the urge to throat-punch the next person I see. Unless it’s her BFF, who I highly doubt doesn’t have feelings for her. How can he not?

“And you waited twenty-four hours to tell me this? Why?” There’s more she’s not telling me. I can tell.

Her chin drops to her chest again and I watch as her shoulders lift and sag, lift and sag as she steadies her breathing. “I was scared,” her voice soft and timid. “I am scared.”

“Of me? Of him? Of what?”

She shakes her head. “To have my heart crushed again.” With another deep breath, she looks up at me again.

Her eyes are filled with sadness and regret. What it is she regrets, I’m not sure. If it’s me, I’m not sure how long it will take to recover.

“Adam and I were high school sweethearts. We married the summer after graduation, and he enlisted in the Army. I followed him to North Carolina. He...he’s the only man I’ve ever loved and ever been with. I’ve had no desire to date or move on. I don’t want to erase him from my life.”

I hook my arm around the back of my neck and digest her words. She’s still in love with her dead husband. “I’m not looking to replace him.” The words shouldn’t be a lie, but they feel bitter on my tongue.

Maia leans against the wall and it’s then that I notice how weak she is. Who knows how long she was waiting outside my door? I move toward her and cup her elbow and lead her to the couch. She sighs with relief as soon as her legs hit the couch.

“I’m so sorry, Ryder. I never meant to hurt you.” She covers her face with her hands and cries. “I wasn’t expecting to...like you so much.”

Christ. The woman is eating herself up with guilt over moving on and I’ve been a total dick to her. To be fair, I don’t know the first thing about comforting a crying woman or how to have a serious conversation with a woman. Especially a widow.

“I’d apologize for being so funny and charming, but it’s not something I’m willing to change about myself.”

She laughs through her tears.

I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her into me. The kiss to the top of her head was supposed to comfort her, but her flowery, fruity scent, and her warm, soft body curled into mine reminds me how much I’ve missed her. Has it only been two days since I held her in my arms?

When her cries subside after a few minutes, she uses her sleeve to wipe her eyes and looks up at me with sad eyes. “I never set out to lie to you.”

“You never technically lied.” I didn’t say those words as an excuse for her. She didn’t lie. Would it have mattered to me if I’d known she was a widow? No. But I get why it wouldn’t come up in the two weeks we’ve been seeing each other.

“That night at Red...my sister and brother-in-law had reservations for their anniversary, but my sister got the flu so they told me to go with a friend. Other than Flynn, I don’t have anyone I’m close with. I...”

She closes her eyes. There’s more to tell, so I sit quietly, which is hard as fuck for me to do, and wait for her words. Minutes go by and she still hasn’t said what is on the tip of her tongue. And because I’m me with no filter, I say what’s on my mind.

“Thank fuck you didn’t bring that Flynn guy.” Because, yeah, I’m jealous.

Her smile is soft, if not apologetic. “Flynn and I are just friends.”

“There’s no way in Hell a man can spend time with you and not want to—” I apply the filter here. Now’s not the time to show my jealous lover side. Hell, I didn’t even know Ihada jealous lover side.

Slowly, she turns her body so she’s facing me on the couch, her hands clutched tightly in her lap. “The reason I didn’t want you to pick me up at my house...it’s another part of me I wasn’t ready to share.”

I tilt my head and frown at her. What the hell is she talking about now? Is she a lesbian? Cause that would be kinda hot, but I don’t want that for her or us. A threesome is good for a night, but to take to dinner, dance, cuddle up and watch movies with? No. And that’s what I want with Maia, that normal relationship I’ve watched the aces cultivate.

At the same time, there’s a simmer of guilt at making her feel like she needs to reveal all her darkest secrets to me. We’ve only known each other for less than two weeks. It’s too soon to earn that kind of trust. And then she drops the final bombshell.

“I have a daughter.”

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