Page 471 of His Virgin Romance Series

“Well,” I said, changing my tone and the topic, as well. “I really hope you enjoy your stay here.”

“Oh, I have no doubt you’ll be able to show me a good time,” Jennifer replied. “You were always good at that. It was the committing part of things that always tripped you up.”

I suppressed a sigh and steered her back towards her little group of friends. “Why don’t you help yourself to a drink from the refreshment cart?” I suggested, motioning for Steven to come forward with the cart.

I was trying to back away from her slowly when Trent approached me. “We’re all checked in,” he said.

“Excellent,” I nodded.

“So…” he said, glancing over towards Jennifer. “You and Jennifer, huh?”

“It was a long time ago.”

“Didn’t end well?”

“Did any of my relationships?”

He laughed. “Good point,” he nodded. “I would have thought you’d have settled down by now, though.”

“What made you think that?”

He shrugged. “Age, wisdom…the need for something real.”

“You’ve got philosophical since we last met,” I joked.

He laughed. “It passes the time,” he said. “And pisses people off. Which is just an added bonus. Anyway, thanks, man. Will we be seeing you around?”

I glanced at Jennifer. “I think for your sake, I’d better make myself scarce.”

Trent gave me a conspiratorial wink and waved goodbye as I walked away. I headed up to my office, thankful to be free from Jennifer’s accusing gaze. I made a mental note to avoid Trent and his party for the duration of their stay.

My office was empty when I walked in, so I took the opportunity to pour myself a strong cup of coffee. I sat down and swiveled around to face my fantastic view. My thoughts rewound back to four years ago when Jennifer and I had first begun dating.

She hadn’t been quite so blunt during that period. In fact, she had been extremely fun. We had great chemistry, and the sex was pretty good, too. But inevitably, my work had kept me so busy that I started to bail on her more and more often. I’d been forced to cancel dates, disappear right after sex, and cut short dinners because of some emergency or another.

Now that I thought about it, Jennifer and I hadn’t even been together that long, four, five months tops. And yet, she’d had certain expectations. I’d realized later that she had earmarked me as the man she was going to marry. She had just forgotten to factor in how demanding my work really was, and after a while, she started getting impatient about playing second fiddle to my career.

When she had confronted me about it, I had told her that if I had to choose between her or my work, I would choose my work any day. In hindsight, I probably should have softened my words a little, but I’d had a hard day and was frustrated and annoyed.

She had stormed out of my penthouse apartment, and we hadn’t spoken for several days. When Jennifer appeared on my doorstep about a week later, I realized that what I had thought was a breakup, she had assumed was simply a fight. So, I’d had to make it clear to her that I wasn’t interested in continuing a relationship with her. She had left in a storm of anger, but not before breaking a few of my things. I was extremely glad to be an un-sentimental person that day.

My thoughts wandered from Jennifer to Brie. There were days when I felt I was finally growing up and changing, and there were days that I felt like the same wayward college kid who could never commit to one woman. Things felt different with Brie, but I wasn’t sure how long that was going to last.

Brie had been in love with me since she was fourteen years old. A part of me was intensely flattered by that, but it also terrified the life out of me. What if I ended up hurting her like I had hurt every girl that had come before her? The pressure was building, and I wasn’t sure if it was coming from her or me.

I was ruminating on my current circumstances when my phone distracted me. The moment I saw the name Emma flashing on the screen, I groaned. Just what I needed, I thought, another conversation with a woman who very likely had a problem with me.

“Hi, Emma,” I said, picking up. “It’s been awhile.”

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