Page 56 of Taboo

“Invite me to their house?”

He cocked his head because she looked confused. “They want you to come over for dinner.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Is there something wrong with that?”

She took a shuddering breath, then released it slowly. “No. Not at all. It’s just been so long since…well, that I’ve done anything social.”

“Hiding out at the house is getting to you?”

She shook her head. “I told you what happened. I went from being everyone’s favorite Wulf, to people acting like they didn’t know me.”

Those fuckers did a number on her. She’s better off without them, but he knew better than to say that. It’s never easy to face the truth of someone’s betrayal. He had learned that up close and personal with Shelley. It had crushed him at the time, but he gotten past it. And looking at Jules…with the purply pink rays of the setting sun providing a backdrop, well, he was damned glad that Shelley had dumped him all those years ago. Because this woman…THIS woman was the one.

Fuck me.

“Alek, are you alright?”

For a second, he didn’t answer. He couldn’t. He knew there was something special about her, something that got to him. Those big green eyes, all her curves, and that soft heart of hers.

He felt as if he had been hit over the head. He was in love with her. It was the only explanation, and Alek didn’t know what to think about that. Did people fall in love in just a few weeks?

Hell, he hadn’t even known her a month and he was in love. Like knee deep, over his head and going under for the third time kind of love.

“Alek?” She reached out and slipped her small hand over his. He looked down at their hands. She was such the epitome of the English rose, fair skin, fair hair.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and looked up at her. Worry etched her eyes as she studied him. Yep, he was stupid enough to fall for another woman who didn’t want to live here any more than he wanted to live in London.

“Yeah, sorry. And you’re better off without them.”

She moved her hand away, but he grabbed it and held on. Jules didn’t resist. For some reason, that warmed his heart.

“That’s easier said than done.”

He nodded. “I understand. Just take it from someone who went through something like that, it does get easier with time.”

“You had friends turn their backs on you?” the outrage in her tone caught him off guard. It figured that she was more upset with something that happened to him over a decade ago than what she went through. He had noticed how she tended to put other people before her own worries all the time.

“A fiancé.”

Her gasp would be comical if it didn’t make him insanely happy. And horny. Every expression she’d shown him was a turn on to him. Even when she was frowning at him, his dick was happy.

“Don’t worry, I got over it a long time ago.”

“She just abandoned you?”

He nodded. “Thankfully. She didn’t want to be a military wife and had wanted to be here in Hawaii. Or rather, wherever she could be to get the money. She wasn’t a woman who liked to do without.”

“Well, that’s just rubbish. You love someone, you walk through fire for them.”

“I didn’t talk to her about it, just sort of sprung it on everyone.”

“Still. I could see if she was upset at first, but if you love someone, you have to sacrifice.”

“Is that what was wrong with your engagement?”

“What?”

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