Page 26 of Nothing to This
He stopped pouring the wine and put the bottle on the counter.“You’re living with your ex-boyfriend.”
“He was never my boyfriend, Bax,” she said, tossing her coat over the dining chair behind her.“You know it was a one-night stand.”
“That’s supposed to make it okay?All that means is you were so into each other you couldn’t contain yourselves long enough to think about a rubber!And you expect me to just be okay with this guy living with you?”
She leaned on the breakfast bar, perpendicular to him.“Living with me and my kids.It’s temporary, until he gets something else.”
Peering at her, he wasn’t reassured.“You believe that?What happens after the kids are in bed?”
“Do you really think we’re going to sleep together again?Geez, Bax, it was almost six years ago.If we were going to make a go of a relationship, we’d have found the time to do it by now.”
“You said you never saw him.”
“I didn’t.”
“But you do now.”
She threw up her hands.“This is crazy.I don’t want to be with him.”
He followed her into the living room.“What am I supposed to think?This guy shows up from nowhere, you tell me we can’t go to your place because he’s there, but you won’t tell me anything about him.You never tell me anything about him.”
“Because I can’t,” she said and dropped onto the couch.“I’ve explained that before, this isn’t new information.Nothing has changed.”
“What is he?Like a politician?A celebrity?”
She slipped off her shoes and picked up a foot to massage her toes.“Nothing like that.”
“The guy has money, plenty of it,” he said.“No way you’d be able to afford your place on your salary without serious child support or is it hush money?Is he married?”
She stopped massaging to glare.“Yeah, that’s it, you found us out.He’s married and I’m a whore,” she snapped.“How the hell do you know how much money I make?”
“Am I wrong?There has to be a reason you don’t talk about him.You should trust me.It doesn’t feel like you trust me.”
“Why are you obsessed with him?This is his weekend with the kids, just like it’s been fifty times before.Why do you care about his identity now?”
“You won’t tell me who he is, you won’t let me meet your children.There are more secrets in this relationship than truths.”
Shooting to her feet, she didn’t appreciate sitting under his looming form.“Thanks for clearing that up.If you didn’t want me to stay here tonight, you could’ve just said that.If you want me to go, say it.”
“Go?To him?Is that what you want?”
She growled in frustration as her head fell back.“Men and their goddamn egos!”
“That’s your way of avoiding the truth,” he said and turned his back on her.
“If I was so eager to have sex with him, why didn’t I do it last night?Why didn’t I just call you and cancel tonight?”
Extending his arm, he faced her again.“Maybe you’re trying to make him jealous.”
“Everyone really overestimates how much time I have to obsess about his thought processes,” she muttered, heading toward her purse in the kitchen.
“Where are you going?”Baxter asked, chasing after her.
“You don’t want me here, and I really don’t have the time, or energy, to argue about this.”
Clasping her shoulders, he brought her around to him.“I’m sorry.Seriously, I am.I’m jealous, you’re right.Can you blame me?I don’t want to lose you.”
They didn’t wax lyrical about feelings for each other.Did she have feelings for him?Did he for her?The night had taken them from casual to whatever this was without any detour.Things were changing left and right, and she didn’t have time to figure out how she felt about it all.
