Page 26 of Mine to Love
“Another manipulator,” she muttered.
“Not really. More like negotiation and if you said no, I’d still tell you why I was distant at first. But I want to know about Charlie because I can help get him out of your life. Or have you forgotten what my side gig is?” He arched a brow. “But in order to do that, I need information.”
“Right. The private investigator business. You’re a jack of all fucking trades.”
“You sure do like to swear,” he whispered.
“When I lived in high society, it was frowned upon. But now that I don’t have to act like some prim and proper lady, that I’m not, I can be myself and dropping the F-bomb now and again, well, it feels fucking good.”
“That wasn’t a judgment, just an observation.” He tipped back his drink, letting the smoky flavor fill his mouth before swallowing. Normally, this time of night was his favorite. He’dkick back with a nice glass of bourbon and stare at the stars and the moon. It always calmed his mind and fed his soul. But not tonight. There were so many other things on his mind, one of which was making sure she understood that what happened between them he didn’t take lightly. “You’ve been in town for two months and you work at the café where most of our community likes to hang out, including almost every woman I’ve ever dated. I’ve seen you serve a few of them and I’m sure you’ve gotten an earful from one or two.”
She smiled. Then laughed. Loudly. “Yeah. Someone did mention you were a bit of a horn dog and that I should stay away.”
“I’m not surprised my reputation preceded me.” He needed to tread lightly in this conversation if he was going to prove his point.
“Lucy Ann did mention that it wasn’t as bad as Trixi, or whatever her name was, made it out to be. Although, I will say that Trixi actually had a few nice things to say about you, which was shocking.”
He smacked his hand against his forehead. “I had no idea you ran into her. Of all the women who could be spreading tales about me, it had to be that one.” Miles swallowed. Trixi had been hurt and not just by Miles, but her family had done a number on her as well.
She’d been told to choose between them and Miles, only, at first, she hadn’t informed Miles of that ultimatum. When he found out, that put him between a rock and a hard place. He’d never choose a woman over his family. Of course, unless the girl he was dating was a hardened criminal, his family would never ask him to do such an insane thing. There had been a part of Miles that had been touched by Trixi’s dedication to him, except in the end, neither one could live with the consequences.
“What did you do to her?”
“I guess you could say I broke her heart.” There was no sugarcoating this one. “We hooked up a couple of years ago.”
“Hooked up? That’s kind of a disgusting way of putting it.”
“Perhaps that’s the wrong word. She was the closest thing I’ve ever had to a relationship. But she knew who I was and my aversion to getting married. She thought she could tame this bad boy.”
“Is that what you are? A womanizer?”
“I take offense to that word and that’s not what happened,” he said behind a clenched jaw. Just because he didn’t want to settle down, get married, and pump out a bunch of babies, didn’t mean he was a dick.
“According to her, you’re incapable of being in a committed relationship with anything that doesn’t require an oil change.”
“That’s her father speaking. Not her.” Miles stared at the night sky. He couldn’t be angry at Trixi for saying those words. By the time they’d broken up, Miles had successfully done exactly what her father had said he would. “Trixi and I were doomed from the start, even if I didn’t have a reputation. She comes from a rich family with certain standards and I didn’t fit the mold. If she was going to be with me, she had to give up her family and her money. I didn’t think that was fair. Because I did care about her, I started pushing her away.”
“That’s what I’d call a coward.”
“You can call me anything you want. Judge me however you see fit. But the real truth of the matter was that I didn’t love Trixi like a man should love a partner. I hated her father for how he treated her and forced her into making a choice between me and the rest of her family, but it shouldn’t have come down to that. Yet at the end of the day, I also wasn’t going to be able to give her the two things she wanted most. A ring and a kid.”
“You don’t want a family?” Liberty asked.
“I didn’t then. I honestly don’t know what I want now.” His answer shocked his system. Being a father had never been something he gave a second thought. A husband was out of the question. “I’ve struggled with a lot of things my entire life, one of which was watching my parents have a shitty-ass marriage. My mom had an affair when I was one and it produced my little brother.”
“What?” Liberty’s voice screeched.
“The worst part about that was my dad agreed to raise Jameson as his own until Steve, my mom’s current husband, strolled back into town a few years ago, blowing my family into pieces. Add Jameson’s divorce, a few brothers who had their hearts broken, and I chose to be a bachelor, because in my book, love sucks.”
She raised her glass and tapped it against his. “Finally, something we both can agree on.”
“You loved Charlie,” he said as a statement of fact. “Why don’t we shift gears and talk about that for a bit.”
She set her glass on the steps and shifted, facing him dead-on. “One of the reasons I’m so guarded with you is because Charlie was a lot like you in the beginning. He adored Gabriel. He was so good with him and it warmed my heart to see someone treat my brother with kindness and respect, not pity. And Charlie showered me with gifts. I was reluctant at first. After my parents left me and Gabriel to fend for ourselves, I mistrusted everyone I ever knew in their circles, and that included Charlie. And especially his parents. They never accepted me. What’s really weird is they begged me not to divorce their son.” She shook her head and chuckled. “Their exact words were,No Livingston gets divorced. Make this right.They even tried to give me money and things in order to stay. They told me they would do anything if I stayed with Charlie. They even told me how broken Charlie was because I’d left him.”
“Something tells me Charlie’s never been brokenhearted over anything,” Miles mumbled. “I find it interesting that it was his parents who were the ones that pleaded with you to remain in Palm Beach and in a marriage that made you miserable.”
“Charlie can be a lot like Gabriel sometimes when he either feels hurt or doesn’t get his way.”
