Page 16 of The Breakup

“I’m not always the best human being,” I said, in what might be the world’s biggest understatement of the year. “But I draw the line at taking advantage of drunk girls and girls in emotional turmoil.”

She bit her lip. “I’m not going to marry him. I just wanted to get back at him.”

Somehow I really doubted that. It felt like she was trying to save face. “You don’t seem like the revenge type either. But you are beautiful and sweet. Just so you know, in all seriousness, I’ve thought you were hot since the first second I laid eyes on you, and if you weren’t sitting here crying with that ring on your finger I definitely would fuck you.”

Bella gave a startled laugh. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or a criticism.” She thrust her glass at me. “Hey, bartender, more wine, please.”

That made me grin. “You got it, blondie.” I filled her glass. She clearly needed to vent to a total stranger. Considering my plans for the night before she texted was just going to be me playing video games and trying not to be pissed at Ali, Bella was an improvement.

“So you do you love your fiancé?” I asked, curious. She wouldn’t be the first person to get married for the wrong reasons if she didn’t.

She nodded. “I do. I mean, I thought I knew him. So what does that mean, that I love someone who isn’t real?” She shuddered. “This is just so horrible. I’m sorry, I just can’t…I don’t want to talk about it.” She made a face. “Who’s the loser now?”

I didn’t really want to talk about her fiancé or her wedding either. “So let’s change the subject. What do you do in Boston, Bella? Do you have a job or go to school or what?” I pictured her at a fashion magazine or something along those lines.

Bella rolled her eyes. “Yes, I have a job, silly goose.”

Never in my whole life had I been called “silly goose.” It was kind of fucking adorable, I had to say. Only Bella could have pulled that off. “What is that job?”

“I’m a birth-mother advocate at an adoption agency.”

That was not what I expected her to say. “Are you for real?”

“Why do you look so shocked?” She nudged my knee with her own and gave me a small smile. “Rude.”

I reached for my own wineglass. “I don’t know. I thought you’d do something more rich. Or glamorous.”

“I like kids and people a lot. I’m not a scientist like my sister, and anything involving math or engineering doesn’t interest me. People interest me, and I think it’s such an amazing gift from a woman. I mean, she’s giving her baby to someone to care and nurture for life. Sure, I like fashion and entertainment, but you have to be really cutthroat to get ahead and I’m just not really like that.” She wrinkled her nose. “My mother thinks I’m lazy.”

Her mother must be a piece of work. “How the hell is that lazy?”

“Unambitious. There isn’t a corporate ladder. But I never cared about that. I have a psychology degree. Ironic, huh? I have a psych degree and can’t read people. I had no idea Bradley was…” She cleared her throat and gave me a forced smile. “But anyway, that’s my job.”

There it was again. Fuck. She looked at me and I felt like shit. “I think that’s a good job, and I imagine you’re awesome at it.”

Bella was drinking faster now. “But I’m not going back in the fall. I resigned my position now that I’m getting married so I can be a corporate wife. I’m like Princess Diana.”

She had completely lost me. “But…your name is Bella.” And had she really quit her job just to be some guy’s wife? Like that’s not a job. It’s a relationship.

“I know that, silly.”

Again with the silly. I grinned.

She reached for the wine and overshot it, hitting the doughnut box with her knee. “Whoops. No, I mean, Princess Diana worked as a nursery school teacher when she started dating Prince Charles. But she was from a titled, wealthy family. The nursery school position was a pit stop to princess. Once they were married, she had royal duties.”

I think I saw where she was going with this and it was a stretch, in my opinion. Maybe even what you would call a fake fairy tale. “What does Bradley do?”

“He’s a property lawyer.” She attempted to lift the wine bottle up but I didn’t trust her eye-hand coordination and took it from her and poured, even though her glass was still half full.

“With a very large trust fund.”

Of course he was a lawyer. That guy was basically a walking cliché. “Okay, first of all that’s a far cry from royalty,” I said. “Second of all, they ended up divorced, remember?”

The look she gave me was astonished, like that had never occurred to her. “You’re a poop.”

I had to laugh. “And you’re drunk.”

Her eyes were a little glassy but she leaned forward and studied me. “You’re so hot, but you know that, don’t you? Are you sure you don’t want to do things with me? To me? By me?” Her head tilted. “Wait, does that make sense?”

Man, I was about to do something stupid. She was right. She was naïve. And very, very sexy. I just wanted a little tiny taste of Bella, aka princess. “Yeah,” I told her. “That makes total sense.”

I closed the distance between us and took her mouth with mine.

She tasted like sugar and wine and hot, sweet temptation.

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