Page 72 of Forgotten Romance

“What?”

“Are all books like that?”

“No. At least, none of the ones I’ve ever read before.”

“Well, damn. I probably could have gotten into The Hobbit more if it’d had the dwarves all banging each other.”

My gaze snaps to him. “What did you say?”

His lips twitch. “Just pointing out that if the king was banging more people, he probably wouldn’t have been so uptight.”

“Right …”

“I’ll have to message Payne and find out if he knows his boyfriend is such a deviant.”

I huff and toss the book aside. “I was enjoying that, and now you’ve ruined it.”

Davey leans forward to pick it up, then sets it back on my lap. “I’m only teasing. I think it’s cool you’re reading Beau’s book.” He runs his fingers along the spine. “Actually, I don’t think I’ve seen you read in a while.”

“I haven’t,” I confess. “I’m trying to get back into it. This is the first book I’ve read in … too long.”

“In that case, I’m doubly sorry for the teasing,” he says seriously. “You used to read all the time when we met. I still remember having to use sex to distract you from the damn books.”

“Hmm … those were the days.”

They really were. Things weren’t exactly not complicated, but we were happy. Too young and dumb to know where we were heading. If we’d known we were going to get divorced, would we have still gotten married?

I slide my hand over Davey’s stubble, and his eyes fall closed as he leans into the touch.

It gives me my answer instantly.

Yeah, I still would have married him, because that’s what got us to this exact moment.

My thumb lightly strokes the spiky hairs, and it brings a small smile to his lips.

“Tell me about work,” I whisper.

Davey’s eyes fly open, and I hate that there’s worry there. “What?”

“What’s your favorite thing about it?”

“Ah …” He clears his throat and pulls back, breaking contact between us. “It’s … good.”

The fact he can’t even talk about it makes me feel guilty. It makes me hurt for that dark place we got to. But I know better now, and I’m going to do better. Starting with this. “Really. I want to know what you love about it. Like, for me … I love that even though I wasn’t reading, working at the library kept me connected to books in a way. I love chatting with the people who come in, and it’s always fun to come up with new ideas to get the community involved.” I try to show him with my eyes that I’m serious. No hidden motive. No agenda. I just want access to that side of him again.

“Well, I have a team now …”

I nod, encouraging him to keep going.

“It’s pretty cool to manage a whole department. Obviously, a lot more stress, but …”

“What’s stressful about it?”

His eyes search mine, and I understand why he’s cagey. Do I want to hear about everything so great and wonderful that keeps pulling him away? Absolutely not. But I also need to stop making everything about me.

“For one thing, if someone else fucks up, it’s on me. If we lose a big contract, or the client is unhappy, or we blow out the budget—all me. It means I need to be communicating hard with everyone, but there’s also a layer of trust involved to stop me from micromanaging. Taking that step back was difficult.”

“Sounds tough.”

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