Page 130 of Embracing the Change

“And you cut her off.”

“Hardly,” she drawled. “They have boutiques all over the world, and you can buy online, darling.”

“Do you think maybe, in the several times we discussed her, I might need to know this?”

“Would you believe me if I said it slipped my mind?” she tried.

“No.”

She smiled. “It’s good for our relationship to know I can’t lie to you.”

“Nora, this is about you,” he pointed out. “She’s pissed as shit at you. This isn’t about you having things she doesn’t. This isn’t a society catfight. She’s coming at you.”

“Tom’s business is not mine to tell, Jamie,” she said softly.

“I know all about his business, Nora. We’re close. He’s confided in me. And you know why.”

Her face scrunched.

She knew why. Then again, everyone did. Belinda made sure of that.

When he’d sought connection and intimacy in another woman’s arms, that woman not his wife, he’d been separated from Belinda and had already filed for divorce.

When Belinda leaked the “affair” to the press, she didn’t mention that part.

“We were no longer together,” he told her.

“You don’t need to explain this to me.”

Was she insane?

“Of course I do.”

“I know the man you are, Jameson. Even if you didn’t say that to me, I could have guessed,” she snapped.

Jamie sat solid.

“I also knew her issues. And that a custody battle and quite a bit of money were at stake. She was a woman playing her options, and you paid,” she continued.

“Judge paid,” he forced out.

“Both of you paid,” she declared. “I honestly don’t care what people think of it, but before the ink was dry on my divorce to Roland, I went on the prowl. I slept with a number of men. I did this before I realized it wasn’t my choice to do it, he’d driven me to do it as a form of revenge. It drove him up the wall I was taking lovers, and to all appearances, something Roland didn’t miss, I enjoyed doing it. I came to my senses. But although our stories are very different, I do know how it feels to have a spouse betray you as they fill their driving need to have something else. I also understand having the desire to feel attractive and rebuild your confidence so the way they treated you, like you were worthless, as was your love, doesn’t dig in, fester and ruin you forever.”

Christ, he loved it that she got that.

Got him.

Always.

With what had happened with Belinda.

How much he’d lost of Judge.

How much he’d gained, then lost, with Rosalind.

“Fuck, are you real?” he asked.

“I’m sitting right here.”

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