Page 76 of Sin Bin

It’s not quite a declaration, but I’lltakeit.

Hell to the yes,Iwill.

He gives me a quick kiss after tugging on a pair of shorts, then heads for the doorway. I want to call him back and tell him that I love him again. I never once thought that Andre and I would get to this place. Sure, there are speedbumps that we still have to get over. Lingering issues, like the fact that I’ve signed a lease on an apartment, and haven’t spent a single night there. Instead, I’m here with him. It’s probably too soon to move in together officiallythough.

Although I guess we are a bit of aspecialcase.

It’s not like we’d onlymeta month ago. That’d be different. Ithink.

Then again, Andre has a way of making me forget about the rules. Although I do agree about Golden Lights Media. It’ll be less difficult for him to find a new company than for me to find a new job. And, honestly, it’s sweet that he’d even suggest it in the firstplace.

Raised voices steal my attention, and I quietly tug on my clothes. I know that Andre told me to wait upstairs, but I can hear the frustration in hisvoice.

Against my will, my feet carry me to the stairwell, and I glance down into the foyer below. Andre has his hands on the back of his neck as he paces. And . . . my breath catches at the sight of a pretty woman opposite him. Her hair is thick and blond, her body trim fromexercise.

I shouldn’t be standing here. I shouldn’t belistening.

Tell that toyourfeet.

“You can’t just swing by here,” Andre is saying, his voicepitchedlow.

The woman takes a step forward. “Andre, honey”—honey?!—“I’m not trying to cause anytrouble.”

The man who spent all morning bringing me to climax laughs harshly. “Hannah, all youdois causetrouble.”

“That’sunfair.”

“What’sunfair,” Andre mutters with a retreating step, “is that you show up wherever I go, Hannah. You show up and you stir the fucking memories, and you just don’t get it, do you?Youleftme.This wasn’t the other wayaround.”

I . . . I think I’m going tobesick.

Neither of them have noticed me standing up here on the second-floor landing, which I suppose is a good thing, because I don’t want to be noticed. Andre had been in a relationship? The man whorefusedto do relationshipshadbeen. . .

TheFameinterview. His request not to answer the question about a time that he’d had his heart broken. Oh, God, I amsuchan idiot. Idiot, idiot,idiot.

“Andre,” Hannah says pleadingly, “it was amistake.”

“No. No, Hannah, a mistake is sleeping with someone else once and then never doing it again. A mistake is not having affairs with multiple men each time I was on the road for games. A mistake is not breaking up with me, leaving me for someone else, and then informing me later on that you’d given birth to my son and thatmyson had died without me even knowing he existed.” Andre’s voice cracks, and my heart does right along with him. “Thoseare not mistakes, Hannah. Those will never be mistakes, and I swear to fucking God that if you ever come around here again, I will get a restraining order on you so fast, you’ll have fuckingwhiplash.”

I must make a sound because Hannah glances up and spots me clinging to the balconyrailing.

Her shoulders stiffen. “I didn’t realize that you hadcompany.”

Andre doesn’t even turn to look up at me. Instead, he moves to the front door and swings it open insilence.

Hannah gets the hint, this time at least, I suppose, and struts her way out withoutanotherword.

The doorcloses.

And then finally Andre meets my gaze. His cheeks are bright from emotion, more emotion than I’ve ever seen from himbefore.

Hannah.

The girl heloved.

The son heneverknew.

I’m so stupid, and it hurts even more to realize that now after I just professed my loveforhim.

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