Page 70 of Lie With Me

“Yeah?” Her voice is thick, like she’s drifting off to sleep.

“No one will ever hurt you again. I won’t let them. I’ll protect you. All you have to do is let me.”

“I know.” She sounds so tired. “Because you’re Prince Charming. But I’m no princess. I always save myself.”

Lenni

“You guys are cute together. Just date him already! Trust me, that man wants that ring to mean something.” Ginny picks up a frilly, pink dress that looks like it belongs on a stuffed teddy bear and scrunches her nose. “I will have no idea how to handle a girl with Jackson’s genes. God, I hope it’s a boy.” After we met for lunch, Ginny wanted to kill some time before returning to work, so we found a cute little children’s boutique called Spring Flowers.

“It isn’t that easy, Gin. Tripp is…intense, for lack of a better word. His feelings are a lot, and he projects them openly. I don’t know how to deal with all of that coming from one man.” I browse a rack of baby boy onesies with patterns of dinosaurs and monster trucks. I don’t understand the appeal of spending tons of money on baby clothes. Babies grow out of them so quickly. I’d rather spend my money on things they can growinto—educationalbooks and interactive games. Does that make me a bad aunt-to-be?

As for Tripp, I haven’t exactly beenhidingsince I told him my life story almost a week ago, but I’ve been keeping myself busy. His overprotective tendencies have more than doubled, and even though I’m strictly sticking to the Confessional wing at work, he’s acting like my own personal bodyguard.

Carmela even made a joke about putting him on the payroll.

He’s been treating me like an antique fragile vase to be protected at all costs—but I’m not made of glass.

We haven’t even had sex. It’s almost as if he’s afraid to touch me now.

“That’s relatable. Jackson is intense, too. Always has been. I don’t mind it, though. It makes me feel loved, and I think I needed it long before he came around. I was like a dry sponge, ready to soak it all up.”

Even though it makes for a weird mental image, she hit the nail right on the head. Tripp’s actions both exhilarate and scare me. It’s nice to feel cared for, for once. But I didn’t tell him the whole truth about my past—the part that makes it impossible to jump in with everything I have.

Yet, it feels good to have someone who knows most of what happened.

“I don’t know. I mean, we kind ofaredating. I guess,” I mumble, even though I’m adamant we’renot when Tripp says the same thing. “He’s going to want me to quit, though, and I don’t want to.”

I can’t.

Ginny makes a face as she holds up a pair of tiny suspenders with all types of sports balls printed on them. “Tripp seems reasonable, Len. You’ve been working just the Confessional wing for weeks, and he seems content with that.”

“If I were anyone else, Carmela wouldn’t put up with a boyfriend hanging around, keeping tabs.”

“She let Jackson do it. She knew he was my stranger the whole time.”

“True, I guess. But to be fair, Jackson was being prepped to take over Scott’s portion of the club. So, as an upcoming partner, it made sense why she was more lenient with him.” A robe catches my attention. It’s so tiny. Purple and fluffy, like a miniature version of the one I used to have when I was younger.

“I miss Scott,” Ginny sighs. “He’d have been so thrilled about the baby. Sadie is over the moon, but Jacksonhatesthat she keeps calling Tyler Grandpa.”

Sadie is Jackson’s aunt, and Tyler is her much younger husband—as in twenty years her junior. He’s younger than Jackson, and they don’t exactly get along that well. “Tyler is a fucking babe. I can’t picture anyone calling him Grandpa.”

Ginny laughs. “He reallyishot. But I swear if you tell anyone I said so, I’ll deny, deny, deny.”

“What are you guys going to do when the baby comes? Your master isn’t exactly set up for a crib.”

“Jackson is already looking at bigger places. Hewants to stay in the city. He’s got his eye on the Central Park Tower penthouse and is negotiating with the owner, whoisn’tselling it.”

“Jesus. Jacksonwouldbully someone out of their home. How do you feel about that? Do you guys really need all that space?”

“He seems to think so. At this point, it's useless to argue with him. He wants Claudia to move in full-time and have extra rooms for the grandparents to stay for the holidays. That means you and Tripp, too.”

“Oh, joy. That’s gonna be awkward.” I can only imagine what that will look like when—if Lenni—we split, and he brings another woman to get-togethers.

Ginny turns toward the register with a handful of clothes I didn’t realize she was gathering during our perusing. “No, it won’t. Because you two are staying together. And that’s final. You like him, and hemorethan likes you. Your meet-cute was absolute destiny. That man worships the ground you walk on, and you deserve a good guy. I’ve never seen you date anyone in all the time we’ve known each other, but the way you two are together is so natural. Just accept it.”

With a sigh, I retrieve my phone from the depths of my purse while I wait for Ginny to complete her purchase, and find a message from Tripp.

You’re mine next weekend. Sorry, not sorry. I asked Carmela to cancel your clients. I’ll make sure you still get paid what you would have made.

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