Page 64 of Wilde Nights in Paradise

That was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it? He’d never be able to tell her the full truth without hurting her, without forcing her to choose between him and her father. Any way he saw it, he was bound to break her heart, and damn, he didn’t want to put her through that again. He never should have asked for a second chance.

“Hi. Mind if I join you?”

Jude lifted his gaze from the depths of his beer, focused on the woman who had sidled up into his personal space and pressed her surgically enhanced breasts to his arm.

She didn’t wait for his answer and sat on the empty stool next to his. Her skirt hiked up her thigh, leaving nothing to the imagination. “I’m Sienna.”

“Hello, Sienna,” he said politely, but had to wonder if that was even her real name. He lifted his glass and clinked it to the rim of her margarita. “Jude.”

“Like the Beatles song?”

“Yeah,” he said on a resigned sigh. Different bar, different woman, same old conversation. Usually, he played it up but not tonight. Tonight, he was tired of it all. It felt like they were rehearsing a scene off a well-used script. “Like the song.”

“Sorry.” She laughed. “I bet you hear that a lot.”

He did a double take. Now this was an interesting diversion from that script. “All the time. I’ve even heard it used as a pick-up line.”

“If you’d like, I’m sure I can think of something cute, but I’m not as subtle as that. I see a hot guy, I introduce myself, carry on some light conversation, then ask if he wants to go back to my place for the night. So…you interested?”

Jude turned on his stool to give her an assessing up-down. She was exactly the type he went for when he came to places like this. All glitter and gloss with an undercurrent of desperation. She wore a mini strapless dress tight enough to strangle, with her breasts nearly spilling out the top, and looked a mere shade better than a streetwalker only because she obviously had money and liked to spend in on bling—the real stuff, not gaudy imitations, if that huge diamond on her finger was any clue.

A wedding ring never used to be a deterrent to him. Now he found himself wondering why he’d ever thought that ring meant nothing but empty promises.

Cam was right. Their mother would be disgusted by him. Hell, he was disgusted by himself.

“I’ll give you points for honesty, but no.” One truth, he supposed, deserved another. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring he’d kept there for eight long years. The diamond was small, pathetic really, but all he’d been able to afford as a freshly minted second lieutenant. He’d bought it the morning after spontaneously popping the question during their celebratory dinner after his commissioning ceremony. He still wasn’t entirely sure what made him ask Libby right then—he’d just looked over the table at her in her little black dress as the waiter cleared their plates, and realized he never wanted to be without her, so he’d let the question fly over dessert. Part of him had steeled up for the rejection he thought for sure was coming, but she’d said yes. Without a ring. Without even a real “I love you” from him. She’d said yes, and that still amazed him to this day.

Jude remembered the way the tiny diamond had sparkled when he’d given it to her—almost as bright as her smile. It had looked so lovely on Libby’s finger, and he wanted nothing more than to see it there again.

He showed Sienna the ring. “I might’ve taken you up your offer at one time, but you’re about a month too late.”

“Oh,” she said with a hint of disappointment. “Good for you. When’s the big day?”

“Soon, I hope.”

“You haven’t asked her yet?”

“No.”

Sienna laughed. “Well, what are you waiting for? You’re obviously a one-woman man. Make it official already.”

Damn, Jude thought as her words struck a chord inside him. Hewasn’tthe least bit interested in any woman but Libby. His Libby, all soft and warm in their bed. He should be there with her now, arms tucked around her, his face buried in her hair, his leg trapping both of hers.

Libby was it for him. His all. His everything.

He’d always known he loved her, but kept pushing it away. Making excuses for himself because, fuck, what had he done to deserve a woman like her in his life? Maybe it was a big cosmic joke, but he didn’t care anymore because he was never letting her go again.

“Thank you,” he said and pocketed the ring.

Sienna’s lips puckered into a frown. “For what?”

“For making me see what a fool I am.” He finished his beer in one swallow, peeled off several bills from his wallet for the tip. “I’m going to tell her the truth. All of it. Maybe then I’ll have a shot at making it forever. A real shot.”

Sienna’s hard blue eyes softened as she reached up, flicked a lock of hair off his forehead with a finger, then dragged one talon-like nail lightly down the side of his jaw. “She’s a lucky woman.”

“You wanna tell her that?”

“Oh, I’m sure she knows it. Deep in her heart, she knows.”

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