Page 51 of A Linton Scandal

Every time this man opened his heart to me, I found myself stumped. Not because he was sharing his feelings, but because there were too many doubts hidden in his heart.

“I want to believe that this can work between us, but I can tell that you are holding back. And it feels wrong to push my desires onto you, when you’ve already conceded so much for me.”

Watching Mihai, I realized he’d noticed like I thought. The little piece of myself I held back and protected he’d noticed.

Averting my gaze, I sighed. I hated myself a bit for letting my past mistakes dictate my present life. “I’ve been in only one other relationship before, it wasn’t anything crazy or passionate like in a romance novel. I had a crush on a guy, his name was Daniel.”

Mihai

I stiffened the minute she started speaking. Her eyes focused on the floor and she balled up the bottom of her shirt in her hands. The crease between her brows added to the overall expression of irritation on her face.

“Daniel wasn’t anything special now that I think about it, but he made me feel special.” A part of me wanted to cover her mouth, it was a childish desire. However it didn’t stop my desire from ending the story before she finished it.

“Anyway, I liked him and while we were in the states nothing came of it. Friends would tease here and there, but he’d act like he didn’t know anything, and I was okay with that, because if he’d known how much I’d liked him. Then I would have wanted to fall through the floor. I thought that was how my time in college would end, me holding some flame for a guy who barely knew I existed. Then I went to France to study, and lo and behold if I didn’t meet him there.”

She finally met my gaze, but this time the irritation was gone, replaced by a painful humor.

“Maybe it was the French air, but this time he didn’t act like he was clueless, he actually spoke to me, and I didn’t even question why he changed suddenly. During my stay in France, we got together, for those few months I was on cloud nine. Not questioning anything, from the calls he’d step out to take to the occasional text message he deleted right after sending.”

She smiled. “I was a real idiot. When the time in France ended, I headed to Belgium, and he went back to the States to work and study some more. As time passed he started answering my calls less, and less as well as my text messages. It got to the point where I thought something serious had happened to him.”

Her arms were shaking from how tight she was holding her shirt. I walked over to her and took her right hand in mine. “You don’t have to continue.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s time I tell someone about it. And I much prefer it to be you.” Her smile broadened. “You’re the father of my child after all.”

I offered her a smile of my own, as she continued.

“I came back to the States and decided to get in touch with some friends. We met up in New York, and imagine my surprise when I walked into a restaurant and saw Daniel, not hurt, not dead, but sitting with the family of his fiancée. The woman he’d been dating long distance in college and had still been dating when he’d gone to France to study.”

The fist she’d been holding loosened and she released a large exhale. “When he saw me the first thing he did, was smile like we were old friends and greet me like everything that had happened before wasn’t real.” She scoffed. “For a second I’d actually second guessed myself. But, no it had really happened and in that moment, I’d never felt as disgusting as I did then. He’d lied to me, and not only had he lied to me, but he’d also made me do something I’d swore I’d never do after my father left my mother.”

“And what was that?”

Her eyes darkened with hatred. “Become the other woman. My father was a bastard through and through and left me and my mother for some woman he swore was everything he’d ever wanted. I told myself every day I’d never stay with a man who hated me, and I would never be a homewrecker.”

She shook her head as if trying to disperse her negative emotions. “Anyway, I walked out and never really spoke to him again until he sent an invitation to me for his wedding.” She laughed. “Where we met actually, since then I’ve been anxious about getting into a new relationship.”

I tightened my hold of her hand.

She covered my hand with her other one and looked up at me with clear eyes. “With all that said and done, Mihai. I have no intention of running away. I may not express my feelings aloud, but do you think I’d lay in the bed of a man I wasn’t falling for.” She averted her eyes, her voice turning soft. “I mean, it isn’t like I’m not falling in love.”

I smirked seeing her reaction, and felt another desire grow. “So, what you’re saying is?—”

“I like you,” she finished, giving me an annoyed look. “Give me some time, I promised you that I would try. You should have some confidence in your wife.”

Unable to hold back, I bent down and took her lips with mine in a deep kiss. Expressing my thoughts as much as I could. Hearing her call herself my wife and learning that she has feelings for me and had no intention of leaving lightened the tight ball of anxiety I’d been experiencing.

I called myself pathetic in nine different ways.

Juliet’s love is what I wanted in the end. I didn’t need to care about anything else.

Revelations

Juliette

The ball that Mihai had called a small party, was anything but. I stood on the balcony, watching the people who were meandering outside. It was almost surreal the amount of businessmen, movie stars, and other major tabloid hitters who’d come for a small wedding party.

I rubbed my lower back. I’d been forced to follow Mihai’s mother around to meet people. I’d had to hold back my laughter a few times when she talked about how Mihai and I had run to Vegas to get married.

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