Page 114 of Mistaken Intention

“How did you find out about his affair?”

“Mom told me before she died.”

“She died?” Hunter says.

“Yeah. She was diagnosed with cancer just after my seventeenth birthday, and died six months later. Not long before that, she told me what he’d done and made me promise never to let a man do that to me.” She blinks away her tears. “H—He’d broken her, and I don’t think she ever recovered from it.”

“And Lexi?” he asks.

“She’d stayed with her dad in New York. I didn’t hear from her again until just a few years ago.”

“I have no memory of her,” I say, and they both turn to face me. “What happened between us? I get that we didn’t have a relationship, but how long did I date her for?”

Josie shrugs, looking uncomfortable. “I honestly don’t know.”

“It wasn’t for very long,” Hunter says. “And I’m not sure you could even say you dated her.”

“What did I do then?”

“You met her last year, in the summer, when you were working together in the Caribbean.”

“Working at what?”

He glances at Josie, and she nods her head.

“You’re a photographer,” he says. “Just like you thought you were. The assignment you were on then was a fashion shoot, and Lexi was one of the models. From what you said at the time, the shoot went horribly wrong. The weather was terrible and all the models except for Lexi got sick. There wasn’t very much the two of you could do, so…”

“We found other ways of amusing ourselves?” I say and he nods. I glance at Josie and note the blush on her cheeks, and the way she curls in on herself, but what can I do? What can I say? I get that hearing me say things like that can’t be easy, and I wish I didn’t have to. But the thing is, she’s kept so much from me. She owes me the truth, even if it is uncomfortable.

“Yes. Eventually the agency who were employing you abandoned the project, and you came home.”

“With Lexi?”

He nods his head. “Except things didn’t translate well when you got back to the States. The way you told it to me, it wasn’t serious for either of you, and you were both thinking of breaking up when…” He stops talking and glances at Josie, frowning, although his face quickly clears, and for some reason, he smiles.

“When what? She found out she was pregnant?” I say.

“No, that came later.”

Josie clears her throat. “I think what your brother is trying to tell you is, you and Lexi were both thinking of breaking up with each other when she took you to a friend’s birthday party, and you met me.”

I stare at her for a moment, my brain clouding, fogging with yet more confusion. “Y—You mean I knew you before? Before the accident?”

She sucks in a breath. “Yes. But not until that party.”

Chapter Twelve

Josie

This is all going so wrong.

Why did I suggest coming out? Things were fine at the cottage. They were perfect, in fact. If we’d just stayed there, naked and happy in bed, none of this would have happened. Drew wouldn’t have seen Livia and Maisie, and put two and two together about the timing of her birth. We’d never have noticed my step-father’s arrival, either. I didn’t see that coming… not even in my worst nightmares. But if we’d just stayed at the cottage, it would all have gone on without us. Hunter would have dealt with him and we’d have been none the wiser.

Everyone could have carried on living in ignorant bliss.

Hunter would never have needed to know I’m Lexi’s step-sister, and Drew wouldn’t have had to find out about his daughter, and our past… such as it is. Judging by the look on his face, I’m not sure he was ready to hear all of that, and I doubt he’ll be able to forgive me for lying to him.

That magic spell that bound us so closely isn’t just breaking; it’s fracturing into so many pieces, I know I’ll never be able to put them back together again.

---