Page 103 of The Blind Date

"You don't have anything to apologise for, darling.” He brushed his lips against my cheek. "You're not the one that cheated on me.”

“You’ll never have to worry about that with me,” I assured him.

Cedric held my eyes, and a ghost of a smile played on his lips. “I know, darling.”

“What happened after you caught her?”

"We fought, and I filed for divorce." Cedric paused, and I saw how hard he gulped. "That quickly went out the window when she started crying and begging for forgiveness. Like the blind and naïve fool that I was, I believed her when she said that it was a one-time lapse of judgement. A mistake and that it would never happen again. We were okay after that, but as you can imagine, things weren’t great. On our third wedding anniversary, I thought I’d surprise her and treat us both to a weekend away. After a year with our marriage on the rocks, I thought we deserved the getaway and could use it as a chance to reconnect. I went to her office to surprise her with the happy news, but I found her making out with another one of her co-workers. I later learned she had been screwing him for months."

Was there anyone in her office this woman hadn't slept with?

"I filed for divorce that time as well, but once again, it fell through. It’s stupid, but it was like her tears had magic, controlling powers over me. She used to manipulate me into thinking it wasn’t her fault even though she was the one cheating, and I fell for it time and time again.”

“What happened after that?” I asked in a small voice, trying to comfort him by running my fingers through his hair. It wasn’t much, but it was something, and Cedric seemed to like it as he leaned into my touch.

“We spent the whole year in marriage counselling, but it was no use. It didn’t help. By that point, I hated Wendy, and she hated me, but whenever divorce came up, she couldn't seem to bear the thought of it. I think she hated the idea of being divorced more than the idea of letting me go. She wasn’t the only one scared of divorce, though,” he chuckled humourlessly. “I don't know why I stayed with her for so long. Perhaps, it was because I was afraid of being alone, or perhaps I was still clinging to the past, and all the memories of when we were madly in love with her, but the notion of actually going through with the divorce terrified me.”

Looking at Cedric, you couldn’t tell he had been through such a heartbreaking ordeal. This man in front of me, holding me to him like I was the most precious gem in the world, had been through so much pain and heartbreak, yet no one could tell. He hid all the pain so well, but right now, at this moment, when he was bearing his heart and soul to me, I feared that if I wasn’t careful enough, he would shatter into a million tiny pieces in my undeserving hands.

Cupping his face, I leaned closer and pressed my forehead to his. "It's not the least bit pathetic. It’s not easy leaving someone after so long together. And not everyone is the same. Some people take longer than others, but all that matters is that you got out of there in the end."

"Thank you," he murmured in a small voice.

The look he gave me told me he was overcome with emotions, and while I had no qualms about holding him while he cried, it looked like he was working hard to fight back the tears.

“What made you finally go through with it?” I asked, hoping that the anger that rose from the memory of his ex-wife would chase away the tears.

I think if Cedric cried, I would cry as well.

"She slept with one of my best friends." His jaw clenched at the words. “Things between Wendy and I were long over before then, but I lost my best friend that day. It hurt more than the divorce, but that was five years ago, and frankly, I haven’t looked back since. Good riddance to them both.” He went quiet, and I let him have a few moments of silence because I could tell there was still more he had to say–more he needed to get off his chest. “Even though it was so long ago, it’s still hard to talk about sometimes. It was a very hard, painful part of my life, and I don’t like looking back. It takes me back to that dark place.”

“I’m so glad you finally got out of that toxic relationship.” I pressed a kiss on his forehead, wanting nothing more than for him to feel safe and protected in my arms.

“You’re the first person I’ve been remotely attracted to or interested in since then,” Cedric admitted, his eyes fluttering closed at the feel of my lips against his face. “I tried to resist you, but you wormed your way under my skin, darling.”

Pressing a sweet kiss to his temple, I trailed my lips down the side of his face until finally, I reached his lips. But I refused to make it easy for him.

“Just remotely?” I murmured in a teasing tone, grinning when I spied his lips twitching at the corners as he struggled to hold back a grin.

"I think we've both established that I'm far more than just remotely attracted to you, darling,” Cedric snorted and lifted his chin to trail his lips along my jaw, gently sucking. His lips skimmed over my cheek until he reached my mouth and immediately dug his teeth into my bottom lip.

“Thank you for sharing that with me,” I whispered between kisses. “I know it was hard for you.”

"Thank you for listening, darling.” He squeezed my hip. "This is the first time I've opened up about this to someone that isn't my therapist. I still see him on a bi-weekly basis, but I'm in a much better place now than when I was five years ago."

“I’m really glad to hear that,” I smiled brightly down at him, and my heart filled with pride for this man.

There were still a lot of uncertainties between us, a lot of things that we needed to work through and figure out as our relationship matured, but there was one thing I was sure of.

I would never treat him the way his ex-wife did.

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Today was probably the most uneventful Saturday I had ever had. After breakfast, we lazed around in front of the TV, only getting up to cook lunch together. Cedric had taken the reigns in whipping up a Shepherd’s pie for lunch that tasted amazing but was a terrible idea as after the large portion doused in gravy and severely lacking in vegetables, I started to feel sleepy.

Lunch set me up for a mid-afternoon nap, but Cedric convinced me to go on a walk through Hyde Park with him.

“This is nice,” Cedric sighed as we stopped on the bridge and stared at the water below.

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