Page 105 of Beautiful Storm

“No, but you did it for my wife and kid. Same, same.”

“Wife?” He half chokes on his drink before coughing to recover. “She’s your wife now?”

“Yep.” I nod with a force that makes my head spin. “You’re probably wondering why I’m here, instead of with her, right?”Hell, I’m wondering the same.

“Nope. That thought never crossed my mind.”

“Shouldn’t you be at home spending time with your wife and kid too?”

“She’s not my wife.”

“She’s not?” My brows furrow as I tilt my head to the side, studying him. Is he bullshitting me right now? “Don’t you have the same last name?”

“We do. For Isaac’s sake. But she checked out… Goddammit, this isn’t aboutme. When did you get married? Last I heard you were bragging about being single for life.”

“Things change, people change, and now I think I’m falling for her.”

“Your wife?”

“Yep.”

“Fuck, I’m confused.”

“You and me both.” I’m so fucking confused. Easton’s right; I had plans to be a bachelor for life. I never wanted to settle down, yet I’m pretending to play happy family with Amelia and it actually feels right. Only we can’t tell anyone about it because it’s fake and—

“Oh shit.”

“What?”

“You’re not supposed to know about our marriage. Did you drug me?”

“What the hell, Luke?”

“I don’t know. I just thought I was better at keeping secrets.” I kept Amelia’s dad’s secret for years. God, I’m an asshole.

“Luke, you knocked back five shots within the first twenty minutes of our arrival.”

“Five shots? I could have sworn… Okay, then. Maybe I did it to myself. Come to think of it, I haven’t had much to drink lately. Maybe I’ve gotten weak. Should we dance?”

Easton laughs out loud, and while it’s definitely one of those sarcastic laughs, like he can’t believe what he’s hearing, I still take it as a win. “It’s the middle of the day.”

That’s right.Huh. I guess I’ll have to get the party started. But that's not important. “I’ve made you laugh twice now.” I hold up two fingers. “Does this mean we’re friends?”

Easton shakes his head, but there’s something in his expression that tells me he doesn’t hate me like I thought he did. “Don’t push your luck,” he says, and I may be drunk but I swear I can see his suppressed grin. “Go and dance. I’ll be here.”

Idon't drink anymore while I’m dancing, and it doesn't take long to sober up as I sweat the alcohol out of my system.

I try to keep to myself, but since there aren’t many people on the dance floor during the afternoon, and almost everyone knows who I am, I don’t have much luck. I’d normally be in my element in a situation like this. Laughing, flirting, taking my pick of the women throwing themselves at me, but right now I don’t want that.

And if I’m being honest with myself… I’m actually a little uncomfortable. Especially when the third woman tries to subtly rub her hand over my junk…I’m out.

“I think I’m broken,” I whine when I get back to the table, falling into the seat beside Easton. “I am in desperate need of a good fuck and I could have half of those women.” I gesture around the entire bar before laughing. “Who am I kidding, I could haveanyof those women. But I don’t want them. And the one woman I do want, I can’t fucking have.”

“Why? Because she’s off-limits?”

“What?” I stare at him confused. “No. I don’t care about that. But it’s complicated.”

“Because…”

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