Page 74 of Mr. Kelly

Delaney smiles at me, which technically isn’t out of the norm since she has relaxed some since marrying Andrea, but I have years of training to recognize a woman with an agenda.

“Hello, Theodore,” she practically coos as she approaches me.

“Don’t you dare, woman,” Andrea growls as she props herself up on her tiptoes and gives me a standard kiss on the cheek byway of greeting. “I should kill you for trying to make me a liar, Delaney.”

Andrea’s treat follows him across the room until he’s back in her face.

“But youcan’t,” she mocks him with her hands on her hips. If she were younger or less mature, I’d imagine she’d have her tongue stuck out right now.

I chuckle and shake my head. “What’s going on with y’all today?”

“He told me he’d kill the next man I touch,” Delaney whines.

I should be offended, but we all know it was an empty threat when it comes to me. “Wow. I thought we were friends, Delaney.”

She rolls her eyes since there is only amusement in my tone. “He wasn’t going to kill you. It’s just another one of his double standards.”

Andrea pulls Delany’s ponytail until she has no option but to look him in the eyes. They’re damn near touching noses as he speaks. “Keep testing. I’ll find other ways to punish you.”

“How about we start from the beginning?” I ask, happy that I’m not the one with martial fights anymore.

“This big BULLYruinedmy wedding…” she starts to explain with a huff. I give her a puzzled look because I was at the wedding, and all seemed well if one ignored that it wasn’t a traditional engagement. “Not the shame of matrimonial imprisonment you saw. Myrealone.”

Andrea flinches so minutely that I catch it only because I know him so well, but I press for information because the faster we get there the sooner this deescalates.

“How?”

“I was a week out from my wedding when he announced that he ‘decided’ that I’d have his children and told me that I need to cancel my plans as if GETTING MARRIED was a mani/pedi.”

I had no idea that she was getting married previously, and I already know how this turned out since Andrea is Andrea.

“I ignored him,” she continued. “Thinking he’d back off once I’m married. But nooooooooo,hewaited and showed up the day of my wedding when I was in my gown and told me that I could walk down the aisle and sign a death warrant for everyone in the room, including myself, or go with him. Fast forward to now, since you know everything after that. Today, I met my ex for lunch to offerclosurebecause I figured it’s the least I can do forbreaking his heart,andthis,” she hisses as she points aggressively at Andrea, “PSYCHObeats him up! For no damn reason!”

“He touched my wife,” Andrea responds coolly with no regret.

“For the millionth time, it was a goodbye hug!”

“No one touches my wife without my permission. Why would you think it was okay?”

“I owed him a goodbye at least, Andrea.”

“You don’t owe him a damn thing,” he responds, digging into his opinion.

Delaney’s eyes grow so huge I fear that she might have a stroke. “You LITERALLY stole his fiancée on his wedding day! He didn’t deserve that. Howard is a good man.”

Andrea shrugs. “I gave you enough notice to cancel it. That’s on you. Besides”—his snort tells me he’s about to be childish—“who marries a man named Howard anyway? Finders keepers.”

“OH MY GOD!” Delaney releases something between a growl and a shriek as she storms out of his office.

Andrea’s smirk is short-lived once he looks at me again. He knows that, while I’m amused, I don’t exactly approve.

“She paraphrased. She hugged him, and I showed up and broke up the hug by grabbing her arm and pulling her to me.He looked at me like he wanted me to fight. I told him that she is my wife and he’d have to fight me for her. He lost.” My expression doesn’t change with his explanation. He studies me for a moment before he releases a long sigh as he sits on the edge of his desk. “Out with it. I don’t have all day.”

“This is not how you win her over. You have to decide if you want a real wife or some woman who’s sentenced to life with your children.”

“He still loves her.”

I know there is more left unsaid, but I press on to the point. “He should. They were supposed to get married a couple of months ago. Real love doesn’t just fall away. You have to use something you’re not accustomed to using.”

---