Page 196 of Hate Mates

I inwardly chuckled at the pitiful look she wore, like a kid who had been told Santa wasn’t real. Amelie badly wanted everyone else to be as madly in love as us.

Kai laughed, catching on to Amelie's tendency to romanticize things. She was rooting for his love story to come true. “Don’t look so devastated, otherwise I’ll have to show up at her doorstep and beg her to leave her husband.”

“Do you think she would?” she asked curiously, surprising me. Amelie was usually a champion for the sanctity of marriage.

Amelie winced belatedly, realizing the same.

Kai was the only one to not react. “No,” he spoke with conviction as if he had done a virtual simulation and artificial intelligence had predicted the outcome. Or perhaps he had tried it out, and it didn’t go his way?

I wouldn’t mind meeting the woman who wouldn’t leave her husband for Kai Cavendish. Now, that was true love.

“You sound certain,” Amelie commented.

“I am. She isn’t that kind of woman, and I wouldn’t have loved her if she was.”

It was a heavy comment. The irony of it made me want to laugh, though the moment was somber. Kai Cavendish loved a woman because she was loyal and honorable. It was also the reason why he couldn’t be with her.

Amelie, the forever optimist, tsked. “So what do you plan to do? You can’t remain single for the rest of your days just because she is married.”

“That’s no way to live.” I couldn’t help offering the unsolicited advice.

Kai's gaze toward Amelie softened while his words for me were carefully chosen and delivered slowly. “I never said that was how I planned on living my life.”

Amelie perked up. “Good. I say out with the old and in with the new. Maybe we can set you up with someone.” She started listing her college friends, none of whom she’d had the time to meet up with since graduation. We worked too damn much for reunions.

Not that it mattered. A man like Kai Cavendish had endless options. If he wanted to date, a girl would be delivered to his table within seconds. Hadn’t he noticed the women staring at him from downstairs?

However, I wasn’t about to burst my enthusiastic wife’s bubble. I spoke after she listed all the nurses at her hospital in alphabetical order and finally took a breath.

“Okay. You don’t want to remain single, but you haven’t given dating a chance either. I’m guessing you’ve thought of a third option. An unconventional plan, perhaps?”

He watched me momentarily, then ended the conversation with a simple, “Let’s call it a work in progress.”

TWO

Stefan

As dinner wound down, the kids cried and begged to stay longer because they hadn’t used the chocolate fountain enough or seen all the fish in the koi pond. I badly wanted to ask Bella not to cry because we would return on her birthday. Except, I couldn’t make such promises.

Kai wasn’t bothered by their pleas. He left the table to talk the restaurant into staying open longer and soothed Bella with the information. She was overjoyed and threw her arms around his neck. Then he proceeded to faux wrestle with the twins as they grabbed onto his legs.

The twins and Bella had been wary of outsiders since our parents’ death. It wasn’t a hyperbole. Once, Bella screamed for two minutes because she thought the Amazon delivery man posed the risk of stranger danger. Yet, Kai had won them over, and they acted familiar around him. With the power of money, he had erased their past trauma. What child would have crippling anxiety in a setting this soothing?

Amelie was relaxed as well. With a glass of wine in hand and her head leaning back, she listened to the background music.When was the last time my wife had a few minutes to unwind with fine wine?

I was the only one on edge.

I shouldn’t have brought my family here and teased them with an experience I couldn’t replicate. The thought left me depressed and feeling like a failure. I resented my responsibilities, but what I resented most was my inability to give them everything their hearts desired.

When Bella insisted on taking Amelie to the tepee for story time, Kai strolled back in his perfect black suit and white smile. He seemed happy after his time with the children, entirely ignorant of what the end of tonight meant for me. It meant we would never see Kai Cavendish again or partake in his lavish lifestyle. There was no reason to reunite now that he had repaid my wife’s kindness.

Suddenly, it seemed crucial to forge a connection between us to remain in his world. I would be lying if I said this was just about providing my family luxury experiences. There was more to it. There was also my own desire to be at the center of this lifestyle.Hislifestyle. One I could never be a part of once this dinner ended.

With determination, I rose from my seat to welcome him back to the table like he was royalty, which I supposed he was in my mind.

The server returned to the table to offer us a nightcap. I chose a cognac, while he opted for brandy. With Amelie tending to the kids, we were alone for the first time. Time was running out, and I needed to invest in his interests to be on his good side.

“You never told us what your unconventional plan was.”

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