Page 35 of Greedy Grizzly
As luck would have it, my phone rang andBCwas calling. “Hey, Bryan.”
“Hey, beautiful. How’s your day going?”
“Not good. Bridget knows.”
“Well, we knew it was going to happen eventually. How’d she take it?”
“She’s furious. I locked myself in my bedroom and she took an ax to the door.”
“You’re fucking joking. An ax?”
“Yes. I jumped out of my bedroom window, and now, I’m driving out of Cleveland to lay low in a motel. Hopefully, she’ll calm down in a few days.”
“Come to my condo. I don’t want you in a ratty motel.”
“How do you know I can’t afford something nicer?” Weirdly, I was insulted. Just because we lived in a sketchy part of the city didn’t mean I couldn’t afford a decent hotel. I could, but it would take nearly all I’d saved, so I would’ve gone to a cheap, ratty motel. Still, he shouldn’t make assumptions.
“I’ve seen where you live. Don’t be offended. Let me take care of you.” His silky smooth voice melted me.
I felt it in my bones, he genuinely wanted to help me. How could I not accept his offer? “Okay, but just for a day or two.”
“That’s fine with me. I’m only in town for the week, anyway.”
“I’ll be there in an hour. I need to run to the store first.” I didn’t have time to get my toiletry items out of the bathroom. I couldn’t go to Bryan’s without deodorant and a whole host of other things.
The week flew by and Bryan had spoiled me every day, calling me his Cleveland lover. I didn’t mind only being his lover. He traveled a lot for business and was a commitment phobe.
And thirteen years older than me.
And Bridget told me he had other women in California and New York. But I didn’t care one bit because he wasn’t my boyfriend. I was only in it for the good time, money, and phenomenal sex.
But before he returned home to Iowa, Bridget had gone batshit crazy at our apartment complex, destroying the laundry room in the basement of the building. Some residents called the police and she was arrested. That was when I learned Bryan was a fancy, high-profile defense lawyer. He’d paid for the damages and my sister’s bail because I’d asked him to. I’d felt responsible for making Bridget lose her mind.
“Your sister sounds very different from you.” Toby’s voice pulled me out of my memories. Can’t say I’m sorry not to have met her.”
“Yeah.” I guess I’d been telling him my story, when I thought I was only reliving it in my head. Weird. “I was Bryan’s Cleveland lover for two years and living a charmed life. Until Bryan proposed to me.”
“As he rightly should after all that time with you being his sex toy.”
“It wasn’t like that.” I nudged him in the shoulder. “He was very good to me. But that doesn’t negate the fact that he threatened to ruin our arrangement with a marriage proposal, after everything had been perfect with him.”
“Men, they always gotta ruin things by wanting to put a ring on it.” Toby made thetsk tsknoise. “Shame on him for loving you.”
“Okay, Mr. Smarty Pants. Will you let me finish?”
“Be my guest.”
Now, I could really tell he didn’t want to hear anymore about Bryan, but if Toby wanted to be with me, he needed to know more about me, other than how great I was in bed.
“Our arrangement worked beautifully. Bryan would visit me two weekends a month and then leave. I could do anything I wanted and not answer to anyone, all while living in his fancy condo. It was the most perfect setup a girl like me could hope for.”
“So you turned him down?”
“Yes, I turned him down. I was hurt because he hadn’t been honest with me. Not fully. Since our first date, Bryan had fallen madly in love with me and waited until I turned twenty-one to reveal his feelings and ask me to marry him. See, he didn’t want to look bad to his colleagues for dating a woman who couldn’t legally drink alcohol.”
“That’s understandable.”
I scowled at Toby. “Don’t you see? He wasn’t honest with me. The lovers he claimed to have in California and New York didn’texist. I mean, he had them before me, but stopped seeing them after our first couple of dates.”
