Page 15 of Breaking Conviction
Thank God for ignorant men. Sometimes it almost seemed like Dean enjoyed making her bleed, but if her body did it on its own, he avoided her like the damn plague. Since she’d gotten an IUD after having Thea, her period had been every twenty-eight days on the dot. She’d had it last week, but fortunately, Dean had still been too apologetic from his “outburst” to touch her. Before their argument, she’d managed to put off sex for a while. She’d always found an excuse: stress, work… Shoot, her period was now coming around practically every other week.
But now she had to be more cautious. Her fibs were one of the reasons why he’d snapped two weeks ago.
She was banking on milking his guilt for all he was worth, and for as long as she could, at least until she could imagine him on top of her without nearly having a panic attack. Even though he’d been better than ever, she wasn’t ready to be that vulnerable with him again. She was starting to wonder if she ever would be.
“Naomi?”
At hearing the new male voice, panic knifed down Naomi’s spine and she spun around to see Wes standing inside the front door. He was a few feet away, but close enough that his body heat warmed her despite the winter chill coming through the open door. His mouth opened, and it took her a second to figure out what to do.
“Wow, you look—”
She slapped her hand over his mouth before he could say anything else.
“Who is that?” The tone on the other end of the phone was gruff and fear twisted to stab through her back and into her heart.
“Uh, he’s no one.” Naomi dropped her hand slowly and gave Wes a pointed look, hoping he’d get the message. “Just the tech guy.”
His blue eyes bore into hers, sparking with an emotion she didn’t fully understand, but felt deep in her core. He kept watching her and pulled his phone from his back pocket before breaking eye contact to type and walk back to the checkout counter.
“—believe you.”Shit.She hadn’t been listening, but Wes had only caught her in his trap for half a second, right? Dean couldn’t have said too much. “Is this so-called tech guy the only other person there?”
“What? No, that’s crazy.” She scanned the empty store. Nora had stepped out for a minute and,of course,that was the time the hot guy with a heart of gold walked through the door. “God no, there’re tons of people here.” Her voice lilted up at the end and she almost cursed into the phone.
God, do I always have to sound like I’m questioning my own lie?
“Menandwomen?” Dean’s voice was lower, more menacing, and she could imagine him tugging at his dark blond hair. She laughed, sounding like a lunatic to her own ears, but hopefully Dean didn’t notice.
“Both, but there’re no customers.” At least she wasn’t lying there, and she added to her story to further throw him off the scent. “They’re smart enough not to leave me all alone on my first—”
The Sasha Saves phone on the checkout counter rang, making Naomi jump a mile high before she relaxed and silently thanked God.
“Oh, hey. Sorry, I gotta go. I-I’m about to answer my first call for the store.” She fled through the aisles to the ringing phone. “Isn’t that so exciting?”
“Naomi, how many—”
“Sorry, sweets.” The words slithered out of her and she hoped he took the bait. Unlike her, he didn’t have the same hang-ups she did. It’d be different if he’d heard empty apologies as many times as she had, and if he could use the term of endearment as a weapon, she’d wield it like a shield.
The shrill phone snapped her out of her thoughts.
“Shit, really gotta go.”
“Fine, love y—”
Naomi hung up before he could finish his sentence and clutched her phone against her pounding chest, hoping she hadn’t just kicked the hornet’s nest. She’d tell him the connection cut off or a customer came in, so it seemed like an accident. Anything to convince him she hadn’t hung up on him to avoid saying those three words. He’d burned her too many times and she just couldn’t bring herself to say it anymore.
Neither of them had ever truly meant the words, but “I love you” is what people said after they’d been together long enough. Lately, though, keeping up with the lie felt like ash on her tongue.
She took a deep, relaxing breath, composing herself to answer the store phone.
“Sasha Saves Thrift Store, how can I help you?”
“Yes, I was wondering if you could help me find someone.” Wes’s calm baritone flowed over, soothing her nerves like aloe. She darted her eyes up and around to find him casually standing behind the checkout counter, his phone to his ear, and his piercing baby blues analyzing her. “I was hoping to speak to a woman I met a couple of weeks ago. Is she in?” His voice came over the phone speaker as well as in person, and Naomi rolled her eyes but couldn’t hold back her smirk, nor resist the urge to play along, even if only for a second.
Relax. It’s just a silly prank. Playing along won’t make me fall in love with him, Jesus.
“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know to whom you are referrin’.”
“Really? You couldn’t miss her. She’s a great mom, sweet Southern accent even when she’s annoyed, and the cutest kid…”
