Page 36 of Can't Get Over You
Finlay was on overload.
Which explained why, after Jude put the car in Park and got out, she just sat there, listening to the engine tick.
She was inert. Exhausted.
And yet, at the same time, strangely wired.
It didn’t make sense.
Well, of course, nothing made sense right then.
Her fiancé, the man she’d chosen to build a life with, turned out to be a total stranger.
At the same time, she happened to run into her childhood crush, who’d grown into a man so freaking hot she could barely make eye contact with him.
Like, literally, the only thing I should be feeling is anger, guilt, regret…something…about Matt and my wedding, but instead, my heart’s beating out of control for the boy I never thought I’d see again.
She’d never felt this kind of excitement for her ex. And she’d almostmarriedhim.
No, only Jude. What was it about this man that made her want to climb onto his lap and grind on him? He was just so bigand muscular. She wanted to run her fingers through that long, silky hair and skim her hands down his powerful chest.
After all these years, she still lost her mind for him.
She breathed in the scent of cologne and leather in Carlo’s car. The black interior made it feel cave-like, and she thought, if they gave her a blanket, she’d curl up and lie there for a couple of hours until her mind stopped spinning and her heart stopped hurting.
But Cody unbuckled his seat belt and crawled onto the console. He knelt on it, patting her hand. “You sad, Miss O’Neill?”
Affection warmed her, bringing sensation back into her fingers and toes. “Thank you for asking, Cody. Yes, I’m a little sad, but I’ll be okay.”
Jude opened her door and stood there, arms crossed, like a Viking. “You good?”
In his black Henley, black jeans, and black boots, he was tall, intimidating, and utterly delectable. But best of all was the way he looked at her with concern, like he needed to know she was okay. She knew without a doubt that, if she asked him to take her to Alaska, he’d get in the car and peel out.
Jude was a ride-or-die kind of man, and she loved that he had her back. “Yep. Just peachy.”
He dropped to a crouch. “What’re you thinking about?”
Where to even begin? Certainly not the part about grinding on him.No, don’t say that.But then, it all just sort of welled up, and the words spilled out of her mouth. “For three months, I thought we were excited about the house. I thought we were deciding between the sunset dinner cruise or the Michelin-starred tasting menu on our honeymoon. I thought the biggest decision we had to make was whether to splurge on a new couch or wait and see how things went after paying the mortgage for afew months. But that entire time, he was consumed with finding out he had a daughter.”
“Can we go now?” Cody asked.
She started to swing her legs out. “Yeah, of course?—”
But Jude clamped a big hand on her knee. “You were living two different realities.”
“Yes. Exactly. And now, I feel stupid for comparing the rattan and leather barstools when he was dealing with something so massive.”
“Nope. You were operating in separate worlds. That’s not on you. You did nothing wrong.”
Cody watched the two of them intently. And then, he put his hand on top of Jude’s, so all three of them were connected. As he leaned across her, she could smell the soap she’d used to clean his hands and face and see the constellation of freckles on his wrist. His fingers were so thin and fragile, and she just ached for this lost little boy.
“I’m okay, sweetheart,” she said. “And I’m lucky to be with two friends who really care about me.” As she got out of the car, she automatically reached for a purse that wasn’t there. It drove home that she had nothing. No money, no phone. Nothing.
And you know what?She didn’t mind one bit.
It was freeing. Just for this tiny slice of time, she wanted to linger in someone else’s world.
Once on her feet, she reached for Cody’s hand and helped him climb out of the car. “Let’s go inside.”
