Page 34 of The Truth in My Lies (Secrets of Suburbi 1)

“Addy, I’m not trying to be nosy. I’m worried about you.”

“Why? Why do you care?” I pulled my hand from his. “I’m not your problem.”

He exhaled slowly and pulled his hands onto his lap.

For just a moment I thought he was going to drop it. But then he stood up and joined me on my side of the booth. He slid in until his thigh was pressed against mine.

“You winced in the doctor’s office when you crossed your arms.”

“Please don’t press this.”

“And whenever you shrug your shoulders, you favor your right one.”

Wasn’t he Mr. Observant.

He lightly touched my shoulder.

I turned away from him. He already knew. What would seeing it matter?

He pulled the fabric down my shoulder and I heard his sharp inhale. The black and blue splotches on my skin would alarm anyone. Red flags raised on high alert. The jig was up.

“Addy?” His voice was soft. Not upset, just…gentle. Kind. The sweetest noise in the world.

I couldn’t look at him. If he saw my face he’d know the truth. He’d see my whole story in my eyes. I was so good at hiding. But I knew that if anyone ever truly looked at me, they’d see below the surface. At least, I prayed that one day someone would.

He lightly touched the bottom of my chin to turn my face toward his. And he waited. He waited for me to confess everything. I was so sick of hiding. But I wasn’t ready to tell him the truth. I wanted him to like me. Not pity me.

“If you hurt your shoulder when you fell the other day, why didn’t you just tell me?”

He didn’t even realize it, but he had just given me the perfect out from the truth. A flawless lie. He saved me. “You already felt so bad about my ankle…”

“This looks worse than your ankle. You should have told me.”

Thank you for the out, you sweet, wonderful, perfect man.

He let the fabric of my sweater fall back into place. “I’ll be right back.” He slid from the booth without another word.

Maybe he didn’t believe me. Or maybe he had seen all the red flags and decided to leave. I turned around to look out the window. His truck was still in the parking lot.

I didn’t want tonight to be over. The pain in my shoulder was minimal. I had experienced much worse. My husband was hundreds of miles away and he was still finding a way to ruin my life. I needed to just tell Ben the truth. Rip the Band-Aid off.

He came back carrying takeout bags and a smile on his face. “Your house or mine?”

“We’re not going to eat here?”

“We need to get ice on your shoulder. So, which would you prefer?”

He didn’t want to run away. Not even a little bit. He was inviting me into his home again. And I hated my house. It reeked of sadness and hostility and death. “Take me back to your place.”

Chapter 17

For the first time in my life, it felt like the universe was on my side. I walked into his dark house. His masculine smell was everywhere. Now that I knew that it was his house, I wanted to see everything. I heard the click of the lock behind me.

The foyer was bathed in darkness. And I realized that I didn’t really want to explore anything but his body. I turned around and bumped into his hard chest.

It took less than a second for my mouth to find his. I heard the bags of food drop to the floor. And in less than a minute my legs were wrapped around his waist, his hands squeezing my ass. We were a tangle of knotted limbs. I was back in heaven.

No one should have had such a talented mouth in addition to such a perfect physique. It wasn’t fair. He should have had some flaw. But I hadn’t found a single one. Besides the dimple in his cheek. And that wasn’t a flaw at all. It was gorgeous. There wasn’t one thing wrong about this beautiful man. And being with him felt so damn right.

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