“So, it’s personal for him,” I finally respond.

“Deeply.”

I give her a big hug. “Thanks Veronica. It doesn’t change anything, but it does explain things. I’ll be back in a few days to gather my belongings.”

“Sure, let me know if you need anything.”

Getting myself back together I race out of the double glass doors, and bump directly into a suit and tie, the smell of men’s designer aftershave surrounding me as a set of arms wrap around my body.

Looking up, blue eyes stare down at me. “Matt? What are you doing here?”

He smiles as he continues to hold me in his arms. “Looking for you.” He frowns. “What’s wrong?”

I will the threatening tears to stay put. “Everything.”

“Here, try this one,” Matt says as he places another glass in front of me.

I down the taster of pale ale micro-brew in two gulps. A good twenty mini-sized glasses line the bar, and none of them have done a thing to ease the growing tension in my gut.

Shocked at the information I’d just learned, the sight of Matt hadn’t rattled me as much as it should have. When he grabbed my hand and walked me to his car, I didn’t protest, my urge to get away from my office building stronger than any urge to get away from him. When he suggested we go get a drink to discuss what happened, I didn’t ask him to take me home, knowing I couldn’t face Damian.

He’d lied to me. Right to my face, he’d lied.

Matt placed his hand on my lower back and ushered me up to the bar, a possessive move letting anyone else in this restaurant know I was his for the time being. I didn’t push it away, even though for the hour that we’ve been here, his hand has stayed on some part of my body.

“Addison, it sounds like you were working for the world’s biggest asshole, this is probably the best thing to ever happen to you.”

I quirk an eyebrow in his direction. “What? You think I’m the world’s biggest asshole don’t you.”

“Your words, not mine,” I say as I drink another beer. I hadn’t told Matt the entire story of why I’d just lost my job. Still trying to make sense of why Damian would lie to me, spilling my guts to Matt felt like a betrayal I could never take back.

I could have easily left and gone home, but I’m not so much hating Matt at the moment. In fact, it feels oddly comforting to have someone from my past hearing my side of the story, and while I’ve left out exactly what Damian means to me and that, yes, in fact, I have slept with him, Matt agrees that working on a case with a sick child isn’t best for my emotional stability. Maybe it’s the alcohol talking, or maybe my mind recognizes that at one point in my life, Matt was the only person who could help me through a tough situation, but I’m enjoying this miniscule amount of time with him.

Matt’s hands are suddenly on my thighs and he’s turning me to face him. “Addison, remember when we graduated and I took you to the San Ysidro Ranch?”

How could I forget? The most romantic hotel in all of Santa Barbara and he’d brought me there. It was his graduation present to me—one night alone just the two of us. We’d spent it naked in front of a fire. I was so young but completely in love with the man sitting in front of me.

“You proposed and left the very next day, promising you’d be back for me.” He’d left me, and yet I’m sitting with him now as if five years hadn’t just flown by.

He squeezes my thighs. “I proposed, and I freaked out, Addison. I was twenty-two years old, had just spent half my savings on a hotel room for the woman of my dreams, and had no idea how I was going to give her the life she deserved.”

“And you thought I deserved being abandoned?”

He lowers his head and slides his hands up my thighs. “When I left, I knew the risk was you hating me forever. But I had to learn how to be a man. One you’d always want to come home to, one you’d never want to leave. At that point in my life, I was a boy struggling to make ends meet, I was a boy who needed to experience life before I could give you the perfect happily ever after you always dreamed of.”

“My happily ever after never included another wife, Matt.”

He gives me a guilty look. “Listen, I knew your dad’s financial situation was in dire straits, I knew you had no clue how bad it really was. But there was nothing I could do to help if I stayed here. This is such a small town, and if I wanted a real career in investment banking, I needed to go back east. But I never would have been able to convince you to leave your dad and come with me. Especially after he got so sick. Trying to keep up a long distance relationship when I knew I’d be working ridiculous hours was only going to end in us hating each other. Leaving seemed like my best solution, even if it meant destroying what we had. I knew if we were meant to be, we’d re-build it, Addison.”

An explanation, after all these years he’s finally delivering an inside glimpse as to what was going through his mind the day he took off. And while I appreciate his attempt at trying to get me to understand where he was coming from, it doesn’t take away the unnecessary pain he caused. “You could have called, told me you needed a break.”

He looks me straight in the eyes, his lips slightly curving in a grin. “There were a lot of things I could have done. But once I left, I put up an emotional wall. I only allowed you to enter my thoughts when I was alone and could have you to myself. My marriage was one of convenience. It was never a marriage of love. Not even from her. Helen married me because her dad asked her to; she’s been cheating on me since the beginning of our relationship.”

“Sounds like you two are the perfect match.”

He bitterly laughs. “Addison, let me back in. Answer my calls. Talk to me. Let me try to rebuild what we once had. You don’t have a job here anymore. Your ties to this city are few and far between.”

He’s right. If I don’t have a job, and my family is gone, why would I stay? I’ve always wanted to leave, and now I have the chance to start over some place new. I have a few months’ worth of savings. It would be entirely possible for me to leave. But the idea gives me a sudden sense of panic, and my heart sinks at the thought as the image of a dark-haired man with dark eyes and abs that crave my touch fill my mind. The thought of his face, the memory of his lips pressed to mine, his hands skimming over my skin are like a bucket of ice water over my head, clearing the cobwebs Matt has started to spin in my brain. I have to talk to Damian. I need him to tell me why he lied.

Suddenly sitting here with Matt feels very uncomfortable.

Lost in my own head, I don’t realize his face is in front of mine, his cheek sliding against my own, his lips moving to my ear. “Addison, please don’t shut me out.” His warm breath tickles my skin, and his hands, which had been on my thighs are now grasping me around the waist.

“I have to go,” I say as I stand and step back from his touch.

He pulls back in surprise. “Did you not hear anything I just said?”

Throwing my purse over my shoulder, I make sure I have his full attention. “I heard it all, but I still have to go.”

Racing towards the exit, I’m almost outside when he calls my name. “Addison!”

I turn, not sure what else there is to say.

Slowly he walks in my direction. “Will you at least think about not completely closing the door on us?”

Wanting to get out of there, I give the only answer that comes to my mind. “Sure.”

My front door slams into the wall with a bang. Jumping off my couch, I’m surprised to see Addison storming into my apartment. She doesn’t look happy.