Lust Thy Neighbor by Emily Snow

record."
    "That's such a tame way to put it."
    He cringed. He was going to kill Jacob when he got home. "Okay, I've seen a lot of women in the past. Nothing that was serious to the point of thinking about marriage, but I've had some steady girlfriends. But I have never been unfaithful. When I first got custody of Jacob, I didn't change anything in my life. I tried to fit him into my lifestyle, and I found out soon enough that it was hurting him. That's why I haven't seen anyone for a while now. I realized that not only will I be dating a woman, but I'm dragging her into my brother’s life as well.”
    “I see.”
    “It wasn't fair to Jacob to get to know someone and have them in his life and then lose them suddenly," he said with a nagging guilt in the back of his mind. “I realize that now. Plus, I never used to choose women who had any kind of a maternal side."
    Her delicately arched eyebrow shifted up. “As opposed to now?"
    Declan heard her soft question and smiled to himself. He wanted her to know that even though they might be taking things slow and starting casual, he wasn't just using her or lumping her in with the masses. "Having Jacob made me realize that I'm sick of sleeping around with random women.”
    “Good to know I'm not a random.” She was silent for a long pause, tapping her nail gently on her candy bar, before asking. "But you've had some long-term relationships, right?"
    He thought about it and his memories of Serena came to the surface. "A couple. Not long as in lasting for several years, but somewhere around there."
    Declan could already sense what she would ask next and mentally prepared himself. “And your last real relationship?"
    "It didn't end well." He sucked in a breath and lifted his shoulders nonchalantly. “She cheated on me.”
    "I'm sorry."
    "Yeah, well, what can you do, right?" He shook his head, remembering the helplessness and the anger when he caught Serena. She confessed that it all started out innocently enough. She met the guy, had mutual friends, they hung out in a group, but things slowly escalated from there. Soon, she was making excuses not to see Declan and he finally caught wind of what was really going on. But when he confronted her, Serena had blamed him. She said that he wasn't invested in the relationship and that he couldn't give her the kind of love and obsession—her words, not his—that she needed.
    "Must've been hard,” Violet said softly.
    It was. "It would've been better if she had just broken up with me. That I can handle. But it was the lying that made it worse." If Serena hadn't wanted to be with him, fine. He could live with that. In fact, it wasn't like they were looking towards marriage or anything. But it was the fact that she had gone behind his back that hurt like a bitch.
    Violet quieted down and he didn't make the effort to revive the conversation. He had revealed way more than he had intended but it wasn't as if he could take things back.
    "What about you and your last relationship?" He finally broke the silence and glanced quickly at her as he exited the highway. She didn't answer for a minute and he snuck another peek at her. "Violet?"
    "Like I said before, it ended badly." There was an odd catch to her voice and he wanted to ask about it but the GPS on his dashboard beeped. He pulled up to a huge, opened gate as the GPS announced that they had arrived at their destination. Her attention was diverted and taken up with the enormous house beyond and the cars that were neatly parked out in front.
    "We're here." She made it sound as if they were going to a funeral.
    "Looks that way." He unbuckled his seatbelt then reached across to release hers. "Ready?"
    "As I'll ever be.”
    Declan got out of the truck and opened her door for her. He grinned when he saw her slip the candy bar in her bag. "It'll be fine. I know; don't listen or take to heart anything you say, and I've already been warned that I will be grilled and scrutinized by your family,