The Lovely Garden by Emma Mohr Page B

that he had been waiting a while for us to get together, but he never made an attempt before to ask me out. Not that I recalled, at least.
    “Mostly because every time I saw you after we first met, you were drunk.” That would explain a lot. “Also, out of respect for William and Jennifer. Your Jennifer’s best friend and I’m William’s boss. I didn’t know how well they would have taken it. And you didn’t show up to any parties for a while.” His hand stilled and he rested it on my shoulder blades. “It took a while to convince Jennifer to set us up as well.”
    “Of course, it did. You actually wanted to date me.” That should have stayed a thought. My bitterness is something that I try to keep a cap on. I love Jennifer. She’s like a sister to me, but this trying to find me a husband thing just irritated me. She thought she knew what was best for me, and never asked my opinion. In the end, she hooked me up with men who have no interest me and are usually dicks because they expected someone that looked like her, not me.
    “That sounded bitter.”
    “That’s because it was.” I sighed, resting my chin on his chest to look him in the face. “If I tell you something, will you promise never to tell anyone else?” He nodded, squeezing me closer to him. “Before Billy and Jenny were dating, me and Billy were.” Charles tensed at that, but kept his mouth shut. I silently thanked him for that. “He dumped me for her. That’s really not my dark secret though. Pretty much everyone knows that.” I turned away from him, couldn’t face him for this one. “I was in love with him. It tore me to pieces when he left me for Jenny. I apparently have a really good poker face, or they both pretended they didn’t notice. I don’t know which is worse.”
    “Do you still love him?” His voice was terribly neutral, which made his worry obvious.
    I smiled and shook his head. “Not in that way. He’s like a brother to me, now. So, you have nothing to worry about.” I had to give him shit. But I still wasn’t finished with my story. “My bitterness is mostly due to her trying to find me a husband.” Even Charles cringed. “She thinks she knows what’s best for me and ends up hooking me up with douches. You have been the only exception so far, but you actually were interested in me beforehand. I had started to give up, really. Getting less interested.”
    “Sounds like I’m lucky you gave me a shot.”
    “You kind of are, honestly. I was looking for any excuse to walk out on our first date, and I mean any.” And then I decided that I was going to have a one-night stand with him, and the rest is history. I smiled at him. “I’m glad that you were wonderful. I haven’t been this happy in a while.”
    His fingers slid through my hair. It was a little rougher than before and my heart sped up and my panties moistened. Oh god, what this man did to me. “You make me happy, as well. I didn’t expect our date to go as well as it did either. Like you, I don’t have the best of luck with dates.”
    I grinned at him. “Now, you have to tell me, do you have any exes I should be worried about?”
    Hesitation. Hesitation was never good. Please tell me I wasn’t going to have to worry about some psycho killing me in my sleep or him leaving me for an ex he never got fully over. “There is one, but you don’t have to worry about her.” Okay, then why the hesitation? “Ava, my sister, likes her.” Oh. So, I had to worry about his sister, still. That’s just lovely.
    He sighed. “Rose will act like she’s better than you, but she’s really kind. My sister just manipulates her into believing she’s the only one for me.” A grim smile darkened his face. “Rose hangs onto her every word. It’s sickening, but nothing I ever say or do changes anything. I think it’s part Rose still being in love with me and not wanting to let go, and the other part, my sister being the terrible human being she is.”
    “Tell me