Page 2 of The Prince Who Loved Me

She strengthened her resolve, though she felt like crying. “You can explain everything with me standing here just as easily.”

He removed some glasses from the cabinet in the kitchen. “A drink first.”

Loretta rose from the sofa and stood next to Brandi. “I’ll take some more.”

Brandi folded her arms and waited. Andy grinned and showed her the orange bottle of whiskey from Belle’s Medicinal Brewery, her family distillery. She fought her instinct to respond. Her mom had taught her to always, always smile at her man, even when she didn’t find him funny, or charming, or clever.

Loretta reached around her to grasp the offered glass and inhaled deeply, her nose brushing through Brandi’s hair. “You smell delicious. Like a sweet, sugary treat.”

“Okay.” Brandi lifted her bag. “We’re done here.”

“Wait!” Andy put the bottle down and leapt to the door. “Please.”

She lifted an eyebrow but said nothing.

“This is Loretta,” he said. “My wife.”

All the air left Brandi’s lungs in one choked breath as her body temperature rose. She wanted Andy to be different, but he was the same lying, cheating scumbag she always seemed to attract. “Your what?”

“I know this may come as a shock, but I’ve been telling Loretta all about you. How beautiful you are, and how you make me feel incredible whenever I’m with you. She wanted to meet you. She hasn’t wanted to meet any of my last few girlfriends.”

Loretta looked her over. “He didn’t lie. You’re exquisite. Those eyes.”

Brandi held up her hand. “First, you’re married? So you lied on the dating site. Second… I don’t even know what the second is. I don’t even want to know what the second is.”

“We wondered if you’d be willing to see how you fit in with our lives.” Andy reached out and twined his fingers with Loretta’s and reached his other hand out to Brandi.

She didn’t move.

“Our last girlfriend left about two years ago, and there hasn’t been anyone since that either of us thought would make the other happy,” he continued.

“Until you,” Loretta added.

“You guys do you, but this is not how I roll.” She hefted up her bag again. This time Andy didn’t try to stop her from opening the door.

“Can I still call you when I’m near Claremont?” he asked over the threshold.

Brandi said nothing, only closed the door behind her.

“Call if you change your mind,” he called through the barrier.

Brandi shifted her bag while fighting back tears of frustration as she waited for the elevator, her shoes pinching her toes and a thin sheen of sweat running down the small of her back because of that damn poufy jacket.

It was a small consolation that only two short years ago, she would have done anything to keep a man with her. Changed her lifestyle. Pretended interest in things he liked. Followed him like a lab rat for a morsel of his attention. It was, afterall, everything she’d seen her mother do when she was growing up. She hadn’t known much else. The elevator dinged, and she stepped inside.

So, yeah, today was a win. Even if it did leave her stranded over three hundred miles from home. In really uncomfortable but sexy shoes. That no one else would appreciate.

Go her.

She plopped herself in a vinyl chair amidst a tropical-themed lobby and scrounged in her bag for a pair of socks. Fish in the tank next to her paused in her line of vision, fins flailing wildly in their prison. She shrugged out of her jacket, feeling a strange kinship with the trapped fish. They were probably also lied to. Told that they were going to a clear lake with lots of seaweed and bread crumbs or something. Only to be scooped up and fed flaky food.

Once her feet were comfortable, she sat back with a sigh and wiggled her toes. The way she saw it, she had several options. Rent a car, drive the five hours home to Georgia, and endure her cousin’s silent but present judgement, which Wendy probably thought she was hiding. Check in to a different hotel and enjoy a weekend away. Pick up some guy in a local bar for revenge sex.

At ten in the morning.

Crumbs, this sucked.

Well, hell, if she started for home right away, she might even make it back to work for a couple of hours.