Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99960 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99960 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Damn it. I’d never seen Aria Hunter anything but composed, cool, and intimidatingly assertive. Seeing her vulnerable made me feel like an arse.
Cursing under my breath, I faced her. “I can’t tell you about Allegra’s past. It’s up to her who she shares it with.”
“She shared it with you, though?” Hurt glimmered in her eyes.
I nodded, my voice a wee bit softer as I replied, “Aye, she’s told me everything.”
Aria’s face crumpled and the tears slipped free.
“Fuck.” I moved toward her helplessly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just … it makes me angry that you all think Allegra’s a fuck-up when she’s anything but.”
“I don’t think she’s a fuck-up.”
At least that’s what I think Aria replied. It was hard to tell because it was garbled by her cries.
Awkward and guilty and utterly powerless before a woman’s tears, I lowered the bag of NA wine to the cobbles and put my arms around her. “Hey, it’s okay.”
To my shock, Aria returned the embrace, her own bag of wine knocking against my back as she burst into sobs that were wrenched from deep inside her. Concern had me tightening my arms because I could feel the pain emanating from her. And it was more. This was more than her relationship with Allegra.
We stood there so long, the arse pocket of my jeans vibrated as my phone rang on silent. It was most likely Allegra checking where I was.
Aria finally got control of herself and she released me. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.” She wiped at the mascara now pooling around her eyes. The sisters looked just similar enough to know they were related. Both were beautiful, even when they sobbed.
Renewed guilt flushed through me because I shouldn’t have been such a bastard to her, even if I felt I was in the right. At the end of the day, she was Allegra’s sister, and my wife loved her sister so much, she was willing to protect her to the detriment of her own reputation. It was not up to me to interfere with that decision or treat her sister badly for it.
“You’ve no need. I’m sorry for being a prick.”
She shook her head, wiping at her pretty cheeks. “No. It’s nice to know someone is looking out for Ally. This wasn’t …” She gestured between us. “I …” Her eyes filled with water again as her gaze locked with mine. “I just found out I’m not pregnant.”
Oh. Shit.
“We’ve been trying for a year.” She sucked in a breath like she might burst into tears again any second.
“I’m sorry.” I reached out to squeeze her arm. “Does Allegra know?”
Aria shook her head. “We haven’t talked to anyone about it.” She shrugged, her smile wobbly with emotion. “I know there’re lots of options out there, but I just didn’t anticipate that this would be difficult for us, and I’m not handling it too well right now. And Ally and I feel further apart than ever and … ugh.” She waved a hand. “Never mind.” Her eyes widened in horror. “Jared, I’m … I don’t know why I just blurted that out to you.”
“Because you clearly needed to tell someone.” I considered her, seeing her in a totally different light from before. I’d never seen her let her guard down like this. Which meant she needed someone who loved her right now. “Are you in a hurry to get home?”
She shook her head sadly. “No. North is in LA.”
“Then come back with me. I have some work to do in my office and you can talk to Allegra.”
Aria bit her lip, considering it. Finally, she asked uncertainly, “Are you sure?”
“You need her. And she needs to know that you need her.”
Fresh tears brightened her eyes and she laughed unhappily. “I swear, I am not usually this emotional.”
“You should cry as much as you want to and never be embarrassed for it,” I told her as I lifted the bag of wine off the ground and then took hers too. When I was a boy, growing up where I did, we were made to feel less of a man if we showed emotion. I’d learned from my grandfather, the most masculine man I’d ever known, that crying didn’t make you weak. It made you human. “Come on.”
Her smile this time was a little warmer, a little less sad. “Okay.”
As always, sunlight streamed in through the curtains and woke me before my alarm. As always, since Allegra started sharing my bed, I lingered, waiting for the alarm instead of jumping out of it like I used to. Her soft, warm body tucked against mine made it difficult to get out of bed these days.
Last night was the first night, other than when Allegra had her period, that we didn’t have sex. As promised, I’d brought Aria home and then I’d made myself scarce in the office. I’d answered emails from the company building the pods, from produce contacts, from my land agent, catching up on everything that had piled up over the last week. I could hear tears from the living room and, thankfully, I also heard laughter.