Authors: Christine Zolendz
Best Man (12 page)
I trudged into my bedroom and undressed. My body ached from exhaustion as tears streamed down my cheeks in a steady rhythm. I should be used to being alone. I should be used to not expecting much from men, but Luke being married? That was the icing on the cake. It shocked the shit out of me.
As I was pulling down the comforter to crawl into bed, there was a loud knock at the front door. White-hot terror spread across my skin, and my breathing came out loud and ragged.
No, I had to think straight. It couldn’t be anyone trying to hurt me. They wouldn’t knock. Right?
The banging continued. “Maddie!” Luke’s voice yelled. “Maddie, let me in.”
I stormed through the cabin and threw open the front door. “I have nothing to say to you, asshole!”
Luke slid past me and slammed the door behind us. “Well, I have plenty to say to you, so you’re gonna listen.” He ran his hands down the front of his face, and then he looked me dead in the eyes. “Yes,” he sighed, stepping closer to me, “Yes, I
was
married. But you know what I found out when I was in the hospital after getting shot?”
I shook my head slowly, waiting for him to continue—waiting for him to say something, anything that would make it all better.
“I found out that my wife was fucking someone else.” He lifted a hand and softly tucked a loose piece of hair behind my ear. “She asked me to forgive her, if we could start over, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t trust her. So I sent her divorce papers and decided to recuperate here.”
I backed away from his touch until my calves met the couch, and I plopped down. How did I know what the truth was? “She told me she was your wife. Are you still married?”
He sighed. “We’re legally separated. Maddie, I got off the job with three quarters pay and if I divorce her, she gets most of my pension. She was fucking one of the guys I worked with. I don’t want her to have a penny of my money.” He walked forward and kneeled in front of me. “We’ve been separated for so long…I haven’t thought about her at all. I guess I figured that it would all settle itself and then I saw you again.”
I tilted my head. “So?”
“Getting hurt, losing guys on my team…my life flashed before my eyes. You want to know all I saw? Nothing but shitty choices and regrets.” His eyes darted over my face like he was searching for something. “Walking into that bar that night…all I saw was you. Hundreds of miles between us. Years of thinking you had moved on. Someone I was supposed to love in the bed next to me, and it was you I thought of and how I’d wasted my fucking life not spending more time with you. You were my one of my biggest regrets in life—not staying with you.”
There wasn’t enough air in my lungs. I gasped out a strangled breath and tears pooled in my eyes.
“And fuck me, you gave me another chance. I got another chance, so I took it.” He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me softly on the lips. “I wondered about you all the time. If you made it out of this shitty little town…made all your dreams come true. And God I wanted you to have moved on, to have lived this great fucking life. And then I saw you, and God forgive me, I was happy that you’d stayed. I was happy that you were here alone and still looking at me like I mattered.” His tongue swept over my lips, and he deepened the kiss.
I pulled away, still unbelieving.
“I’m sorry for everything. For pushing you so far away that you never knew that you mattered, but Maddie, you were the only one that ever did. I tried to picture me without you, but I can’t. You’re the one I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
“What about your wife? What about your life in the city?” I asked in an unsteady voice.
His smile was wide and beautiful. “Seems like they could use a new sheriff here. Sheriff Callahan is retiring next month, and I start on Monday with him training me.”
“You’re really staying?”
“Yeah. And you know, I was thinking about how good you were with those two shitheads the other night…ever think about becoming a deputy? I could use someone I trust on my team…”
I barked out a laugh. “I do know my way around a squad car.”
“There’s a million things I want to talk to you about, a billion things I want to learn about you. Thousands of things I want us to do together and millions of minutes I want to spend loving you. I never wanted that with anyone else before— you’re it. Can we try?”
There was nothing more to say so I nodded my head and wrapped my arms around him.
ALSO BY CHRISTINE ZOLENDZ
If you want to read more of my books, below is a list of my other titles.
Paranormal Romance
The Mad World Series
Romance Suspense
Hilarious Chick-Lit
#TripleX (co-written with Angelisa Stone)
Contemporary Romance
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