Page 94 of Wicked Fortune

Joel nodded slowly. “Not really my area of expertise,” he said. “You know my track record with women.”

Matthew nodded. In truth, he didn’t know the details. All he knew was that Joel’s wife had left him over three years ago, and he had backed off of relationships altogether, though that didn’t stop the flow of women in his bed.

“Listen,” Joel finally said. “If this stuff about you was a punch in the gut, you can’t blame her for needing time.”

“I know,” Matthew dragged his fingers through his hair. “But it’s still fucking brutal.”

“Yeah, well, love hurts.” Joel sighed, then took another sip of his drink, then set the glass down with a deliberate motion. “You’ve changed, though. You know that, right?”

Matthew shot him a sideways glance. “Have I?”

Joel smirked faintly. “Okay, we haven’t known each other that long, but if this goes back decades, then yeah. I mean, you’ve built an empire, Matthew. You’ve taken care of people. You’ve done a hell of a lot of good. Don’t let one mistake define you.”

Matthew let out a slow breath, the tension in his shoulders easing slightly. “I’m not. She is.”

Joel chuckled. “Bullshit.”

One word, but pretty fucking perceptive.

“Listen, I’ve been there. Made my share of mistakes, too. Some worse than you can probably imagine.”

That caught Matthew’s attention. He turned to look at Joel fully, his curiosity piqued.

But Joel didn’t elaborate, just lifted his glass in a silent toast. “We’ve all got skeletons, buddy. You need to remember that they’re dead and gone. The trick is to keep the skeletons buried without letting them drag the man you are now down into the grave, too.”

“And how the hell do I do that?”

Joel shrugged. “Show her, man. Show her that you’ve changed.”

The drive back to the treehouse felt endless, the city lights blurring together as he replayed Joel’s words in his mind. Show her that you’ve changed.

Had he?

By the time he pulled into the driveway, he still didn’t have an answer. The house loomed in the darkness, a shadow of the sanctuary it had once been.

He stepped inside, but the space that had once been as comforting as a cocoon now felt hollow. Empty.

He went to the window and looked out over the Valley below. Was she out there, perhaps in her old rental? Or had she gone to stay with Bree and Ash? Or maybe to a hotel.

Hell, maybe she was sitting in a hotel bar right now, sipping a martini and laughing with some man who didn’t really want her—just wanted to get her into bed.

But Matthew wanted her. Christ, how he wanted her.

With a sigh, he headed for the kitchen, another scotch calling his name. But he paused on the way, a DVD case catching his eye. The Thomas Crowne Affair. Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, and that sheer black dress.

They’d watched it together, and he’d deferred to her insistence that the remake was better. He wasn’t sure he agreed, but he had to concede that it was definitely hotter.

So hot they’d paused the movie after that scene, their own lovemaking making the dance that had steamed up the screen seem tame by comparison.

They’d watched the rest of the movie naked, curled up next to each other on the sofa, and despite the very energetic sex and their nakedness and the way his cock refused to chill, it was one of the sweetest moments of his life. A moment that showed him how a life with her could be. Fun. Sensual. Surprising. Tender.

Loving.

He closed his eyes, saying a silent prayer to Saint Dismas, the patron saint of thieves. And to Saint Peter, the patron saint of repentance. He wasn’t Catholic. Hell, he hadn’t stepped foot in a church in years. But right then, he needed all the help he could get. And with luck, one of the two would help him figure out what to do next.

Show her that you’ve changed.

With a sigh, he moved to the console and took out the DVD. He put it back into its case, then returned it to its place in the bookcase.