Page 73 of Legs

There was only one way to make things right. I had to get her back; that wasn’t optional. But I had to sort my life first. Stop running and deal with my family and my past.

Twenty-three

Jimmy

The sun lit my table, the outdoor café busy with friends sharing stories over espresso and biscotti. Two women beside me laughed, a nearby man and young girl chatted warmly. My impending get-together wouldn’t be so blithe.

Especially not with how dead I felt inside.

However I’d suffered after Sophia, it didn’t hold a candle to the past week. Eating had been a challenge, sleeping a write-off.

After that intense boxing session, I’d pushed into Crush and told Alonzo I was stepping down. The relief that crashed over me had flooded my chest. I hadn’t realized how tense I’d been, that I’d been dreading following through with my plan. April took my spot and wound up beating the Schnozinator. Quite the win for her. Still, whatever release I’d achieved was short lived.

Since then, I’d powered through my shifts at Rudy’s Tavern, my remaining hours spent on my bike or boxing, none of it easing the sting of hurting the woman I loved. Now I was meeting the person partly responsible for my bad decisions.

I noticed her heels first—four inches and bright red. Her legs were as shapely as I remembered, womanly curves showcased in a tight dress. Nowhere near as sexy as Rachel. Nowhere near as classy. A familiar ache took root in my chest at the thought of her.

I looked up. “Thanks for coming.”

Sophia’s answering smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I don’t have much time.”

“This won’t take long.” Just long enough to work through the baggage I’d stored the past two years.

She sat, folding her hands on the table, making sure her rock of an engagement ring was front and center. The thing could sink a battleship.

A waiter asked for her order and she waved him off. No need to pretend we were old friends catching up.

I cleared my throat. “When you turned down my proposal, it sent me for a spin. I’ve fallen in love with someone else, but what went down between you and me has caused me to hurt her. There are some things I need to know.”

“The woman at the grocery store?” She studied my inked arms, the cuff on my wrist, my rings. Disbelief still shone.

“Yeah. Her.” My ray of sunshine. The woman who owned my heart.

The woman I’d devastated.

I sipped my espresso, the bitterness lingering on my tongue. Time to cannonball into the deep end. “Did you ever love me?”

I’d spent so long not thinking about Sophia and my relationship, I wasn’t sure what had been real, especially when my feelings for Rachel were a million times stronger than anything I’d felt for Sophia.

She met my eyes, a note of sadness in her blue gaze. “Initially. It was fun and exciting for a while, but the sneaking around got old.”

“It did.” We’d waited a while before telling our parents, knowing they wouldn’t approve. The illicitness had its appeal. “And after?”

She wiped stray crumbs from the table. “After, less so.”

Less so. Two damn words. I had never accused her of using me. She’d broken up with me, tossed my proposal in my face, and I hadn’t had the balls to ask her why. Back then, the timing told me all I needed to know. Her family had been struggling, more money going out than coming in, and she’d been looking to hitch a ride. Hearing her admit she’d used me would have made the fallout that much worse.

But I needed to hear the words now. Needed to learn if I’d assumed wrong or right, and she wasn’t making it easy.

“Thing is, Sophia, I’ve spent the last two years pretending I’m over what happened between us. Don’t get me wrong”—I raised a hand in defense—“this isn’t me looking for an in. We were wrong together, on a number of levels. Ending it was the right thing. This is about me having closure.”

A man walked by, taking an eyeful of her cleavage. She replied with a flirtatious smile, enjoying the attention. Sophia always loved to be admired. She shifted on her seat, discomfort appearing in her pinched brow. “At one point, I did love you, but later I realized you maybe didn’t love me. We both wanted something from each other.”

That had me leaning closer. “You wanted everything I came with, right? The winery? The security?”

She snorted. “Don’t say it like it’s evil. Yes, I wanted security and a comfortable life. It’s not a crime. People have married for a lot less.”

“Doesn’t make it right.”