without answering.
This was eating away at me. Damien had an ownership stake in a winery and also had stock in a shipping company. If he was the one Sofia was seeing, my head would explode. If it was him, she would lie about it. I couldn’t handle that kind of truth.
“Instead of focusing on me, why don’t you just get your wife back?”
My nostrils flared at his lack of response.
“Alright, I’ll answer you.” He raised his hands slightly so I would calm down. “But regardless of my answer, you should get her back. You’re losing your fucking mind. I’ve never seen you lose your shit like this before. If it’s not me, it’s going to be someone else.”
“Just answer me.”
“No.”
“No, you won’t answer me, or is no your answer?”
He answered calmly. “No. I haven’t slept with her.”
Fucking hallelujah. My hands went to my forehead, and I slowly dragged them down my face in relief.
“But you clearly want to. So why don’t you go do that instead of wasting your time with these women you don’t care about?”
I still resented her for what she did to me, but these feelings were pouring in again. It happened so quickly, I couldn’t believe it. I was so jealous, I turned into a psychopath. What the hell was wrong with me? “I’ll handle the meeting with John tonight.”
He raised an eyebrow. “So…you’re just gonna pretend this little tantrum didn’t happen?”
I glared at him.
“And you better buy me a new computer. I’m not kidding around about that.”
“If you care about your shit, don’t go sniffing around my wife.”
He grinned.
“What?”
His smile only grew. “Ex-wife.”
Most of my meetings took place in bars because rich and powerful men liked to show off just how rich and powerful they were. Their wives already knew what they were worth and were entitled to it, so they wanted to impress somebody new.
John was dull and stupid. He handed his money over for other people to manage, but he did it blindly, which was incredibly dumb. Good news for him, I was actually an honorable man when it came to business. But he hadn’t realized I was one of the few.
When we stopped talking and he became distracted by an admirer, I excused myself to the bar and got another drink.
I kept thinking about what Damien said.
Ex-wife.
I’d called Sofia my wife when she hadn’t been my wife in eight months.
Was that an honest mistake? Or was it an indication of my real feelings?
One thing was for sure—I was so fucking happy she hadn’t fucked Damien.
I probably would’ve killed him.
A brunette came my way and placed a drink in front of me. “Hi, I’m Veronica.” She was young and perky, with a high-pitched voice and a bubbly personality. She was the talkative type. You could tell just by looking at her.
“Hey.”
She pushed the drink toward me, a vodka cranberry. “I thought I’d buy you a drink before someone else does.”
I’d stopped being flattered by advances because they’d stopped meaning anything. They were just another person, another stranger. I knew there were women I’d slept with whom I wouldn’t recognize if I came face-to-face with them again. I wasn’t ashamed of my decisions, but now I found them pointless.
The best sex of my life had happened with one person.
I started to feel like shit, to feel ashamed of what I’d done.
Veronica began to talk about herself, her hobbies, like reading and rock-climbing.
I faced her head on, but I didn’t really pay attention to anything she said. I kept thinking about the way I’d screamed at Damien. I kept thinking about the way Sofia had told me off when I’d tried to kick her out of my bed. I thought of the way she’d fucked me the next morning.
My imagination must’ve run wild because Sofia appeared right before me.
In a tight purple dress, she placed herself in front of Veronica so she blocked her from view. She looked up at me with confidence, not anger or jealousy.
It took me a second to realize my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.
Sofia grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled my lips to hers to kiss me.
As if I was under a spell, I didn’t resist at all. I kissed her back and closed my eyes like we were alone.
When she pulled away, she spoke so only I could hear her. “Do you want to go home with one of these dumb girls? Or go home with the only woman you actually want?” She stared at me