His Lover to Protect - Katee Robert Page 0,60
a part to make me feel like I was actually stronger than I am. “I wish you hadn’t sent him.”
“Honey, whatever you think he did, I should be the first to tell you—Jacks is a really shitty actor. The man wears his thoughts on his face like nobody’s business. I actually won a pretty penny from him playing poker last time he was in town visiting Ryan.”
“But…” He had been a giant asshole when they first met. Even when he’d dragged her up to his room, he’d been angry. It was only in Norway that some of that finally started to break, and then fall away completely in Salzburg. She wanted to keep silent, but the thought circling her mind had to be voiced. “I fell for him, Avery. So hard that I don’t know which way is up.”
“Luke’s a good guy.” Her sister sounded like she didn’t want to admit it, but Avery wasn’t much of a liar, either. “Kind of a grouchy crankypants, but a good man.”
“How am I supposed to know what’s real and what’s a lie? I can’t trust him.” She couldn’t trust the peace she’d felt because of him. No matter how much she wanted to.
“Honey, he told you his real name, and I doubt he bothered to come up with an entire fictional backstory. If I had my guess, it sounds like the only thing he didn’t tell you was why he was in Europe to begin with.”
“You can’t know that. He… He said all the right things to make me think I was doing this. He played me.”
“I don’t know about that. But you do. One way or another, you have to trust your instincts.”
“I don’t have any instincts left.” Every step she’d made along the way was the wrong one, from what she chose to major in to whom she almost married. It was all wrong.
Avery sighed. “Yeah, you do. You’ve just been such a people pleaser since Mom died that you buried them deep. Why don’t you take a few days, see some stuff, and figure out how you feel? If you want to tell Jacks to take a flying leap after that, do it. If you want to give him another chance, well, that’s an option, too. It’s your choice.”
Her choice. She felt like she’d spent so much of the last ten years just reacting. Booking the ticket to Cork was the first time she’d been proactive in her own life, and look where it had led her—in Venice alone, nursing a broken heart. “I’m afraid.”
She laughed. “You jumped on a plane to Europe with no plan. That’s as brave as a person gets. Just trust yourself.”
Her chest felt too tight. Did Avery know how hard it’d be for her to take that leap of faith where he was concerned? Every time she’d done it in the past, she’d been kicked in the face as a result. No matter what her sister thought, she couldn’t argue with Alexis’s track record. Who was to say her time with Luke was any different?
But…it had felt different. She’d never responded to Eric—or anyone else—the way she did with Luke. He’d brought out a side of her she didn’t know existed, a strong and snappy woman she’d been certain was broken a long time ago. Maybe Avery did know how difficult it’d be for her, but her sister wanted Alexis happy. She’d move heaven and earth to make it happen if it was within her power. Alexis fought back the tightness in her throat. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now go sightsee or whatever. Take lots of pictures!”
“I will. I promise.” She hung up, feeling marginally better. Trust her gut. Easier said than done, but at least she didn’t have to make a decision now. She could see a few more things, eat some amazing food, and then figure out how she felt about Luke.
Alexis had the creeping sense that she already knew damn well how she felt about it. She just needed some time to come to terms with it.
Chapter Twenty
Three days. Three goddamn days with no word. Not that Luke really expected one, but he’d prowled around Venice until he was ready to go out of his mind. There was no reason to think Alexis would stay in the city after their blowout, but that didn’t stop him from looking for her.
It also gave him a lot of time to think.
The kernel of realization that started during his conversation with that