Needing Happily Ever After - Elena Aitken Page 0,52

some kind, and no matter what Katie had said, Damon couldn’t shake the feeling that there’d been more to whatever had gone on between them than Katie had said. Had he interrupted something between them when he came to town? Had Katie settled by staying with Damon? Was it Jeremy she really wanted but she’d felt forced into a relationship with him because of their deal?

He didn’t want to think about it. And he was definitely not going to ask her about it. That certainly hadn’t gone well the last time he’d tried.

“Hello? Damon? Did I lose you there for a minute?” Nick stared at him with a half-smile. “The only thing strange here is you. Maybe you’ve been back in this place too long.”

Damon didn’t like the way Nick said this place, but he didn’t bother to say anything.

“Strange like, nothing stays the same.”

Nick nodded. “That’s true.” He raised his glass and drank what was likely whisky, deeply. “Just like you moving off to some backwoods town to marry the local sweetheart and leaving me high and dry.”

“Hey.” Damon spun to face him. There was nothing distinctly offensive about the way he’d referred to Katie, but it was definitely implied. Or did he just think it was implied?

“I don’t mean any offense.” Nick held up his hands. “I’m just saying, we had a good thing going in the city. Bars, women, parties, more women.” Nick grinned and lifted his drink in a silent cheers. “It’s been a good run.”

“It has.” Damon agreed, but he didn’t see it the same way Nick did. Not really. Sure, he’d enjoyed the party lifestyle for a while. Who wouldn’t? They were young and had money to burn. It was every young man’s dream come true.

At least for a little while.

After a few months of waking up next to a different woman every Sunday morning, Damon had started to get tired. Tired of pretending he was something he wasn’t. Tired of the women he was picking up, taking out on the town, and sleeping with. Tired of pretending that they were something that they weren’t. It’s not that they weren’t nice women. Maybe they were. But they weren’t the right woman.

His eyes traveled across the room to land on Katie, who’d reappeared from the washroom.

They weren’t Katie.

Was she the right woman?

It was a ridiculous question, and if he hadn’t been standing with Nick, he might have laughed out loud at himself. Katie was Katie.

She was a fabulous woman. And she was his wife.

He shook his head clear of the thoughts and the questions that he shouldn’t even be asking himself. “But that time is over now,” he said to Nick. “I’m all settled down now.”

Damon tipped his glass back and drank the rest of the amber liquid in one swallow. The alcohol was starting to dull the edges a little and relax him.

He reached backward to tap on the bar. He needed another drink.

“Well, I can’t say I’m super excited for you, man.” Nick shook his head. “But if that’s your new wife, she’s pretty damn hot.”

Jealousy, anger, and something else he couldn’t pinpoint flared up inside him at Nick’s words. But as soon as the feeling rose, he squashed it. Nick was his friend. Possibly his best friend with the exception of Katie. She’d been part of his life for so long that he couldn’t imagine her not being there. And maybe that was what was bothering him. If this whole marriage of convenience thing blew up… No. His eyes settled on her, dressed in a gauzy white sundress, looking absolutely gorgeous, and he knew in an instant—he’d be destroyed if she ever turned her back on him. He didn’t know how he’d live through one day on earth if Katie wasn’t there. Maybe he never should have crossed that line with her and put their entire relationship in jeopardy. But he had. They had. So the one thing he did know was, no matter what, it was all going to work out. It had to. There was no back-up plan.

“That is Katie, right?” Damon was jarred back into the moment with Nick’s question. “Because if she’s your wife, she sure looks pretty close with that guy.” He followed his friend’s gaze and it didn’t take long to see what Nick was referring to.

Damon’s blood ran hot. Blood pounded in his ears and for a moment he had trouble seeing straight.

That was Katie.

And Nick was right. She did look pretty close to that