Page 259 of Sweet Temptation
“Get up,” I practically sobbed.
So he got up off the hard floor. He slipped his arms around me and leaned in, slowly, to kiss me. He was absolutely glowing and I hadn’t even said yes yet.
But…
“I can’t say yes to this, Ronan.”
He froze, his face falling. “What?”
“I mean… not yet.”
He drew back, searching my face. Then he watched as I put the rings, still in the box, aside on the counter.
“Can we put a pause on this?” I asked him. “For just a moment?”
He studied my face. “Why?”
“Because I need you to come clean first.”
His face gave away nothing, but I could feel him tense. “About what?”
“Ronan,” I said. “Are we really gonna keep pretending that you’ve told me all I need to know?”
“Summer…” He paled a little, looking… panicked? “I’m so sorry. Shit. I should’ve told you I had your dad’s ring back sooner. Piper and his guys got it back for me. I had it a while ago, baby. But I wanted this to be so special. And then it took a while to get the other ring made—”
“No.” I shook my head. “That’s not what I’m talking about, Ronan. I’m thrilled you got my ring back.”
He stared at me for a long moment. Then he said, “Come here.” He took the ring box off the counter and he took my hand. He led me into the bedroom, over to the bed, where he sat us down. He looked into my eyes and said, “I’ll tell you anything, Summer.”
“Right. Except about your past.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, carefully, but I could feel the stiffness in his body. He was on-guard, and I didn’t like it.
“I don’t like secrets, Ronan,” I told him. “Not where our relationship is concerned. You know that. And I feel like there’s a big one in your past.”
He said nothing, and I went on.
“At the Halloween party, I would swear on my mother’s life—on both my mothers’ lives—that I heard Piper say something to you to the effect of, ‘Say hi to the wife.’”
“Oh.” He cleared his throat. “That.”
“Yeah. That. So I keep waiting for some explanation, for our relationship to reach the point where you trust me enough to be open with me about who you are. About everything you are. But you just proposed to me, so it seems that explanation is not coming. So I’m just gonna ask you. Did he mean your wife? Because that’s sure as hell what it sounded like to me.”
He shook his head, slowly. “You can’t seriously think I’m married and I didn’t tell you.”
“No. But that comment came out of somewhere.”
He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “Piper and I went to high school together. I’m pretty sure that comment came out of a lingering annoyance that I once stole his prom date.”
I considered that, perking up a bit. “Did you really?”
“Yes.”
“That’s fucking amazing.”
“It kind of was.”
“So… this is the woman he referred to as your wife?”
