When he’d woken before the sun the following morning, she hadn’t been in bed beside him. He’d dressed and gone looking for her, wondering if she’d been so sick she’d sought medical help. But as he’d rounded a corner, a giggle and a flash of pink dress had caught his attention, and he’d frozen in his tracks at the sight of her kissing one of Wyatt’s hockey buddies in the doorway of a different room.
“I have to get back before he notices I’m gone,” she’d said in that breathless way she had. The guy had rumbled undecipherable words, to which Ursula had purred, “Oh my! Round three?” A sultry smile had played on her lips—also familiar. The dude, dressed in only a pair of gym shorts that didn’t do a thing to hide what was on his mind, had pulled her into the room and slammed the door. Noah’s stomach had plummeted to his ankles, leaving him feeling as thoughhe’dhad stomach flu. He had wanted to puke.
He lifted his eyes to the ceiling before leveling them back on a patiently waiting Hailey. “I took her to my cousin’s wedding, and she ended up getting it on with another guy while oblivious me slept in theroom we shared.” Even this abbreviated version took a big bite out of his pride.
Hailey’s eyebrows cinched together with concern or sympathy—he wasn’t sure. “You were cuckolded,” she murmured.
Coldcocked? Sounds about right.“I was what?”
“It’s an old English term that makes ‘she got it on with another guy’ sound more charming somehow. Any way you slice it, though, it’s a terrible way to treat someone.”
And yet Noah had let Ursula use him, which brought him back to the same question: Why? The ugly truth was ego had driven his decision to bring her. She turned heads wherever she went—hell, entire bodies! He’d enjoyed a sense of smug satisfaction with her on his arm. What the fuck did that make him? Shallow, shortsighted, and incredibly stupid—for starters. Staring down his foibles made him shrink inside.
Fortunately, Hailey saved him from his self-reproach. “Did you confront her?”
“No, I left.” His mind in a tailspin, he had stared at the closed hotel room door a beat before pivoting on his heel, packing up, and getting the hell out of there. Now here he was, bleeding out in front of a woman he’d only known for three days. Fate had one hell of a strange sense of humor.
Pleats formed between Hailey’s brows. “Was it something she’d done to you before?”
Shit. In for a dime, in for a dollar, as his mom liked to say. He steeled himself to face his idiocy. “Yes. But in my defense, we’d been broken up for a while before the wedding, and I’d thought, ‘We’re older now,’ maturity and wisdom, water under the bridge, and all the other garbage you tell yourself.”
Ursula had pulled some shit in the past, but she’d never left his bed to hop into someone else’s under the same roof on the same damn night.
Hailey nodded. “Understandable. Sheisstunning.”
“I used to think so. Now I only notice the flaws when I look at her.” The words simply slipped out, but he recognized them as his new reality. Too bad he hadn’t been so self-enlightened when he’d decided to invite Ursula along.
“You sound like two magnets who kind of repel and attract each other at the same time.”
“Not a bad comparison, except this magnet has removed himself from the field.”
The creases between Hailey’s brows deepened. “Why does she believe you’re still together?”
“She’s Ursula. She believes whatever narrative suits her mood. But you know what? Her inclinations no longer affect me. I’m done,” he repeated. But sadly, he wasn’t.
She canted her head. “You look like someone just took away your favorite toy.”
He shook his head. “I’m trying to make inroads with this resort up the road so we can collaborate, but she works there now, and she’s the gatekeeper.”
“And she won’t unlock the gate?”
“She’ll unlock it, but the price is too high.”
Hailey pursed her rosebud lips. “Up the road. Are we talking about Silver Summit?” He nodded, and she continued. “Is aligning with them critical?”
“I’m not sure, but I’m at a point where I’m grasping at straws. It’s selfishly motivated on my part”—as in, the tavern’s survival depended on it—“but I do believe it would be beneficial for both sides.”
“And there’s no way around her?”
“Not that I’ve found yet.” Sitting forward, he drummed his fingers on the table’s edge. “Let’s change the subject.”
“Okay, but for the record, anyone who treats someone like that doesn’t deserve another bite at that someone, er …”
A chuckle broke free, and with it, bands of tension around his chest eased. “I think you mean they don’t deserve another bite at the apple.”
She beamed him that beautiful Hailey smile, not seeming to mind how lame he was. “Yeah, that.”
“Do you believe me?”
