Having Fun with Mr. Wrong by Celia T. Franklin Read Free Book Online

can’t stand to think of you with another man. Not with that creep Marc or any other man.”
    Her body and mind were weary. Her canopy bed beckoned her. “You’re being ridiculous. I am not having an affair.” She stomped her foot.
    “It’s ridiculous you can’t see through that guy. Why didn’t you tell me you were meeting him the other night?”
    She threw up her hands. “What do you mean?”
    “You told me that you were going to meet people. Not a guy. I followed you because you were vague about your plans, and I worried about you.” He paced across her living room floor.
    “So you don’t trust me.”
    He stopped midway in his pacing and pointed at her. “I told you time and time again, I trust you, but I don’t trust these guys you work with.”
    Repeating one of her daily affirmations—that she was in control of her own calm—she moved toward him and stopped his pacing. “There’s nothing to hide. I love you, only you.” It was almost four o’clock, and they needed to be at the affair by seven. “It’s getting late, we should take a nap.” She put her arms around him, but he shrugged her off.
    “I don’t like being humiliated. If there was nothing going on between you, why didn’t you tell me you were meeting him?”
    “Enough. I went for a couple of drinks with him as a work associate and planned to come home afterward. No big deal.”
    “But why Marc? Why couldn’t you meet Bill?”
    Even though Bill Cicieri was her ex-boyfriend from college, for some reason, Guido wasn’t jealous of him. Bill and she had history together. Real not imagined. But he wasn’t threatened by that .
    “I already explained that Marc knows the president of Synergy Plus. I needed his advice. It’s time to drop this.” She walked into her bedroom and flopped on the bed.
    He followed her into the room. “You purposely withheld his name when you met him. You lied, and that usually means a person is covering something up,” he yelled.
    She banged her fists into the mattress. “There’s nothing to hide. I know how jealous you get, so I thought it best not to tell you. We planned to meet for a couple of drinks and discuss the job. In fact, he left quickly to go on a date with his wife. Now please, I need to rest.”
    He lowered his head, his chin brushing his chest, sulking in defeat. “I worry about you. These men may not have your best interests in mind. Next time I should pick you up outside Delmonico’s or wherever you are, so I can make sure that you’re okay. We know what happens when you have a couple of drinks.”
    “That’s only when I’m with you. It’s you and only you who I want.”
    “Why would you put yourself into a position with a man like that? I mean he could have planned to drag you to his penthouse in Midtown.”
    “Really, Guido? This isn’t the Dark Ages. He can’t drag me anywhere I wouldn’t want to go. And I wouldn’t have gone with him anyway.” She burrowed her face deep in her pillow. There simply would be no reasoning with him.
    He finally gave up his ranting and crawled into bed, pulling her in a spoon against him. “I’m sorry, Carmala. I love you so much and never want to lose you.”
    The relationship with Guido was like building a house of cards. She never knew when the weight of her next action would be the card to bring the house to a tumbling collapse. Tonight, all the New York brass would be at the award gala. Would he explode again in front of Marc Blass, who would probably be there? Embarrass her in front of her work colleagues? She supposed it’d be a risk she have to take.
    She wished she could fix the broken mechanism in his brain that switched from normalcy to crazy jealousy. When Guido was on, he was a supportive, sexy, and amazing man. But, when he was off, he was an insecure, paranoid, and unbearable little boy. The tidy sum she’d incurred on co-payments for the counseling did little good and provided no concrete solutions. Guido’s putting up the