Something Blue by Emily Giffin Read Free Book Online Page A

Well. It won’t happen again. Back to reality,” Marcus said.
    It hurt my feelings and bruised my ego that he was treating me with no particular gentleness. We had, after all, shared a night of passion. Passion that I hadn’t experienced in years. Maybe not ever. I like to think of myself as a woman of the world, and I certainly had had sex in my share of interesting spots—including, but not limited to, a church parking lot, a cornfield, and the waiting room of my father’s dentist office. But the thunderstorm hookup was a first, and I was annoyed that Marcus wasn’t giving our liaison its proper due.
    “So you’re sorry it happened?” I asked.
    “Of course I am.”
    I sighed and tried another angle. “So you… didn’t enjoy it?”
    He finally cracked, looked up at me, and grinned. “Totally beside the point, Rhone.”
    “Don’t call me Rhone,” I said. “You weren’t calling me Rhone last night.”
    “Last night,” he said, shaking his head, “was fucked up. I think it’s best we drop the whole thing.”
    “No,” I said.
    He looked at me. “No?”
    “No. I can’t drop it,” I said. “It happened. We can’t take it back.”
    “I know we can’t take it back, but we gotta forget it,” he said. “It was a shitty thing to do. You’re engaged… and Dex is my boy… It’s done.”
    “Right,” I said, giving him a suggestive once-over.
    He looked away, then crossed his legs, man-style. “It was fucked up.”
    It made me mad that he was worrying about Dex, instead of me. “Marcus,” I said.
    “What?”
    “I think we should talk about what happened. I think we should talk about why it happened.” I wanted to test the waters, determine how much he liked me and whether I could have him again if I wanted him. Which I sort of did. Maybe once or twice more. I mean, once you cheat, is it that much worse to cheat two or three times?
    “It happened because we drank too much.”
    “That’s not why it happened. There was more to it than that. You weren’t out there with Claire.”
    He cleared his throat, but said nothing.
    “What if I’m not supposed to be with Dex?”
    “Then you better call off the wedding.”
    “You want me to do that?” I asked.
    “No. I didn’t say that. You should marry Dex.” His voice was just cold enough to make me want to break him.
    “What if I’m supposed to be with you?” I asked, staring purposefully into his eyes.
    He looked away. “Ain’t gonna happen.”
    “Why not?”
    “Can’t happen.”
    “Why?”
    “Because.” He got up and shuffled into the kitchen, returning with a bottle of orange Gatorade. “It was a mistake. One of those things.”
    “You have no feelings for me whatsoever?” I asked. It was a trap. He couldn’t deny any feelings or he would be an asshole for sleeping with me. But if he admitted that he had feelings for me, then the door wouldn’t be completely closed.
    He thought for a second and skillfully replied, “Sure I like you, Darcy. We’re friends.”
    “So you always do that with your friends?” I snapped back.
    He turned the volume down one notch, crossed his arms, and looked at me. “Darce. I thoroughly… enjoyed last night… But it was a dick move. And I regret it… It was a mistake.”
    “A mistake ?” I said, looking highly offended.
    “Yeah,” he said calmly. “A mistake. An alcohol-related incident .”
    “But it did mean something to you?”
    “Yeah.” He yawned, stretched, and smiled slightly. “Like I said, I enjoyed it. But it’s done. Over.”
    “Okay. Fine,” I said. “But you’re not going to go out with Rachel again, are you?”
    “I dunno. Maybe. Probably. Why?”
    “You are ?” I asked indignantly.
    He just looked at me, took a swig of Gatorade. “Why not?”
    “Don’t you think that’s sort of weird now?” I asked. “Like a conflict of interest or something?”
    He shrugged, showing me that he saw no problem with it whatsoever.
    “You aren’t going to sleep with her,