Unrequited (Chosen #3) by Alisa Mullen Read Free Book Online Page B

Conner’s death and while you were there when he died, it may bring up some anxiety for her. I think we could have dinner…” I barged in on Nick’s rambling.
    “That’s wonderful! I heard that the North End is a great place for Italian,” I cut him off. “Shall we meet there at about 7:30?”
    “Well, Lizzie is out of the city today on… at… a meeting. I don’t know if she will be back in time, but I will ask, of course,” he conceded. “I will get back to you by five o’clock. As for helping you with a place, I can look to see if there are any places in the city that will do a temporary lease. I should be able to call in some favors.” He smiled and it didn’t quite reach his eyes. I was already a burden.
    “Nick, are you okay? You look so tired. I have never seen dark circles under your eyes,” I inquired. Except that one night we went at it, of course.
    His hands scrubbed his face and he sighed heavily. This was not the Nick I remembered. He was always sharp. Today he almost looked like he could fall asleep on his desk.
    “Yeah, I am fine. I am worried about my fiancée,” he said, his tired blank eyes found mine. I felt like I was just kicked in the gut. He hadn’t referred to her as his fiancée before to me. I threw up a little in my mouth.
    “Oh no! Is she okay?” I asked, trying to sound as concerned as I could.
    He shook his head. “She has Niall, he is teething and she won’t let me help,” he started. “She is so damn irritating.”
    I clicked my voice recorder on through my purse.
    “I mean, the woman won’t even spend our money together. Does she even want to be in a relationship with me if she won’t ever let me help her with my soon to be stepson? She is so focused on keeping herself independent that she won’t let me in to help. Today, she is with her mother and I offered to help out but she is just so stubborn. She just told me to come to work. I can’t work. Not when she is comforting others. Who is comforting her?”
    “Wow, that must be straining on your relationship and you,” I said, coaxing him to keep talking.
    “I love her. I can’t imagine not having her in my life but sometimes I think she still holds me at arm’s length,” he groaned. “I was hoping that we could begin our wedding preparations but she keeps coming up with these awesome ideas that never come to fruition. I just… I don’t know…sometimes I just can’t keep up.”
    I think it was then that he realized he was bitch talking his fiancé and halted. “I’m sorry. I don’t have many girls that are just friends. I don’t want to sound like I am ungrateful. God, I waited forever for her to finally admit she had feelings for me.” He pulled on his tie and looked at the phone on his desk, as though it was ringing.
    “It’s fine, cowboy. Relationships can be hard,” I said.
    Bull shit. His relationship should be fun and exciting since it was so new. He has just never been in a relationship. It’s like they are already married.
    “Yeah. I guess they are,” he chuckled. “I haven’t ever been in one so I guess this is a learning curve.”
    Bingo. I will teach him how easy relationships can be.
    His receptionist interrupted our talk and I clicked the voice recorder off.
    “Mr. Sawyer, Elizabeth is on the phone. Shall I put her through or would you like to call her back?” Nick sickeningly beamed at the phone. “No, Nancy, I will take her call. Thank you.”
    “Hey, babe,” he said into the receiver. Puke.
    “No, I am not busy. Samantha just stopped in and would like to have dinner. Would you like to meet her?” The pause that lasted after he asked her was, I am not kidding, at least five years. He nodded into the phone.
    “Okay, well I am glad that she is okay. Your father is back there?” he asked. He sat back in his chair with a crumpled up face. Was Conner’s mother so messed up that people had to babysit her? I started to recoil in my seat. I wanted to disappear. I felt the