When Love Happens by Darcy Burke Read Free Book Online Page B

said. “I’d no idea you grew up in a bloody mansion.”
    “There’s a lot you don’t know.”
    He’d so hoped she would’ve lost some of her surliness overnight, but that was apparently not to be the case. He moved along theisland to the end where she stood and leaned his hip against the side. He crossed his arms and pinned her with a direct stare. “Enlighten me.”
    “Do I really need to? It looked as though Mom bent your ear practically clean off your head.”
    “Not at all. We enjoyed a very nice breakfast. She did, however, notice that we take our coffee the same way.” He was teasing her now, but damn he’d try anythingto see even the slightest hint of a genuine smile.
    Instead, however, she snorted. Not quite a smile, but he’d take it. “What the heck am I going to do with you for a week?” She set her hand on her hip and stared at him as if he were a gift she’d never asked for and was trying to figure out how to pawn off.
    “How about we just take one day at a time? Why don’t we pretend we are what we say—friends?Just for today. Forget who I am and what we are, and just enjoy a day together. Can you do that?”
    She twisted her lips, clearly thinking way too hard about what should’ve been a thoroughly agreeable proposition. “I’ll try. Give me an hour.” She walked around the opposite side of the counter, naturally, and disappeared the same way her mother had gone. Then she poked her head back through thedoorway. “Feel free to give yourself a tour. My parents’ room is at the other end of this floor, so I’d stay clear of that. Upstairs you’ll find all of our bedrooms—boring. The downstairs is the best part: gym, game room, theater, and wine cellar.” Then she was gone again.
    Though he disagreed that he’d find her bedroom boring, particularly when she was in it, he decided to check out the downstairs.How could he not after that recommendation? Along the way, he saw family pictures and mementoes everywhere he looked, constant reminders of love and home and belonging.
    As with before when he’d spoken with Emily, he felt a tinge of emptiness, like he was missing something. And he supposed he was. He’d married Tori expecting to be, well, married. That they really hadn’t ever been and likely weren’tgoing to be made him sad . . . and frustrated.
    But today wasn’t about trying to reclaim that. Today had to be about his future. Today he’d make her more comfortable, try to be her friend. Tomorrow he’d convince her to agree to the show.
    After that she could have her precious divorce—assuming she still wanted it. And Sean had every expectation she would.
    S HOWERED, DRESSED, AND primped, Toriwent in search of Sean, starting on the main floor. As she made her way from room to room, her mind struggled to make sense of this strange morning. There’d been a moment when she’d walked into the kitchen earlier and seen Sean and her mom together at the island. The scene had looked so pleasant, so comfortable, so . . . domestic. She’d had a flash of what might have been, followed by the rush ofanxiety that always came when she thought of Sean, which made her think of their wedding, which made her think of Alex.
    She could almost hear Maggie say, “Maybe this week will allow you to work through those feelings. Spend time with Sean and try to get to a point where thinking of Alex and that awful morning after the wedding isn’t your knee-jerk reaction.”
    That sounded like a good idea intheory, but in reality she just wasn’t sure she could do it. Cutting Sean out of her life seemed far easier, especially when he’d chosen to go off to Europe for six months and lived a thousand miles away.
    Not finding him on the main floor, she went to the lower level, where the clacking sound of billiard balls signaled his location.
    She went into the game room and found him bent over the greentable, his arm extended along the cue. He straightened as she came in, tugging the hem of his