Page 241 of Duty and Desire

Something in his jaw jumped. “Your ex is downstairs.”

“My ex?”

His nod was a sharp jerk.

“Huh.” I pondered the situation for all of half a second. It was tempting to send him on his way without giving him a minute of my time. That’s probably what he deserved, but still… “Ask them to send him up please.”

He paused, quickly burying whatever he felt about the situation. “Whatever you want, Miss Cooper.”

Oh yeah. This morning was going just great. But fuck it, it was time to face my demons.

Lena stepped back with a worried frown on her face. “Do you want us to go, or…”

“No. It’s fine,” I decided. “This shouldn’t take long.”

“Whatever you say.” Lena grabbed a coffee too and made herself at home on the couch. Ev soon sat down beside her.

Ziggy hadn’t relaxed any. Guess I could understand that. Maybe he was a smidgeon jealous. I certainly didn’t look forward to ever meeting any of his exes (but you could bet I’d do it wearing Louboutins). Or maybe he’d already stopped one crazy person with a knife from getting at me this week. The ex had done a lot of damage to me without being allowed a second swing now. Though maybe this time things could be different. Thing is, I’d never know unless I tried. And I really wanted to try.

When the knock came, Ziggy opened the door without a word.

In the ex stepped, every bit the big-ass quarterback I remembered. He pretty much dominated any and every room he entered. The dude always seem to loom. Not that I’d ever been scared of him or anything. He and his ego just took up a lot of space. There was, however, an impressive display of concern going on with the tight lips and soft eyes. He looked around at those assembled before once again fixing on me. “Mae. Babe.”

“Uh!” I held up a finger. “That’s enough. Let me guess, what with the flowers you sent and then the news about your little fan boy attacking me yesterday, you thought you’d ride on over here and save the day. Is that right?”

He blinked. “Mae. Babe.”

“You already said that. Try something new.”

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Scared the crap out of me, hearing you’d been attacked.”

“Uh-huh.” I grabbed one of the almond croissants out of the goodie bag and ripped off a piece. “What else have you got?”

“What else have I got? What do you mean?” He gave me his gosh ma’am smile. “I missed you. I’m worried about you. Isn’t that good enough?”

I scrunched up my nose. “No. Not really.”

Now he did his awkward nervous chuckle, gaze slipping over the assembled audience. It stopped on Ziggy. Then the ex’s eyes narrowed into a mean slit. “Who’s this guy?”

“My new boyfriend.”

“I knew that was sex hair.” Lena just about jumped out of her chair. “You look like a well-pleasured mess this morning and I’ve never been more proud of you.”

I laughed. “Thank you.”

Ziggy quietly groaned.

Ev just smiled and took another sip of coffee. She really had the Mona Lisa smile thing down.

“You’re fucking your bodyguard?” asked the ex, disgust dripping from every word. Such a schmuck.

“You’re going to judge? You? Really?” I set my hands on my hips. “Anyway, doesn’t matter. I only let you up here to say what I need to say, then you’re gone. Done with. Kaput.”

Now he looked cranky. It wasn’t like people said no to him often, the big football baby. Ziggy took a step closer. But I was fine. Hell, I was on fire.

“I forgive you,” I said. “Most important though, I forgive myself. For letting your bullshit opinions mess with my self-confidence. For putting your lies inside my head. For allowing you to make me feel even an inch like less than the queen that I am. For giving you a second of my precious time during this one wild and precious life.”

“Oh, well said.” Ev set down her coffee and started clapping. “Bravo.”