Page 66 of Honey Bun
I let him go so I could grab a pair of shoes, but he held my waist. “Wait.”
My stomach knotted as if this was the end, but I brushed that negative thought right out as I turned. His brown eyes were warm embers that spoke to my soul. “What’s going on?”
“I just want to know what changed your mind. I worked hard to not be pushy with you.”
I laughed. He was wonderful. I hugged him back. “You didn’t push. I’ve been going to the meditation classes, and that massage was pretty awesome.”
He looked offended. “So it was the massage?”
My soul grew brighter, and I shook my head and kissed his cheek. “No. It was mostly you. I can’t imagine not being with you anymore, and I need to stop self-sabotaging. I hope you can forgive me.”
He traced my back and hips. “There is nothing to forgive.”
My body warmed. I was a different person with him. I motioned with my head. “Well, we do have a few hours before we have to be there.”
“We can be fast,” he said, and we headed back to the bedroom.
With him, life was perfect. A whole new world for me started for me that day.
Chapter Twenty-One
Maddie
In my new luxury-brand clothes, I felt like one of those women I’d seen on old TV shows where they spent their days discussing designers and shoes and men and sex. Of course, I hadn’t been allowed to watch those shows, but I watched them when I was alone. Now, my life was better than any high-drama show. Arman loved me, and I loved him.
I stepped away from the mirror and saw him step out of his bedroom, wearing slacks and a button-down shirt. I smiled and took a step to join him as my phone rang. I glanced at the number. It was the Montana sheriff’s office.
I stepped back into the sitting room, glanced out the window, and prayed this wasn’t bad news. “Arman, I need a minute.”
He tapped the wall as he passed and gave me a thumbs-up. “Sure, I’ll get ready. Take all the time you need.”
I heard him head to the kitchen for another cup of coffee. My heart raced at the thought that my world was about to be destroyed. I scanned the view from the window, preparing.
I asked, “Hello?”
“Mrs. Robert Smith?”
My heart twisted. No one ever called me that. I held my chin higher. “Absolutely not. We’re divorced.”
“It seems your daughter, Aurora, is his next of kin, and you’re his beneficiary from his insurance.”
Kin. Beneficiary.These were words used for the deceased. I closed my eyes. “What happened?”
“He died, ma’am.”
I shivered and fell back onto the couch. My body was full of adrenaline. I’d expected him to show up and destroy everything I held dear, though I’d never acknowledged that fear.
I sat up straighter. “What? How?”
“Car accident with a deer.”
A dry almost laugh came out of me. I’d assumed Bob had named the church as his beneficiary. He’d made my life hell and fought for weeks with my lawyers until he realized he wouldn’t win, and now, I was receiving money from his quarter-million-dollar accidental death policy. I wasn’t sure I believed in karma. Everything felt unreal.
“You’re joking.”
“We’re the police, ma’am. We don’t joke.” The officer then said, “We need you to tell the morgue what to do with the body.”
That was fair. I would need Jeff to find out about the insurance for my daughter, and of course, I’d have to ask Aurora if she wanted something of his. I made a quick decision. “Send him to the funeral home, and have them call me.”