Page 58 of Husband to Go
“I called off the wedding. I couldn’t go through with it, not after realizing how I felt about you.”
My heart jolts. How he feels about me? What does that mean? I take a deep breath, trying to calm my pulse.
“I still don’t understand. What are you talking about?”
On the surface, I know what he’s saying. It’s just that I can’t process the words. The whole reason I went to North Cross was because Tanner wanted Veronica, and not me. And now, that’s been turned on its head. What do I do? My heart races as I stare at him. Can this really be happening?
Tanner starts the car and begins pulling out of the parking lot.
“Baby girl, we need to get away from here and talk. I can’t discuss this now because there are just too many things on my mind. Plus, this place is fucking awful, and I want to get you away from here as soon as possible.”
His care makes my heart leap, and we drive in silence down the empty country road that leads from the hospital.
After a few miles, Tanner pulls off to the side of the road. The facility is no longer in our rearview mirror. In fact, there’s nothing but open fields on each side, bisected by the country path. He turns to me, those blue eyes tense.
“I’ll explain it again, sweetheart. I didn’t marry your mom. I broke it off because it felt wrong. Veronica wasn’t right for me, and you? Well, I wasn’t prepared for someone like you.”
I take a deep breath.
“Someone like me? What does that mean?”
Tanner’s eyes are reflective and he grips the wheel.
“I wasn’t prepared for someone that I really cared about. Someone who got under my skin. Someone I could fall in love with.”
Those words make my heart soar and happiness begins to bloom in my chest. But I catch myself, and force the words from my mouth.
“But what about all that other stuff you did? Sleeping with me while you guys were engaged? Acting like you couldn’t care less? All those times I begged you to leave her, and it was like you didn’t even hear.” I don’t know if my question makes any sense, but at this point, he needs to tell me what’s been going on. Tanner draws a deep breath, relaxing his grip a bit although his blue eyes are still intense.
“I’ll admit, when all of this started, I had zero qualms about having sex with you again and again even though I was engaged to your mom. In all honesty, when this all started, I was kind of hoping we could keep this going even after the wedding.”
I cringe, my heart doing a dive.
“Seriously?”
“Not my finest moment, I’ll admit that,” he growls. “But I changed.”
I shake my head.
“Why did you even want to marry my mom if that’s what you wanted? If you were just going to sleep with me behind her back, what was the point of a marriage? I mean, yes, I know you wanted to expand your business empire with her help, but couldn’t you just hire her as an employee? Pay her the big bucks and get all her connections that way?”
He sighs and looks down. His shoulders slump, and for the first time, I sense shame coursing through him.
“It’s hard to explain Kylie, and all this doesn’t exactly put me in the greatest light. Yes, I wanted Veronica’s business contacts, and yes, I could have just made her one of my employees. But there was something else too: she was older. I’ve always dated older women. Forty plus is usually my sweet spot.”
I blink at him.
“Do you have some kind of fetish for grannies?”
Now it’s his turn to blink.
“What? No, it’s nothing like that, and no, they’re not that old either. Yes, I definitely appreciate older women for their maturity, especially since a lot of ladies in New York are ditzes. But it’s more than that. I don’t want kids, Kylie, and women over forty make it easy for you because they either can’t have kids anymore, or they already have kids so it’s not an issue.”
Is he kidding?
“So you date older women because you don’t want to procreate?” I ask slowly.
He shrugs.