Page 59 of Rebellious Hearts

“I know you’ve been holding onto this thing that you’re a single god and you can get any woman you want, but there’s no shame in changing, you know. Look at Alex. He was Mr. Cold and now he’s married and they have little Tommy. I don’tthink I’ve ever seen a man turn to mush the way he does with Charlotte.”

“Yeah,” I grumbled. “I guess people can change.”

But it wasn’t about what Idid. It was about who Iwas.

“We’ll probably be done in the next two days and then we can flee without it being rude. Then we can get back to life as normal.”

I laughed. “You can’t tell me it’s cool to change into a family man and then in the same breath tell me you want to escape your family.”

“Hey, I’m talking about the family you can’t choose when I say I want to escape. Not all of us were lucky enough to be adopted into a Daddy-Warbucks-esque life. But when I talk about changing into a family man, I’m talking about the family youcanchoose.”

“For a player, you’re being very wise about settling down.”

“Hey, it’s way easier to give advice than to follow it.” Luke chuckled.

I laughed. He was right, of course. It was always easier to comment on someone else’s life, but working on yourself… yeah, that was fucking hard and not my favorite thing to do.

“I have to go,” I said. “I want to work on the presentation I’m supposed to give Richard while I have Sofia on my arm, fluttering her eyelashes.”

“On your arm?”

Right. I hadn’t told them about it.

“Don’t tell Amy, okay?”

“I’m going to tell Amy,” Luke said flatly. “You know I do that. I can’t promise I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

I groaned. “Fine, then just keep it between you two.”

I told Luke about Sofia being my pretend wife and how I’d put my foot in my mouth in that meeting.

“Holy shit,” Luke said when I was done.

“Yeah.”

“Holy fuckingshit.”

“Yeah, I heard you,” I grumbled.

“I’m just saying…”

“You don’t have to say it,” I said. “Iknow.”

“Yeah,” Luke said. “Well, good luck with that part. I’m starting to think you’re making your life a lot more complicated than you need it to be.”

“Thanks for that,” I said sarcastically.

“You don’t always have to play your life onhard, Ben,” Luke said. His voice was serious now. “Sometimes, you can cut yourself some slack.”

I wasn’t sure what that had to do with the fact that I’d told Richard Sofia and I were married, but I had the feeling he was talking more in general.

And the fact was maybe he was right.

But like he said, it was much easier said than done.

18

SOFIA