Page 103 of The True Garza

Other than that, he checks out. So I scoot up against the headboard, fluff a pillow behind me, and make the call.

CHAPTER Twenty-Five

“If you like him, tell him.”

Lonny

Jules: I thought we werefriends!

Me: We are?

Jules: I’ve decided we are, so yes. And friends tell each other exciting things. Like that you went on a date with super-hottie, Dennis.

Me: Well, there won’t be another date now that I know he reports to you.

Jules: He didn’t. His sis told me. She’s all excited because he hasn’t been out on a date since his divorce.

Twodates actually.

And he did indeed confess that, since his divorce five years ago, he hadn’t been on a date and had just been throwing himself into work. We’d hit it off so well on our first date last Friday that we went out again the following night.

Dennis is a divorcée with a seven-year-old daughter who lives in an entirely different state. His daughter being so far from him was the yellow flag in his background check. But when I asked about it, for credibility’s sake, he video-called his ex-wife so I could ask her myself. She was sweet and explained that both he and she are from that state, but they’d moved to LA for his job. After their divorce, she wanted to move back home to be closer to their families—against which he initially fought, but then reluctantly agreed to, knowing it was best for their daughter.

Apart from that, I like him. Turns out he’s not as serious as I’d initially thought. He admitted that he’d just been nervous because he hadn’t dated in a while. He’s focused and driven and knows who he is and what he wants. Most importantly, he’s a one-hundred-percent-commitment kind of man. All or nothing, no games. He laid it all on the table, what he hoped for with me. But I suggested we take it slow for now.

Because ofhim.

Because, although I haven’t so much as brushed fingers with Dennis,hegets my body. All of it.

I have these deep, intellectually stimulating conversations with Dennis.

Then True beckons me, and we have rough, hard, hot, brain-shattering sex.

It’s wrong of me to not disclose to Dennis that I’m casually seeing someone else, but I’m afraid it’ll be a deal breaker for him—and I like him enough to not be willing to take that risk. He’s more than made it clear that he knows exactly what he wants and is not the type to embark on frivolous pursuits.

Ending things with True is the best and most sensible thing to do. But every time I make the decision to do that, once I see him, it all goes out the window. Brain shuts down and sexual urges take over. Every. Single. Time.

At this point, it’s evident that ending things face to face is never going to work. Not when my body is so damn submissive to him.

It will have to be done asshole style—over the phone.

Jules: So??? How was it?

Me: We’ll talk when I come in for my next hair treatment. But thanks for the hook up. I really like him.

Jules: Yay! He’s a total catch.

“So,” Brook’s voice yanks my attention from the phone screen, “explain to me exactly what’s going on.” Her brows are drawn together as she scoops Chinese takeout onto our plates on the dining table.

This is normal for her, to have conversations with herself in her head, then randomly loop me in. Thankfully, I’m not left to play ‘guess what I’m talking about’this time, because she continues, “Are you cheating on True with the contractor, or on the contractor with True?”

“I’m not ‘cheating’ on anyone.” I pick up a spring roll and bite into it. “I’mtalkingto Dennis. I’m having casual sex with True.”

She nods as if she understands, then shakes her head as if she doesn’t. “Do either of them know?”

“Dennis doesn’t. But True’s Red Cage, so I’m positive he knows.” I take another bite of spring roll. “It won’t matter to True, but Dennis is the long-term-commitment type, so itwillmatter to him.”

“If you like him, tell him.”