Page 19 of The True Garza

“Like what?” both Lexi and I demand.

“Well, to be blunt,” he says with a shrug, “like she wanted to fuck me.”

“And how didyoulook at her?” Lexi presses.

Trent dips down and plants a kiss on her. “Only got eyes for you, my beautiful wife.” When he straightens, he says, “But she’s kinda sly, though, so I’d keep an eye on her. She chased off one of the robbers with the subtlest of intimidation.”

“And what didyoudo?” Lexi asks him.

He shrugs. “I didn’t really give a fuck. The last thing I wanted was to play vigilante, but he was taking forever to get it over with, so I got impatient and put him to sleep. Then paid for my beer and came home to you.”

She grins. “Such an asshole.”

“You’re in love with this asshole.”

“Unfortunately.”

As Trent leaves us with a chuckle, she asks me, “So, what, are you still into her?”

I beat back a snort. London is the most effortlessly alluring woman I’ve ever met. Bet she doesn’t even realize her appeal, what with that whole lax, couldn’t-care-less vibe she effuses.

She’s the only woman I’d ever felt an emotional pull toward. The only woman I’ve told goodbye then ached to see again. The week-long fling we’d had stands as one of the highlights of that year for me. And it’s not just because of the sex. I’ve had hotter, filthier sex, to be honest. She wasn’t my first—or last—Denver fling.

But she’s the only one I remember,completely. The only one that I can still feel, smell, taste. Because with her, everything had just felt…more.

At a bar-and-grill in the mountains, that’s where I’d seen her, ordering her meal to go. When she turned and looked up at me, my fucking heart stopped. Ihadto know her.

A fling wasn’t my intention. I’d only wanted to talk to her. Listen to that husky, low, broody voice. Stare into those striking hazel eyes. I wanted to know everything about her. Everything. And that shit’s never happened to me before.

See, I’m not a dick, I don’t treat women like shit. There’s nothing I love, respect, and appreciate more than the precious magnificence that isfemale. But I’m just not a settle-down, commitment kind of man. I like variety, I get bored easily, I forget easily, I’m inherently restless, and it takes a fuck of a lot to hold my attention.

With London, however, I was fixated.

For the first time ever, I wanted toreallyget to know a woman. But that woman didn’t want to be known. Nor did she want to know me. She’d slammed every door firmly shut and told me straight up what she wanted from me. Sex, and nothing more. No personal information shared, none asked.

Not what I wanted, but I agreed because something with her was better than nothing at all. And it was so fucking good that what was meant to be a one-night stand became a one-week fling.

When I came home to LA, I couldn’t get her out of my head. Couldn’t focus. She was all I could think about. I told Trent and Lexi about her.Neverhad a woman affected me so deeply and completely before that I had to tell someone else to get it all out.

But what I didn’t tell Trent and Lexi, though, is that two weeks later, I’d booked a flight back to Denver. Drove to her cabin in the woods, fucking itching to see her again. But when I got there, there was some other motherfucker knocking on her door. She’d opened and pulled him inside, in the same manner she’d done with me every night for a week.

No jumping to conclusions, I reversed into the woods and waited to see if the fucker would leave.

He didn’t. He spent the night.

I’d left at dawn with a strange, ineffable feeling in my chest. Hated it. Tried to put her out of my head. Reminded myself of who I am, and used the experience as a lesson of precisely why the fun, no-strings-attached lifestyle was best for me.

I’m a man who just likes to be fucking happy. Enjoy life and all it has to offer. Live in such a way that, when I die, people will miss me so damn much, they won’t know what to do with themselves. Grieve me for years.

Life’s too short to be an asshole.

That’s just who I am, unapologetically.

Pain, sadness, depression—I don’t fuck with those. And what I felt driving away from that cabin—that’s something I never, ever want to feel again.

So, yeah, I’m still attracted to London. Seeing her again was like a fucking dream. But am I going to do anything about it? Fuck no.

It’s good that she’ll be working with Allard. I’d had her on a pedestal because I’d known nothing about her. But now, I will. And I’ll see all her flaws and weaknesses, which will, without a doubt, be a lust-killer for me. Seeing all her character imperfections exposed under the bright California sun, her appeal will fade in no time. She’ll be just another woman to me.