His eyes grew wide and his head began shaking. “No. Him?” he questioned, his finger pointing at Nathan. “It was him at the bar? It’s him who marks you? Him who understands you?”

I nodded, feeling that I didn’t need to explain our actions to Andrew, especially when he was doing everything in his power to not listen to me.

“Yes. Me. I see her. I’m the one who sleeps with her every night. It’s my c**k shoved in that f**king tight pu**y of hers. So, get the f**k out of here so I can pin her against the wall and make her forget that anyone other than me has ever been inside her.”

I groaned. Nathan was baiting Andrew, igniting everything all over again. I stepped back when Andrew rushed forward, grabbing Nathan by his lapels.

“You don’t deserve to be in the same f**king room as her.”

Nathan pushed him off. “What the f**k is your problem? You just can’t let her go, can you? Wasn’t it you who left her? And what do you know about me, Andrew? That I f**ked around with women over the last two years? Yes, that’s true. I needed an outlet for my anger, frustration, and sexual needs. Who the f**k cares? She doesn’t.” His chin jerked over in my direction.

“If that’s all you know and that’s all you care to know, then leave,” I told Andrew.

Andrew stared at me, ignoring my statement. “This is a breach of both of your employment contracts, you know that, right?”

“Of course we know. Are you planning on saying something so we’ll both get fired? Is your prejudice of Nathan that great? So great you would endanger my job as well? And my happiness?”

“I… Lila…” He trailed off with a sigh. “I don’t want to see you get hurt, and I think he could damage you.”

“Nathan has no devious plan, no ulterior motives. He’s a good man, and you need to open your eyes and see. Because all you’re looking at is the act, what he shows you, not the real man. Now get the hell out of my home, and don’t f**king come back until you’re ready to know him—ready to know us. I’m an adult and can make my own goddamn decisions. I choose who I want to be with. And it’s him. He’s the one I want.”

Andrew stared at me in wonder, a sad smile on his face. “Good girl.”

I gave him a small smile in return, understanding the meaning between his two small words. I stood up to someone, against someone, and didn’t retreat into my shell and take it. That’s how strong I’d become.

He turned to leave when Nathan spoke, drawing his attention. “If you want to find out some truth – as true as the news will give you, anyway – then do what Caroline did: Google my name. And once you’ve done that and found some truth, then you can come and try to tell us what kind of person I am, but not before. Because I guarantee your opinions will change.”

Andrew nodded, more sedate than when he arrived, and walked through the door, shutting it behind him.

I marveled that Nathan would share that with him. I still hadn’t mustered the courage to look him up, but then again, I wanted the truth. I wanted to know the real horrors he’d been through. They wouldn’t change my opinion of him; he was amazing.

Within seconds, I was back to being pinned against the wall, Nathan’s lips on mine with hot and heavy desperate kisses. He pulled away before leaning in and nuzzling my nose. “Mine,” he declared.

I smiled up at him, my hand moved to caress his cheek, my heart swelling. “Always.”

CHAPTER 23

The next morning, I was shocked into silence when Andrew walked straight up to Nathan in the parking lot and hugged him. Nathan hugged him back, and they exchanged what I could only describe as some secret, man-look. No fists, no angry words, but an understanding and friendship budded in front of my eyes as Andrew vowed to stay silent about us.

Over the next few days, they became lunch buddies, Andrew splitting between the two of us. It was almost like shared custody.

“Really?” I asked Nathan a few days later, my curiosity getting the better of me. I stood in front of the stove, a skillet full of ground turkey, springing the question on him as he walked back in from changing clothes.

“What?”

I waved the spatula in my hand. “You hug, exchange a look, and suddenly all of the animosity that’s been boiling between you two for months is gone.”

“That about sums it up.”

“Men are strange creatures.”

“Nothing had to be said. I told him to search; I knew what he was going to find.”

“And what was that?”

He shrugged. “Half-truths buried in lies. Same as what Caroline found.”

“And why is that?”

“Lila…”

“I’m sorry, I just…will you ever be able to tell me, or are you going to relegate me to the half-truths buried in lies as well?” The exasperation in my tone was evident.

He sighed and leaned back against the counter, his hands resting on the edge. “No. I don’t want you to know that garbage. Don’t do a search, please. I will tell you, I just…need to figure out how to do it.”

“All right, okay,” I conceded, not wanting to push him. “Please don’t keep me waiting. I want to know you, all of you.”

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me toward him. He leaned down and kissed the side of my head before whispering in my ear. “I want you to know me too. And I will tell you, I promise.”

I turned in his arms and tilted my face toward his, my lips pursing. He smirked down at me.

“Something you want, Honeybear?”

I made a fishy-face at him, cheeks sucked in and my pursed lips opening and closing. That improved his mood, a laugh springing from his chest before he too made fishy-lips at me and pressed them to mine.

I loved moments like that: sweet and tender. They were the times I was happiest, the times when Nathan was just Nathan, if only for a moment.

It was halfway through the next week when the relationship between Sadie and Will came out, no longer a rumor. We were all gathered in one of the large conference rooms, crammed in the small space, as Jack made the announcement that Sadie had submitted her resignation.

He informed everyone the policy was still in place, and Will would stay on since Sadie had resigned before action needed to be taken.

My mind began wondering what would happen in our case. I wanted to believe things would be fine, but I knew the reality of the situation. I surreptitiously looked toward Nathan; he was staring at the ground, mulling something over. Perhaps the same things that were on my mind.