Don't Break My Heart (Return to Redemption, Book 6) by Laurie Kellogg

and Tyler, so to refuse Justin
would be a real slap in the face. “Okay. It’ll probably help to get up and move
a little. But no fast dancing, or my seams may split wide open.”
    “Mmm, I can’t wait.” He wiggled his eyebrows as he led her
to the center of the dance floor and pulled her close. “As a betting man, I’d
wager you aren’t wearing much under that dress since it fits like shrink-wrap.
I didn’t see a single panty line.”
    Great. So he’d actually been studying her butt while she’d
been foxtrotting with BJ.
    After a few moments silently dancing to a soft Johnny Mathis
song, he said, “I guess it was a big adjustment living on a waitress’s pay
after you left home.”
    “It wasn’t too bad. I worked at a greasy spoon for a few
months to get experience, and then I landed a position at a swanky, four-star
restaurant. I made pretty good money.”
    “It takes more than pretty
good money to live in Manhattan.”
    “Not if you share a one-bedroom efficiency in a
not-so-glamorous neighborhood.”
    “Precisely—a big adjustment from Philly’s Mainline.
Seriously,” he said as he dipped her, “Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?
I would’ve understood. You knew I couldn’t stand your father.”
    And he had excellent reasons to hate her old man even more
than she had. “I simply needed a clean break. You had no interest in getting
serious, so there—”
    “Whoa. What do you call sleeping together every night if not serious ?We were planning on renting an apartment together in January since
Marc and Lindsey had gotten hitched.”
    “Exactly. I’m referring to marriage. All you talked about
was how Sam had ruined your brother’s life and career by getting pregnant, and
how no woman was ever going to do that to you.”
    “Well, obviously I was wrong about Nick’s life being
ruined.” He glanced over at his brother and sister-in-law snuggled together on
the dance floor. “He’ll tell you Sam, Dani, and little Chris were the best
things that ever happened to him.”
    “Still, you were so anti-marriage I knew there was no future
for us. So why should I have told you?”
    He cupped her cheek and stared into her eyes. “Because I thought we meant something to each
other.”
    “But not enough to spend a lifetime together, right?”
    “I was eighteen, for crying out loud. You wanted me to think
about marriage when I still had five years of school and three interning before
I could begin making any real money?”
    “You’re thirty-four now, and you’re still single. So I don’t
imagine anything would’ve changed. Otherwise, I’d be dancing with a married
man.”
    “Cut me a break. I just haven’t found the right woman.”
    “In all these years?”
    The muscles in his throat visibly convulsed. “Have you
considered maybe you were the right
one?”
    “Now, why would I think that when, according to you, the
only thing you care about is if a woman is beautiful in the dark .”
    “What?” He did a double take. “When did I ever say anything
like that to you?”
    “Not to me . I
overheard you talking to your friends right before I left. It’s what made me
decide you didn’t deserve to be told. Be honest. The only reason you kept
seeing me was because you were getting laid regularly.”
    “You wouldn’t say that if you’d heard my entire
conversation.”
    “I heard enough to know you were using me.”
    “How do you figure?”
    “One of the guys was busting your chops and claimed I was a
bit chubby for his taste and, maybe if I got contact lenses, I’d be worth
looking at. You told him he was an idiot, and all you care about is if a woman
is beautiful in the dark. Then you said, ‘ When
you find a girl who worries less about her looks and more about pleasing you,
then you’ll know you’ve found the right one .’”
    “That must have been when you left. Because you obviously didn’t
hear what I said after that.”
    She hadn’t wanted to hear anymore. “Why don’t