Secrets of You Read Online Free PDF Page B

why he’d walked out of her life—their life. She could find out very soon. If she asked. If he told her the truth.
    She didn’t want him to know how much she cared. That showed weakness and she would not be weak around Ash Revelin.
    “Hey.”
    She looked up and there he was, the man who had haunted her for more than two years. Why did he still have the power to make her forget to breathe? She didn’t want to remember the way his lips twitched when he thought she was being too serious. Or how dark his skin was against her paleness. Even as she fought the remembering, the past swirled around her, landed in her brain in a whoosh of emotion and memories, snapshots of their first meeting, first kiss…last time they made love...
    He slid into the booth opposite her and said, “Nice place.”
    The Banana Tree was anything but nice. Filled with dark wood, half-drawn shades, and a handful of customers drowning in their own past, the bar held a certain desperation about it, as one who has almost given up on itself but can’t quite do the deed of ending it all. It did not speak of hope or second chances. And certainly not forgiveness. The dingy bar provided the perfect backdrop for listening to Ash’s lies and then walking out of his life as he’d once done to her.
    “Thanks for agreeing to meet.”
    “I only agreed to see you because of Quinn.”
    A flash of something—anger, remorse, pain?—darkened his expression, and then, just as suddenly disappeared. “I forgot Quinn resides at the right hand of God and the law.” His dark eyes narrowed on her. “Whose baby is that I saw yesterday?”
    “It’s Quinn’s.”
    He laughed. “ Burnes has a child? So he got trapped.” Ash rubbed his jaw, his lips twitching as if the possibility of a woman ensnaring Quinn Burnes was enjoyable.
    “It wasn’t a trap.” Not the kind he meant anyway. The only trap that almost caught Quinn was the one she unknowingly helped set—leading Eve’s estranged husband to Quinn’s home where the brutal man intended to steal his wife back and murder Quinn. Thankfully, the only one who got caught in the mess was Alexander Maldonando, the estranged husband.
    “The Quinn Burnes I knew wasn’t looking to settle down.”
    She met his gaze, held it, pushed the words through the pain. “Things change. Quinn’s married with a wife and child.” That could have been us. It should have been us.
    “Damn.” Ash rubbed his forehead. “Who would have thought?” And then, “Is he still chasing ambulances?”
    “Actually, he’s not. He’s painting.”
    “Painting? What? Houses?”
    “Of course not. He’s an artist. So is his wife.” She ignored the twinge of envy circling her words. “They work together.” Like we planned to do. “He also does legal counseling for start-up companies and small corporations.”
    “So, he’s noble and he’s a family man.” His blew out a disgusted sigh. “Now I really don’t like him.”
    There probably was more truth to those words than he wanted her to see. Thankfully, the waitress took that moment to descend upon them. Arianna ordered another scotch and Ash a beer. He used to enjoy the darker microbrewery types but he’d chosen a no-fuss-on-tap beer that reminded her once again how things had changed.
    “Why did you really come back?” She didn’t want to talk about Quinn or his new livelihood or anything for that matter. What did a person say to someone who had crushed her dreams and not had the decency to stick around and explain why? Had she meant so little to him she didn’t warrant at least that? Or was there more, something darker, more hideous and unforgivable that sent him away, kept him away all this time? Ash Revelin was like a scab that wouldn’t heal, and his reappearance had ripped that scab open to expose the rawness beneath. It was too painful to be around him. Too unsettling. She’d listen to him because of her promise to Quinn, but once this conversation was over, she