Interesting. “So you didn’t have sex with her?”
“No. Nothing happened at all. I never even touched her.”
“Okay.” I was a little puzzled why he was sharing this, then.
“Sometimes Train or the guys like to give me shit about it and I didn’t want you caught off guard. Train was pissed at me for awhile, so I wanted to be honest with you. No secrets.”
“I appreciate that.” Then I realized something. Sydney was only five or six months pregnant. “When was this?”
“New Year’s Eve.”
“Ah. After we met.” I had known that he’d probably seen other women after our night together, and he had pretty much admitted that when I had seen my shoe on his dresser, but I didn’t really want details or to think too much about it.
“I was pissed you left without saying goodbye or leaving your number. My head wasn’t really on straight right then.”
“Don’t put that on me,” I said. Not because I was angry, but I didn’t see what I had to do with his decision to sleep with random women.
“I’m not putting it on you. I’m explaining that you had an impact on me when you ran out with one shoe like some Cinderella thief.”
That made me roll my eyes. “So your Prince Charming move was to have sex with other women? In the movie, he sent his minions out to look for her. He wasn’t banging all the single maidens in the land in payback sex.” I wasn’t sure why I was fixating on that. It wasn’t like I hadn’t already known he’d been with other women.
“How did we get here?” he said. “Oh, because I was trying to be honest with you. But anyway, for the record, I did look for you. I told you I found you on social media, but I also stayed at the hotel a few times and ordered lots of extra towels looking for you.”
Now I burst out laughing. “You did what?”
“You heard me.” He sounded grumpy now.
“That’s kind of… different. You could have just reached out to me on social media.”
“I thought you stole my stuff. You wouldn’t have responded. I wanted to catch you off guard.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of that. “But we met again by accident. Right?”
“Correct.”
“And then with Amelia?”
“Also coincidence. Though I did pay off the kid who tried to take the walk first. I saw your profile on the app.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know how or what I was supposed to feel. “Thanks for being honest.”
“Speaking of Amelia, I miss her,” he said. “Can you put my phone on the kennel? We can see her on video.”
Was that a subject change? I didn’t think so. He really was obsessed with the dog. I picked his phone and held it up to him. “Do you have facial or thumb recognition to unlock it?”
“Just put the code in since I’m driving.” He rattled off his passcode.
I tapped the numbers, a little floored he trusted me with it. “Is the kennel an app?”
“You can just go to the website.” Then he added, “I have a confession to make.”
My gut clenched. What now? “Is this about Amelia or something else? Because if you tell me you have a secret baby, I’m not going to be cool with it.”
“What? No. Of course not. Who has a secret baby? What does that even mean, like the baby is in Europe or something? Hey, did you know Ji-Ho’s hot for Christina? He asked me to get her number.”
I mentally cursed myself for getting him off track. “What do you need to confess? You’re freaking me out.”
“Oh, no, don’t freak out. It’s just I’ve never given my passcode to a woman before. I admit, I hesitated for a split second. But I want you to know I trust you.”
I was relieved and touched. He clearly didn’t think I was responsible for stealing his wallet or ring. “That means a lot to me. And I’ll give you my passcode too, if you want it.”
“Only if you want to give it to me.”
“You called me your girlfriend in front of that fan.”
He glanced over at me. “Yes. That’s what you are. Right?”
“Does that mean we’re… exclusive?” I thought we were. I just needed him to say it. For all I knew, he’d bought three other women houses this month.
“Yes. We are. I am not, nor do I want to be, seeing any other women. And given your schedule, I’m pretty sure you don’t have any time for a side piece.”
That made me laugh. “I barely have time for you.”
“Trust me, I know.”
I put my hand on his thigh. “I want to squeeze you in whenever I can.”
When he glanced over at me, I realized that had been a poor choice of words. He was grinning. “Don’t,” I said. “Don’t even say it.”
“Say what?” he said.
I shook my head. The innocent act didn’t work on him.
“Nothing. And I’ll give you Christina’s number but you need to warn Ji-Ho she has a child.”
“He knows that. The kid was with her.”
“I’m just saying that she’s not skilled at casual dating and having a child involved could be messy.”
James made a noncommittal sound.
“What?” I asked.
He gave me a smile. “You’re such a mom, you know that? You’re a beautiful person, Mia.”
My heart squeezed. “You’re not so bad yourself,” I whispered.
Chapter Seventeen
JJ
“You didn’t tell anyone I was coming?” Mia asked, the second we were alone in one of Cash’s guest rooms. She reached out and smacked my arm. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Ow,” I said, rubbing my arm, even though it didn’t hurt in the slightest. It was like getting punched by a feather.
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You get knocked on your ass by grown men twice my size. That did not hurt. Now answer the question.”
I put her suitcase on the dresser and unzipped it. I almost had a heart attack when I opened it. She packed like a toddler. “What the hell is this? Did Kadin pack for you?” Everything was just shoved in with no rhyme or reason.
“Don’t change the subject.”
“I told them I was bringing my girlfriend. I think I just assumed they would know that I meant you.”
That might be a lie. Sort of. I had thought they would think of Mia, but mostly I hadn’t wanted to hear any of the guys’ opinions on dating her. I regretted I’d ever told them about her alleged thievery.
But when we’d walked into Cash’s house, they’d had no choice but to be polite. And they had been. They might have been surprised, but no one seemed particularly upset.
“That was embarrassing. Sydney didn’t even remember my name.”
“That’s because you met her on her wedding day. She was distracted.” I started pulling her clothes out and folding them, before placing them in a drawer. I was trying to be as honest as possible with Mia, but I didn’t think she needed to know why I hadn’t been totally forthcoming with my friends.