“How do you feel about her now?”
Remembering how every part of me came alive as soon as I saw Valentine the other day, I knew the answer. Not only that but I’d been internet stalking her for years. Scrolled through her Instagram and Facebook photos until my eyes blurred. After her divorce, I wanted to go to her, but I’d been afraid it would send me back to that place where I constantly pined for her. With distance, the pining was kept at a minimum.
Yet in doing that, I’d broken her heart as much as she’d broken mine.
“I need to end things with Elizabeth.”
Wells clapped me on the shoulder. “About damn time.”
The right thing to do after breaking up with your girlfriend was to wait at least a month before moving on, right?
I could barely wait a week. I guessed that made me a prick.
But the heart wants what it wants.
I’d promised I’d give it some time before I went to Valentine to clear the air between us. But I’d been home on a Friday night, working on some plans for a couple who were building an eco-home on a tiny plot of land in Beacon Hill at the end of one of the historical row houses. It was a miracle we’d even gotten planning permission.
Wells and Cherry were out on a date.
Fingers itching, I reached for my phone and opened Instagram. The first photo on my feed was from Elizabeth’s account. She hadn’t blocked me.
Now I knew why.
The photo was of her kissing a guy in what looked like a nightclub. The caption stated, “He’s a better kisser than the last guy I dumped.”
Nice.
Elizabeth wasn’t exactly devastated when we broke up. She was more pissed off that I’d ended things.
“You do not get to break up with me. No one breaks up with me. I’m ending this. And don’t think for one second you can come crawling back when you realize what an epic mistake you just made.”
She’d swaggered out of the café as if she’d been told her favorite store didn’t carry her shoe size anymore, not like she’d just ended a six-month relationship.
Not gonna lie, her reaction made me feel like less of a prick.
And if she wanted to tell the world she dumped me, have at it.
I shook my head, disbelieving I’d wasted Peru on her, and typed Valentine’s name into the search. Finding her account, I tapped on her latest photo and felt that goddamn ache grip me tight.
She was out with Mindy tonight. She’d posted a selfie of them in a bar and tagged the location.
Jesus, she was so beautiful, it killed me.
Those dimples.
Those sultry eyes.
My attention moved to the location tag. They were in a bar near here.
Screw it.
Not fifteen minutes later, I pushed through the door of the crowded bar, searching the patrons’ faces.
I found Valentine sitting in a booth across from Mindy. There was a guy next to Val’s friend but Valentine sat alone. I worked through the crowd and didn’t even say hi before I slid onto the bench next to her.
She looked up at me in shock. She’d pulled her hair into a high ponytail, elongating her eyes, which already looked huge and “come fuck me” because of her eyeliner. I loved Val’s style. It was feminine and sexy, and she did not know just how much of both.
“Hey, Cupid.” I gave her a coaxing smile.
A bunch of emotions flashed across her face, none of them positive. Fuck. “What are you doing here?”
“Saw you here, thought I’d say hi.” I looked at her friend Mindy and the guy I recognized from their shop’s Instagram account. It was Mindy’s boyfriend, Xander. Christ, I sounded like a stalker. I shouldn’t know these things. “Hey, Mindy.” I held out my hand to Xander. “Nice to meet you. I’m Micah.”
Xander peered at me warily through his thick, black-framed glasses but shook my hand. “Hey. Xander.”
“Uh … dude, you’re in my seat.”
Glancing up, my stomach dropped. A tall, wiry, good-looking guy was frowning down at me, a tray of drinks in his hands.
This was a double date.
Valentine was on a date.
And this guy was exactly her type.
No, I reminded myself. You are her type.
I would not repeatedly make the same mistake.
Feigning ignorance, I grinned and shimmied closer to Valentine, forcing her along the bench toward the wall. “Plenty of room for three.” There was no way I was letting him sit beside her.
I was pretty sure I heard Mindy cover a snort of laughter with her hand.
“I’m Micah,” I said as the indie guy reluctantly slid in beside me and passed out the drinks.
“Uh … Ville.”
I grinned at the thought. “Ville and Val? Really?”
“What are you doing?” Valentine hissed under her breath.
I ignored her. “How long have you two known each other?”
“First date.” Ville flicked a wary look at me and then Val.
Excellent. Definitely wasn’t going to feel bad about messing this up for him, then.
I turned to Valentine, looked into her huge, dark eyes, and I realized at that moment that I couldn’t waste another eleven years of my life. If I didn’t say something now, even if it was humiliating and she rejected me, I would end up without her. And if I said what needed to be said and I still ended up without her, then at least I could say I actually goddamn tried.
“I broke up with Elizabeth.”
Valentine gaped at me. “What?”
“You were right. Not about why I was with her or that a woman needs to look or be a certain way before she interests me,” I said, glaring at her for those unfair comments. “But that sometimes she could be a not-nice person. And I didn’t want to be with someone like that.”
Valentine stiffened. “Good for you.”
“You were wrong about everything else.”
Her eyes flashed angrily. “I don’t think so.”
“Then you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
“Did you or did you not call me a screwup and then cut me out of your life when I married Louis?”
“Wait, you were married?” Ville peered around me to ask.
Mindy put her palm up to his face, her gaze fixed on us. “Shush it, Valo.”
“What? It’s Ville.”
“Ssshh.” She cut him a pleading look and turned back to me, leaning in. “Continue.”
I tried not to laugh as I turned to Valentine. She’d transferred her glower to her best friend. “I was the screwup. I was jealous and pissed, and rather than manning up and admitting how I really felt, I let you go. But you should know, I have never regretted anything more in my life. And God, Cupid, I have missed the hell out of you.”
Angry tears filled her eyes. “You can’t do this to me.”
“Hey, look, I’m clearly in the middle of something here,” Ville said loudly, pushing away from the table. “I’m just gonna go.”
“No!” Valentine turned to me, her expression furious. “You go.”
“I can’t do that.”
Her eyes widened in shock.
“Yeah, okay, see you.” Ville stalked off, pushing through the crowded bar.
That was fine with me.