Free Emily's Choice by Heather McCoubrey

beer, he waited for her to show. And show she would. Since Emily
left town back in September, she ’ d been following him all over the place.
    His trip to
Boston had been enlightening. Emily still loved him, of that he was sure. She
was angry, hurt, and distrustful—and she had every right to be. But she still
loved him. All he had to do now was find a way to win her back.
    First, he
had to know what happened, and the only person who could tell him was Lila. He
had to know how far she had taken him, how far her deception went. He had to
know her plan, and then he had to shut it down. He was a one-woman man. Emily,
not Lila, was the love of his life, and he would fight until his last breath to
get Emily back.
    He watched
her walk in, watched as she sauntered up to the bar and ordered her usual glass
of white wine. He watched as she slowly perused the bar, a confused look
crossing her face when she couldn’t find him. He watched as she asked the
bartender and Ben’s nod toward Jason’s direction.
    Lila
squinted into the dark after picking up her glass of wine. She strolled over to
his table and pulled out the chair across from him. Doing his best to keep calm
and not leap over the table to strangle her, he casually took a sip of his beer
and kept his face neutral.
    “Howdy,
stranger,” Lila said brightly. “Haven’t seen you in a few days.”
    Jason
nodded. “Took a trip.”
    “Oh?” Lila
asked, sipping her wine. “Where?”
    The “why
didn’t you take me” hung in the air. It all made sense to him now. Her showing
up everywhere he was. Her calls and texts. Her insistence that they spend time
together. The whispers and dirty looks in town.
    Oh yes, she’d
been busy since that night in September spreading lies, rumors, and
half-truths. It was no wonder everyone in Emily’s family, save Grace, wouldn’t
speak to him.
    “Boston.”
    The
expression on her face didn’t change, which made Jason think she either didn’t
know Emily was there or didn’t think Jason saw Emily. No matter. She’d know
soon enough.
    “Boston?
Whatever for? There aren’t many cows in Boston,” Lila smirked.
    “It was
enlightening,” he remarked. Taking a pull from his beer, he stared into her eyes.
He set the beer down on the table and sat up. Making fists, he laid them on
either side of his beer.
    “I missed
you. I wish you would have told me you were going.” Lila pouted.
    “Why?”
    He watched
as shock entered her eyes, confusion replacing it a second later, followed
closely by a coy smile. “I used to live there, you know that. I could have
shown you around to all my favorite haunts. Think about how much that alone
time, away from the prying eyes around here, would have taken our relationship
to the next level.”
    “Relationship?”
Jason asked. “You mean when you hid in my room, naked as the day you were born?
Or when you laid in wait for me to come home from my bachelor party, drunker
than a sailor? Or when you threw yourself at me, knowing I was expecting my fiancée?”
He paused to sip his beer, wanting desperately to smash it over her head. “That
relationship?”
    “I-I-I don’t
know what you mean,” Lila spluttered.
    “Oh now,
Lila, don’t lie to me. Emily saw you in my room. Saw my hands,” Jason held them
up in front of her face, “all over your body. Saw my lips kissing yours. And
she saw all of this on our wedding day!”
    Shaking her
head, she raised her hands in defense. “Jason, she’s lying. I would never . . .”
    “Bullshit!” he
yelled, banging his fists down on the table and shooting to his feet. He leaned
over the table and got in her face. His voice pitched low and menacing, he
growled at her. “You ruined my wedding day. You made the love of my life, who
is pregnant with my child, flee across the country in heartbreak. She can’t
even look at me and wants nothing to do with me.”
    Lila smiled.
“Then we can be together n—”
    “No,” he cut
her off. “There is no us, Lila.