Free All In: Playing to Win (Gambling With Love Book 5) by Lane Hart

almost sadly.
    "I don’t think so. Now I can't figure out how I was so blind that I didn't see it before."
    "Let me just grab my purse and I'll be ready," she says quickly and then she vanishes.
    I take a step inside her apartment even though she didn't invited me in. It's a nice place, and the woman honestly does love blue. There's all sorts of variations of the color, from a dark navy couch to light blue walls. It's a consistent theme throughout the living room and kitchen based on what I can see. There's also a Carolina lamp on an end table, a Wildcats' clock on the wall with several other little pieces of team merchandise sitting around, showing she really is a big football fan.
    Coming back down the hall, Natalie looks up and sees me standing in the foyer.
    "I like your apartment," I tell her and she swats playfully at my chest.
    "I'm sure it's Polly Pocket size compared to where you live," she jokes.  
    "It is, but my big ole house just makes it feel that much lonelier." Why did I tell her that? Am I really lonely? The answer is a resounding yes .
    Natalie rolls her eyes. "Right, like you're ever there alone."
    "You'd be surprised how much alone time I have. I'm getting too old for my wild ways, and I'm trying to settle down with just one woman."
    If I am going to be a father I sure as hell can't have my son or daughter seeing a revolving door of women coming and going through the house. Lacy wouldn't put up with me always having a bunch of sluts around.
    Thinking about it, other than Natalie, there isn't a single woman I've dated or fucked lately that I'd even consider eventually introducing to my child. If that's not a wakeup call then I don't know what the hell is. I need to call Lacy and apologize for being such an ass to her when she told me she was pregnant. It was time for me to man the fuck up.
    "Uh-huh," Natalie mutters, unconvinced by my statement as she locks up her apartment and we head down the stairs to my car. "Is it true what the tabloids said about you recently ending a relationship?" she asks, catching me so off guard I almost stumble. I knew the media loved that sort of shit, I was just surprised Natalie remembered seeing the article about mine and Lacy's split from several months ago. 
    "Yep. My girlfriend of a year broke things off about four months ago," I decide to tell her honestly as I hold the passenger door of my Mercedes open for her. She pauses before sitting down.
    " She broke up with you , Zack Bradford?" she asks sarcastically.
    "Yes, apparently you're not the only woman that can withstand my charm." After she giggles and climbs in, I walk around to the driver side, hoping this conversation is over. Nope.
    "So, it's none of my business, but why'd you two end things?"
    I sigh before jamming the key in and starting the engine. "Because I'm an asshole. I cheated on her, honestly, more times than she even knows. She got fed up and instead of moving in with me after she graduated from college in May like we'd planned, she broke up with me."
    "And what's changed?" she asks. 
    "I'm tired of being an arrogant, self-centered, bastard man-whore. I want…more." And I want to keep my job. Oh, and I might be a father. I keep those two reasons to myself.
    "Do you want her back? Do you miss her?" Natalie asks softly.
    "It doesn't really matter what I want. Lacy had already moved on within two weeks of leaving me. I tracked her down in Greensboro to see if we could try and work things out. She said we were done. Actually she said there wasn't a single part of me that she missed. That same night I saw her, she got caught by a cop fucking a guy in his truck. She's living with him here in Charlotte now and seems...happy."
    "Must be a great guy, or she must be crazy," Natalie says with a smile.
    "Or she's right. She's better off without me. Apparently I'm sorely lacking in the bedroom too." Shit, I want to face-palm myself after letting that slip. That's probably the last thing I should say to a woman