Free Victoria's Got a Secret by Helenkay Dimon Page A

guy’s haven. Now if Paul could only get his best friend to stop looking at him like a worried grandmother.
    “What?” Paul asked without taking his eyes off the screen.
    “You okay?”
    “Do I look okay?”
    “Kind of like dogshit, actually.”
    Paul smiled at that one. He knew it was true. He barely recognized the unshaven guy who greeted him in the mirror that morning. “Thanks.”
    “Look, this isn’t a big deal.” Neil shifted in his seat and balanced his arm on the back of the couch.
    “Did you miss the part where she left me because I’m . . . forget it. I really don’t know what the issue was.” Paul had lost count of the number of times he turned their conversations over his head, trying to find the answer. Trying to figure out a way to keep her from walking out on him in search of something better.
    “It’s what you guys do.”
    Paul stared at his friend. “What the hell does that mean?”
    Neil held up his hands as if ready to block any blows that came his way. “Only that you guys have broken up before. This is not new.”
    Paul balanced the bottle on his lap and leaned his head against the cushion behind him. “Not by my choice.”
    “Yeah, well, women tend to drive these things. The good news is she keeps circling back around to you.”
    “Not this time.”
    “Come on. That’s the beer talking.”
    “She’s moving on.”
    The thought of her with another guy, of someone else spending time with her, watching movies with her on the couch. Another man touching her body and kissing those lips. The visual images drove him to madness.
    Letting her walk out meant conceding she would go to another guy eventually. His brain fought the possibility as his stomach heaved.
    “You don’t know that you’re over.” Neil peeled the label on his bottle. “Besides, Jennifer strikes me as faithful.”
    “When we’re together, sure.”
    “See?”
    “We’re not now.”
    “You’ve thought that before.”
    “It feels different.” The break-up sat on his chest, pressing him down until he nearly choked from the force of it.
    “How?”
    Maybe they never said the actual words, but her eyes had said good-bye. “Not sure.”
    “Then—”
    “I can’t figure out how to hold onto her with a grip that doesn’t scare the crap out of her.”
    Or how to let her go.
    There it was. They couldn’t come up with a way to stay together, but their connection of years and memories refused to let them break apart in a clean and tolerable way.
    “You met young,” Neil said.
    “That seems like it should be a good thing.” Paul spent a lot of time wondering if he’d known then the never-ending sensual dance they would engage in throughout the years, how Jennifer would take his heart and never stop squeezing, if he would have walked away when Heather tried to introduce them. It was a matter of self-preservation.
    Neil scoffed. “Nothing good comes out of high school. You of all people should know that.”
    “School sucked, and I sucked at it.”
    “Yeah, you had other things on your mind. Like figuring out where to sleep and how you were going to eat.”
    Paul refused to dwell on those dark days. Being adopted and handed a bad hand was no excuse. Other people had it worse and got by. He survived and vowed never to hide behind the tough times or let them color everything else. Despite everything, he’d kept that promise.
    Except where Jennifer was concerned. He couldn’t puzzle through her no matter how hard he tried. “But I’m a grown man now. I should be able to figure this out.”
    “Do you forget there’s a woman involved? Bless their sexy little bodies, but they are pure trouble.”
    “No kidding.”
    “They twist you up . . . man, they hold all the power, and that bugs the shit out of me.”
    “I can’t take it anymore.”
    “I know, dude.” Neil shook his head in a moment of male-to-male sympathy.
    Paul reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He handed a folded piece of