Free Unwrapping the Playboy by Marie Ferrarella

she had.
    Lilli had just disappeared, leaving a note on his desk. The note had fallen on the floor between the wastepaper basket and his desk. He hadn’t found it until, lost in a frenzy of frustration and helpless anger, he’d kicked the wastepaper basket aside. Falling over, it had spilled its contents, but it was then that he’d seen the small whitenote card with two words in her handwriting. Two words that twisted a knife right into his chest.
    â€œI’m sorry.” That was all she’d written. Just, “I’m sorry.” And that was supposed to explain her departure and compel him to go on living his life. A life that no longer contained her.
    Sitting opposite Lilli now in his dining room, a room he rarely used except when he needed to spread out a massive collection of legal papers, it all came back to him with the force of a detonating bomb. Everything he’d felt, everything he’d gone through with her and then, without her. The good, the bad and, finally, the anger. He’d been a fool because he’d loved her and would have done anything for her. She hadn’t cared enough to explain things face-to-face.
    But now, after all these years, he had his answer. He knew why she’d left.
    Even so, he wanted to ask her why she’d tossed him aside like some kind of used tissue, without the courtesy of an explanation.
    Without a chance to fight for her and prove he was the better man.
    The words vibrated on his lips. But after all this time, he had his answer. It was cruelly obvious. Lilli had abandoned him for Erik Dalton, the only heir to an incredible fortune that he had done nothing to deserve. The rumor was that he had never been turned down, especially not by a woman. A morally bankrupt playboy who was the very poster child for the stereotypical rich kid with a heart of lead, Erik Dalton had gotten every woman he had ever set his sights on.
    All he had to do was crook his finger and womenfell from the sky, eager for his attention, eager to have some of his generosity touch their lives. He went through money as if it was of no consequence to him. There was always more.
    Was that it? Kullen wondered now. Had Lilli been blind ed and won over by the allure of materialistic goods? He’d always seen her as pure and unfazed by material wealth. It was obvious now that he’d been blind ed, too. Blinded by his feelings.
    Had there been a price tag on her affections after all?
    The Lilli McCall he’d loved so fiercely had been an honorable woman. But then, the Lilli he’d loved would have never abruptly left him with a marriage proposal still warm on his lips.
    â€œWhy are you fighting this?” he asked her quietly, without preamble.
    Polishing off her third slice of pizza and finally feeling full, Lilli looked up at him sharply. The question had come out of the blue and she didn’t know what he was referring to. The first thing that occurred to her by “this” was that the feelings were still there, carefully encased in Bubble Wrap and stored away. Feelings that belonged exclusively to him.
    So Lilli waited for him to elaborate and prayed that she could answer him without raking over old scars.
    â€œI could try to broker an arrangement between you and Elizabeth Dalton for joint custody. Lay down a few ground rules—”
    Lilli continued staring at him, growing more stunned. Why was he saying this? Had that dreadful woman’s lawyers gotten to him, bought him off? She hadn’tthought that would be possible, but now she wasn’t so sure.
    Wasn’t there anyplace left for her to turn to?
    â€œNo,” Lilli said firmly before he could continue, then repeated the word in a louder voice. “No!”
    â€œHeard you the first time,” Kullen assured her matter-of-factly. And he grew serious, leaning over the table. Leaning closer to her. His eyes pinned her down. “Now, tell me why.”
    Her eyes darted along his face,