Kyle tossed his car keys into a triangle-shaped, metal bowl and leaned against the kitchen cabinets, reviewing the past few hours spent with Quinn. The mention of Skylar, his former fianceé, had triggered emotions from his past he didn’t like reliving. Everything he’d said at dinner was true. Skylar had cared more about her career than she cared about him. And she hadn’t wanted kids. Not the kind she’d have to agree to stay at home and raise without the assistance of a nanny, anyway.
But there was more to it. Things he didn’t say. Things he couldn’t say. Ugly truths he didn’t want to admit. Truths like Skylar catching him having sex with another woman on not one, but two occasions. And then there was the whistle-blower, a one-night stand who made it her personal quest to seek him out and destroy him after he failed to return her calls. And destroy she did by finding Skylar and telling her everything.
Three women in three months, and Skylar snapped. Kyle was given an ultimatum. He either agreed to attend sexual addiction therapy or the relationship was over.
Sexual. Addiction. Therapy.
The words sounded as dirty to him now as they did back then, like Kyle needed to wash his mouth out with soap for even allowing them to infiltrate his mind for a few seconds. Mostly because she had it all wrong. He wasn’t sexually addicted. He was frustrated. Frustrated the one woman he loved refused to put him first. Every other woman had put him first. Why couldn’t she?
To relieve himself from feeling that kind of crushing pain again, he’d made a decision to remain a bachelor. The lifestyle suited him. And his job with the local police department was the perfect fit, giving him just the kind of appeal he wanted.
Man in uniform.
Women couldn’t resist.
Seeing Quinn today stirred up feelings he’d sequestered, shattering his personal belief that all women were the same. There wasn’t anything “same” about Quinn Montgomery. It had been so long since they’d seen one another, he’d almost forgotten how unlike other women she was. Kind. Honest. Real. He couldn’t deny it. He had feelings for her. He always had. Now he just needed to find a way to keep her in his life.