Two Weeks in Geneva: Book Three Read Online Free Page A

kitchen.
    He couldn’t have known it, but the words shredded her heart, reminded her in an instant of that first night with Alexander, the very moment, in fact, that had led to all this. Unbidden, and uncontrollable, first one tear slipped out of her eye and down her cheek, followed by another, then another, until a river of tears streaked her face and landed in great plops on her shirt. She tried to pull them back, regain control, but the harder she fought, the harder she cried and soon, much to her embarrassment, her shoulders shook with the force of her sobs.
    “Oh, and I don’t have any of that terrible diet-soda crap you and your friend love so much, but I have juic—Hey, what’s wrong, honey?” Joe asked as he rushed toward her.
    Joe’s warm, whispered words washed over her, all the more painful because of the kindness they held.
    “I-I…me—Alexander…”
    “Shh, it’s okay,” he said and he put his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close against him.
    She leaned into him as she continued to cry and somewhere in the back of her consciousness, she was aware of his kindly whispered words and soothing strokes to her back. They stayed that way for she didn’t know how long, but as the minutes passed, she was increasingly aware of the heavy weight of his arms on her shoulders, the granite wall of his chest against her palms. She hadn’t been this close to another man since Alexander, hadn’t had even the faintest desire to be, and she was struck by how wrong it felt. Sure, Joe was just a friend, a good, honest one at that, and he was only trying to help. But still, in spite of everything, it was Alexander’s comfort she craved, his arms she wanted to be held in. It was a truth so plain she dared not deny it.
    But it pissed her the fuck off.
    Anger, sharp and sudden as a lightning strike, flashed through her, and she sat up, pulling away from Joe abruptly.
    Surprise briefly shone in his gaze, but he quickly covered it.
    “Better, I see,” he said.
    “Something like that.”
    “You want to explain what the hell is going on?”
    She didn’t, but she couldn’t accept Joe’s hospitality and leave him wondering.
    “Alexander has a wife,” she deadpanned.
    Surprise again passed over Joe’s face, but this time it stayed.
    “You need me to kick his ass? Just say the word and it’s done.”
    She knew he meant it, too, and laughed mirthlessly.
    “No, but I reserve the right to change my mind.”
    He smiled at her, and she couldn’t help but reciprocate.
    “Well, it’s a standing offer, but I hope you work it out. He’s not a bad pampered rich dude.”
    That last comment earned a genuine laugh.
    “Not everyone can be a studly, non-pampered true American hero like you, Joe.”
    “Sure. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try.”
    Quinn smiled at him and stood.
    “I should go.”
    She knew a long night of misery awaited but no need to put off the inevitable.
    “Okay, but I’m here if you need me.” Joe stood and patted her arm.
    “Thanks, Joe. I appreciate it.”
    And she really did.
    But she needed Alexander.
    And she couldn’t have him.
    Not anymore.
     

Chapter Four
     
    It felt strange to knock on the door of the place he’d come to think of as home, but that was what Alexander did. Nothing in the last hellish week, not the anticlimactic confrontation with his parents, not the tense, stilted conversations with Quinn, nothing else so clearly demonstrated his now upside-down world, the open wound that was his life. He waited a moment, pondering his new circumstances before Lily, who held a squirming Ethan, opened the door and invited him in.
    “Ah, Quinn, er, had…wor—I can’t even tell that lie. She wasn’t up to seeing you, son,” Lily said as she invited him in, her expression sad.
    He’d expected as much, especially with the new pattern they’d fallen into, Alexander making arrangements to see Ethan, Quinn mysteriously occupied when he was around, but still it stung.