INICIAR SESIÓNMELANIE~•~Coming out was definitely fun.I hadn’t been to a club in years, not since I got married to Patrick. I couldn’t even have a girls’ night out because his mother worried about how poorly it would reflect on their family. I’d forgotten just how fun it was to go out, let loose, and have fun.I let myself move to the music without overthinking, without calculating how it looked or whether it was appropriate or not. The guy I was dancing with — I couldn’t even recall his name — settled his hands at my waist as I turned.It was easy and uncomplicated. Exactly what I needed after the day I had.I thought briefly of Christian’s voice in my ear that morning, the low murmur of his words that I still couldn’t make sense of, and I pushed the thought away. This was supposed to be about reclaiming myself, not about spiraling over a man I had no business thinking about in the first place.But even as I danced, I could feel someone watching me.It was a club. It was filled with several pe
CHRISTIAN~•~“Didn’t you come here for a distraction?” Allen asked. “You’ve just been drinking and I haven’t seen you look at even one woman.”I looked up from my drink. “I didn’t come here to pick women up, Allen. I told you I just needed a drink.”My friend shook his head, as if disappointed. “Alright then. So why do you need a drink so badly? I’ve been trying to get you out for weeks but it hasn’t been working.”I stared at him for a few seconds, wondering if I should tell him. Even if I did want to tell him, what would I say? What could I say? I was having improper thoughts about my nephew’s wife and I needed to curb them?Allen would never let it go for the rest of his life.Thankfully, I didn’t have to answer because something caught his attention downstairs, probably a woman.I signalled the waiter for another drink.“Christian…”“Mmh?”“Isn’t that…” he trailed off, standing up slightly so he could look above the railing. “Isn’t that your nephew’s wife? The one you ran a back
MELANIE~•~“When are we finally going to celebrate your singleness?”“I just had the craziest day and you’re talking about celebration?” I asked Celina.She’d let herself in twenty minutes ago, her phone in hand as she scrolled through some list of bars she’d apparently been curating since the day I moved out of Patrick’s house for good. She looked up at my tone, immediately dropping the phone onto the couch cushion beside her. “Craziest how?”I dropped onto the couch across from her, dragging both hands down my face. “Where do I even start?” I groaned. Just thinking about this morning made me embarrassed all over again.“Start from the gala. You disappeared last night and didn’t answer my texts, which, rude, by the way.”“I was drunk.”“You’re always drunk lately.” She narrowed her eyes at me curiously. “Where’d you end up?”I hesitated, but there was no point lying to her. She’d get it out of me eventually anyway. “Christian’s place.”Celina’s mouth fell open. “Sinclair?”I nodded.
CHRISTIAN~•~I was an awful person. The gentlemanly thing to do was to feed Melanie and drop her off at home. It wasn’t to sit her down and ask her about the questions she’d asked me last night while she was drunk.But I couldn’t help myself.The problem wasn’t that Melanie had asked the question. The problem was that I woke up this morning realizing I had an answer for it. If she had asked me sober, I wasn’t sure I would have said no.And that was really awful of me.Melanie wasn’t just any woman.Aside from the fact that we were working together and taking her to bed would make things uncomfortable for both of us, she was still my nephew’s ex-wife. Even having thoughts about her was wrong.She was recently divorced and probably still in her feelings. She was vulnerable. How could I take advantage of that?I wasn’t that awful a person, right?I dragged a hand down my face and leaned back in my chair, the papers in front of me entirely forgotten.I told myself it was a passing thoug
MELANIE~•~I ran out of there after that, my heart beating at a faster pace than normal.Christian offered to drive me home but I couldn’t sit in a cramped space with that man after that question! What the hell did he mean by that? He might have answered? Positively or negatively? I tried not to dwell on it, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it on the taxi ride home. Was he flirting with me? Surely not, right?He was just teasing me, like he always did. It only felt like flirting this time because I took my questions too far the previous night. That had to be it. There was no other logical explanation for it.Patrick was his nephew. I was Patrick’s ex-wife. He was a lot older than I was. He wouldn’t be interested in a woman like me and even if he was, he wouldn’t act on it.As the taxi dropped me off at my apartment complex and I stepped out, I realized I’d left my car at the location of the gala.As if Christian Sinclair could read my mind, my phone buzzed with a text from him at
MELANIE~•~Christian wasn’t even fazed.He just kept on eating, occasionally staring at me while I almost choked to death. Thankfully, he had already placed a glass of water before I even sat down.I gulped it down, not bothering to be graceful until the choking died down and all that was left of my embarrassment were the tears in my eyes.When I was done, I looked up at Christian, who was staring at me with an arched brow, still waiting for my answer. I’d been hoping we could forget all about last night. I wasn’t expecting him to bring it up. The last time I was drunk, he didn’t mention anything until I asked. I was hoping he would extend the same courtesy this time but I was wrong.“I, uh,” I took a bite out of my toast, chewed, and swallowed yet this man was still waiting for my answer. “I was just making conversation.”If possible, his eyebrow arched even higher. “By asking about my sexuality?”“I didn’t think you were gay.”“But you asked anyway.”I dropped the toast back on the







