Read Love by Design (Crystal Falls Book 1) for Free Online Page B

stepped outside with Lydia into the late afternoon sun.
    “Tell me there’s a sexy place to drink around here.” Lydia turned her gaze up and down the small street. “Oh! Look at that! Plush. Sounds promising.” She lifted her eyebrows at Lily.
    Lily hesitated, trying in vain to think of any other place they could go.
    “What on earth is the matter? You look like I just suggested we rob a bank.”
    “Nothing. It’s just that I used to go there with an ex. I haven’t been since we’ve broken up.”
    Lydia rolled her eyes. “Honey, you have got to get over that shit, and quick. Never let an ex stop you from living your life. That’s my motto. One of them at least.” She laughed, grabbing Lily’s hand and pulling her down the street toward Plush. Lily could have pulled away but something in Lydia’s words hit home. She was tired of constantly avoiding Noah. And what was the point, now that she was forced to see him practically every day?
    “Oh, yes. This is just what we need,” Lydia said as they walked into the dark bar. It had been redesigned recently, and had a much cooler, more retro vibe than Lily remembered. The purple walls gave it a feeling of luxury and as she sank down into the padded leather seat of the booth she felt the stress of all the decisions they’d made throughout the day melt away.
    “So this ex, he wouldn’t happen to be the sexy architect Noah would he?”
    Lily nodded.
    “Well, that explains a few things. Did he dump you hard?”
    “I dumped him actually.”
    She gasped. “Now why would you go and do a silly thing like that?”
    Where to start? “He cheated on me.”
    Thankfully their conversation was interrupted by the waitress. After looking over the three pages of craft cocktails, Lily finally decided on something called The Saintly Sinner. It sounded like just the thing she needed.
    “So the beautiful architect has a flawed character. How delicious,” Lydia continued after the waitress moved away.
    “I wish I could see it that way.”
    “What other way is there to see it? The man is gorgeous. And he has a little bit of the untrustworthy about him. That makes him even more tempting to a girl like me.”
    Lily avoided the conversation, not sure how she felt about Noah anymore. Instead she gazed around the room, noting every detail of the bar’s redesign. She would bet her only paycheck that Blackwood had been behind it.
    A full cocktail glass slid in front of Lily and she grabbed at it for dear life. She took a careful sip of the lavender and orange cocktail and closed her eyes. Oh yes, that is good, she thought, giving her shoulders another roll. The Blonde Bear was like home to her, but Plush made the best cocktails in town. She’d forgotten that until now.
    “You wouldn’t understand,” Lily told her and took another sip of her drink.
    “Try me.”
    “I found out he was cheating on me with a friend of a friend when we were all on vacation together. I got mad at him. He said awful things to me. I told him to go to hell and never to talk to me again. It was a big deal. Happened in front of practically everyone we know.” Lily felt her cheeks go red, thinking back to what a fool she’d made of herself. She wished she’d at least had the presence of mind to confront Noah privately. But the box of wine she’d been sharing with Rachel and Angie that day had made presence of mind hard to come by.
    “That skanky ho,” she commiserated. “But wait, back up. You said you found out he was cheating. Did you catch him in bed with her? Oh that must have been awful.”
    Lily looked around the room. It was something she’d debated with Rachel and Angie many times before, but somehow hearing it from a stranger made it feel different. Maybe she had been too quick to give Noah the boot. But after all this time, all the effort she’d put into cutting him out of her life it seemed impossible to even consider going back. Not to mention all those hurtful things he’d said to her