Read Persuading Spring: A Sexy New Zealand Romance (The Four Seasons Book 4) for Free Online Page B

front of his
son.
    She studied him while he chatted to Mateo
about the Egyptians after the boy had asked a question about Tutankhamun. He
was kind and gentle, and yet very much a man. He called his son ‘mate’. The
sweatshirt she wore smelled of his aftershave. He was serious and she imagined
he worked hard at his job, but he was ready to laugh too, and his chuckle was
quite infectious. He was polite and courteous, and yet when his gray eyes looked
at her, they held an intensity that gave her a little frisson down her spine. He
liked her, but he wouldn’t dream of saying so under the circumstances.
    At the thought of what had happened earlier
that day, Bridget’s spirits sank. For a few moments, she’d put it to the back
of her mind, but she was stupid if she thought she could avoid thinking about
it. At some point, she was going to have to face the cold, hard truth. Mal had
dumped her in the cruelest, most hurtful way imaginable, and she was going to
have to deal with that at some point.
    “Are you okay?” Aaron bent his head to
catch her eye.
    Her appetite vanishing, she pushed away the
half-eaten food and picked up her wine. “That was lovely, thank you.” She
finished off the glass. “I should go, though.”
    “Of course.” He put his plate aside. “If
that’s what you want, I can call you a taxi. Where will you go? Your parents?”
he suggested.
    “They’re both dead.”
    Mateo looked up, halfway through eating a
chicken nugget, and stared at her.
    Aaron’s brow creased. “I’m sorry.”
    She shrugged. “I was only ten when my dad
died. Fourteen when my mum followed him. Hitch—my brother—looked after me while
I grew up.”
    “What about his place?”
    “I could… I have lots of friends, but I
don’t really want to see them right now.” She didn’t want to talk about it, and
she didn’t think she could bear to see the pity on their faces.
    “I’d better go home,” she said. “I was
supposed to be moving in with Mal when we got back from our honeymoon so
everything’s packed up, but the rent’s paid for another two weeks.”
    “Are you sure you want to be on your own?”
Aaron asked cautiously.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Will you be okay if your… ex turns up?”
    Her ex. Yeah, that was what he was now. For
real. No short term breakup anymore.
    She shrugged. “I don’t see why he would.”
    “It’s only… Hitch told me that he turned up—I’m
not sure where.”
    Her eyes widened and her head spun. “You
spoke to Hitch?”
    “Only briefly, after you finished your call.
Just to reassure him you were all right.”
    “What… why did Mal turn up?”
    “Hitch told me not to tell you.” He ran a
hand through his hair when she glared at him. “He wanted to apologize.”
    She inhaled, fury sweeping through her. If
Mateo hadn’t been sitting next to her, she would have sworn violently. “I see.
What happened?”
    “Apparently one of Hitch’s mates gave him a
right hook.” Aaron’s lips twitched. The notion pleased him.
    She stared at him. Which of her friends
would have done that? Gene, maybe, as he was a trained protection officer,
although she wouldn’t have put it past Rhett either. She felt a warm glow in
her stomach at the thought that they’d stood up for her. She wasn’t alone in
all this. Mal might have taken the hope of marriage and babies away from her,
but he couldn’t take her friends.
    Her gaze slid to Mateo. “Do you think he
deserved it?” she asked. The boy nodded. “So do I,” she said.
    Aaron gave a short laugh. “I’m glad.”
    He was right though—she didn’t want to go
back to the house if there was any chance of Mal turning up there and catching
her alone.
    “You don’t have to make your mind up now,”
he said easily, obviously picking up on her hesitation. “Stay a bit longer,
have another glass of wine. Mat’s going to have a shower—”
    “No I’m not.”
    “—and then Shrek is showing on the
movie channel.”
    Her lips curved