A New Beginning

My heart stopped. I froze, staring at Alex and watching his grin spread across his face. A part of me wanted to tell him who I was. A part of me wanted to embrace him… and then punch him hard for how he had treated me. It took me several seconds before my brain processed the simple fact: the man in front of me didn't want me. The check he had left for me expressed it loud and clear. He had treated me like a whore, and the fact that my dumb hormones still merrily buzzed at the sight of him required a serious reprimand. Furthermore, he could have been married by now… I saw no ring when I glanced at his finger, but that didn't prove anything.

I forced my lungs to stretch as I sucked in a breath. I was not going to let another man hurt me. I was nobody's doormat. And I was definitely not going back to making the same mistakes. I could not let myself be fooled again, and the man in front of me was definitely a natural-born trickster. I couldn't let myself fall for his charms, although all