At Your Most Beautiful by Harper Bliss (best free ereader .TXT) 📗

that, her voice was the epitome of sexy. “I should have taken us much more seriously from the get-go.”

Quinn wanted to believe Morgan with all her heart. She wanted to drown in this serenade, in all these wonderful words Morgan was treating her to—words that would have been like the most exquisite symphony to Quinn’s ears if they’d been spoken a year ago, or two years ago. Now they sounded like a bunch of false notes strung together by an amateur.

“If I understand correctly.” Quinn did pull her elbow away now. “You want to hedge your bets. You want to know if I still want to be with you before you actually leave your husband.”

“Is that so wrong?” The thing about Morgan was that her smooth, sugary voice could make you believe anything.

“Yes, because it’s too late, babe.” Quinn tried to ignore the tears that stung behind her eyes. “We were together for four years, Morgan. I loved you. I gave you all my attention and energy and affection, while I always had to share yours with someone else. And even after I gave you all of that for all those years, it still takes you four months after you’ve dumped me to figure out that I’m the one you really want? Excuse me if I don’t want to buy that off the bat.”

“Four absolutely grueling months.”

“What do you think they’ve been like for me? A walk in the park?” Quinn looked up and found Morgan’s eyes. “It would be different if you’d already left him.”

“Come on, Quinn. You know I’m not one for big dramatic statements like that.” Morgan said it so matter-of-factly, but it was so far from the truth Quinn could see through it so easily now. “Don’t act as if this was all on me. No one ever forced you to give me four years of your life, to give them to a woman already married to someone else. Maybe that small detail was a little bit more convenient for you than you care to admit.”

“Don’t start with that bullshit now. You lied to me when you promised me you would leave Steve. That’s the crux of the matter. Now you come here and tell me, again, that you want to leave him for me, well, you know what? Don’t bother. Just stay with him. I’m not doing this with you anymore. I’m done.”

“Don’t say that.” Morgan tried to reach for Quinn’s hand, but Quinn pulled away again. “Take some time to think about it.”

“Can’t you see this is how it’s always been between us? You with your promises and your sweet words and—” Your sweet, sweet kisses. Looking at Morgan’s lips without kissing them profusely had always been a challenge, but not today, when they were the conduit for more of her meaningless promises. “I’m not giving you my hope anymore. I can’t spend any more of my energy on wishing for a life with you.”

“I know I sprung this on you, but—”

“No.” Quinn shook her head vigorously. “You don’t get to come here and tell me you still love me while you’re still with Steve. You simply don’t get to do that anymore. If you really still loved me and you really believed in a future with me, you would no longer be with him. You had four years and four months to make that decision. You don’t get to make it anymore now.” She pushed her chair back to put some distance between them. “It’s too fucking late. You already broke my heart. And you’re not the one who’s going to fix it. I’ll do that myself by staying away from you.” Quinn surprised herself, but she also knew that if she truly valued herself and respected her own feelings, this was the only way forward. What would giving Morgan yet another chance accomplish? In her heart of hearts, she knew she had to let her go for good. This was the end. Their chance at a future had come and gone—more than once.

Morgan sat completely still. Maybe this wasn’t what she had expected. But surely she hadn’t thought Quinn would just take her back like that? Jump into her arms and pretend all the things that had happened between them never had? Quinn might be seventeen years Morgan’s junior, but she’d often felt like the wiser one. When Morgan finally looked up, her eyes were wet with tears.

“Oh, fuck.” She pushed at the moisture under her eyes with the heels of her hands. “I had my chance.” She nodded slowly as though it had taken a while to process the information. “I hurt you too badly too many times.” The feet of her chair scraped against the floor as she pushed it away from the table. “Now I have to pay the ultimate price.”

As well as a husky voice, brooding dark eyes, and a pair of very deft hands, Morgan also had a shameless flair for the dramatic. During one of their more memorable fights, Quinn had accused Morgan of craving the sheer drama that an extramarital affair entailed. Morgan might have denied it in words, but she’d remained as addicted to drama as ever. Quinn wondered where she’d found the energy all those years to deal with it. And, right now, it was crystal clear that this was over. That despite her feelings for Morgan, and the hurt she felt because she was no longer in her life, she didn’t want to do this any longer.

Morgan rose. “Bye, babe,” she said. “I hope—” But she never finished her sentence and Quinn would never know what it was Morgan hoped for, because she turned around abruptly and exited the apartment.

Chapter 19

On Sunday afternoon, Maya was telling Angus how lovely her date with Beverly had been, when her phone buzzed.

“No doubt she’s already missing you,” Angus said. He seemed to have warmed to Beverly after Maya had told him about how kind and wonderful she’d been in real life.

“It’s probably Tommy,”