Her eyes narrow on me and she smirks behind her kombucha bottle. “Don’t be so sure about that.”

“Sondra, I know him. He hates me now. Aleck can handle my bratty personality, he can handle my fight for dominance in our relationship. He actually likes it, I think. The one thing Aleck won’t stand for is knowing I gave myself to someone else. Especially Dylan.”

“Well, I guess there’s only one thing that can save you now…”

My smile mirrors hers. “Yeah, what’s that?”

“The truth.”

I snort, rolling my eyes. “I don’t want to be saved. That was the point of lying. I’ll never trust him. I don’t want to be anyone’s fling. I don’t want to be anyone’s training wheels preparing them for the real thing. I want more. More commitment, more of a future, more… I want everything. Aleck’s not ready for that. He was right to leave me behind, he’ll only make me miserable in the long run. We’re done, Son. Let it go.”

Her compassionate eyes hold me. “Win…”

“I’ll be fine…” Letting my head fall back to rest on the cushion. “That’s what I get for falling in love with Aleck Fox. He always told me what he was. He always told me he didn’t do commitment and relationships.” I take a deep breath, realizing I’ve been blaming him for the truth I’ve always known. The truth he was always honest about. “Every woman wants to be the one to tame the wolf, to make the rake fall in love… But in the end, the wolf is always destined to eat Little Red. You can’t rewrite a legend.”

“You can if the villain falls in love with his prey.”

I snort a laugh. “Aleck doesn’t believe in love, told me himself. I fell in love with a man who told me to my face that he believes love is a lie.” I expel a breath. “How stupid am I?”

“You’re human, Winter.” She smirks, then sighs theatrically. “We need a vacation… Just the four of us.”

“You just got back from Turks and Caicos. What’s the matter? Three weeks of turquoise waters and white sandy beaches wasn’t enough?” I lift an eyebrow. “Or maybe a break from marital bliss is what you need…”

“Oh no, being Mrs. Bell is exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. Now that I am”—She flashes her ring finger—“I’m fucking thrilled.”

“Jesus.” I scoff. “You’re like… A Mrs. now.” We both laugh and I throw my pillow at her. She catches it and hugs it to her chest. “A Mrs. who does really bad things to her Mr..”

I scrunch my nose and laugh. “Don’t tell me. It was fun when you two were dating. But now that you bought the bull your sexual escapades have lost their glimmer.”

Sondra sets her kombucha bottle on the coffee table and stands, walking to her purse. “Nonsense. You’ll see one day, being married adds an entire level of trust in the bedroom. We’re trying things I’ve only ever heard about.”