The Trouble with Love (Sex, Love & Stiletto 4)

And of all the people who could have been on the other side of the peephole, this was perhaps the absolute last person she would have expected.

Emma opened the door. “Danielle?”

Cassidy’s girlfriend was wearing a sleek black pantsuit that screamed Girl Power! and made Emma briefly wonder what Danielle did for a living. Attorney? Broker? Advertising? Ninja?

But it wasn’t the clothes that captured Emma’s attention. It was the nervous, slightly embarrassed expression on the other woman’s face.

“Are you looking for Cassidy?” Emma asked, thinking maybe he wasn’t at home, and Danielle didn’t want to stand waiting in the hallway.

“No, I just came from his place actually,” Danielle said, licking her lips nervously. “Can we—can I come in for a sec?”

Uh-oh.

Emma thought for sure she and Danielle were going to be able to avoid the awkward chat about Emma and Cassidy’s thorny past, but what else could Danielle want to talk to her about?

Emma mentally readied herself for the You have nothing to worry about—Cassidy and I are long over talk, but Danielle beat her to the punch.

“What I’m about to ask you is beyond awkward, veering toward inappropriate,” Danielle said as soon as Emma closed the door.

“Um, okay,” Emma replied. “Do we need wine for this?” She gestured toward the kitchen.

Danielle shook her head. “I won’t take up that much of your time, but by all means, grab your glass.”

Emma didn’t move, and Danielle took a deep breath. “I just broke up with Alex.”

Emma blinked. It took her a second to register what Danielle was saying, and when her brain finally did process it . . .

Emma wasn’t at all sure how she felt about that bit of information. “Okay . . .”

“Not because of anything to do with you,” Danielle rushed to say. “At least not directly. I mean, he told me about you guys, but he said it wasn’t a big deal.”

Ouch.

Emma crossed her arms, feeling beyond weird. “So if it doesn’t have anything to do with me—”

Danielle laughed nervously. “Right. You want to know why I’m here. Okay, well . . . I’ll be perfectly blunt and say that while Alex is a great guy, I never got the sense that we were going to make it. He’s so . . . closed off, you know? We got along, but I never felt like I was reaching him. Not really. It’s always been like that, but in recent weeks he’s even further away than ever.”

I so do not want to be having this conversation. Should have grabbed that glass of wine.

“And then . . . oh, boy.” Danielle blew out a breath. “Okay, I’m just going to spit this out. That guy you went on a date with. Benedict? There were, um, sparks. Or something. Like when he looked at me, I felt like I was seeing him in a way Alex would never allow.”

Emma scratched her eyebrow. “Yeah. I sort of saw that happen.”

Danielle blushed. “I thought maybe you might have. And I wasn’t going to do anything about it, I swear. I’m not that girl. But then the other day, Alex had a bunch of Stiletto articles on his desk and he was asking my opinion on some of them, and I saw yours. . . .”

“Ah,” Emma said, beginning to understand. “And you learned that Benedict was very much still on the market.”

Cassidy’s girlfriend—no, ex-girlfriend—blushed. “You must think I’m terrible. Dumping one guy and five minutes later hitting up his ex about her ex. It’s just that . . . I’m thirty-four, and I want so badly to find someone—”

Emma smiled and held up a hand. “You don’t have to explain. I get it.”

Danielle broke off. “You do?”

“Sure,” Emma said with a shrug. “Finding someone you have sparks with is rare. And nobody should stay in a relationship that they don’t think is going anywhere. It wouldn’t be fair to you. Or Cassidy.”

Danielle tilted her head slightly. “You guys sure are mature about this. How is it possible that there’s no bad blood between you?”

Emma laughed. “It’s more like the blood froze. What you interpret as civil is more like . . . deliberate indifference.”