“Remember I told you that my college boyfriend cheated on me?”
He nodded. “If this is about Meg—”
“It isn’t,” she rushed to assure him. “It’s about me, but to tell you all of it, I need to start at the beginning.”
“Okay then. I’m listening.”
She blew out a long breath. “Okay, well, I guess it all starts at home. Because when I look back at that relationship, I should have known he wasn’t fully engaged. All the signs were there, but I chose to ignore them because it was easier than facing it. And where did I learn that from?” She met Dylan’s understanding gaze before continuing. “My mother made the avoidance of truth an art form.”
“Your father and his other family.” Dylan stated the obvious. “You think she knew?”
Olivia shrugged. “I didn’t realize it then, but I was a kid. My mom? She had to have at least sensed that those long, extended business trips were something more. He missed holidays, birthdays, their anniversary…” She shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong. She was… She is a great mother, but she had to have known my father wasn’t faithful.”
Dylan stroked her cheek. “I’m sure you’re right. And I see how that affected you. On many levels.”
“Well, it’s learned behavior, that’s for sure. So I ignored so much of what Jeff did; I accepted his excuses because I’d watched my mother do the same. It never dawned on me to question. Not then, anyway.” She gnawed on her lower lip.
Maybe on some level, she’d deliberately picked out a guy like her father, one who was full of himself and his own needs.
“That’s a huge revelation for you,” Dylan said. “But you have to know I would never cheat—”
“I know.” She placed her finger over his lips. If she didn’t get everything out now, she didn’t know if she’d find the courage again.
He playfully licked, then nipped at her finger, and she moaned softly. “Later,” she murmured, despite the wetness now dampening her underwear.
He grinned and nodded. “I’ll behave.”
“Just for a little while. Then you can be as bad as you want.” She swallowed hard, hoping he’d still want to be bad when he heard not only about her past but about how it made her feel now.
“Okay, let’s do this. What else do you need to tell me?” he asked.
“I walked in on them together, which is how I found out.”
“I remember you telling me that,” he said with anger in his dark eyes.
Anger for her, and it filled her with emotions she’d never experienced before. Warmth and happiness all rolled into one package.
Now she just had to get through what came next.
* * *
Dylan waited, outwardly patient, inwardly not so much, for Olivia to talk to him. Whatever she had to say, she believed it would change the course of their relationship. And it had him on edge.
“There was a reason I went to find him that day.” Her hand curled tighter around his. “I was pregnant, and I had to let him know.”
“Jesus.” She’d been so young.
“And you already know what I found him doing.”
“Another woman,” he said with disgust, wanting her to feel his support.
“His teaching assistant. Best friend. The same woman who he a
lways had to reassure me that there was nothing going on between them.”
Dylan swore. No wonder she had such a visceral reaction to his relationship with Meg.
“I caught them in the act and ran out. But later, when I did tell him about the baby, he blamed me. As if I’d gotten myself pregnant.” Tears dripped from her eyes, and she angrily wiped them away.