Safe Love (Love Brothers #4) by Liz Crowe

the
    sink.
    “Whatever,” he muttered and leaned on the closed fridge
    door. “I do love her.”
    “I know you do.” Margot leaned forward on her elbows,
    feeling all sorts of cheap, easy and stupid. “So, Aiden is…” She stopped, words
    drying up in her mouth.
    “Fucking my fiancée? Very possibly.”
    “Well, um, maybe it’s more than … that. I mean, more than
    just sex?” She heard her voice turn up at the end.
    Antony glared at her, and then his gaze softened. “Right.
    There is always that. Thanks.”
    “Antony,” she said, getting up, determined to get the hell
    out of here. All the way out. With nothing more in mind that to soothe and say
    goodbye, once and for all, she put her arms around him, burying her face in his
    neck. His hands started at her hips, moved up her arms and tangled in her hair
    and before she could take a breath, his lips were on hers once more.
    She let herself have its perfection for a few seconds, and
    then pulled away, gripping his arms. A tear slipped down her cheek. He touched
    his fingertip to it. “I hate making women cry.”
    “Well, you can rest assured this is not your fault. It’s
    mine. I never should have come here and put you in this position. I…I let my
    own needs take control of me. This isn’t helping you.”
    “You might be surprised to know that I think it is. Even our
    actual therapy sessions, such as they are.”
    “I have to go. You need to talk to AliceLynn. I won’t be
    this person, Antony. My husband fucked around on me and left me for the other
    woman, you know? I don’t know if I can stand to look at myself in the mirror
    anymore so I’m … going home. All the way home.”
    “You aren’t that woman Margot. But yeah, you should go.” He
    took a big step away from her. “I’ll handle AliceLynn.”
    Margot’s heart sank even further towards her feet. “I…don’t
    want to say this but I’m going to since I won’t be seeing you again.” Unable to
    stop herself, she put her palm against his rough face. He leaned into it. “I
    could love you, Antony Love. If we were living a different life. So take care
    of yourself, and your daughter, and your Mama. I do love that woman.”
    She dropped her hand and whirled away from him before she
    did something even dumber than she already had. By the time she’d parked in
    front of her rented condo, her throat was raw from sobbing. Gripping the
    steering wheel, she had a brief flash of panic, realizing that AliceLynn
    actually had an appointment with her—this very afternoon. Well, the girl
    certainly wouldn’t show for it.
    Mind already spinning with all she had to do to get out of
    here, she unlocked her front door and tossed her keys on the kitchen counter.
    It would take her a solid month to disentangle from everything—get out of the
    lease on her place, figure out how to resume her practice in Ann Arbor. Might
    as well get started on it. She tapped her fingers on the generic granite
    counter, pondering the concept of Aiden and Rosie together and what that meant
    for Antony.
    No. Stop. Don’t go anywhere near there. Make your lists.
    Get the fuck out of Dodge. Now.
     
    By five-thirty that night, Margot had her lists done, was
    well on her way toward getting her condo sublet and had contacted her former
    office landlord in Michigan. He’d been thrilled to know she’d be back.
    When the knock on her office door came, she shoved her
    reading glasses up her nose, confused. It creaked open, revealing AliceLynn
    Love dressed in her waitress getup from the pub, her blue eyes watery and her
    lower lip quivering. Without even thinking about it, Margot got up and went to
    her, pulling her inside and into a huge hug. She shut the door and let the girl
    cry a while, then handed her a tissue.
    “I hate him,” the girl muttered between blowing her nose.
    “Don’t know what you see in him.”
    Margot took a breath and pointed to the couch. “Well,
    whatever it was, it’s over. Your dad is going