All I Want Is You by Kayla Perrin Page B

too stunned to speak as she slipped into her room and closed the door.
    â€œI hear she’s real beautiful. Looks like a model.”
    â€œShe’s a model?”
    â€œI didn’t say she was one, just that she looks like one. Apparently she’s an assistant district attorney.”
    Mikki swallowed painfully. She had a pretty good idea who the woman was. And it was someone she had met.
    The tall, leggy, dark-skinned beauty was stunning, and Mikki had heard that she and Alexander had been romantically linked in the past. Alex had denied that, however.
    â€œSupposedly she’s smart as a whip as well as gorgeous,” Debbie went on.
    â€œI know who she is,” Mikki said. “At least, I’m pretty sure. Son of a—” She exhaled harshly. “Debbie, I can’t talk right now. My sister’s having a meltdown, and I . . . I can’t deal with this news right now.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” Debbie said. “You wanted to know, right? You’re not upset that I told you?”
    â€œNo, absolutely I’m not upset you told me. Of course you should have told me. You’re one of my best friends. I would expect nothing less. It helps me to know the real reason behind the breakup.” Mikki paused. “Even if I don’t like it, it helps to know.”
    â€œCall me after the wedding, okay?” Debbie said.
    â€œYeah, definitely. Merry Christmas.”
    â€œMerry Christmas,” Debbie returned.
    Then Mikki ended the call and slumped down onto her bed. For a long while she sat there, gripping her phone and breathing heavily.
    Alex had been cheating on her. And with Sandra Shelton.
    If he’s not sleeping with you, he’s sleeping with someone else. That was what Debbie had told her, and her friend had been right. Mikki didn’t need hard-core proof in order to believe the news. In her heart, she knew it was true.
    She pressed the heels of her palms against her closed eyes. What was wrong with her? Why did she date the wrong man time after time?
    Because if Alex had been the right man, shouldn’t she have felt that Debbie’s news wasn’t true, that there was no way Alex would have cheated on her?
    Yet Mikki didn’t doubt the verity of it, not at all.
    On a subconscious level, had she known all along that her relationship with Alexander was doomed to fail?
    She found herself thinking of Barry’s words earlier, when he’d told her that she had confessed to him that she had only dated Alexander because she thought he was the type of man she should date.
    She couldn’t deny that on some level it was true, that she’d been excited at the thought of dating a lawyer. Especially when her sister was dating the heir to a huge family business.
    But she had cared for Alex. She hadn’t dated him solely for his position. Their relationship had been real.
    At least it had been for her.
    Despite whatever she had told Barry in New York, it felt like there was a huge hole in her gut right now. A hole she had felt often as a teen.
    More than once, she’d been disappointed by guys. Over and over again, she had cared for ones who would ultimately betray her. Maybe Mikki would never get it right.
    It was the eve of her sister’s wedding, and she should have been happy, but Mikki was instead feeling the familiar pain and insecurity she had known so well as a teen.
    The fear that she would never find the right man.
    But on the heels of that depressing thought came another one: What if you’ve already found him?

Chapter 12
    Mikki was in a slump. It was her sister’s wedding day, and she should be excited and happy, and yet she was miserable.
    The news that Alex had been cheating on her had crushed her. She had stewed over the bombshell all night, unable to get the betrayal off her mind.
    Even now, at the hair salon getting all dolled up with the rest of the bridal party, Mikki wondered if she should go into the bathroom