Chapter 55
CHAPTER 55
K ent was the epitome of an absolute gentleman as Gemma got ready for bed. A vanity set in the bathroom meant she could clean her teeth before she stripped down to her underwear. Then, before coming out of the bathroom, she told Kent to avert his eyes as she slipped under the cover. He then stripped.
As wrong as she knew it was, Gemma couldn’t help but glance at his back as his shirt dropped to the ground. He was far more toned than she would’ve imagined and the light curves of muscles flowed gently over his shoulders. No, that definitely wasn’t the type of body she had expected, and when she found her mind wondering what his chest and stomach looked like, she quickly caught herself. This was not the place or time to ogle her boss.
They had made a barricade of pillows, which Kent ensured was securely in place as he slipped into the bed. The cool, crisp covers barely shifted as he took his place next to her, unlike Gemma’s pulse, which was getting steadily faster.
“So, do you want to tell me about the story of your ex now?” he said. “It’s okay if you’ve changed your mind, though. I probably shouldn’t be so nosy.”
The thought of discussing Robert was enough to quash any other feelings Gemma had been having.
“No, it’s fine. It really is. I mean, there’s not too much to tell. I met him when I moved to Maldon. He was a cab driver. That’s how I met him. He took me on one of my first journeys when I got here. He was one of those guys who could make you laugh without even trying, you know. We had some good times together.”
“So what happened?” Kent asked.
Gemma drew in a long breath. A lot. That was the quick answer, but she already knew that wasn’t what Kent wanted.
“Well, we were living together, although in his words, he barely ever saw me. It’s true, I spent a lot of time at the cafe. It was before Oscar lost his wife, your aunt I guess, but she was sick, so he wasn’t at the cafe that much and I was struggling to get good staff back then. Sophie wasn’t working for me, so there were a fair few weeks when I worked seven days straight and that was tough on the relationship. But I still thought he was the perfect boyfriend. He would treat me to lovely dinners out whenever we got a chance. He showered me with gifts, that kind of thing. And just upgraded his taxi to a big people carrier, so I thought everything was heading in the right direction. Well, it turned out he’d taken a load of credit cards out in my name. He’d done it all online. Of course, he’d got all my details, copies of my passport, everything he needed to pretend it was me. By the time I realised what was going on, there was over ￡30,000 of debt in my name.”
Even now, talking about the money aloud was enough to cause her entire body to clench. When she’d finally found out what he’d done, it was like the world was crumbling beneath her feet and it had taken a very long time to put it back together.
“Oh my God, what did you do? Did you go to the police?” Kent asked.
Gemma let out a sad chuckle as she stared at the ceiling. Of course, the knowledge of the debt in her name was horrifying, but the lies hurt so much more. He had broken her trust in a way she hadn’t known was possible.
“I couldn’t go to the police,” she said, answering Kent’s question. “Why would they believe me? I could have easily got into that debt myself. Besides, this was the man I loved, you know? I just felt like such an idiot. It wasn’t like he could pay me back, either. He was swimming in his own debt, too. So I kicked him out and worked on paying it back little by little.”
“Seriously, all of it?”
Gemma shrugged. “I’ll be honest, it hasn’t been the most fun few years, but that’s okay. It’s surprising how much you can save when you get a shock like that. I’ve got less than three grand to go now. Ten per cent.”
The mattress dipped slightly as Kent rolled onto his side.
“And this guy, Robert, he just got away with it?”
“He did.”
Silence swelled between them, and even though she was still staring at the ceiling, Gemma could tell that Kent was looking at her with that familiar pitying gaze. That was another reason she didn’t tell people about what happened with Robert, because she knew how people would view her. An idiot who needed to be pitied. An idiot who didn’t see what was going on right under her nose. In some ways, she thought it was worse than being cheated on. At least in that case, there was another human, another person they were attracted to. But with Robert, it hadn’t even been that. It had been lie after lie, and there had been no point in any of it. It wasn’t like she had fallen for his money. She would’ve been happy, broke, but content forever. She could feel herself drifting back. All those feelings of despair and hopelessness that had followed her around like a shadow for years were somehow creeping back out of the woodwork, and she wouldn’t have it. She wouldn’t. And so she blinked the feeling away and turned to the cushions beside her.
“That’s enough about me,” she said. “Now I want to know why you’re still single.”
“Me?” Kent said. “Well, that’s an excellent question, and my parents are definitely to blame.”