The Back-Up Plan (Something Better Book 1), page 10
His arms encircle me completely, lifting me onto the bathroom counter with effortless strength. My nightgown rides up as I wrap my legs around his waist, drawing him closer.
“Prove it,” he whispers against my neck, his voice sending shivers down my spine.
I don’t think about Devon again until morning, when my phone pings with a text message from an unknown number:
We need to talk. It’s important. Meet me at Riverside Park, near the 79th Street entrance. Tomorrow, at noon.
I know without checking who it’s from. The certainty settles in my stomach like a stone as I stare at the screen, Conor’s steady breathing beside me in our bed.
I should delete it. I should block the number. I should tell Conor.
Instead, I find myself typing:
Fine. But this is the last time, Devon.
His response comes immediately:
Thank you. You won’t regret it.
But as I set my phone down and curl back into Conor’s warmth, I already do.
The next day at noon, I’m sitting on a bench at Riverside Park, the Hudson River stretching before me like a vast steel ribbon catching fragments of sunlight. Spring has fully awakened here—cherry blossoms dot the landscape with explosions of pale pink, while fresh grass pushes through the soil with determined optimism. I absently twist my engagement ring, a nervous habit I’ve developed in the short time it’s adorned my finger.
Conor is somewhere behind me, keeping a respectful distance. When I told him about Devon’s message over breakfast, his response was exactly what I needed.
“I’ll drive you,” he’d said, squeezing my hand. "I’ll stay out of sight, but close enough if you need me.”
No jealousy, no demands to see the texts, just that steady support that has become my foundation.
I spot Devon before he sees me. He walks with that confident stride I once found so attractive, hands in the pockets of another perfectly tailored suit—navy this time. The spring breeze ruffles his hair in a way that seems almost choreographed. He looks like he belongs in a magazine spread rather than a park on a Tuesday afternoon.
“Betsy.” My name on his lips still holds a trace of the intimacy we once shared, but it no longer sends electricity through my veins. “Thank you for coming."
“You said it was important.” I maintain a neutral and professional tone. “So here I am.”
He sits beside me, leaving a careful distance between us. I catch a whiff of his cologne—the same expensive brand he’s worn since college. Once, that scent meant comfort and desire. Now it’s just a fragrance, pleasant but unremarkable.
“You look beautiful,” he says, his eyes traveling over my face like he’s memorizing it. “Happy."
“I am happy,” I confirm, not offering any further explanation.
Devon takes a deep breath, his gaze shifting to the river. "I’ve been doing a lot of thinking these past few months. About us. About what went wrong.” His voice drops lower, more intimate. “I made a mistake, Bets. The biggest mistake of my life.”
I wait, watching a jogger pass by with her golden retriever bounding ahead on a red leash.
“I took you for granted,” he continues, turning those blue eyes back to me. “I always thought you’d be there, waiting, while I figured things out. And then suddenly you weren’t.” His hand moves toward mine but stops short of touching. "I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. You’ve always been the one for me—I was just too blind, too stupid to see it.”
The words hang between us, words I once desperately wanted to hear. I feel nothing but a distant sadness for the girl who would have melted at this declaration.
“I want your forgiveness, Betsy.” His voice cracks slightly. “And maybe... I think some part of you still wants this—wants us. I can see it in your eyes.”
A small smile forms on my lips, not unkind but resolute. “I’m not angry with you, Devon. I forgive you.”
Hope flickers across his face.
“But what you’re seeing isn’t longing,” I continue. "It’s closure."
“Betsy, please—"
“Your bullshit actually did me a favor.” I gesture vaguely with my left hand, my engagement ring catching the sunlight. “It left me single long enough to make room for the man of my dreams."
Devon’s eyes fix on the diamond, his expression freezing.
“You know, we were placeholders for each other in a way,” I say, the realization crystallizing as I speak it. “I was your safety net while you decided if something better might come along. And you were my... I don’t know, my practice run at love.”
“That’s not fair,” he protests, color rising in his cheeks. “What we had was real."
“It was real,” I agree. “And I’ll always care about you, Devon. But I’m in love with a man who didn’t need to lose me to realize I was the one. He knew it from the start."
Devon’s jaw tightens, that controlled anger I recognize from our worst arguments. “So that’s it? Years together, and you’ve just... moved on?”
"Yes.” The simplicity of my answer seems to wound him more than anything else could.
He stands abruptly, straightening his jacket with a sharp tug. “I hope he deserves you.”
"He doesn’t have to deserve me,” I say quietly. "That’s not how love works. We choose each other, every day.”
Devon looks past me, his expression shifting. I follow his gaze to see Conor approaching slowly, giving us space but making his presence known.
“I should go,” Devon says stiffly.
I nod. “Goodbye, Devon.”
He walks away without another word, his shoulders rigid under that perfect suit. I watch him go, feeling lighter with each step he takes away from me. The chapter closes so definitively that I can almost hear the sound of a book shutting.
Conor sits beside me, his warmth familiar and welcome. He doesn’t ask what happened; he just takes my hand, our fingers intertwining with practiced ease.
“You okay?” he asks after a moment.
I lean against his shoulder, breathing in the scent of him—cedar and coffee and home. “Never better.”
Above us, cherry blossoms drift on the breeze like pink snow, and the river keeps flowing, constant and sure, carrying everything forward.
Coming Soon!
Preorder Della’s Happily Ever After now!
The Placeholder
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Matilda is a Texas girl in love with a Philly boy who loves to write dirty books about two people who trip into love and fumble their way into a Filthy, Funny, Happily Ever After.
I live in Austin, with my husband, two crazy Chihuahuas and an even crazier cat. And I spend most of my day writing dirty romance books about older men who fall in love with younger women and make fools of themselves trying to win their hearts.
I like my hero to be successful, sweet, suave, sophisticated and kind--- and then I want him to lose all his composure and game when he meets the heroine. I want him to turn into a bumbling idiot when he spots the girl of his dreams and revert to a teenage boy in a man’s body trying to win her.
ALSO BY MATILDA MARTEL
SOMETHING BETTER
The Back Up Plan
The Placeholder
DIVINE RUIN
Sinner
Saint
THE ZHUKOV BRATVA
Beautiful Monster
Brutal Monster
SOMETHING BETTER
The Back-Up Plan
The Placeholder
CEDAR BAY
Catch of the Bay
Our Bay Will Come
Back in the Bay
THE GUILTY SERIES
Guilty Pleasures
Guilty as Sin
VOLKOV BRATVA
Big Bad Wolf
Big Bad Daddy
CLUB SIN
Room Four
Room Nine
THE SERPICO FAMILY
Duplicity
Depravity
CHRISTMAS ROMANCES
Making Merry
Wooing Winter
Mistletoe & Molly
MANHATTAN BACHELORS
My Second Chance
Green-Eyed Monster
Maestro
Play Right
Bad Boss
Clever Girl
Filthy Rich
Filthy Love
Magic Man
Hostile Takeover
There She Goes
Agreeably Arranged
Bad Boy
Shut Up & Kiss Me
Lucky Man
Marry Me
BOSTON SILVER FOXES
In Praise of Older Men
Gilded Cage
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
Mile High Senator
Greed
Get Your Kicks
Snowed in with the Boss
Storm Chaser
Virgin Snow
Same Old Song
MAN OF THE MONTH
Feast Mode
Come to Papa
Light the Way
Sinfully Sweet
HOPELESS ROMANTICS
My Heart’s Desire
Unsuitable
Blindsided
Blind Spot
Blind Faith
LOVE YOU MADLY
Happenstance
Baby Steps
Off the Market
Simmering with the Sous Chef
We’ll Always Have Paris
Pet Peeves
STANDALONES
Kiss Me Kate
Orphan
Love in War
Lucifer
Dad Bod Billionaire
Seized
A Practical Arrangement
The Divine Right of Damian King
The Senator
Takeover
Bound by Honor
Park Avenue Courtesan
Summer Storm
Stalked by my Roommate
Queen of Two Hearts
Prophet
Grudge Match
His Very Personal Assistant
Making His Move
Banished to the Netherworld
The Pastor
The Man I Love
Chasing Zoe
The Good Girl
My Ward
Stolen by the Mountain King
The Fabled Queen Sabina
LOVE BITES
Love Match
Love Hate
Love Nest
OTHERWORLD
Revamp
The Kraken’s Kiss
IncuBliss
Demon Seed
CRIMINALLY IN LOVE
Vanished in Manhattan
Secret Weapon
BROOKLYN BAD BOYS
Love Interrupted
Love Unleashed
Love Revealed
Matilda Martel, The Back-Up Plan (Something Better Book 1)
