blue eyes that just seconds ago had been hooded and burning with sensual heat.
Reaching up to grab her face, I attempt to stop the runaway train of her thoughts.
It’s too late.
“I have to go.”
“Adeline-“
She shoves my hands away, panic blazing over her cheeks. Yanking the straps of her dress back in place over her shoulders, she struggles to push me away, her mind already so far gone that calming her down would be a fight.
“Adeline.” I grab her hips to hold her in place, my fingers bruising the skin for how tight I hold her.
“Let me go.”
“No.”
Her eyes whip to my face. “Let me the fuck go!”
Her foot kicks out and catches me between the legs. Getting kicked in the junk sucks, but when you’re hard and it happens? Holy fucking shit...
I double over, and she takes the opportunity to shove me away far enough to jump down and run toward the front of the mausoleum.
It was stupid of me not to remember she’s a fighter when she feels threatened.
Sucking it up, I ignore the pain running down my legs to chase after her, my hand gripping down on her elbow just as we reach the front gate.
She spins on me, eyes wild. “I have to go.”
“Talk to me.”
Her head turns left toward an older couple laying flowers on a nearby grave, her voice lowering to a hiss of a whisper when she warns, “If you don’t get your hand off me, I’ll scream. Don’t fucking try me.”
I let her go, hold my hands up as if in surrender. Adeline doesn’t hesitate to run off, my eyes following her as she races across the cemetery and away from me.
“Fuck!” I punch the iron gate, the loud metallic clang drawing the attention of the older couple.
Staring back at them, I lean against the wall of the mausoleum and stab my hands through my hair.
It doesn’t matter that she’s married. I don’t give the first shit about the fight she’ll put up against what I will do.
I won’t let her go again.
Flat out fucking refuse.
Adeline
It was bad enough returning home knowing what I’d done. Lost to a moment of weakness, a moment of passion - of lust - I could have crawled back on hands and knees back to my husband and it wouldn’t have been enough.
I cheated on Grant.
Those words repeated in my head over every mile between the cemetery and my house.
And even though I must have said them a hundred times in the hours I spent pacing the empty halls and sprawling rooms of his mansion, they never took hold. Never made sense. Never sank in deep enough that I could process what happened.
I was a wreck when he came home that night, the guilt igniting when our eyes met, and I looked down to see he’d brought flowers, jewelry, and wine.
Quick to apologize for what he’d said to me before I left to see Ari, Grant spent the evening promising to make it up to me, whispering against my ear that I deserved better than what he gave.
He didn’t force the pills on me like he’d threatened. He listened to me when I told him how to stop me if I fought.
I think it’s the peace between us that made the agreement unnecessary.
Two weeks since I cheated on my husband and I haven’t fought, cried or screamed once in the nights that rolled by.
“You look beautiful.”
Strong hands wrap over my shoulders, the tips massaging down into muscles that haven’t been free of tension since the cemetery.
Lifting my eyes, I meet Grant’s stare in the mirror. He takes the brush from my hand, his fingers carefully holding my hair as he runs the bristles through it.
“The new cut looks nice. It’s a much better length on you.”
Having to force a smile, I flick a glance at my hair, exhaling slowly because I hate how it looks. Normally I wear it long, the ends brushing the small of my back. But per Gloria’s demand, it now stops below my shoulder blades, layers cut into the length to make it lay flat.
“Thanks.”
He sets the brush down on the vanity and turns me around to face him. “What are your plans for today?”
The usual, I don’t say. It would have sounded ungrateful, like I don’t appreciate what he’s given me.
“I have to schedule the company event that’s to take place a month from now. I’ll probably drive out to the venue and meet with the vendors to ensure all the details are