My jaw goes from slack to rigid in the space of time it takes her to finish that sentence.
“I’m not seeing anyone. And hello? You’re married.”
“Well, I never lied to you about anything.” she yells, pointing indignantly at the ground.
I throw my head back and groan in frustration. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “You said you loved me. And now, you’re standing here ripping my fucking heart out without so much as a flicker of remorse, makes me think that was a lie. And makes me wish I could stop loving you. I wish I could cut the stupid right out of my chest, Regan. But I can’t. And I’m so mad at you for it.” I don’t know why I’m confessing my feelings to this woman who I know I can’t trust them with.
She presses her lips together. Her thick fan of her lashes flutter furiously as she blinks back tears. “It wasn’t a lie. But this just can’t happen. You should go.” She tries to step around me, and I block her path.
I’d come here prepared to tell her to go fuck herself. But I need more than this. I need to understand.
“Regan, are you serious?”
Her dark eyes narrow with anger.“Do you know what will happen if we start seeing each other? I’m not even divorced.”
“You will be in six weeks.”
She stamps her foot in exasperation. “And the last thing I need is to play another round of Regan Wilde’s Love Life with the press. I just…can’t have another scandal.”
“So, you told everyone you hooked up with a random stranger? That’s less scandalous than saying you were kissing your first best friend?”
Her winces and shakes her head,“If only that’s all you were. ”
She steps around me, unlocks her front door, and walks inside.
I should let her go, but the flash of misery in her eyes compels me. I grab the door handle before she can close it and follow her inside.
“ Do you think I’m the kind of man who would let you take all the blame and watch blithely while you burn?” I demand.
“That’s not what—Ohhh shit,” she yelps and hops on one foot over to the sofa and collapses onto it.
“What’s wrong?”
“I stubbed my toe because I wasn’t looking where I was going because you distracted me,” she speaks through gritted teeth and bends over to unfasten her shoe.
I kneel and take her foot in my hand.
“Stop it, I’m fine,” she grouses, but I ignore her, undo the tiny buckle and pull the strappy gold high heeled shoe off.
And just like that, I’m touching her. It’s only her foot, but it’s soft and delicate and pretty like the rest of her. I stroke the tips of her toes. “Where does it hurt?” I ask.
Her breath hitches and her eyes follow the path of my fingers as they stroke her feet. I lift her toe to my lips and press a kiss to each one. With each touch, her tight calf muscle relaxes. I press my thumb in the high arch of her sole and she moans my name. It’s a call to worship, one that I’m heedless to refuse. My reverent gaze collides with her dark, hungry one.
Her chest is heaving like she’s been running. Her nipples are hard and pressing through the thin fabric of her blouse and from here, down on my knees in front of her, I can smell what she wants.
With our eyes still locked, I press my palms to the inside of her knees and push them apart. And then I surge up to fit my hips in the space I just created.
She opens for me, wraps her arms around my shoulders and sighs in relief.
I press my nose into her neck and breathe in her ginger, lemon scent “You smell so good,” I whisper. When I hold her like this…I know she’s mine. I wish she’d let me be hers, too.
“You do, too. Like everything I’ve ever thought was delicious,” she says, and her voice is pained, and I draw back to look at her.
She’s flushed. Wisps of her hair cling to her face. Her supple lips are parted as her breaths come in short pants. Our gazes lock in a battle of wills that I can’t afford to lose. But that I’m not sure I want to win.
We stay that way, suspended mid -motion for five, lust-charged, emotionally fraught seconds.
And then, we lunge.
When our lips collide, the whole world breaks open.