Bedded Bliss (Found in Oblivion #1) - Cari Quinn Page 0,99

questions he needed most to ask, one roared to the fore. “Axl is okay?”

“Yes.” She let out a weak laugh. “My boy is okay, and that’s the most important part. But God, everything else. It’s all such a mess.”

“Let me reassure you on one point.” He tucked her hair behind her ears. “As for Tabitha, she isn’t an issue. I’d vowed never to touch her again before you. After? I barely remember what she looks like.”

Her huff of breath nearly made him smile. “Sure. Right. She’s a gorgeous girl, and you don’t care about her because you’re married to a mother who hasn’t been out on a date in years. Who doesn’t even recall what it means to have fun and be wild. The one weekend I tried to be the girl I used to be, I ended up with a ring.”

“All right, yes, that’s unfortunate.”

She laughed, throwing back her head. “Unfortunate. Yeah. Except everything with you is so bright and full. I feel so full, like I’m going to burst with all the emotions you’ve unlocked inside me. And I can’t. I can’t. I’m a mother now. What I need doesn’t rank.”

“You can’t take care of him if you’re not taking care of yourself.”

“I don’t have the time—”

“So let me. I’m standing right here, and I’ll take care of you so you can take care of him.”

“Why?” she whispered. “Why would you do that?”

There were so many things he could have said. So many reasons. He went with the one he thought she’d understand most.

“My mother never put me first. My father definitely didn’t. They both were too busy looking out for themselves. I see you, and I see everything that my mother should have been and wasn’t. And I see you fighting to hang on by your fingernails, when I have everything available that could help you and I haven’t done one meaningful thing with it. I’ve done nothing, except play a guitar and focus on myself.” He cupped her face and stroked her damp lower lip. “Let me focus on you so you can focus on him. Let me, Chloe.”

Chapter 23

For about the five-thousandth time, she left him hanging.

No big deal. It only felt like his chest was in a vise. Eventually the pressure would ease, right?

Chloe’s eyes went too bright before she closed them. “There’s quicksand under my feet. Everything is slipping away.”

“No, it isn’t. I swear it’s not.” Michael pressed his forehead to hers and absorbed the uneven puffs of her breath. “Lean on me for a while. Trust me to be the bedrock you need. That Axl needs.”

“That’s not fair.”

“You’re right. I don’t play fair when I’m winning back my wife.”

She sighed and the fight seemed to drain out of her. “You can’t win back what you never had.”

“Au contraire. I’ve had you now, and I remember every second. You around me so, so tight. Your pupils swallowing those beautiful browns. Those sounds of yours when you can’t take any more and I make you.”

“Michael…”

“And that, especially that. How you sound so exasperated when you say my name, but still with that little plea that lets me know I’m not alone in this. You feel just as chaotic and needy as I do.” He brushed his thumbs over her cheeks until they met over the seam of her lips. “Tell me you do, Chloe.”

“How could I not?” He moved away his thumbs so she could speak. “I saw you on that stage and you were everything I’m not. Strong. Cocky. So, so talented.”

“You’re all of those things and more. Let me show you.”

Wordlessly, he drew her toward the chaise. He grabbed the blanket and draped it around her shoulders while her gaze roamed his face. She was uncertain and worried, and he should be soothing her with words and not actions she could dismiss. But he had to do more. Not for himself.

For her. Just for her.

He bent to pull off her sandy ballet flats and then encountered more sand on the damp hems of her jeans. “You were on the beach before you came here.”

“Yeah. It’s my safe spot. Always has been.”

Something twisted in his chest. What he’d grown far too complacent in even noticing, she sought for comfort. “Now you can see safety from here.” Watching her face, he undid the button on her jeans and drew down the zipper. “While I show you anything but.”

“We’re outside. All the cameras…”

On his knees, he pressed a kiss to her peach panties as he