my mind’s racing.
It’s been a while since I’ve looked at a man and thought the things running through my head. I tell myself it’s because I’m looking for comfort. Looking for someone to desire me like Evan does.
So I don’t feel trapped and alone.
“Lead the way, Miss Thompson.”
I shake my head, ready to correct him, ready to tell him it’s Mrs. Thompson. But I don’t. In fact, I find myself hiding my left hand behind the computer.
It’s only because the attention is nice.
A distraction, a sweet voice whispers in the back of my head as I smile at Jacob and hit the right arrow on the keyboard to move to the first point I want to make.
I could never do that, I tell myself. But I leave my hand where it is and when he tells me goodbye, again calling me miss, I still don’t correct him.
Chapter Sixteen
EVAN
She makes my blood heat,
My breathing tense and ragged.
Love’s not a straight line,
It’s reckless and it’s jagged.
Beyond the lust, beyond desire,
There’s something in its wake.
It’s jealousy that makes me weak,
It’s hate that makes me break.
Brew Madison is my wife’s favorite place in this whole damn city. My shoes smack on the wet pavement and rain spits from the sky as I close the door a block down and make my way toward the coffee shop.
For years she’s come here. She and Jules used to write together in the corner. Jules was her first client here in New York. It’s how she met her now close friend. I huff and the breath turns to steam as I stride toward the entrance and peek in through the glass window.
It used to be a habit of mine to stop here before going home when I landed. Nine times out of ten, she’d be in the back corner, immersed in a book.
But then things changed. She stopped going out and I stopped searching for her. I knew she’d be home, stuck in her office and working no matter what time of day it was.
I had to make sure nothing was going to happen when I left James’ office. I couldn’t go home and have the cops come for me there. I wouldn’t put her through that.
But days have passed, and I miss her. I’m dying without her.
Just before I get to the glass door, I spot my wife. But more importantly, I see who she’s with.
Some asshole is with her. I’m sure he’s just a client, but as they walk toward the exit, Kat’s eyes on her purse as she rummages through it, looking for her keys I’d think, his eyes are all over her body.
The bastard licks his lower lip, and his gaze flickers to Kat’s breasts and then to her eyes as she peeks up at him.
She smiles so naively and tucks her hair behind her ear, but what stops the anger and the possessiveness running through me, is the blush that rises to her cheeks. My body goes cold and my feet turn to cement standing outside of the shop, watching the two of them unknowingly walk toward me.
She knows he’s looking. She knows he likes what he sees. And she’s letting him.
The chill that runs through my body fuels something deep inside of me. Something primal and raw. The rain that crashes down on me as the clouds roll in and the sky turns darker by the second does nothing to calm the rage growing inside of me.
I open the door just as the two of them are leaving. My grip on the handle is tight and unforgiving as I wait for them to look up at me.
Kat doesn’t stop talking, her sweet voice rattling off something about a signing and what needs to be purchased.
He sees me first, his eyes widening slightly as he takes in my expression. His first instinct is to angle his body, putting himself between me and my wife. It pisses me off and I force my body to stay still, keeping myself from shoving him away from her.
My teeth grind against one another as I stare at his hand, still on her lower back as if he has any right to touch her.
“Evan,” Kat looks up at me surprised at first, without a hint of anything other than shock, but instantly her expression changes. “What are you doing? You’re getting soaked!” she admonishes me in front of the fucker still standing too close.
Pride flows through me as she pulls me into the coffee shop, even if she’s