An Everlasting Pursuit (PURSUIT, #3)

by Liv Bennett

  My chest tightens, and no matter how hard I try to inhale, my lungs refuse to hold any air. I slap my chest to facilitate breathing, and finally I manage to cough hard, and the air eases its way down to my lungs.

  Adam is like my next breath. If he leaves me, that’ll be my end.

  As soon as I gain enough composure to take control of my shaking body, I walk to his study. I lift my hand to the door knob and I hear him talking on the phone.

  “No, I can’t now... Why do you want to meet now? I have an important meeting. Just tell me now whatever you want to tell on the phone... What is so important that I have to drive all the way to you?”

  He’s talking to her. The mother of his unborn kid. I’m not making it up. It’s all true. A sick feeling hits me in the pit of my stomach. She’s sent me a simple message to let me know the existence of the baby, but she wants Adam to be with her, rub her belly, and even make love to her after she breaks the news. I cover my mouth with a hand while the other one is tightly gripping my cell phone.

  The door opens, startling me to the core.

  “What are you doing here?” Adam gazes down at me, his expression reflecting the shock I’m feeling.

  I can’t find my tongue. I can’t move a limb. I just gesture with my eyes from him to the phone in my hand. He grabs it and stares at its screen. The fear in his eyes ends the paralysis in my body.

  “Please, Adam,” I start. “Don’t leave me. I know you always wanted to be a father. But, please. I’m begging you. Don’t go away.” Tears roll down my cheeks faster than my words come out of my mouth. “You remember I told you once ‘I let you in my life but I’ll die if you leave me?’ That was serious. I can feel it in every cell in my body. I can’t live a life where you don’t exist.”

  “Baby, no. Stop talking like I’m going to leave you.”

  I move toward him and wrap my arms around his neck. “I love you so much I’m even ready to share you with the mother of your child. I love you so much I can even learn to love your baby.” I tilt my head back to see his face.

  He leans down, crashing his lips on mine, his kiss full of desire and possessiveness. When he pulls away, he brushes his nose on my cheeks down to my neck. “Those are the most beautiful words anyone has ever told me, but no. There is no baby. I didn’t have sex with any woman other than you since they day I met you.”

  “What about the message?”

  “I thought the last ones were spams, but obviously they weren’t. Someone is trying to get between us.”

  My entire being yearns to believe his words. “Still. Then why don’t you make love to me anymore? I miss you so much. Don’t you see how I’m fading away without your love?”

  My breasts feel heavy with the need to be touched, my nipples hard under the silk gown that’s barely covering anything because of its loosened ribbon. He looks down, his eyes burning with the reaction that my nakedness finally causes in him, and runs his finger on my chest down my belly then my pelvis, pushing the gown fully aside.

  “You’re making it so hard for me.”

  He’s not answering my question, but I don’t care because his hand is now between my legs. I dig my nails into his shoulders. He hasn’t touched me there for so long, I’ve almost forgotten how shaky it makes my legs.

  “I want you so badly.” Thrill and lust are coating his voice, and he’s breathing deeply, as if he’s the one deprived of sex all these weeks.

  “Then take—” My sentence is interrupted with a loud moan as his finger slips inside me. I’ve been so hungry for his touch, I feel like exploding into a thousand flaming pieces with just a few strokes of his finger caressing my walls.

  “Oh, fuck.” He doesn’t wait until the contractions in my core stop before lifting me up. My legs wrap around his waist, he hauls me onto the couch in his study. In a split second, he takes off his jacket and shirt, kicks off the pants and boxers, and crawls up on me fully naked. The sight of his hard erection twitching toward me is worth waiting years for. He spreads my legs with his knees and, without even losing a second, rams his full length into me. I curl, moan, and scream as another orgasm hits me. A much stronger one that shakes me to my core and fills me with hope.

  We’re one, once again, finally united with our bodies and souls.

  “I’ve never wanted a woman so much in my life.” He pulls his penis all the way out except for the head and slams it inside me again. “My desire for you has become so much more than the first time I saw you.”

  I’m breaking apart with convulsions; one after another. The intense sensation that is coursing through my body flames back to life all the exhilaration he’s brought to me since he forced himself into my life. He’s breathless above me, his lustful gaze holding mine, but the wild sensations going on inside me are preventing me from seeing him clearly. He thrusts into me over and over again, kneading my breasts, pinching my nipples, biting my shoulder, moaning my name, and finally roars his release in me.

  My heart feels like it’ll explode with the love I feel for him. And now I realize such intense love was alien to me up until I began loving Adam. I loved Jack, but not the way I feel for Adam. Not with the same passion that makes me burn day and night for him, that makes everything else meaningless in life, that the thought of him not loving me anymore would push me to death in a literal sense. And all Adam had to do was to deprive me of him for some time, to make me realize it.

  He’s the love of my life, my real love.

  Everything happens for a reason; even Jack’s death.

  ***

  I tangle my fingers into his hair when he lifts up to look at me. The look of love and affection in his tender eyes is unmistakable.

  “I love you more than anything, anyone in my life,” I say the words as they come directly from my heart. The only truth my body and soul recognizes. The only truth that matters.

  He shakes his head and closes his eyes for a moment, as if to take in what I’ve just said. “Those are the words I was planning to hear on my birthday.”

  “You were planning to get me to say them to you on your birthday?” I snort. “Exactly how were you planning to do that?”

  “Just like I did now. The original plan was to keep you waiting until my birthday and then to have amazing sex just like we did a minute ago, and to wait until you spill those pearls of words out of your lovely mouth.”

  I scowl, curious and confused. “Was that the real reason behind this whole scheme?”

  He smiles and lowers his head to give me a peck on the nose. “One of the three reasons, yes. But, I should have known you wouldn’t let me keep my hands to myself for such a long time.”

  More confusion hits me. “I didn’t do anything particular to arouse you this time. You started it on your own.”

  “Oh, yes, you did. My weakest point is your love, and you showed me with the sweetest possible way that you loved me so much that you were even ready to share me with another woman. I can’t imagine anything more arousing than that.”

  “Let me make something clear to you; I don’t actually want to share you. So, if any fantasy of a threesome is seeding up in your mind, just smash it into pieces. That’s not gonna happen.”

  He laughs and rolls down next to me, wrapping me tightly in his arms. “Taylor, when will you understand that I’ve become a gay man for all the other women in the entire world?”

  I snuggle with him for a while, enjoying the ultimate satisfaction of having every muscle in my body relaxed after mind-blowing sex with my husband.

  “As much as I’d love to spend the day with you in my arms, we have an important meeting to catch. Now, get your pretty ass off of my couch and put on some nice clothes.”

  “How about the text I received? Who sent it?” And suddenly I remember the phone call Adam was making when I was about to enter his study. “By the way, who were you talking to on the phone?”

  “I’ll explain everything to you on the way to work. Come on,” he says and motions toward the door with his h
ead.

  I shower and dry quickly before I put on the navy suit I picked. Hand in hand, we hurry to the elevator.

  “You drive today,” he says and hands me the car key. “I have to make a phone call.”

  “First, tell me who you were talking to.”

  “Candice Sherylwood.”

  “Candice, from the Loving Wives?”

  He nods.

  “Why were you talking to her?”

  “I hired her to set up a game. Paul Decker is her assistant. And don’t worry, he’s gay.”

  “The kiss was part of the game?” I ask as the elevator doors open. “You, bastard. I knew you’d try to get back at me. You can’t imagine how dirty I felt because of that kiss. I thought you were distancing yourself from me because of it. I blamed myself and the kiss for everything.” I slap his arm with my purse.

  “I’m sorry that you felt that way. I didn’t feel good watching you being kissed by another man either. Gay or straight.”

  We pace toward his car, then he opens the door for me, and walks around to the passenger seat.

  “So, what was so important that Candice wanted to see you in person to tell you?” I insert the key into the ignition and turn it.

  “I don’t know. She didn’t tell me. She just said it’s vital that I go see her within an hour.”

  “I thought you were talking to your pregnant girlfriend and she wanted to see you to break the news in person.”

  “Oh, babe, really?” He reaches out his hand and pulls me to his lips. Although he had given me the pleasure of all pleasures just a few minutes ago, I feel the heat gathering between my legs again as he sucks my lips.

  “A weird coincidence, don’t you think?” I ask as I maneuver us out of the parking lot.

  Adam’s phone buzzes, making me jump in my seat. I guess from now on I’ll hate the sound of it.

  “It’s Sabrina. She’s saying Mr. Hawkins had a delay because of the traffic and will arrive half an hour later.”

  “That’s good. I won’t need to risk a speeding ticket,” I joke.

  Adam shakes his head, smiling, as he dials a number. “I’m Adam Garnett. Can I speak to Pedro Solinas, please... All right... Hello, yes... My wife received another message an hour ago. From the same phone number... Right... Right... I’ll do that.” He hangs up the phone and turns to me. “We need to find a public phone. There is one at the Pan Pacific Recreational Center.”

  “I’ll have to turn around to go there,” I say although what I really want is an explanation.

  “It’s okay. We’ve got enough time before the meeting.”

  When we stop, he leans in to my ear and whispers. “Leave your phone in the car.”

  I eye him curiously but do as he says and put my phone inside the glove compartment before I get out of the car. He leaves his, too.

  I grab his hand, while we hurry toward the recreational center. “Are you gonna tell me what’s going on?”

  “I hired a private investigator to find the person behind the messages. He told me he was onto something but couldn’t tell it to me over my cell phone. He thinks our phones are bugged.”

  Marriage-ruining messages, call monitoring. Things were much simpler when my only worry was sex-deprivation. When we find the public phone, Adam picks up the receiver with a tissue and punches in the numbers.

  “I’m out of the car... Yes... What have you got... Hold on.” Adam drops the receiver to his chest and scans the surrounding before focusing on me. “Do you know any Annette Greene?”

  I open my mouth to say no, but something bugs me. “Maybe.” I frown as I force my mind to think. A fading memory resurfaces itself.

  I’m Annette Greene. You can call me Ann. Besides those words nothing else rings any bells.

  I look up at Adam. “I think I know someone with that name, but I don’t remember anything else.”

  Adam puts the receiver back to his ear. “Taylor might know her. Check any relationship with Valerie Holland.”

  Valerie? What would she get by trying to separate me from Adam? A scene of Valerie introducing Annette appears in my mind, but it feels more like a made-up memory than a real one.

  “The same yoga studio membership? I don’t know. Maybe they became friends there and are together in this... That’s interesting. Are you sure about it... Maybe a coincidence, but I won’t be surprised if the two set it up together.”

  After he hangs up the phone, he wipes his hands with the tissue and throws it in the trash can. He doesn’t take my hand but slips his arm around my waist as we walk back to the car. “Annette Greene works for Del Piero Constructions, one of the competitors who were in the auction for the Berenson project.”

  “Do you think she’s trying to keep us from signing the contact?”

  “I don’t know, but if that’s her goal, we should hurry to stop her from reaching it.” He grips my hand and starts to walk toward the sidewalk, but I pull him toward me.

  “Tell me something,” I say when his eyebrows furrow at my unwillingness to walk. “What were the other reasons for the abstinence? You said the birthday gift was one of the three reasons.”

  His eyes drop, and he grabs my other hand, bringing the two to his lips. “I know about the miscarriage.”

  I wince, curious what one thing has to do with the other. “How?”

  “The insurance receipt for the emergency fee. I talked to Dr. Fowler, and she told me not to have unprotected sex until you have at least two full cycles. I wanted to give you the space you needed until you were ready to talk about the loss. And showing up with a condom for sex would raise red flags. You’d know that I found out about the miscarriage, and I didn’t want you to feel worse than you already must have felt all this time.”

  I narrow my eyes to show him my disbelief. “That’s why you alienated yourself from me completely?”

  “It sure wasn’t my intention, but I guess it helped avert your attention from the miscarriage.”

  “It kind of did.”

  “I wish you had told me about it,” he says.

  “I was emotionally in a bad place. If I’m completely honest with myself, I still am. I wish I could push away the insecurities.”

  His hands reach up to my cheeks, and he cups my face and leans in close to my lips. “Don’t. Just send all those feelings my way. I’ll make sure to beat them up one by one.” His eyes flicker to my lips, and in a flash he claims my mouth, first with lingering, moist licks, then forcing his tongue deep into my mouth. I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him into a deeper kiss.

  A child’s cry startles us both, and we break our kiss. “This is not exactly the right place to make out.” Adam points at the playground a few feet away. “Let’s go.”

  We hurry back to the car and drive in silence. I can’t believe Adam knew about my miscarriage and didn’t say a word about it. Was he upset the first time he found out that I hid it from him? Is he as disappointed in me as I am?

  I notice my hands are massaging my belly. I’d be entering the second trimester by now if the miscarriage hadn’t taken place and probably already be showing. Adam glances at my face, then at my hands that are still resting on my belly, but doesn’t say a word. A look of sorrow fills his eyes, and a gentle smile curls his lips. He’s my husband. We’re in this together. I should learn to share my misery with him.

  “Don’t you worry about it, baby. Now that we know you can get pregnant, we’ll try it over and over until it sticks.”

  Once we arrive at work, I grab my phone tentatively as though it’s made of fire and slip it into my purse. I shoot a ‘what are we going to do?’ glance at Adam. He just rubs my back and plants a kiss on my forehead. Which works like magic to calm my jittery nerves. Whatever happens, having him on my side is a great relief.

  Bree meets us at the door of the conference room with the company attorney and Henry, from accounting, and hands us the contracts to review one last time. I’m so nervous I can barely read anything. Hoping Adam’s mind is functio
ning better than mine, I pour myself a cup of tea and settle in my chair. I can’t believe I was going to miss the signing because of a sex problem. Looks like my brain stops working all together when my vagina doesn’t get its daily dose of sperm. And not to forget, the simplest but most effective text message to turn me into a whiny toddler. I’m glad Adam chose the higher way and honored me back with my brains.

  I find myself anxiously drumming my fingers on the table. “No news from Mr. Hawkins, yet?”

  “I’ll call them again.” Bree dials the number on the phone in front of her and waits. “It goes directly to the answering machine.

  “Something isn’t right.” Adam walks up and down the room, scratching his head with his long fingers. “I’ll try talking to Chloe.” He dials the number on the phone of the conference room and leaves the speaker on for us to hear the conversation. “Hello, Chloe. This is Adam Garnett.”

  “Oh, hello,” the girl says, sounding surprised.

  “We’ve been waiting for Mr. Hawkins to sign the contract for over half an hour. Isn’t he in L.A. yet?”

  “I’m sorry. I should have told you earlier, but my father decided to grant the project to Del Piero Constructions.”

  Adam’s eyes flicker across the room, the cast of his face conveying every bit of shock he must be feeling, reflecting mine and everyone else’s in the room. “May I ask why he changed his mind?”

  “Adam, look, you’re a nice person, but we can’t sign an important project with a company that’s going through financial problems.”

  “What financial problems? We don’t have any problems, neither financial nor any other.”

  “We heard something else, something about the cancelation of a furniture purchase and a payment to one of your subcontractors due to shortness of cash.”

  How do they know? I stop breathing, and Bree covers up her mouth with both hands and whispers, “Oh, god.”

  Adam’s lips curves up with a painful smile. “We canceled the furniture purchase simply because of their inability to provide a satisfactory customer service, and we didn’t pay our subcontractor because they failed to deliver the services we’d agreed upon in our initial deal. Not because we’re limited on money. I’m ready to send you a bank statement or any other proof you want, to show that we have the necessary financial and technical resources to carry out the project. Whoever has told you those lies about Edelman Construction is not to be trusted. You’re making a big mistake by going into business with such people. We have a track record of completing our projects in time and with demonstrated success. You can get in contact with any of our previous clients to get feedback on our work. Don’t let a few corrupt people ruin your project. You’ll not be able to find any other company in the entire state to complete your project with the prices and quality of work we offer.”