by Cassia Leo
I drink two, maybe three, beers a night to unwind after work. Sometimes when we’re testing a new recipe, I’ll drink too much, but I never get so drunk I black out or lose time. Beer is my life. I’m supposed to be a connoisseur. It’s my job.
I enter the apartment and Tessa is sitting at the kitchen table with her computer. Her eyes widen when she looks up and sees me in the doorway. She deftly closes the laptop as she rises from the chair.
“Hey, I didn’t expect you back so soon. Is something wrong?”
I shake my head as I drop my keys into the glass bowl on top of the table constructed out of salvaged Brazilian pine. “Everything’s fine. I think the pitch went well. I’m… optimistic.”
“That’s great!” she replies, pulling her straight blonde hair into a ponytail at her nape as she walks toward me. “Why don’t you look happy?”
“I am happy.” I force a smile as I head for the refrigerator to grab a beer.
“Houston, it’s two o’clock.”
I glance at the beer in my hand then back at her. “Does it matter what time of day it is?”
“I’m not talking about the beer. I was just wondering why you’re home so early on a Wednesday.”
I can’t tell her that I ran into my ex-girlfriend today and how the wall I’d built around my memories of Rory was knocked down in an instant. I can’t tell her that I’m home early today because I didn’t trust myself to be anywhere but here right now. I can’t tell her that I hoped the sight of her would remind me of all the reasons I can’t be with Rory.
Being married means having someone, just one person, who knows everything about you. Someone you can share everything with, even the ugly bits of your soul you’d rather sweep under the carpet and completely forget about. But Tessa doesn’t know anything about Rory. That time of my life is a discussion I hoped I would never need to have with her.
“I told you. The meeting went well, so I just decided to take the rest of the day off. I wanted to see you.”
I set the cold beer on the marble countertop, then I grab her waist and pull her body flush against mine. Gazing into her blue eyes for a moment, I will myself not to compare her to Rory, but it’s difficult. Her sharp hip bones are pressed against me and I can’t help but remember how much I loved the softness of Rory’s body.
Leaning forward, I take her earlobe into my mouth. Her breathing quickens as I trace the tip of my tongue inside the shell of her ear. Her hair smells like the lavender-mint shampoo we share and I inhale deeply to rid myself of the memory of Rory’s hair, the way it smelled like vanilla frosting.
“Houston,” she breathes, her fingers curling tightly around my biceps. “I… I have an appointment.”
She pushes me back and her face is flushed as she opens a drawer and takes out a bottle opener. “I didn’t know you were coming home early. I booked a hair appointment for this afternoon.”
She pops the top off the bottle of beer I set down on the counter a few seconds ago, then she hands it to me.
I wish I could say that this is the first time Tessa has rejected my sexual advances, but that would be a lie. Any married couple will tell you that these kinds of things just don’t always line up. Sometimes she has an appointment. Sometimes I have to get to work for an important meeting. Sometimes one of us is just not in the mood. But it’s not the response I was hoping for. I wanted to lose myself in her today. Maybe even go for an all-nighter.
“You have a good time, baby.”
She laughs nervously. “A good time at the hair salon?”
Before she can say anything else, I kiss her. Hard. Tangling my fingers in her hair, I thrust my tongue inside her mouth. She whimpers as she clutches the front of my T-shirt. We move in unison and I’m reminded of the first time I met Tessa, at a beer festival three years ago.
She was wearing a floral crown on her head and totally blasted on free beer when she showed up at our booth. I probably could have taken her home with me and fucked her once then never called her again. It was what I had done for two years and it had worked just fine. But something she said changed my mind about using her.
She sampled our pale ale, then she looked me in the eye and said, You look like my brother… He’s dead.
She cackled loudly at this proclamation and spilled the rest of the beer sample on her chest. Then she looked up at me again and her eyes swelled with tears. She apologized as her friend pulled her away from our booth, but I knew then that I wanted to know her.
I pull away, placing a soft kiss on her cheekbone before I whisper in her ear. “Hurry home. I don’t think this beer is gonna quench my thirst tonight.”
She nods as she reaches for her purse in a daze. “I’ll be back soon.”
As the door closes behind her, my eyes are drawn to the laptop on the table. Tessa never brings the laptop out here while I’m home. She says she doesn’t like having electronic devices between us. So one of our unofficial wedding vows is to leave all electronic devices, other than cell phones, in the office. That way when we’re home together we give each other our undivided attention.
I guess it’s not a big deal if she brings the laptop out here while I’m at work. I take a seat on the sofa, but my gaze is still drawn to the table. Was it my imagination or was she nervous when I walked in at two o’clock?
No, that’s just my own guilty conscience making me paranoid.
I stare at the laptop and for a brief moment consider opening it up to see what she was doing, but that would be a gross invasion of her privacy. Tessa is allowed to have her own personal space where I don’t intrude.
And so am I.
Click here to continue reading The Way We Fall.
Also by Cassia Leo
COMING SOON!
InstaLove
Amber Sky
AVAILABLE NOW!
Stand-alones
Black Box
The Heiress
The Story of Us Series
The Way We Fall (Book #1)
The Way We Break (Book #2)
The Way We Rise (Book #3)
To Portland, With Love (Book #3.5)
Shattered Hearts Series
Forever Ours (Book #1)
Relentless (Book #2)
Pieces of You (Book #3)
Bring Me Home (Book #4)
Abandon (Book #5)
Chasing Abby (Book #6)
Ripped (Book #7)
Unmasked Series
Unmasked Series
Power Players Series
Luke (stand-alone)
Knox (stand-alone)
Chase (stand-alone)
ROMANTIC COMEDY
Anti-Romance
Edible: The Sex Tape (A Short Story)
PARANORMAL ROMANCE
Carrier Spirits Duet
Parallel Spirits (Book #1)
Kindred Spirits (release date to be announced)
For more information, please visit
cassialeo.com/books
About the Author
New York Times bestselling author Cassia Leo loves her coffee, chocolate, and margaritas with salt. When she’s not writing, she spends way too much time re-watching Game of Thrones. When she’s not binge watching, she’s usually enjoying the Oregon rain with a cup of coffee and a book.
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