325 First Fights

by E. L. Todd

  “Because I love you.”

  “There has to be more of a reason than that.” He spent every day having the same conversation with me. He couldn’t move on and date anyone, not when he had a crazy ex living next door.

  “You changed my life in the greatest way possible. You gave me happiness, something I never felt before. I owed everything to you. I wasn’t going to give up, and I knew you would never give up on me. When you find the one person you’re supposed to spend your life with, you realize there’s no one else in the world that could ever replace them. It’s them, or it’s no one.”

  It was something else I didn’t expect Cypress to ever say. He was never this romantic or raw in my memory. But something obviously changed him along the path of our relationship. “So, you believe we’re supposed to be together?”

  He didn’t hesitate before he answered. “Without a doubt.”

  I turned over and faced him, hooking my leg over his waist and bringing us closer together. That’s when I felt his hard cock press against me, his body telling me he already wanted another round.

  Cypress looked at me with his pretty blue eyes, his jaw rigid with masculinity. His hand glided up my body, his coarse skin grazing across my softness. There was a connection in the air, and he was just as aware of it as I was.

  I turned him to his back as I crawled on top of him. My hands pressed against his chest, and my hair fell over one shoulder as I swung my leg over his hip and sat on his lap. My pussy was right against his length, feeling the hardness that was similar to steel.

  Cypress immediately squeezed my hips and watched me grind against his length.

  I was ready to take him again, to feel his impressive size inside me. It was the first time I didn’t want him just to get off. I wanted to feel him inside me, to stretch me apart as we explored each other in mutual pleasure.

  I wanted to make love.

  Cypress guided me onto his length with a suppressed moan. Like we hadn’t just had sex thirty minutes ago, he was excited all over again. His cock slid through my slickness and fit into my pussy perfectly, stretching me until it was a little painful.

  He rolled me onto my back and remained inside me until he positioned himself on top of me. I knew he liked it when I was on top, bouncing hard on his dick, but he obviously wanted to be in control for this round. His hand slid into my hair where it was usually positioned, and he got a fistful of hair before he started to move. “Damn…”

  10

  Amelia

  I didn’t see Ace much that day because we worked in different locations. I hadn’t had a chance to ask him about his situation with Lady, but even if I did, I wasn’t sure if I had the courage to bring it up at all.

  Did it mean anything?

  He didn’t seem that interested in her to begin with, so probably not. But I still couldn’t bring it up. He might think I was jumping to conclusions, that he dumped her so he could be with me exclusively.

  That would be a dream.

  I walked home from work and spotted Evan outside my house—again.

  What the hell was he doing here?

  “Evan?” I watched him stand up from the stone steps when he noticed me and slipped his phone into his pocket.

  “Hey, Amelia.” He walked down the sidewalk and approached me in the front yard, where the two cypress trees stood tall. My car was in the driveway because I never used it for anything. His BMW was at the curb. He looked handsome in his black slacks and collared shirt. No matter how much I despised him, I couldn’t forget why I fell for him in the first place. And it was no surprise he could get a woman ten years younger than him—and it wasn’t just because he was successful.

  “What are you doing here?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head. “I thought you said I’m always welcome here.”

  “I did say that. But you’re always here now. Not used to it.”

  “Well, I was gonna ask if I could pick up the girls from school and take them to the beach.”

  “You could have called.” We didn’t need to have all of these face-to-face interactions. I wanted to be partners in parenting, nothing more than that.

  “I knew you were at work.”

  He was smooth. “Well, have fun with the girls. I’m gonna take a shower and open a bottle of wine.” I walked around him and headed to the door, looking forward to some alone time. I’d probably hit up Ace and see if he was down for a hookup.

  “Why don’t you come with us?” He turned around and watched me go.

  “I spend every hour with the kids as it is. I want a break.” I’d love to do my hair and makeup for once, look particularly sexy and put on some lingerie before I invited Ace over. That was a fantasy I hadn’t lived out in a long time.

  “Then how about we have dinner together?”

  He was spending a lot of time with the kids all of a sudden. “You have time to do all of that? Don’t you need to be getting home?”

  Evan slid his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “Not really.”

  I didn’t know what that meant, but I didn’t want to know. “You can have the kids. Momma is gonna relax.” I walked in the house without turning back, immediately jumping in the shower and cranking up the radio.

  Hair and makeup ready, I texted Ace. What are you doing? I’m home alone.

  The three dots popped up immediately. You have my attention.

  And I’m in black lingerie.

  The dots barely had a chance to pop up before the words appeared. Now you have my dick’s attention too.

  I took a picture of myself in the mirror, positioning my body to hide all the parts of my figure I didn’t like. I sent it to him without adding a caption.

  Damn. I’m on my way.

  I smiled and read the words a few times, feeling like I was flying on cloud nine. I’d never had the confidence to take a picture of myself and send it to any other guy. Ace was the only one who made me feel good about myself. I didn’t just feel like a woman with two kids. I felt like a fantasy.

  He was at my house in five minutes, pulling up in his car because walking obviously wasn’t fast enough. He came in through the front door and looked me up and down, his eyes greedy. “Even better in person.” He backed me up into the door and secured his hands against the wood on either side of me, closing me in. “Kids aren’t here?”

  “Evan has them for an hour or so.”

  At the mention of Evan, the heat in his eyes dampened slightly. But the fire picked up again within seconds. “Then let’s do this.” He scooped me up and held me against the door, his powerful body strong enough to support me without exertion. His lips moved to the hollow in my throat, and he ran his tongue across the skin. “I’m gonna fuck you so hard, baby.”

  My hands dug into his hair as I closed my eyes. “Please do.”

  After we lay on the bed for a few minutes, Ace got up and pulled on his jeans and t-shirt.

  I hated to see him leave, but I knew Evan would be home with the girls soon. It was a lot easier to sidestep the conversation by having Ace leave than having him stick around. Of course, if Ace wanted to stay, I wouldn’t ask him to go.

  Ace watched me as he shoved his phone into his front pocket. “You look hot in lingerie.”

  “I think that’s what it’s for—to help women like me look sexy.”

  He leaned over me on the bed and pressed a kiss to my lips. “You’d look sexy in a brown paper bag.” He gave me another kiss before he stood upright. “I should get going. I haven’t done laundry in nearly two weeks.”

  “How do you still have underwear?”

  “Turned them inside out.”

  I chuckled and got dressed. “You need a maid.”

  “Don’t we all?” he asked. “You could be my maid if you dressed like that all the time.”

  “I don’t think I would get anything done with you staring at me.”

  “True. But in that case, I wouldn’t want anything to get done.” He gave my waist a
squeeze before he walked into the hallway.

  I fixed my hair and my makeup before I walked him to the door. “Thanks for stopping by.”

  “Anytime.” He turned around when he reached the front door. “You know I’m always down to fuck such a beautiful woman.”

  Another compliment that went straight to my core. “Thanks.”

  He cupped my cheek and gave me a slow kiss before he pulled away. It was soft and delicate, a direct contrast to the intense way we fucked against the wall in my bedroom. It was nice, making me feel sensual and adored.

  He turned to the door. “Bye.”

  “Why did you stop seeing Lady?” I wanted to cover my face in humiliation for blurting that out. When he teased me with that kiss of his, I did the dumbest things. My heart took over, letting my brain bite the dust.

  He halted in place, his hand still on the doorknob. He was quiet, so it didn’t seem like he was going to answer.

  “Sorry…I was just curious. You know, as a friend.”

  “There’s not much to tell. She wanted something serious, and I didn’t.”

  That was all I was going to get out of him, and I knew it. I was an idiot for thinking there was even a remote possibility that he’d stopped seeing her because of me. When we had great sex, I just assumed it meant as much to him as it did to me. “Oh…I’m here to talk if you need a friend.” Actually, I didn’t want to hear anything about the women he was screwing.

  “Thanks.” He finally walked out and got into his car. When he was gone, I shut the door and stood in the entryway, feeling mortified by the stupid thing I’d just done.

  How could I be that stupid?

  I hoped I hadn’t screwed things up with him.

  Such a dumb thing to ask.

  Ace left just in time because Evan came home with the girls not even two minutes later. He walked them into the house, and the girls both gave me a hug before they went into their bedrooms to drop off their backpacks.

  “Did you guys have fun?” I asked. I know I did.

  “Yeah,” Evan answered. “We went to the beach then got dinner. What did you do?”

  “Just hung out…does that mean they don’t need dinner?”

  “No, they’re good.” He helped himself to a seat at the kitchen table, obviously having no intention of going anywhere.

  I hoped that didn’t mean he was sticking around. I purposely didn’t offer him anything to drink as a hint. “Were they surprised to see you?”

  “They both screamed,” he said with a chuckle. He leaned back in the chair and placed one ankle on the opposite knee.

  He definitely wasn’t going anywhere. I walked to the table and joined him, sitting across from him. “You must be tired.”

  “No, I feel fine.”

  Ugh. Was he always this dense, or was he purposely ignoring my hints? “You want a beer?”

  “Yeah, that’d be great.”

  I grabbed one, removed the cap, and placed it on the table in front of him. The sun was beginning to set in the distance, and the light was slowly fading. In another hour, the girls would be in bed, prepared to go to sleep.

  I knew Rebecca hated me, so she must not approve of Evan being here—unless he lied and said he was working late.

  The conversation dried up, so there was really nothing to say. But yet, he lingered anyway. Ace and I didn’t always talk to each other, but we were great friends so the silence was comfortable. I felt that way about all of my friends. But I didn’t consider Evan to be a friend at all. I loved him and always would, but his betrayal removed him from the friend zone permanently.

  I wondered why he was sticking around. Maybe he wanted to say goodbye to the girls? Tuck them in like last time? I didn’t have a clue. That must be it.

  “I left Rebecca.”

  My head moved in his direction, but I stared at him blankly because I couldn’t believe what he’d said. “You left Rebecca?” The best thing I could do was repeat the exact words he said to me.

  “Yeah.” He stared at his beer while his fingers rested around the bottle.

  After he broke up our marriage and betrayed my trust, I’d assumed he would marry her and spend the rest of his life with her. But they didn’t even last a year. It was pathetic, and it also made me even angrier. It was worth throwing me away for a relationship that only lasted a year? He obviously didn’t know that at the time, but it was still insulting. “Why?” Maybe she cheated or something. Karma had a way of working out like that.

  He stared at his beer for another thirty seconds before he sighed and looked up at me. “It was a lot of things. She was overly jealous. She didn’t like it anytime I had a client that was female and under forty. She didn’t want me to be around my own kids because she didn’t want me anywhere near you…”

  I guess my hunch was dead-on.

  “And then when she texted you…that was the last straw for me. I get that she’s jealous, but she had no right speaking to the mother of my kids like that. I knew it was only going to get worse from that point onward.”

  I hated him for leaving me, but I respected him for standing up for me.

  “And…being with her just made me realize what I lost.”

  My heart stopped.

  “I was happy in the beginning, but after a few months, I kept thinking about you. I kept wishing I were watching TV with you on a Sunday afternoon while the girls played with their toys. I wished I were dropping off the girls at school in the morning. I missed getting lunch at Amelia’s Place just to see you. The high I had wore off, and reality set in. I thought I could shake it off, but she just clung to me tighter. That’s when she became more jealous…when she realized I was unhappy.”

  I sat there in disbelief, unable to believe Evan had just confessed all those things to me. He made a mistake, and he knew it. Instead of feeling satisfied that karma was on my side, I didn’t feel anything at all. It took me a long time to get over Evan, and thinking about how happy he was with someone else was what pushed me forward. If he expected me to say something, he was going to be disappointed.

  What the hell should I say to that?

  Evan looked at me, watching me with a guarded expression. When I didn’t say anything, he spoke again. “I have an apartment in Monterey now.”

  I was still in shock, but I did a good job hiding that expression from my face. I kept up a stoic appearance, keeping my cards close to my chest.

  Evan eventually grew impatient with my silence. “What are you thinking?”

  “I don’t know what I’m thinking…”

  He lowered his eyes in disappointment. “I know it’s a far stretch, and I shouldn’t even—”

  “Then don’t,” I said calmly. “Don’t even go there.”

  Evan pushed his beer to the side even though it wasn’t in the way in the first place. “I made the worst mistake of my life, and I know it. I knew it months ago.”

  I refused to look at him.

  “I miss you.”

  I’d cried myself to sleep more times than I could count. I’d relied on Cypress to help me with the girls because I was too heartbroken to take care of them. Every day at work, I was just a ghost. The divorce was the most difficult thing I ever had to go through. I lost the man I loved to a woman he had nothing in common with.

  “I want to be a family again. I want to come home to you and the girls every night. I want to—”

  “Never. Going. To. Happen.” I finally focused my eyes on him, keeping my posture rigid and my expression strong.

  He stilled at my words, holding my gaze without blinking.

  “You made your decision, Evan. You didn’t want to work on the marriage. You didn’t want to go to counseling. You came home and told me you were in love with another woman. There was no room for discussion. You packed your things and left. That was the end. You have a lot of balls coming into my house and sweeping all of that under the rug.”

  “I never swept it under the rug. I know I did a terrible thing—”

&nbs
p; “And we’ve moved past it. But we’re never, ever getting back together. I don’t care if it’s better for the girls. It’s not better for me.”

  He rested his face in his palms and dragged his hands down his face. “You still love me.” He raised himself upright again and looked at me.

  “I’ll always love you, Evan. How can I not love the man who gave me two of the most precious things in my life? But I don’t love you the way I did before. I’m not in love with you, and I certainly could never trust you again.”

  “Well, I love you.”

  “It’s debatable whether you loved me to begin with, Evan.”

  “Of course I did. I just…”

  What kind of explanation could he possibly give me?

  “I just got lost.”

  “You saw a hot woman and left your wife. You traded in the woman with stretch marks from childbirth for a size zero model. That’s what happened, Evan. End of story.”

  He finally fell silent, his argument expired.

  “I want to be friends and partners. I want us to be happy for each other. But that’s the extent of it.”

  He rubbed his chin as he thought of his next move. “Is it because of Ace?”

  “Is what because of Ace?”

  “That you don’t want to work this out?”

  I raised an eyebrow so far it almost hopped off my face. “You really think the only thing stopping me from getting back together with you is Ace? Uh, no. You really see me as that pathetic? No. The reason why I’m not getting back together with you is because I don’t want to. That’s all.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” he said calmly.

  “It sure sounded like it.”

  “Well, you’ve never confirmed if you’re seeing him or not.”

  “Because it’s irrelevant.”

  Evan held his gaze on me, hardly blinking. “Whether you’re seeing him or not, I’d like for us to be together. I’d like it if we were a family again. I’m sure a guy like him wouldn’t want to stand in the way of that.”