325 First Fights

by E. L. Todd

  “Yeah,” Evan said without offense. “You’d think the guy would learn from my mistake.”

  I couldn’t believe I was standing in my kitchen being comforted by the man who’d left me for another woman. I didn’t think I’d wind up here, ever sinking this low. But here I was, a pathetic mess.

  I let Evan touch me because I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t care enough to push him off. I didn’t care about anything then. I judged myself for being so emotionally unstable, but I was tired of being rejected, of being second best.

  Evan’s hand moved to my cheek, and he directed my gaze onto his. His callused thumb brushed against my soft skin, and he looked at me in just the way he did on our wedding day. I knew he was going to kiss me.

  Now was the best time to move out of the way.

  But I didn’t move. I stood there and let it happen.

  He leaned in and kissed me, pressing his warm mouth against mine. The kiss was familiar because I would never forget how it felt to kiss the man I was married to for eight years. It was the kiss I experienced every single day before we went to work and before we went to sleep.

  His hand slid into my hair, and he deepened the kiss when he knew I wouldn’t object. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth and breathed into me, his hard chest feeling incredible against mine. It was nice to feel wanted immediately after I was rejected. I felt weak, the kind of woman I never wanted to be.

  But I’d hit rock bottom.

  My alarm went off the next morning, and I slammed my hand down on top of it. The sun was already shining through the windows, telling me it was going to be a warm day. I kicked off the sheets and sat up in bed, realizing Evan was still beside me.

  I hadn’t planned for this. Now I had Evan in the bed we slept in for eight years, and our daughters were just down the hall.

  I didn’t want to get their hopes up that we were getting back together. The girls would be so excited, and I would hate to shatter their dreams. I grabbed Evan and gently shook his arm. “I should let you out before the girls see you.”

  He sat up in bed, his hard chest strong with muscle. His shoulders and arms were cut, and he was in the best shape of his life. He’d obviously been exercising even more than he did before. He ran his fingers through his hair then wiped the sleep from his eyes. “Why can’t they see me?”

  “You know why, Evan.” It was way too early in the morning to have this conversation.

  Evan was too tired to have it either, so he got up and pulled his clothes on.

  I snuck him to the front of the house and let him out the front door. “I’ll see you later.”

  He kissed me on the mouth unexpectedly before he walked to his car at the curb.

  I’d have to tell Evan last night was a one-time thing before he made any assumptions. But I couldn’t worry about that right now.

  I got the girls ready for school, dropped them off, and then went to work. When I walked into the office, everyone was already there. Cypress handed me a coffee right when I walked inside, always looking out for me in ways I didn’t expect.

  When I looked at Ace, he stared back at me with an unreadable gaze. He was stoic, telling me our conversation last night had no effect on his night. I was the only one who walked away with a broken heart.

  Sleeping with Evan was such a stupid idea. I had no idea why I was so stupid. At the time, it was nice not to be alone. The sex was good, like it’d been during our marriage, and that was enough of a distraction.

  But I knew there would be consequences.

  “How was your night?” Bree asked.

  “Good,” I said, knowing Ace could hear me. “Evan took the girls to the movies, so I took a bath and had some wine.” And I cried my eyes out before I slept with my ex-husband. “How was yours?”

  “We took Dino on a walk at the beach then had dinner.”

  It seemed like she and Cypress did everything together now. That made me happy. Those two belonged together, even if Bree couldn’t remember why. I was glad she’d given him another chance, and I was glad Cypress was patient enough to wait for that second chance. “What am I doing this morning? Am I at the café or downstairs?”

  “You’re downstairs,” Blade said. “I’ll head to the café.”

  I was glad I didn’t have to spend the afternoon working with Ace. That would suck.

  “I’ll stay here,” Cypress said. “Ace will be at Olives. Bree will be at the café. Go team.”

  “We aren’t cheerleaders,” Blade said. “Even though I’d probably look amazing in a skirt.”

  “With those chicken legs?” Ace asked. “I doubt it.” He left the office and walked down the stairs to head to work.

  Once he was out of the room, I could breathe again. Bree and Blade left for work together, so Cypress and I headed downstairs to get ready to open the diner. We placed all the chairs on the ground then Cypress took care of the register. I started brewing the coffee and threw all the oranges in the squeezer. “How are things with my sister?”

  “Good,” he said with his back turned to me. “We’re having lots of sex, which makes me happy.”

  “After eighteen months without getting laid, you must be thrilled.”

  “Hey, I got laid a few times,” he said. “So it’s not like I don’t have mad skills. And the sex is just as good as it used to be. You know, since she doesn’t scream at me for cheating on her all the time.”

  “So she’s finally let that go?”

  “Eh.” He shrugged. “Not totally. But she’s not so venomous about it. When I tell her I love her, she doesn’t say it back. That doesn’t make me mad, but I do miss hearing her say it.”

  “You have to cut her some slack. In her mind, you’re completely starting over.”

  “No, I do get it. I’m just glad I have her. I’m not gonna complain. If she looks through my phone and constantly needs to know where I am, I don’t care about that either. She’s entitled to her trust issues.”

  “I can’t see her doing that.”

  “She hasn’t. But if that will give her peace of mind, I’m all for it.” He shoved the cash into the register then joined me in the kitchen. “How are things going with Evan?”

  “I’m not seeing him.” I immediately grew defensive, terrified someone would figure out my dirty secret.

  “I never said you were. But I know he’s been trying to be an actual father again. He’s kept his commitment?”

  Too much, actually. “He’s around more than I’d like, which is a sudden change.”

  He shrugged. “Better than never seeing him, right?”

  Not quite. “He told me what you guys did.”

  Cypress avoided my gaze and brushed off the comment. “Not sure what you mean.”

  “He told me you guys went to his office and told him to get his shit together.”

  Now Cypress was backed into a corner, and he squirmed. “Uh…well…yeah. We were just trying to help.”

  I was hurt that Ace never told me the truth, but I could never get mad at what they did. They had my best interest at heart, and I considered myself to be very lucky. “I know. When Evan told me, I was surprised.”

  “Shouldn’t be. We always have your back. You know that, Amy.” He raised his fist and held it out to me.

  I smiled then tapped my fist against his. “I know, Cypress.”

  Cypress smiled then walked back to the register.

  I turned back to what I was doing so I could hide my face. If Cypress knew I hooked up with Ace for so long and then he dumped me, he’d rip his throat out. He wouldn’t be so quick to forgive again.

  That was why I had to keep it to myself.

  For Ace’s sake.

  14

  Bree

  I finished up at the café then headed home, knowing Cypress would already be back at the house or would be leaving work soon. Being next-door neighbors forced us to be together nearly all of the time. It had its pros and its cons.

  It definitely made moving forward easier
. If we weren’t neighbors, it might have been easier for me to forget about him and start dating again. But how could I date someone else when I saw Cypress with his shirt off every single day? When I was greeted with that handsome smile every time we were face-to-face? When he constantly wore the wedding ring I gave him on our wedding day?

  He pretty much made it impossible.

  And I started to recognize the changes he’d made. He was always considerate and kind toward me, taking care of me even when I didn’t have a clue who he was. He had been loyal to me every single day since we said I do.

  I would never know if he’d always been faithful to me when my memory was gone, but I had to hope he had been. It wouldn’t make any sense for him to look after me every day if he wasn’t that committed.

  When I got to the house, there was a note on my door.

  Date night. Be ready at 7.

  I pulled the note off the door and read it again, a smile forming on my face. I suspected he was watching me through the window, but I didn’t turn to look at him. I stuffed the note into my pocket and walked into the house, realizing I was going on my first date with my husband.

  I found a black dress in my closet with see-through lace as the sleeves. It was short and tight, and since it’d been eighty degrees that afternoon, it was the perfect day to wear it. I wore black flats because heels were simply impossible when we walked everywhere.

  I did my hair and makeup and felt a jolt of excitement I hadn’t experienced in a long time. It reminded me of when we were first dating years ago. He was my dream guy, and I finally got to have him. I didn’t think about the way he’d cheated on me. In fact, I’d been thinking about it less and less with every passing day.

  It didn’t seem relevant anymore.

  At seven, he arrived at my door. He was in dark jeans and a collared shirt, his shoulders looking broad in the fabric. He had just shaved his face, so his jawline was clean, revealing the prominent angles of his chin. His rugged masculinity constantly contrasted against the bright blue color of his eyes. It was the only traditionally pretty feature he possessed.

  He took a look at my figure in my dress, his gaze taking in every single feature. He gave me two thumbs up when he was finished. “You look sexy as hell. I like this.” He moved into my body and circled my waist with his large hands, pressing me back into the door like he had no intention of taking me anywhere. His hands gripped the fabric of my dress, bunching it up until the bottom part of my ass was sticking out. “I really like this.”

  When he was this close to me, I could feel his erection through his jeans. I suspected it hadn’t been there a second ago. “I can tell.”

  “Are you sure?” He spoke against my mouth, nearly touching me. “I can show you if you’d like.”

  “After you buy me dinner.”

  He chuckled. “A woman who knows what she wants…I like it.” He finally gave me what I’d been waiting for and kissed me on the mouth. Despite his having a shaved face, the skin around his mouth was still slightly coarse and rough. I liked the way it felt. I liked the way it felt between my thighs too.

  When I felt those nice lips, I didn’t care about dinner. I wanted to eat him instead.

  Cypress ended the embrace before it could escalate any further. Whenever our mouths were pressed together, an atomic explosion erupted between us. Maybe trust hadn’t developed yet, but we certainly had the right chemistry. “We should get going. Otherwise, we’re gonna order a pizza in the nude.”

  “Doesn’t sound so bad.”

  He grinned then pulled me along. “Don’t tempt me.”

  There was a new steakhouse on Dolores and 7th, and ironically, that was the name of the restaurant. I’d walked by it countless times and assumed it was an art gallery because the floor plan didn’t resemble any restaurant I had ever seen. It was a perfect square, with large floor-to-ceiling windows and European furniture inside.

  Cypress and I had a table in the center of the room, and other couples sat nearby, drinking wine and enjoying the fresh bread and butter. I ordered a sirloin, and Cypress did the same even though neither one of us ate much red meat. I’d always been a fish sort of person.

  We each sipped on the wine and looked at each other across the table, both lacking our usual conversation skills. Every interaction I had with Cypress up until that point had been at our houses or at work.

  We hadn’t been both intimate and public at the same time.

  “Our first date…” I ripped a piece of bread from the loaf and dropped it into my mouth.

  “Yeah, our hundredth first date,” he said with a chuckle. “We’ve had a lot of first kisses too.”

  “I wonder how many.”

  His eyes shifted back and forth as he counted them over the past eighteen months. “About thirty.”

  “Wow. That’s a lot.”

  He shrugged. “I’m a pretty smooth guy.”

  I rolled my eyes. “If you’re smooth, you’re humble.”

  “I am humble,” he said. “I was married to you, so I had the upper hand.”

  “If I’m not aware of the legal binding, it doesn’t count.”

  “Whatever. Most men wouldn’t have been able to make it happen. Whenever you woke up on the right side of the bed, I was there. I flirted, I complimented, and I got you into bed. I think it had something to do with your hormones too, around your monthly cycle.”

  I blanched at the thought that Cypress knew my menstrual cycle better than I did.

  “At that time of the month, I didn’t interact with you at all unless I had to,” he said with a chuckle.

  “You wouldn’t have wanted to get laid at that time anyway.”

  He chuckled. “No, I definitely would. Period or no period, makes no difference to me.”

  I cringed in disgust even though it was my body we were talking about. “So, we would do that when we were married?”

  “Every day,” he said. “The only times we wouldn’t was when either one of us was really sick. Now, that’s just gross.”

  We had different definitions of gross.

  “Anyway.” He held up his glass of wine and tapped it against mine. “To our first date.”

  “Our first date.” I drank my wine then set it on the white tablecloth. “How are your parents doing?”

  “They’re good. They were really excited when I told them you were doing well.”

  “That’s great.” I had no idea what these people even looked like. I didn’t meet them when we dated the first time. Kinda strange. “I guess I’ll have to meet them all over again…” I got nervous at the thought of meeting my in-laws, terrified they wouldn’t like me. But I’d already made my first impression, so there was nothing I could do about their opinion now.

  “They love you more than they love me,” he said with a chuckle. “So you don’t need to worry about anything. My mother thinks I’m a dumbass. And she’s glad that you love me even though I’m a dumbass.”

  I smiled, liking his mother already. “Do they know we dated before?”

  He nodded. “I told them what happened. Another reason why my mother thinks I’m a dumbass.”

  I was surprised he’d told them that and dragged his own name through the mud. But I also respected his honesty. “You have a brother too, right?”

  “Pine,” Cypress said. “He thinks you’re hot.”

  Both of my eyebrows rose. “And you’re fine with that?”

  “I’m hotter than he is, so I have nothing to worry about.”

  “There goes that arrogance again…”

  “I’m just a confident guy. I know what I have to offer a woman. And I also know when a woman is into me. My wife is definitely into me.”

  I did make it pretty obvious as much as I tried to act distant. “Well, if you keep being this confident, you may not get laid tonight.”

  “Oh, I’m getting laid. I’ll liquor you up more if I have to, but I’m getting some action.”

  I squeezed my thighs together under the table,
knowing I would cave the second we got home. I might have to walk around in my house naked and hope he watched me through his windows, enticing him to come over.

  Cypress drank from his glass and stared at me hard, his thoughts obviously on sex. I could tell just by looking at him. Spending every single day with him for the past few months had taught me how to decipher every word and every action.

  I felt like prey being the subject of his gaze, but in a way I liked. I liked his bossy authoritativeness. Somehow, he pulled it off when other guys couldn’t. There was something about him that made me love everything, even his flaws.

  I squeezed my legs tighter together and felt all my nerves fire off. I wanted to defuse the intensity of the situation since we still had to get through the rest of dinner. This first date wasn’t going the way it should. We wanted to skip all the bases and slide into home plate right away. “Excuse me…” I walked away and headed into the bathroom, giving myself a second to cool down. I needed to use the bathroom anyway, so I did my business and washed my hands. Just a month ago, I’d decided this wasn’t going to work with Cypress. I’d had every right turning my back on him, but in the end, that wasn’t what I wanted. My heart had loved him since the first time I laid eyes on him, and that kind of affection would never die. My instincts told me that if a man cheated once, he would do it again. But my heart disagreed.

  I believed in him.

  I walked back into the restaurant and found a woman sitting in the chair I had vacated. Her back was to me, and she had bright blond hair and a slender figure that was a few sizes smaller than mine.

  My initial response was fury. I wasn’t the jealous type, but I was certainly insecure after what Cypress had done.

  But I reminded myself that I didn’t want to be that person—not anymore. I was always calm and confident, and I wouldn’t let any supermodel make me feel intimidated. She was probably a local or a restaurant acquaintance. Any decent woman wouldn’t hit on a married man the second his wife walked into the bathroom.

  Cypress looked up at me, and instead of wearing that calm smile I was used to seeing, he looked uncomfortable.