by Sam Crescent
Surprisingly, they’d formed a friendship, which was also bound together by the fact he had the world’s biggest crush on her best friend, Darla.
Darla, of course, wasn’t going to fall for a model, nor did she believe Dean wanted anything from her.
“Are you putting this on your channel?”
“Yes, I was thinking, ‘Death by Chocolate’. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. Tell those ladies of yours to serve this up to the man they love on Valentine’s Day, and every guy would be smitten, I swear.”
Addison chuckled and watched as he enjoyed the cake she’d finished making. She really did love cooking, and it was a passion that was never going to stop as far as she was concerned.
Someone cleared his throat, and she turned in time to see Darla and Shaun, her husband.
Everything just seemed to freeze in place as she stared at him.
“Did you forget that you had a husband?” Shaun asked.
“So, you’re the husband?” Dean asked, standing up.
She noticed he’d finished his cake.
“Who the hell are you?”
“A friend.”
“That’s all you better be!”
The threat in Shaun’s voice surprised her. He looked dangerous, as if he was going to flip and attack Dean at any moment.
Then like a jolt of lightning, she realized her husband was in her apartment, and he’d never once asked about this place.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
Shaun turned to look at her. “We need to talk.”
“Why?” They never talked.
They were doing what their parents told them to do. Their marriage was a purely basic one, sex.
Only the sex wasn’t any good. It was bad sex. Even on their wedding night, it had been bad.
Throughout the entire time she’d been in pain, and she hadn’t liked a thing that he did to her.
Running fingers through her hair, she stepped away from the sink and made herself useful. She hated thinking of her wedding night. That one night had set the course of her marriage, but she shouldn’t complain, not really. She loved her life.
“We need to talk,” Shaun said again. “In private.”
“Do you want us to stay?” Darla asked, completely ignoring Shaun.
“No. It’s okay. We do need to talk.”
She kept her gaze on his, and he didn’t make a move. The door closed, and the room fell into silence. This was how it always was between them, silent.
Biting her lip, she waited for him to talk.
“When did you get this place?” Shaun asked, breaking the silence.
“Er, I got this place about six months after we were married.”
“You don’t live in our house?”
She snorted. “No! That place is a damn museum. I hate it there.”
“That’s your house, the one you wanted.”
“No. I hate that house. I never wanted that place. You pretty much dumped me there, and left.”
Shaun cursed. “Your mother said that was the house you liked.”
Addison laughed. “My mother? My mother doesn’t know much about me, Shaun. You’d be best asking Darla. My mom, she likes to have a certain status, and as we’re not a family, there’s no way future Woodsides would ever be caught in a place like this. A home.” She held her hand up, looking around them. “This is my home.”
Her large apartment had color and character. Everything that she enjoyed about life was in this very place. She loved artwork and life, love different experiences. The kitchen was her domain, very similar to her grandmother, who ruled over the kitchen in any house where her grandfather took her.
This was all of hers, and that house she shared with Shaun, it was nothing more than a cave.
“Fuck, I hate that house. I can’t stand that house.”
“The white walls and old furniture don’t do it for you?”
“Fuck no!” Shaun placed his hands on his hips, which showed off his rather impressive expanse of chest. She’d seen him naked many times, but hadn’t taken the time to enjoy what she was seeing. Even covered, he was a gorgeous man. “I didn’t like that place. I thought you wanted it.”
Addison shrugged, and covered the cake with the dome for the stand. “I don’t like that kind of thing. I take it you’re here because you’ve discovered my blog, my book?” She tried to show him a blank face, but the truth was, she was scared that he’d laugh at her love of cooking.
He shouldn’t be surprised. Look at you, you’re not exactly slender.
“I saw your interview. Why did you keep this a secret?”
“I didn’t keep it a secret. Paula, my agent, tried to reach out to you. You weren’t interested, so we continued on with the process of the book.”
“I can’t believe you had this whole other world.”
“I don’t miss our monthly appointments. This isn’t your world.”
“How did you afford this? I checked your statements, and the money I put into a personal account for you hasn’t been touched.”
“My grandparents. They left me a large inheritance.”
“What about Evangeline?” he asked.
Ah, her older sister, the one he was supposed to marry instead of her.
“My grandparents didn’t leave her anything, nor did they leave my parents. They have the billion dollar corporation, and I’m just me. They believed I wouldn’t get anything, and they wanted me to be safe, and comfortable.” Her grandparents had known that Evangeline was destined to marry a rich, successful businessman, whereas she had been cast aside as scraps. It was only because Evangeline screwed up that she wasn’t married to Shaun. “You and I both know you were going to marry my sister.”
“I wasn’t. I can’t stand her.”
Addison raised her brow. “Seriously?”
“Her getting pregnant, and causing that fucking scandal—there was no way I was going to ever trap myself with her. She’s far too wild.”
“I’m up just plain and boring, right?”
There it went again, the old insecurity rearing its ugly head. She was the plain Jane, and her sister, the wild child that everyone loved.
“Shit, I didn’t mean it like that.”
Folding her arms, she stared at Shaun. “Do you realize this is our first real conversation?”
“I know.” He stepped up close, leaning against the counter.
“Are you going to ask me to quit my cooking?”
“No.”
“Really?” she asked, surprised. She’d expected him to make her quit, or at least to stop what she loved.
You don’t know him. Not really.
“I don’t.” He took a seat at the counter. “I want to try that chocolate cake that had that guy moaning as if he was having sex with you.”
With her cheeks growing warmer by the second, Addison cut him a slice of cake.
****
Shaun couldn’t believe how little he knew about his wife. Addie’s cheeks went bright pink, and she cut him a large chunk of cake without saying a word. He’d seen Darla pull up outside of the building, and he’d simply walked over to her.
“You’ve found her out?” Darla asked.
“Take me to her apartment, Darla. I’m not in the mood to play games.”
“I’m not in the mood to help you hurt my best friend.”
“I’m not going to hurt her. I need to talk to her.”
When he’d walked into the apartment he’d heard moaning and groaning, all the signs he’d yet to hear from Addie’s own lips. Jealousy had struck him deep. No man was allowed to touch what belonged to him, and Addie was his woman. The very thought of another person touching her, had him so damn angry. He wanted her all to himself.
Taking a slice of the sinful cake, he took a bite, not knowing what to expect. The moment the chocolate hit his tongue, it was like an explosion of flavor. His mouth watered for another slice, and he just couldn’t help himself. He needed more.
“Wow,” he said. “This is so damn good. You’ve cooked like this the whole time?” He’d never been a big chocolate lover, as he preferred citrus, but he was in love.
“In the beginning I kind of sucked. I’ve learned a lot in the last couple of years. It really has been a wonderful experience.”
“I can’t believe how good this is. I mean, wow, this is so damn good.”
She chuckled as he kept on eating her food. He loved it. Shaun hadn’t heard her chuckle before either, and he stared into her eyes, seeing the delight inside them. Slowly, little by little, he’d been killing her, and he was only just witnessing it now.
Finishing off the cake, he was tempted to lick the crumbs but decided against it.
“You really did like it?” she asked.
“I loved it.”
“I’m so pleased.” She took the plate away, and placed it in the sink. “I bought this place once I realized you had a routine of visiting me.”
“Routine?”
“Every month just after my cycle, I’ve always been on time, you’d meet up, and we’d have sex.”
He remembered their wedding night, and it had been such a total disaster. She’d been a virgin, and he’d been so damn aroused by her, even though they hadn’t said two words to each other outside of their nuptials.
“Did you cook for us?” he asked.
“Yes. All the meals you ate at that house, I prepared.”
“Damn. I never knew.”
“It seems there’s a lot we don’t know about each other.”
He couldn’t agree more. “So, what made you do this?”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes. I need to know.”
Addie signed and took a seat across from him. She locked her fingers together, pressing her arms tight against her body. Her tits pushed together, and his cock swelled at the sight.
“I’ve always loved cooking, even from a little girl. I’d be around my grandmother, watching her. When she died before we got married, she told me to promise her that I would never live a life of regret. Life was too short, and that I had to live it, doing something I loved. I loved cooking. After she died, and I married you, I thought it was going to be different. I waited around in that house, and it just wasn’t the same. I didn’t have the passion there that I do here. There’s nothing there I love or what to be part of. That house belongs to my mother, not to me.” She ran a finger along her bottom lip, and Shaun was drawn to that single digit. “When you would disappear for weeks at a time, and only return for that once a month ‘inoculation’, I’m going to call it.” She chuckled, and he was filled with shame. “I started to think about what I wanted to do, and this was it. The blog, the cooking, and sharing it with friends, that’s how it was born.”
He glanced around the modest kitchen, and he saw all of the top of the range equipment around the room. Shaun spotted the camera in the corner.
“Is that rolling?”
“No. Not today. When I’m cooking, Darla holds the camera, and we have lights set up, but I couldn’t cook every single day in a kitchen like that. I need to have my space to create. Wow, we have actually talked. How strange is that?”
“Do you want kids?” he asked.
“What?”
“Children. I was under the impression you wanted them straight away.” He loved kids, but he wasn’t ready to have his own. Shaun had been trying to give Addie everything she ever wanted. He was starting to see there was a lot he didn’t know about his woman. Her mother had fed him a lot of lies when it came to her.
“Right now? No, I don’t want kids. It’s too soon, and I’m not ready to have them. Do you want kids?”
“One day. I thought you wanted them immediately.”
“No. We don’t know enough about each other to take that next step.”
“I agree. Can you get pregnant?” he asked, blurting the question out.
“What?”
“We’ve been trying for three years, and nothing has happened. I got tested as I thought something was wrong with me.” He’d wanted to break the vicious cycle they were in, and finally give her something she actually wanted. If she couldn’t get pregnant then he would deal with it.
“Oh, God, I’m so sorry. It’s not you at all. Before we were married, I went and got the implant.” She showed the inside of her left arm. “I got the implant before we were married. You were supposed to marry Evangeline, not me. I was going to tell you, but you seemed determined not to talk to me about anything. You were always so busy, never wanting to actually talk. I didn’t think it would go on as long as it did. Three years was a long time to be stuck in some kind of rut, and I figured you’d find your release elsewhere—”
“Elsewhere?”
“Yes. The women you’ve been dating. I’ve seen your picture in the newspapers, and on magazines. I figured you’d found what you were really looking for.”
“I wasn’t looking for anything.”
“Shaun, you’re a good looking man. I know I’m not the kind of woman for you.”
He didn’t like that. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he asked, pissed that she would put herself down like that.
“You’re a hot guy, Shaun. I’m not. I’m overweight.”
“What the hell does your weight have to do with anything?” he asked. He was so damn annoyed. He’d never once thought about her weight. Shaun liked her curves. In fact, he loved them.
Everything was so fucked up between them. He didn’t even know where to start to make it right.
When he was away from her, he thought about exploring every single one of her curves. The moment they were together, this stillness came between them, and he couldn’t push it away, or stop it. It drove him crazy, and now he was seeing a whole other side of her, and he couldn’t stand it, not anymore.
“I’ve never cheated on you, Addie.”
She smiled. “Shaun, don’t worry about it.”
Getting to his feet, he closed the distance between them, and cupped her cheek. “I didn’t cheat on you.” He ran his thumb across her bottom lip. “Those women I went out with, I went out with them to help the company. They were part of helping the company to continue to grow and expand. I have never cheated on you, and I never will.” He pulled a little on her bottom lip.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Damned if I know. This has got to stop.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“We’re husband and wife. I took your virginity, Addie.”
She winced. “Sex for me isn’t exactly great, Shaun. You don’t have to make excuses.”
“I made it bad for you.”
“What?”
“I couldn’t contain myself. I’m the one with experience, and yet I was the one who behaved like a horny teenage boy. That’s not who I am.”
“I don’t want to talk about this.” She pulled out of his arms.
“Sex can be a million times better, that I can promise you.”
“You made it bad on purpose?”
Shaun sighed. “You never responded to me, Addie. I couldn’t get you to open up to me, and sex was just to give you a baby.”
He was so damned relieved that she couldn’t get pregnant. From the moment he saw that interview on television, his entire world had been opened up, and it was all his own fault. He’d believed her mother about everything, instead of going with his gut, which was telling him otherwise.
“I can’t hear this right now. Everything is moving fast.” She moved away from him, and he had no choice but to follow her through her apartment. He stopped when they passed the sitting room. There were pictures of her with Darla and Dean, and some with another woman. He saw a couple of celebrity chefs, and then there were a lot of pictures of her with her grandparents.
Chasing after her, he found her sitting on the edge of her bed.
His wife’s bedroom was neat, clean, and yet it had personal items that had all been missing
from their museum. There was no way he was ever thinking of their place as a house again. It hadn’t been a house at all.
“What’s happening now with your book?” he asked.
“I’ve got a book signing on the day of release downtown in the bookstore. I’ve, erm, got a couple more interviews, and I think that’s it. I’ll be doing some more video uploads after they’ve been edited. I’ve got the cake to upload tomorrow.”
“Who does your editing?” he asked.
“Darla. She’s been a huge help with this. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without her. What do we do about us?”
He took a seat beside her on the bed.
Shaun wanted to reach out and touch her, but he held back.
She’s your damn wife, you idiot.
Taking hold of her hand, he locked their fingers together. “I think it’s time we went back to the start. There’s a lot we don’t know about each other, and the stuff we do know, is crap.”
“You swear a lot. I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, it was a habit I picked up but never got rid of. It drove my parents crazy.”
She laughed.
“I want to be part of this world you’ve created, Addie.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your cooking. I want to be the one trying your food, not Dean. Have you and Dean got something going on?” If anything was going on, he was going to pummel the bastard.
“No. We’ve got nothing going on. He’s a friend who has a serious crush on Darla. I’m married. I take my vows seriously.”
“I’m telling you the truth, Addie. I didn’t sleep with those women. I’ve not been with anyone since you.”
“You had the reputation of a playboy, and we slept together once a month. Do you expect me to believe you?” she asked.
“Yes, I do. I believe you without a doubt. I wanted to reach out to you, and I wanted more than what we had built together.”
“You want more?”
“I didn’t want to live in a house that was cold to me. This is home, this feels like home to me.”
“You want to live in my little apartment?”
“Your apartment will fit me. Now, you said you got the implant. How long does that last?”
“I’ve got to get it changed in a couple of months, why?”
