by Lex Martin
Everyone in the hospital room stares at me. Brady, his parents, my parents, Ethan.
I avert my teary eyes.
My mother crosses herself. “Gracias a Dios que estabas con tu hermana, Victoria.”
She thanks God I was with my sister.
“Yes, mija. We’re so glad you were there.” Dad gives me a weird side hug. “If anyone could do this, it’s you. You were always the brave one. Always so bold and strong.”
Wait. Whaaaat?
Dad smiles at Ethan. “But you know you have your hands full with this one, right?”
I look away, not wanting to see Ethan’s expression. It’s still too painful.
My parents don’t know we broke up. I mean, I guess we broke up. Ethan never came to see me last night, and now that the adrenaline from the live birth experience is waning, all the reasons why I’m pissed at him are falling into place like a game of Tetris.
So I’m shocked—stunned—when Ethan pulls me to his chest and kisses my forehead. “Well, I love her, so I’ll gladly take whatever she’s offering.”
I shove him away. “Now? You tell me that now?”
My dad laughs and pats him on the back. “Good luck with my little fireball.”
“We need to talk.” Angrily, I poke Ethan in the chest, and everyone behind me chuckles except Brady. I’m pretty sure if he weren’t about to cradle his baby, he’d be in Ethan’s face right now for letting Jamie treat me like shit.
I give my brother-in-law a look.
I got this.
Ethan
Tori marches out of the hospital room and into the hall, breathing flames of fury and looking so damn beautiful, she takes my breath away. Even with God knows what on her t-shirt and her half-skewed hair bun.
My heart’s been in my throat all morning. I need to talk to her. Want to wrap my arms around her and explain.
I was frantic to find her, racing back to her sister’s house only to spot Kat’s truck in the parking lot of the diner. Since then, well, Kat giving birth took precedence.
In the hall, I pause at the nurse’s station to swipe an extra set of scrubs. “Tori, wait.”
Reluctantly, she slows down, but doesn’t turn to look at me.
I get it. I fucked up last night. Just… I need to explain.
Jogging, I catch up to her and drag her into an empty room and close the door behind us. It’s quiet here on the maternity ward, and I don’t bother turning on the lights. I’m half-afraid they’ll be too harsh and startle her.
“Here.” I hand her the scrubs and wave to her top. “You, uh, you got some blood on you. Thought you might want to change.” Her nostrils flare, and I smile. “Don’t be stubborn. Take it.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
I love this. Her fierceness.
My smile widens when she snatches it outta my hand. She doesn’t bother turning around. Just whips off her t-shirt and is halfway into the scrubs when she steps into the sliver of sunlight peeking through the window blinds.
Just like that, my humor dries up.
“What the fuck is this?” I run my finger over the purple marks on her arm. It looks like a hand wrapped around her. Slowly, I turn her to the other side where I find a matching bruise. “Is this from—” I should’ve killed him last night instead of breaking his nose.
She shrugs out of my hold, and though her stance is strong—legs apart, chin up—her voice wavers. “When you went out back to check on Cody, your wife and Jamie threw me out of the house.”
“She’s not my wife.” I stalk closer, backing her up against the wall, and cup her face. “Baby, he touched you?” It pains me to say those words. She tries to look away, but I tilt her chin up. “Don’t hide from me.” I take a breath. “Did he touch you?”
The scrubs wrap around the front of her chest and forearms. Slender pink straps from her bra peek up over her shoulders. She’s so vulnerable like this. Bare and half-clothed. The thought of James hurting her makes me want to punch a hole through the drywall.
Those big hazel eyes water, so much emotion brimming between us. A single tear spills over her lashes. “Yes. He dragged me out of the house. Threw me down on the ground.”
I’m almost grateful I don’t have my shotgun because at this very moment, I’m tempted to use it on that asshole.
“Motherfucker.” I take a breath to calm down before leaning closer. “I’m so sorry he hurt you and that I wasn’t there to stop him.” If I ever see that lowlife again, I will end him.
Like a dam that breaks, her choked sob nearly does me in, and I whisper more apologies. Whisper how much she means to me. How much I love her.
“Then why didn’t you say anything last night?” She’s wiping her cheeks and I stop her. I deserve to see each drop fall. To feel every bit of her pain. “Why didn’t you call me afterward? Or come over? Or something? I felt so stupid watching my phone, thinking you’d call.”
Misery overwhelms me to know I did this to her. “God, I’m sorry. Cody broke his arm and—”
“What?” Her small fists land on my shoulders, her eyes huge saucers.
Remembering what happened, seeing my son crumpled on the ground, hits me with a wave of helplessness. “He fell off the swing set, and we weren’t sure if he also lost consciousness. After the doctors set his arm in a cast, they wanted to keep him here for observation overnight. My phone died, but as soon as he was discharged this morning, I got him comfortable at home and came to find you.” By the time my cell charged in my truck, I was almost home and wanted to talk face-to-face with Tori. “My mom’s with him now.”
A trembling hand covers her mouth. “Oh, my God. Is he okay?”
“He was pretty shaken. Hell, I was too.” The last twenty-four hours have been pure madness. From nearly breaking my hand on James’s face to carrying Cody into the ER and watching Tori deliver Kat’s baby, my emotions are wrung out.
She hugs me, and I close my eyes. I know she still has to be hurt from what happened last night, but here she is, comforting me. So with my nose in her silky hair, I tell her what’s been eating at me, gnawing at me. “I should’ve said something last night. I wish I could rewind the whole evening and do it differently. At first, I was pissed that James knew so much about you that I didn’t. I was straight-up jealous.” Insanely jealous. Out-of-my-mind jealous.
I trace her shoulder with my lips. Up her slender neck. Behind the soft lobe of her ear. “I hated the idea of him touching you, baby. Being with you. Loving you.” Even now, I have to close my eyes to stave off the anger.
This possessiveness is new to me. I’ve never been a jealous guy or felt the need to mark my territory. But I’m different with Tori. I want her in a way I’ve never wanted another woman.
I need her to forgive me for my missteps last night, but I have to know. “Why didn’t you tell me? About that shit in college? About the way James screwed you over?” That monster threw her in a goddamn closet while his wife gave him head. No wonder Tori gave me the hairy eyeball at the beginning of the summer. I’d have trust issues too after that experience.
Her tears wet her flushed cheeks, and I kiss them away. One by one.
“I felt ashamed, Ethan.” She hiccups and shakes her head. “It was all so humiliating. Jamie turned into such a creeper after we broke up, stalking me. Sending me flowers. Trying to talk to my friends about me. I let what happened with him suck me into a downward spiral that I never really recovered from. Failed out of school. Couldn’t get my shit together. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to be near my sister. To regroup.”
Fuck, it hurts to hear all the ways he tormented her. “Last night I was reeling from shock that this friend I looked up to and respected had not only cheated on his wife, but was a scumbag to you. He had me completely fooled.” I’d known James through Felicia since she and Allison grew up together, but he and I became tight when he helped me renovate my house. At the time, I’d thought he was someone to admire. Someone I should emulate. What a fucking joke.
Years later, when he told me he was “struggling with temptation,” he made it sound like he’d only been flirting around, not cheating. Not that I condone either behavior, but clearly he was sugarcoating the truth.
Tori chews on her nail. “Why didn’t you know about my driving record? Didn’t you do a background check?”
“That was Logan’s doing. He said he had it covered and that you were cool. I should totally kick his ass for lying to me, but I can guess what he was thinking. That he liked you as a person and knew Kat and Brady and trusted them.”
“I’m sorry. I should’ve said something when he brought up my internship at the law firm.” Her lips twist, and her eyes cast down. “All of this stuff in my past was so embarrassing, and I didn’t want you to see me differently or think I couldn’t handle watching Cody and Mila. Didn’t want you to see me the way my family does.”
That gives me pause. “What are you talking about? They love you. Did you see the same woman I did today? Delivering Kat’s baby in a pick-up with nothing but towels from a diner, hand sanitizer, and a turkey baster? You’re a hero, honey. I’m not sure I would’ve been so even-keeled, and I’ve delivered a dozen foals over the years.”
She laughs through her tears, the realization of what she did shining in her eyes. “I did do that, huh?”
“You kicked ass. I’m so fucking proud of you.” I drag my lips against hers, moaning when she opens to me. I’m ready to make all kinds of promises to this girl when the door bangs open, and we pop apart.
A nurse wheeling in a very pregnant woman glares at us, and I laugh as I help Tori put on her scrubs. “Sorry ’bout that, ma’am.” Grabbing Tori’s hand, I drag her out, because we need more time to talk.
Ethan
The windshield wipers thump noisily back and forth on my truck, barely swiping away the rain before my visibility drops to zero again.
“This is crazy,” Tori murmurs next to me.
“Nothing like a summer storm.” This one blew in out of nowhere, darkening the afternoon sky and backing up traffic.
Tori wanted to love up on Cody before she returned to her sister’s to prepare for the baby’s arrival, so I said I’d drive her. Told her I didn’t mind dropping her back off at the hospital tomorrow either. Life is hectic for both of us right now, but if I have to play chauffeur to see her a few minutes each day, then so be it. Because I need to be with my girl.
Despite our talk at the hospital, she’s been quiet on the drive to the ranch. I’m about to ask her if she’s okay when the rain gets so intense, I have to pull off down an access ramp. I’d rather wait out the storm for ten minutes than get in an accident.
We take the first exit, winding along an isolated road, and end up in a parking lot behind a deserted warehouse. I shift my truck into park.
“Whatcha thinking about over there?” I thread my fingers through hers. “Lay it on me.”
Her thumb slides back and forth across my hand. “How is this supposed to work?” With a sad sigh, she pulls away. “I understand everything that happened with Jamie, and I totally get where you were coming from and what happened last night with him. But what I can’t reconcile is where I stand with you and Allison. Jamie told me you guys were talking on the phone every day, and you have photos of her all over the house—”
“Let me clear this up.” Tori is jealous. Glad I’m not the only one who loses it over this kind of thing. “Allison called me every day. Left messages. To ask about stupid shit or tell me she had invited someone else to the party. Since you left to your sister’s, I’ve only talked to her once on the phone.” I reach for her hand again. “As for the photos, I never wanted Mila to miss her momma. She started having nightmares, and I thought keeping pics of our family might help her, but she stopped having those a few weeks after you moved in with us, so maybe it’s time to tuck them away.”
That wrinkle in her forehead smooths for a second, but then reappears. “Oh. No.” She shakes her head. “The kids should have the photos. That makes sense. Ugh. I sound crazy.”
“No, you don’t.” I kiss her wrist. “What else? Tell me what else happened last night.”
Her shoulders slump. “It was bad.” She swallows. “She threw me out of your house, Ethan. She threatened to call the cops for a whole host of made-up reasons.”
She fills me in on how Allison told her off after I ran to check on Cody, and my blood starts to boil all over again, making me even more confident in my decision. “Baby, I don’t want you to worry. There is no me and Allison.”
“How can you say that? You guys are signing that co-op deal this week, and she made it clear she intends to reconcile with you.”
“Trust me when I say it won’t be a problem.” That gets me an eye roll. She huffs and turns toward the window, which is fogged over. Unclicking my seatbelt and then hers, I scoop her out of her seat and into my lap. That gets me a glare.
“Seriously?”
I shrug. “What? I want to make sure you’re hearing me when I say this. Are you listening?”
After another eye roll, she nods and settles in my arms.
“This is simple. I’m not going through with the co-op. Not with her at least.”
“What are you talking about? How do you plan to pay her back that money?”
I rest my hand on her thigh. “Logan and I talked about it in the ER last night.”
“After I told Logan what happened in the kitchen, he and I decided we’re not moving forward with Allison as a partner.” I’ve never been more grateful than last night to have my brother by my side. Once he knew Cody would be okay at the hospital, he got a ride home from a friend so he could get back to Mila, who was with our mom.
“We love the co-op idea, though, so we’re spending the next few weeks trying to find an investor or two, just not Allison.” I run my thumb along the hem of Tori’s scrubs. “She showed her true colors yesterday, and I plan to fight for sole custody with no shared visitations if she threatens me.”
“Oh, wow.”
“I haven’t wanted to play dirty, to drag her through the mud, but I will if she pushes me. I’m tired of her shit and disgusted with the way she treated you. The way she treats the kids, like they’re an afterthought. The idea of getting back with her is so fucking insane, I’m still shocked she went there.”
Allison didn’t even bother to come to the hospital last night. After she saw our son wailing and hurt and crying for her, she left with Felicia. That’s all I need to know about where her loyalties lie.
I tangle my fingers in Tori’s hair and move her closer. “I feel like crap I wasn’t there to protect you. My house is your home too, and I want you to be comfortable there.”
Her eyes get misty. “Thanks. That means a lot to me.”
“You mean a lot to me. You mean everything.” I stroke her soft cheek. “I love you, Tori. So much.”
“I love you too.” Her eyes shift down, and an embarrassed smile tilts her lips. “I’ve sort of had it bad for you for a while now.”
“Oh, yeah?” I kiss her neck, and she shivers in my arms. “You cold, baby?”
She nods and turns her face toward me. “But I’m thinking you could warm me up.”
That’s an idea I can get behind.
Glad we’re parked off the beaten path, I scoot her around so she can straddle my lap, except my hand gets trapped between her and the door, and I wince.
“What’s wrong?” she asks. I tilt her toward the passenger seat so I can slide my hand free. When she sees the bruises, she gasps. “Did I do that just now?” She takes my hand in hers.
“No, it’s from last night. From breaking James’s nose.”
Her mouth drops open. “Are you serious?”
“Dead serious, and had I known what he’d done to you in my own damn house, I would’ve given him a bigger ass-beating.”
Christ. He must’ve gone after Tori before he and I got into it.
I had gotten Cody situated in the back of my truck wit
h Logan so we could take him to the ER, and as I rounded the front of the vehicle, James got in my face to trash talk Tori. I’m not usually a man to break out a left hook, but between the vile things he was spouting about my girlfriend and my son’s injury, my emotions were running high. Now that I know he basically stalked Tori after she found out he was married, I think the shithead was jealous.
Concern fills her eyes. “Are you okay? Does it hurt?”
“Yeah. A lot actually.” I glance out the window that’s still blurry with rain and condensation to mask my smile. “But you know, if you kiss it, I might feel better.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the worry in her expression slowly morph into a sultry smirk. “Oh, yeah?”
“Definitely. Could help with the swelling.”
Speaking of… I shift underneath her to make more room. With another flick of my wrist, I slide my seat back and recline a bit. Better.
Those pouty lips dust over my knuckles before she whispers, “What else hurts? What else can I make feel better?” She rocks in my lap, and I groan. Reaching up, I untie her bun and all that hair tumbles over us.
Setting aside the jokes, I tell her the truth. “Without you, everything hurts.”
Her eyes turn hazy, those lips parting with a deep breath, electricity and love and some crazy goddamn chemistry sparking between us.
Our mouths crash together.
Somewhere in the universe, stars collide.
We scramble to get closer. To get skin to skin. I’m so hard, my groin aches.
Her shirt goes flying. Then mine. Until my gorgeous woman is only wearing that sheer pink bra and mesh shorts, so I know she can feel how hot I am for her as she thrusts against me.
I’m ravenous. Biting her neck. Sucking on her tight little nipples through the lace. Squeezing her luscious ass. Sliding my hand into her underwear and reveling at how wet she is for me.
