Love Under Quarantine_Simple

by Scott, Kylie

  “Nice idea. Be a good opportunity to tip their kitchen workers and all. Want to help me give away some of my money?”

  “I’d love to.” I pick up my cell and get to my feet. Watching him stretch has got me wanting to move around some too. Not that I didn’t get my steps up recently with all of the stress-pacing. This time I do more of a relaxed leisurely stroll around the living room. “Let me see. Are you in the mood for Chinese, Thai, Indian, or pizza?”

  “Surprise me.”

  “What? No fat content stipulations? No grilled meat and salad on the side requirements? Who are you and what have you done with pro athlete and all around super healthy guy Evan Sparks?”

  He just gives me an amused glance.

  “My mom is making cookies for you, by the way.”

  “Yeah? You going to let me have any?”

  I draw my lips up on one side. “Look, I’m not saying it’s out of the question. But let’s not commit to anything just yet. My mom is a mad good baker. Let’s go with pizza for dinner. I’m so ready for a serving of carbs covered in melted cheese.”

  “Sure, baby.”

  “Garlic bread? Hells to the yes.” I dance where I stand flipping through the coupons to see if there are any good ones.

  “Sadie?” His voice is sharp and on edge. “What the fuck is this?”

  “Huh?” I look up to find him sitting in front of my laptop, reading my work. “Oh. It’s the blurb for my new book. Like I told you.”

  His gaze narrows on the screen. “Oh no, darling. You did not tell me about this. The girl falls for the pro athlete living next door during a quarantine? And that athlete is going through a scandal having been falsely accused? What the hell else did you borrow from my life?”

  “It’s not about doping. I told you about some of that.”

  “It’s fucking close enough.” His tone is direct and drop-dead serious. What gives?

  “Evan, you’re overreacting.” I wave my hand in the air. “These people are not us. They’re just characters on the page. So I was a little inspired by our situation. Even the press compared us to a fairy tale. Doesn’t change the fact that the book is fiction.”

  “You didn’t base any other parts of this story on things that happened between me and you?”

  “Well…I mean…”

  “I don’t believe this shit.” He slams the laptop shut and tosses it to the couch. “You really think after weeks of being torn apart online I’m interested in having any more of my private life up for public consumption?” His face takes on a mottled shade of red. “I trusted you, Sadie!”

  “Please don’t yell at me. I can explain.” I hold up my hands in surrender.

  His face turns to absolute stone right before my eyes. “Save it.” He bites out. “I’ve heard enough bullshit lately to last me a lifetime. Never expected to get used and betrayed by you, though. The one person in this entire world I fall in love with screws me over.” He shakes his head.

  I just gape. “You-you don’t mean that. Evan, I would never—”

  “You already did,” he sneers.

  “Baby, no. You’re not getting it. You’re seeing this all wrong!” My eyes fill with tears and I can’t help but let them fall. My heart pounds out a staccato rhythm against my chest and I feel like I’m at the start of a panic attack.

  “Keys!” He holds out his hand.

  I frown. “Keys?”

  “Your keys. Where the fuck are they?” he growls through his teeth.

  “Um, in my purse. Did you,” I choke out the words, “w-want me to leave?” I wipe my now runny nose against my sleeve.

  I watch as he pilfers through my purse and pulls out my keys. Without a word, he goes to the front door and slams it shut. I follow and stop at the closed door until I hear him cursing in the hall, opening my apartment door, and then slamming that one shut too.

  He escaped me, and went to my house.

  What the hell just happened?

  CHAPTER 18

  QUARANTINE: DAY 18

  SADIE

  IT’S WELL AFTER MIDNIGHT AND I can’t sleep. The memories of pain and betrayal on Evan’s face run circles in my mind. And he hasn’t come back home. Well, technically he’s at my home, likely sleeping in my bed. I sit up in Jake’s bed and pull my knees against my chest.

  How can I fix this?

  I’ve thought about his anger and why he got so mad. At first, I didn’t understand. What I wrote has always been one hundred percent up to me and the only people my choices affected were my readers. Maybe they wanted a book about a different character. Maybe they didn’t want me to switch lanes and write romantic suspense for a change. I don’t know. But this time, with this book… Hell. Hours of pouring through every possible scenario have brought me to one clear, concise, reason.

  I screwed up.

  Huge.

  By taking from our lives, I betrayed his trust. Everyone wants a piece of him, especially since the scandal. People will be clamoring for this book knowing it is based on our love story. Which would be awesome for book sales but detrimental to my relationship. And do I really want the public at large to know how we met and fell in love? No. My family, sure. His family, definitely. Our friends? Maybe. The media…absolutely not!

  Jesus, I ruined everything. What was I thinking? Was I even thinking?

  I wasn’t. Just like my mother complains all the time. My head is in the clouds, having private conversations with fictional characters.

  Looking at it now, I have so much to be sorry for.

  Tears prick the backs of my eyes, but I’ve cried enough. Now is not the time for wallowing in my pity party for one. No, I need to take action. Grovel on my knees if I have to and win back my man. No matter what it takes.

  Slipping out of bed, I take his robe from behind the bathroom door and put it on, covering my thin tank and panties. Finding his keys is easy. They hang on a hook by the door. I take the keys, then grab the flash drive I made for him. Mission driven, I go out into the empty hallway and lock the door to Jake’s apartment. Then I send up a little prayer that in his anger, Evan didn’t lock my apartment door.

  Eureka! I turn the knob and push it open, being as quiet as possible. I keep my movements small as I shut and lock it behind me.

  I tiptoe through my apartment, noticing nothing has changed since I left it a few days ago. God, that seems like a lifetime ago. How can so much happen in such a short space of time? A pang of sadness punches at my heart at the thought that I may end up here alone again if this doesn’t go well.

  Swallowing down my sadness and fear, I make it to my bedroom. Evan is sleeping on his back on what I consider his side of the bed. His chest is bare, hair mussed, and lips just barely open. Still, I notice the furrow of his brow as though even in sleep he can’t find true rest.

  My heart pics up a battering ram’s beat against my chest as I remove the robe and set it over my chair. Slinking to the other side of the bed, I pull back the covers and slide in.

  Evan doesn’t stir. Not until I shimmy over to him and hook a leg over his and an arm over his belly.

  “Mmm, done writing, baby?” Evan murmurs obviously not remembering what happened earlier this evening.

  I sigh and snuggle in. “I love you, and I’m so sorry, Evan,” I whisper, needing him to not only know it but to feel it straight through to his bones the way I do.

  His form stiffens in my arms, and my heart clenches and my throat goes dry.

  He removes my arm, nudges my leg away, and sits up, pushing himself back against the headboard. Within a few seconds, my nightstand light is on and I can truly see the effect of my betrayal.

  His eyes are tired and red-rimmed, dark circles underneath that weren’t there before. His expression is one of agony.

  Those pesky tears come back with a vengeance as I sit up cross-legged. “I need you to let me talk.”

  He shakes his head and his jaw tightens. “Sadie.”

  I reach out a hand and grab onto his thigh. “Plea
se. When you screwed up, I let you speak. If you don’t like what I’m about to say, you can kick me out of my own house.”

  That has his lips twitching, but he stays silent.

  I swallow, firm my spine, and look straight into his eyes. “You’re right. I messed up. Big time. At first, I didn’t even realize what I was doing. Authors take inspiration from their lives all the time.”

  He moves to speak, but I press two fingers against his lips lightly and shake my head.

  “It’s not an excuse and it doesn’t change the fact that I was wrong.” I sniff as twin tears fall down my cheeks. “So wrong. When you left, my heart left with you because you own it now. I gave it to you, and I don’t ever want it back.”

  “Sadie, baby…” he whispers, sounding emotionally ravaged.

  “No! I need you to know that I didn’t do it on purpose. I told you that I was having a long battle with writer’s block. Then this hot football player moves in next door during a pandemic and whammo! The muse is back. Honestly, I had no idea our own love story would play out through this, but it flowed so well I just kept going. And you’re right, it’s almost a retelling of our story and I don’t want random people to know how we met and fell in love. People that matter to us knowing, yeah. Not the world. It’s too private, too special. Like handing them a piece of our hearts. I didn’t see that until you painted that picture for me.”

  More tears fall as he reaches out, but I back away, get off the bed, and pick up his robe.

  “Don’t leave, sweetheart.” His voice is battered and filled with need.

  “I’m not. I brought you something.” I pull the memory drive out of the pocket and walk over to his side of the bed and hold out my hand, palm open. “I want you to have this. It’s the only remaining copy of the book. I deleted all the others. I’m giving it to you. I’ll never publish it. Not ever,” I choke. “Please.” I get down on my knees prepared to beg and plead for my man. “Just don’t let this be the end of us, because I don’t think I could survive it. Not after having the love of a lifetime.”

  “Get up here.” Evan reaches for me and drags me onto his lap.

  I straddle him and burst into tears against his neck. “I love you so much. I can’t lose you. I don’t ever want to lose you.”

  He holds me against his form so tight we may have melded together. “You’re not going to lose me. Never, Sadie. You’re mine and I’m yours. After being without you this evening, I don’t ever want to experience that again. You’ve become a part of me.”

  “I’m so so sorry,” I sob against his skin, my tears wetting his neck and chest. “I hate myself for what I did. Risking our love like that.”

  He tunnels his fingers into the long waves of my hair and cups my head forcing me to back away from my perfect hidey hole against his neck.

  “You didn’t do it on purpose and our love story is special. I can see wanting to share something so beautiful, but I agree. It’s ours and you giving up the only copy of your book, coming here, crying a river? It says it all. It proves I’m more important to you than anything. And Sadie, I feel the same. I’d give up everything for you. To have you in my life, in my bed, as my other half. I plan on marrying you when all this is over, sweetheart. Nothing between us ever again.”

  He wants to marry me.

  I explode into another bout of wracking sobs.

  “Come here.” He cuddles me against his chest until the tears and sorrow abate and my breathing starts to normalize. “You done? Can I kiss you now?”

  I smile, lift my head, and nod.

  He takes my mouth in the sweetest touch of lips to lips. I sigh into his kiss and he takes it deeper, his tongue sliding tantalizingly against mine in a series of long then short licks.

  “You know what the best part of fighting is?” he whispers, sliding his tongue along the column of my neck before nipping the lobe of my ear.

  I gasp. “What?”

  “Make up sex. Lots and lots of makeup sex.” He thrusts his hard cock against my center.

  “Oh, hell yeah!” I grind down against his erection as he dips both hands into the back of my panties and palms and squeezes my ass.

  “Top off, now! Give me my pretty tits,” he demands, and I’m quick to oblige.

  I rip my top off, lift one of my breasts, and feed it to my man. He sucks on the tip with gusto, growling with the effort.

  “Other one,” he barks.

  He sucks and twirls his tongue over to my other breast while I grind along with his thrusts, ramping up my desire a hundred-fold.

  “Both at once,” he insists.

  Wanting to give him everything, and wanting his mouth on both my breasts, I press my globes together and watch in awe as his tongue sucks at each erect nipple, making them bright red with the effort.

  “These tits. I can’t get enough of them.” He pushes my hands away and palms them both, watching avidly as he pinches each tip.

  He keeps going until I feel small bites of pain. I arch into the sensation and dry hump his length. My panties are soaked and I’m ready to be fucked.

  “Evan, need you, honey,” I say before it turns into a cry of pleasure under his skilled ministrations.

  “Sit up.”

  Mindless, I do as he asks and ease up to my knees. The sides of my panties are small strips of elastic which he takes no time at all ripping and shredding with his bare hands.

  Arousal flares inside me so intense my pussy clenches and my clit throbs.

  “Saw your pills in the bathroom this week. Got tested when the team did their other tests. You know I’m clean and I trust you.”

  “I’m clean.” I lick my lips and look down at his lap. The tip of his dick is visible at the band of his boxer briefs as though it’s trying to escape on its own.

  He shifts his underwear down, and I reach back and yank them the rest of the way past his legs and feet.

  “Hop on, want just you and me.”

  God, how I want that too. Taking no time at all, I straddle him, lining up his rounded crown with my slit, and ease him inside. It’s a tight fit in this position but I wouldn’t stop for a million dollars. I work my hips in a circle, wetting his cock with my essence which makes it a much easier slide home.

  A series of words flutter across my mind.

  Full.

  Home.

  Love.

  Us.

  “Jesus, Sadie, you feel good. Never had better, baby. Not ever.” He wraps his arms around my back, gliding his fingers through my hair before taking my mouth.

  The kiss turns into a marathon that ends up with me riding his cock fast and hard.

  When I come the first time, he takes me through it, pulls me off, and turns me onto my hands and knees. Then he notches his cock at my entrance and slams home.

  I cry out and drop my head forward moving with the power of him taking me from behind. He’s absolutely massive in this position. He fucks me so hard my tits bounce and my teeth rattle, but I keep rearing back against him, wanting more.

  “My girl wants a brutal fucking, huh?”

  “Yes!” I scream out. “Harder,” I beg, wanting him to merge with me so completely we can’t figure out where one person starts and the other ends.

  “Your wish, my command, princess.” He growls, cups my shoulder, and pounds into me.

  I see stars. Beautiful lights flickering magical colors as the pleasure spirals into a vortex of nothing but ecstasy.

  My entire body is misted in sweat as he fucks me. This is not lovemaking but then again, it still is because it’s us. Sadie and Evan. Finding what makes us both happy.

  A bliss so intense shoots through my bent form forcing me to arc powerfully into each wave of desire. My second orgasm soars through my system, heating my blood, sending sizzling electricity through every neuron and pore until I’m utterly lost to the sensations.

  “Fuck, yeah! You can take more!” he growls. Then he reaches a beefy hand around my body to cover a breast and hauls me up until my back is
plastered against his front. Evan jackhammers into my body with his thick cock from behind destroying me all over again with unbelievable pleasure. Not like anything I’ve ever known.

  For a long time, he takes me as though he can’t stop, won’t stop. His body shakes and trembles with the effort to continue fucking me.

  I reach an arm around his body to cup the back of his head. I ease a shoulder back so I can move my head to the side. “Kiss me,” I demand.

  His mouth crashes over mine. I take his tongue, suck it hard, and then his entire body jerks and convulses, his cock shooting hotly inside me. He keeps going until his body finally slows, and he gently slides in and out of me as though he doesn’t want to leave.

  “Evan, honey, you can’t fuck me forever…as much as I’d like you to.”

  His response is a grunt.

  Apparently intense sex turns my man into a Neanderthal. Good to know.

  Finally, he stops moving his hips. The space where our bodies meet is now just a messy playland of our combined releases.

  “Shower?” I suggest, and his eyes light up.

  Instead of an answer, I get another grunt, and he sweeps me into his arms and heads toward my bathroom.

  Once we get there, he sets me down. His eyes are dark and wild with love and lust.

  I wrap my arms around his neck and focus on his handsome face, wanting to pour everything that’s in my soul into this moment.

  “You forgive me?”

  He nods.

  “You still love me?”

  He smiles.

  “You want to marry me one day?”

  “Would marry you tomorrow if I could, Sadie.”

  I grin wide. “I love you so much. I’ll never forsake what we have again. I promise.”

  He dips his face so close our noses touch. “I believe you and I love you too.”

  * * *

  EVAN

  Later that day I’m plating up lunch. A sandwich and salad for me, a sandwich and chips for Sadie, when my phone rings from where I left it in the living room. We’re back in Jake’s apartment because that’s where all the food is. And Gloria the fat cat.