by Jordan Marie
Fuck. I shift uncomfortably, resisting the urge to reach down into my jeans and adjust my cock. I don’t want to piss her off. Ellie has a temper, she’d kick me out and that’s the last thing I want. I need more time with her. God, I’ve missed her.
“Where did you go?” she asks softly. I yank my gaze back to hers, trying to focus.
“I’m sorry. Just thinking.”
“About?”
“We went really wrong somehow, didn’t we, Ice?”
“Yeah, we did.”
“Do you ever regret the choices we made?”
“Sometimes,” she admits. “I lied to myself, I guess.”
“What do you mean?”
“I loved you so much, Liam. I thought I could overlook the life you led as long as it meant I could have you. But the deeper I got…the more it all felt out of control.”
“You always did see things in black and white, Ice.”
“Yeah, and you lived in those shades of gray.”
“It sounds like a bad joke should be inserted here, but for the life of me I can’t think of one,” I joke. She laughs, though it doesn’t quite reach her face.
“Just don’t expect me to start calling you Christian.”
“Thank God. He was a pussy.”
“You watched that movie?”
“Against my will. Rory had the old ladies over to watch it while Diesel had to be out of town. He didn’t like the idea of not having someone watch over his woman. I got the short end of the stick, since Devil was still in bad shape.”
“Wait, hold up. Who is Rory and why was Devil in bad shape?”
“You’ve been gone a long time, baby.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Life goes on, as they say,” she lets out a big sigh that morphs into a yawn. I watch as she covers her mouth and smile.
“You’re sleepy.”
“I got up early. I hate to do this, but you should probably leave. I’m about to fall asleep on you.”
“I could stay.”
“Liam, I don’t think that would be smart.”
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” I suggest, but I can already see on her face that she’s going to shoot me down.
“What if your headache comes back?”
“It’s fine now,” she replies, shaking her head.
“You had one the first day I saw you at the bar, Ellie. Are you seeing a doctor for them?”
“It’s just tension. I have the day off tomorrow, I’ll rest up and be right as rain.”
I smile. “I’ve missed that,” I tell her with an honesty I doubt she could understand.
“What?”
“The silly things you say. What does right as rain mean anyway?”
“Stop trying to confuse me,” she says all while yawning, making it hard to understand her.
“Okay fine, I can take a hint, but I do have a favor to ask.”
“What’s that?” she asks, as I get up off the couch. She stands with me and I start walking—regretfully—to the front door.
“Go riding with me tomorrow.”
“Liam…”
“C’mon, Ice. Live dangerously.”
“I don’t understand what your point is to all of this,” she says so quietly that I have to strain to hear her.
“Why does it have to have a point? It feels good. You can’t deny that, Ellie.”
“So does drinking, but too much of it and you end up with a whore’s mouth wrapped around your dick, a disease that you can’t find a cure for, your nuts shriveled up, and a hell of a hangover.”
“You’re not going to let Hayley go are you?”
“If you want to escape my house with all of your body parts still in working order, you won’t even mention her name in my house,” she warns me, her eyes shooting fire at me.
“Jealous?”
“Don’t come at me with that bullshit, Liam. I haven’t liked Hayley for a long time. Did I like seeing her head buried between your legs? No way. Is that fair? Maybe not, but it doesn’t change the truth. You don’t love someone for years and have that just disappear, not if the feelings are real.”
“Trust me, Ice. I know that,” I tell her, my fingers drifting to the side of her face. I drag my finger along her soft skin. “Come out with me tomorrow. Please?”
“The mighty Liam Maverick actually says please?”
“Where you’re concerned? Damn straight.”
“If I go riding with you, it doesn’t mean anything.”
“Okay,” I tell her, not adding that it does mean something. I’m about to get my way. Now’s not the time to spook her.
“Okay? Just like that?”
“Just like that. Does this mean you’re saying yes?”
“I’ll probably regret it,” she mutters. “But, yes.”
I lean down and kiss her forehead. I breathe in her scent. It’s sweet, even if I’d rather kiss her lips instead.
“See you tomorrow, Ice.”
“Don’t make me regret it,” she warns. I don’t turn around. If I did, she’d see me grin and that would just piss her off.
Ellie
“I can’t believe you’re riding that thing.”
I’m grinning as I say it, sliding off the back of his bike. Liam gets off with an ease that has been honed to a precision that is sexy and powerful. He always did move like poetry in motion. He takes my hand and I let him, without even thinking about it. It’s a habit and one that you would think time would have broken, but yet it hasn’t. At the very least, after all this time and the distance between us, I shouldn’t feel my heartbeat quicken when he holds my hand. I shouldn’t feel warm and happy just from his touch.
“Hey, don’t knock this bike. It got me in town and to your bar,” he mumbles.
“I think calling this thing a bike is an insult to all other bikes in the kingdom of Bike-dom, Liam.”
“Bike-dom? I swear you really are a nerd, Ellie.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I laugh, the exchange familiar, probably because we had it on our first date. That seems like such a long time ago.
“I think it’s a really good thing, Ice,” he murmurs, stopping and tugging on my hand so I’ll stop and face him. His fingers sift through a strand of my hair that the wind has blown across my cheek.
“Liam…”
“I’ve missed having you in my life, Ellie. I’ve missed it every damn day.”
“What are we doing?” I ask, feeling a little helpless.
“Whatever we want.”
I look at him, trying to figure out why I feel like I’m drowning.
“None of this makes any sense. We’re divorced. Your life is in Tennessee, Liam.”
“Just because we’re divorced, does that mean we can’t be friends, Ice?”
“Is that what you want, Liam? To be my friend?”
“I sure as hell don’t want us to be enemies, Ellie.”
“I thought you would hate me for leaving,” I tell him, quietly, whispering the words that keep me from sleeping at night.
“I think I did for a while,” he responds with a brutal honesty that hurts, but then that’s who Liam always was. He would tell you something flat out, it hurt at times, but you always knew where you stood with him.
“How long are you in town for?”
“I don’t know. I just know I don’t want to go back yet, Ice. I want to spend time with you and I think you feel the same.”
“You do get that this doesn’t make any sense, Liam?”
“We never did, but it sure was good, wasn’t it, Ellie?”
My head drops down and I hide the small smile that pulls at my lips. This is crazy. I’m crazy. But, Liam isn’t wrong. I do want to spend more time with him. Hell, I’ve wanted that since the day I left Tennessee. It hasn’t changed, despite time. He’s also not wrong. It was good.
“What now?” I ask him, getting up my nerve to return my gaze to his.
“I thought we’d play miniature golf. What do you think?”
I look over my shoulder at the place that Liam brought us to. It’s a miniature golf, arcade, and go-kart track. The kind of place we used to go to when we dated, and I grin. My man was always a giant kid.
My man.
He’s not that anymore…Is he?
“I think I’m about to spank your butt,” I respond with a grin.
“It’s been a while, Ice, but don’t forget, I’m the one that does the spanking in our relationship,” he replies with a wink, taking my hand and leading me to the entrance. I ignore the quiver of anticipation that seems to center between my legs.
I’m playing with fire, but the heat of it keeps me from stopping. I have a bad feeling that it’s too late anyway.
Fury
She still loves me.
I don’t know a hell of a lot about love in general, but I know that. One week of spending time with her makes me pretty damn positive of how she feels. As for me? I’ve never stopped loving Ellie. I don’t think it’s possible. It doesn’t solve the reasons we separated to begin with, but fuck…
I have to believe there’s a way around it all.
I don’t want to give my club up and I’m not sure I can give Ellie up. There has to be some way to meet in the middle.
It’s been five days since we spent the day playing miniature golf and having fun at the arcade. Five days in which we’ve spent at least part of every one of them together. Tonight, I’m at Harvey’s, waiting for her to get off work. She’s filling in at the bar tonight, because her bartender called in sick. She’s a natural behind the counter and I have to wonder why I never knew that. Ellie is just naturally good at anything she does. That makes it easy to overlook how good she is at anything she tries.
Fuck, I love her.
I took one look at her years ago and I’ve never been the same.
My gaze moves from her to the man she’s talking to and instantly I’m put on alert. I get up from my table and walk over to the bar without even thinking about it.
“Go out with me tomorrow night, El.”
“Sorry, Wayne. I have to work.”
“I can pick you up after work, I’m easy, baby.”
Ellie laughs, puts a beer in front of the guy and gives him a smile that makes me want to punch something.
“I’m sure you are. But, the answer is still no.”
I’m not a man used to feeling jealousy. Then again, I’ve never had to. Until Ellie, there wasn’t a woman that I was possessive over. The minute I saw her, I claimed her. The attraction to her was so strong, I didn’t bother fighting it. I wanted her. I wanted her in a way that I knew the feeling would last. It might sound stupid, but after just a week of dating, I had her in my bed and moved in with me. I told her that when a man saw what he wanted, he took it. She laughed at me, but she didn’t argue either. In hindsight, maybe I should have slowed shit down. Maybe if she knew what kind of lifestyle I led, the things I did for the club in advance, she would have gotten time to sift through them and accepted that part of me. She could have kicked me to the curb, too, but it would have been better if it happened that way, instead of years down the road.
There’s no going back, however. Ellie and I can only go forward and I want to do that with her by my side. My problem is convincing her to want the same thing. She immediately turns to another customer. I don’t even know for sure if she saw me sit down. That’s a damn blow to a man’s ego. I used to be the only man Ellie noticed in a room full of others. I know it’s been a while, but damn it, for her to act like she has this past week with me, she has to have the same feelings…
Fuck it, if she doesn’t, she’s going to have to learn to have them. I’m tired of pretending that I don’t want my woman back.
I never hesitated before and she fell in love with me then. It’s time I remind her of the man she married.
Ellie
I’m doing my best not to look at Liam. I know he heard Wayne ask me out. I can feel his heated gaze burning my back as I turn around to tend to another customer. I shouldn’t feel guilty for a man asking me out. I shouldn’t feel guilty for turning him down, but still being flirty. I shouldn’t.
But, I do.
Which isn’t fair and makes zero sense. Liam and I aren’t married. It’s been close to two years and I shouldn’t feel like I’m cheating on my man, by enjoying it when a man flirt’s with me. I mean, when I saw him for the first time in this bar, he was getting ready to get a blowjob from Hayley.
“Come on, Ellie. One date, what could it hurt?” Wayne asks. He’s very persistent. He is most of the time when he asks me out. I’ve thought about going out with him once or twice. He’s good looking in an all-American kind of way. He’s funny and if what my waitresses say is to be believed, a good guy. I’ve always said no, mostly because I wasn’t in the right headspace to be with a good guy. There’s no point in hurting someone else, just because I’m messed up over my ex.
“Wayne, I have—”
“What she’s trying to tell you, Wayne, is that she has a man and that man is not you.”
My body goes stiff as Liam pushes his way into the conversation. My gaze travels up his body, to light on his face that’s tight with an anger he’s not bothering to hide. His gray eyes are molten steel and they’re focused on Wayne.
“Is that true, Ellie?” Wayne asks, but he doesn’t look at me. He’s too busy watching Liam. From the looks of Liam’s face, that’s very smart.
“I—”
“Fuck, yes, it’s true. Did I stutter, asshole?”
“I haven’t heard El tell me it’s true and no offense, dude, I’m not going to believe shit until she tells me.”
“You call me dude again, and you won’t have to worry about what the fuck my wife says to you, you’ll be too busy trying to pick your fucking teeth up off the floor.”
“Your wife?”
“Ex-wife,” I interject, recognizing that this whole thing is getting out of hand quickly.
“Wife,” he growls.
“Ex,” I growl back, just as stubbornly. Liam is still looking at Wayne, but when he hears me call him ex again, he turns to me.
“You’re mine, Ellie. If this week has shown us anything it’s that.”
“I haven’t been yours in almost two years, Liam. Did you really think a couple of dates could erase the Grand Canyon of problems we have?” I can’t believe what he’s saying to me right now. Here I was thinking that Liam had changed. Now I know he’s still the same old asshole he’s always been. It’s always what he wants and how he wants it! “Thomas!” I snap.
“Yeah, El?”
“You’re on duty,” I tell him. “You, in my office now,” I order Liam, so pissed that it’s like a living burning thing inside of me.
“Sounds good to me. I like what happens when you get pissed, Ice.”
“That’s not happening tonight,” I huff. He can’t seriously be insane enough to think that we are going to have sex in my office.
Liam crowds in behind me and out of the corner of my eye, I see him use his bicep to push Wayne out of my way.
“What the fuck, you prick,” Wayne growls, standing up and preparing to take Liam on. “You want a piece of me, go ahead and try, asshole!”
“Go ahead, I’ll give you the first hit,” Liam responds, his voice sounding almost like he’s on the verge of laughing.
Probably because he is.
“No one is hitting any one in my bar tonight. Wayne sit down. Thomas, give Wayne a drink on the house,” I mutter, wondering how things went so bad, so quickly.
“You and me aren’t finished asshole,” Wayne yells and Liam flips him off. What he does next, however, has my mouth dropping to the floor and I literally have the urge to kill Liam.
“We can finish this after I fuck my wife and you sit there with your dick in your hand, Wayne. But hey, enjoy your free consolation drink,” Liam says with a smirk. A smirk I want to wipe off his face.
So I do.
When he turns back around to face me, I’m s
taring straight at him. Maybe he can see that he’s pushed me too far, but it’s way too late.
“Ice—”
I straighten my hand out and slap him across the face so hard that my palm is heated from the impact.
“Fuck, woman.”
“Not another word,” I huff, so angry I’m shaking with it. I’m sick to my stomach because I struck Liam. I stomp off to my office. I don’t know if Liam is following me and at this point, I’m kind of hoping he’s not.
Fury
I follow her in the office, closing the door behind us and turning the lock. I stand against it, my face still heated from her slap. I cross my arms at my chest and look at Ellie. She’s wearing faded jeans, a pale blue t-shirt that has Wallbanger’s written across the front and her hair pulled back high on her head in a ponytail. Her hair is so long that the gathered strands still fall below her shoulders. The blue in her eyes are dark with anger. Her face tight, as she stares at me. Her breathing is ragged, causing her breasts to rise and fall and all I can think is that this is what I’ve been missing all this time. Ellie is electric. She gives life a purpose. Without her, I was barely existing. She brings heat, fire, and emotion. Fuck, I’ve missed her.
“You’ve got about three minutes to talk, Ice. After that, I bending you over that desk and spanking your ass for that little show out there.”