by E. L. Todd
I got to my feet and brushed the grass off my butt. “This is payback, isn’t it?” I rode him for a long time yesterday, pleasing myself and making him wait until I was completely satisfied. It was torture for him.
He grabbed the ball and passed it to me. “Something like that.”
“You wanna be on my team?” Colton asked.
“Sure.” I dribbled the ball and passed it to him.
We got the game started, and I had a hard time running around in my tight jeans and shoes. Thankfully, Finn’s driveway wasn’t the size of a full court because I would really be in trouble.
Colton passed me the ball, and I prepared to make a shot from the back corner.
Finn stormed me, towering over me with his height so I couldn’t possibly throw the ball without him stealing it. He even put his hands on my hips and gripped me while he wore an evil grin.
I slapped his hand away. “That’s a foul.”
“What are you gonna do about it?” He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me, making me lose my grip on the ball.
“What the hell?” Colton snapped. “One, that’s gross. And two, you’re a damn cheater.”
“Thanks, baby.” He took the ball and dribbled to the hoop. Then he sank a two-pointer.
Colton turned to me, furious, with his hands on his hips. “You just let that happen?”
“It happened really fast, okay?” I countered.
He rolled his eyes and got the ball from Zach. “Keep it in your pants.”
At that moment, a couple of girls walking their small dog passed the house on the sidewalk. They stared at the guys without their shirts, while they wore tight little shorts and tops even though it wasn’t that warm of a day.
Stella glared at them.
I could tell they were mainly looking at Finn, but I’d stopped caring about the attention he constantly received. When a man was that pretty, it was inevitable. I could throw a tantrum every time or just let it be.
Zach stole the ball from Colton and then quickly passed it to Finn.
Finn was close to me, but he made the shot before I could even do anything.
I put my hands on my hips and glared at Colton. “What the hell was that?”
He dropped his head in defeat.
Finn grabbed me again, his large hands pressing on the small of my back as he pulled me into his chest. He gave me another kiss, angling his neck down so he could give me a passionate embrace right on the court. “You suck at basketball. But at least you’re good at sex.” He smacked my ass before he turned away to get the ball again.
I turned back to the end of the driveway and saw that the girls had moved on. I wasn’t sure if Finn saw them and wanted them to know he wasn’t available by being affectionate with me. Or he didn’t notice they were there at all…and wanted to kiss me for no reason whatsoever. I wasn’t sure which was better.
I walked across the hall and knocked before I barged inside. “It’s me.”
“Come in.” Colton’s voice sounded from the couch.
I walked inside and found Colton and Tom sitting on the couch, leaning forward as they watched the news. “You guys are watching the news?” In my three years of being married to Colton, he’d never watched the news. Not once.
“You haven’t heard about this crazy storm?” Colton looked over his shoulder and faced me over the couch. “Florida is about to be hit by two hurricanes. The winds are already over a hundred miles an hour.”
“Oh wow…” I moved to the back of the couch and rested my hands along the top. “No, I didn’t hear about that.”
“It’s called the storm of the century,” Tom said. “A lot of people are going to lose their homes.”
“Scary,” Colton said. “I know it rains here all the time, but at least we never get hurricanes.”
“Not yet, anyway…” I whispered under my breath.
Colton turned down the volume and rose to his feet. “So, what brings you here?”
“I need a reason?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?”
I shrugged. “No…but if you guys had extra, I would help you out.”
He rolled his eyes. “You never change, do you?” He walked to the kitchen and started pulling out the ingredients from the fridge and cabinets.
“Nope.”
“Is Finn working tonight?”
“Unfortunately. He prefers nights, but I like it when he works in the morning. We’re off at the same time.”
He filled a pot with boiling water then set it on the stove. “He probably likes working nights so he doesn’t have to see you—and cook for you.”
“He loves cooking for me.”
He pulled the pasta out of the plastic bag. “No…it’s not the cooking he enjoys.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, probably not.”
“He cooks for you so he can get dessert later.”
Everything finally felt normal, like Colton was really okay with me being with Finn. It was so relaxing, it practically felt like a vacation. “Need any help?”
“No. You’ll just wreck it.”
“Come on, give me more credit than that. Who’s the one who had salt in their apartment?”
He broke the pasta noodles in half and dropped them into the pot. “You had a bottle of three-year-old salt, and you think you’re a chef?”
“I’m just saying, who doesn’t have salt in their house?”
“Someone who uses it all the time and runs out, maybe.”
Tom spoke from his seat on the couch. “Are you guys still married? Because it sounds like it.”
I chuckled. “It does sound like it, huh?”
Colton shrugged. “Some things never change, right?”
“Yep. Sounds right.”
I didn’t hear from Finn the next day. He had to work late, but he usually texted me whenever he woke up the next afternoon.
But my phone was silent.
The boutique was slow because no one needed any sexy lingerie that afternoon. It seemed like when I was busy, I was super busy. And when I was slow, I was dead. It was one extreme or the other.
By the time I got off work, I still hadn’t heard from him. I didn’t want to be one of those girls who wanted to be with their boyfriend all the time…but when Finn was your boyfriend, that was impossible.
I went to the bar and met Stella and Tatum.
“He doesn’t text you in twelve hours, and you freak out?” Stella asked incredulously. “You remind me of Zach. If I don’t text him back right away, he thinks I skipped town with some other guy.”
“Well, I don’t think he’s run off with anyone. I just miss him.” My beer was untouched in front of me, and I wished I were at his house with Soldier next to me on the couch. If Finn ever asked me to move in, I would give up my apartment in a heartbeat. Not just because his house was nice, but because he came with the place.
“I think it’s sweet,” Tatum said. “She’s in love and wants to be with him all the time.”
“I’m beyond in love…” I wiped my finger around the rim of the bottle.
“Wedding bells?” Tatum asked. “Like, ever?”
I shrugged. “He’s not thrilled by the idea of commitment, but he’s not completely opposed to it.”
“It seems like the more handsome a man is, the less likely he is to settle down,” Tatum said. “Only when he’s humbled by aging does he start to think about settling with one woman.”
“Well, I’m not waiting until Finn is forty,” I said with a laugh. “Not gonna happen. He’s older than me, so that might work in my favor.”
“How much older?” Stella asked.
“Four years.”
“If you’re willing to wait until you’re thirty, that could work. He would be thirty-five,” Tatum said.
I cringed. “I don’t want to get married when I’m thirty. I kinda want to be married by the time I turn twenty-eight, then pop out a kid at thirty.”
“Hopefully,
he changes his tune by then.” Stella drank her cosmo until the glass was empty.
My phone was sitting on the table, and it started to ring. Finn’s name appeared on the screen.
“There he is,” Tatum said.
“Now she’s going to ditch us.” Stella rolled her eyes.
I answered, feeling that same thrill shoot down my spine every time I was about to talk to him. “Hey.”
“Hey.” His deep voice was oddly serious. “What are you doing right now?”
“Drinking with the girls at the bar.”
Instead of making a joke or teasing me about something, he stayed serious. “When you’re finished, come by the house. I want to talk to you about something.” He was unusually abrupt, talking to me like I was a random person rather than his girlfriend. Last time we were together, everything seemed fine. We had sex in the shower, right up against the wall as the water ran down our bodies. But now he spoke like that was the last time we’d ever be together.
“Alright…see you soon.” I hung up.
Stella and Tatum obviously overheard his end of the conversation because they both had raised eyebrows and open mouths. “Oh my god,” Stella said. “Is he dumping you? Talk about a two-faced asshole.”
“It did sound bad,” Tatum said. “No one says they need to talk unless it’s bad…”
I feared the worst, but my logic also came into play. “He’s not going to dump me. We’re happy. There’s no reason to break it off.”
“Unless he’s starting to feel smothered,” Stella said. “Maybe it’s starting to hit him. Guys are weird like that.”
“Yeah,” Tatum said. “They are.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be supportive?” I questioned. “Talk me off the ledge?”
“Uh, no,” Stella said. “We’re supposed to toughen you up and prepare you for the worst. If the guy is gonna dump you, you’ve got to be prepared to seem indifferent, to show him what he’s missing. There’s a science to it.”
“You really think he’s going to dump me?” I asked, starting to worry.
Tatum shrugged. “Well, I don’t think he’s going to say anything good…”
“Yeah,” Stella said. “Whatever it is, it’s bad. That’s the only thing we know for sure.”
I took an Uber to his place and let myself into the house.
Soldier immediately ran up to me and pawed my chest.
I gave him a shorter rub-down than I normally would because my mind was elsewhere. All I could think about was the haunting way Finn had ordered me over here to have an ominous conversation.
I moved into the living room and found him on the couch. The news was on, showing the progress of the crazy storm that was slamming into Florida. The first hurricane had already caused irreparable damage and loss of life. The second one hadn’t even struck land yet.
He turned off the TV then rose to meet me. Still brooding and tense, he looked at me like he wasn’t the least bit happy I was there. He stopped in front of me and sighed quietly, his jaw clenched tightly and his nostrils slightly flared.
“You’re scaring me…” Soldier sat at my side, pushing the top of his head into my palm. It was the only time I ignored the dog because he didn’t seem important in this moment. My life was about to change forever.
And Finn had all the power. “I had to go back into work today because of the situation in Florida.”
I didn’t expect him to address the storm everyone was watching on the news. It was at the opposite end of the country, almost a whole other planet away. What did that have to do with us? “I don’t follow.”
“The Red Cross is looking for volunteers. There’re a lot of people who need medical attention in the streets and in the stadiums. Living conditions will turn fatal once the power is out everywhere, the sewers aren’t working properly, and flooding is spreading bacteria all over.”
When I’d walked in the door, this was not the conversation I expected to have.
“So, I volunteered.” His blue eyes were almost apologetic. He stared at me like he’d done something wrong, like he expected a fight to ensue.
I’d been expecting to get dumped, so this came as a relief. “Oh…that’s not what I expected you to say.”
“What were you expecting me to say?”
I shrugged. “Something much worse than that…”
He rubbed the back of his head and glanced at the blank TV screen. “I thought you would be upset with me.”
“Why would I be?” He was offering to drop everything in his life to go help people in need. How could I be upset about that? He wouldn’t even get paid, and he didn’t care. It was noble.
“Because I’ll be gone for a month.”
There was the slap in the face, the sting of pain. An entire month would feel like an eternity, especially when I couldn’t last a day without him. “Wow…that’s a long time.”
“There will be a lot of casualties. Even when the storms end, the damage continues.”
“But will you be safe?” The weather conditions were bad, but there would also be chaos. I didn’t want him to be killed trying to save someone else.
“I’ve lived through much worse. Don’t worry about me.”
“I’ll always worry about you. It’s my job.” The man I loved would be risking his life helping other people. I would count down the days until he was home.
“I expected you to fight me on this.”
Impulsively, I wanted to. I wanted to tell him he wasn’t leaving, but that would be selfish. I understood Finn’s need to travel wherever the wind carried him. He wouldn’t be happy staying in one spot forever, so letting him leave for a month at a time was a good compromise. “I would never stop you from doing what you’re passionate about.”
His eyes slowly softened.
“We’ll still be together even when we’re apart.”
He stepped closer to me, his hands moving to mine. “I’ll miss you.”
“I know. I’ll miss you too.”
He lowered his head and rested his forehead against mine. “I knew you were the woman for me when we met. But now I’m even more convinced you’re the only woman for me.” He moved his lips to my forehead and pressed a kiss to my hairline. “Thank you.”
I would hate every single day for the next thirty days. I would wait desperately for the month to pass, until this man was back in my arms once more. It was so heartbreaking that I considered changing my mind and demanding for him to stay. But I kept my mouth shut, knowing a relationship with this man wouldn’t be easy. He would always need his space, always need to explore. I would just have to accept that if I wanted to keep him. “No need to thank me. I’m proud of you.”
“You are?” he whispered.
“Yes…very proud.” My hands snaked up his arms, and I felt his strong biceps, hoping I would get him back in the same condition as when he left. “When do you leave?”
He released a quiet sigh. “The day after tomorrow.”
11
Colton
I grabbed another beer from the fridge and twisted off the cap. “What did Mom say?”
He stood at the counter with a bottle in his grasp. “She was a little disappointed, but also proud. Since I’m only going to be gone for a month, she isn’t that upset. That’s nothing compared to the years when I couldn’t leave base at all.”
“True. Did you tell her about Pepper?”
He drank his beer while he kept his eyes locked with mine. “I did, actually.”
I hadn’t sure if my brother would ever admit the truth. He’d seemed on the fence about it for a long time. “Her reaction?”
“She was thrilled. She asked how you felt about it, and when I told her you gave us your blessing, she was really happy about it. Says there’s no better woman for me.”
“Well…that’s a relief.”
“Yeah. One less weight on my shoulders.”
“Does Pepper know?”
He shook his head. “I haven’t told her yet.”
<
br /> “She’ll be happy to know my parents approve.”
“Yeah, I know.”
I pulled leftovers from last night out of the fridge. “You wanna stay for dinner? I made spaghetti.”
“Sure.”
I scooped it onto two plates and popped the first one into the microwave. “So, Pepper was supportive about the whole thing?”
“She didn’t blink an eye over it.”
That didn’t sound like her. She seemed far too clingy with Finn to let him go that easily. “She probably understands how important this is to you.”
“Yeah, she does,” he said with a nod. “She’s one hell of a woman, Colton. I never would have fallen in love with anyone else but her.”
I knew Pepper was an absolute catch. Sometimes I wished I were straight and still married to her. Tom was great, but I suspected I would never have the same kind of close relationship with him that I had with Pepper.
“If I marry anyone…it’ll be her.” He stared at the bottle as his words echoed in our minds.
The microwave started to beep, but I didn’t open the door and pull out the food. “Then why don’t you marry her?”
He shrugged. “I’ve got a lot of life to live.”
“You can live that life with her.” I opened the door and pulled out the food and placed the next one inside. I hit the timer, and the food started to spin around.
“If it happens, it’ll happen.”
“Just keep in mind that you can’t wait forever. Pepper is one in a million. If you don’t want her, someone else will take her.”
“I’m not stupid, Colt.” He set his beer down. “But this is way down the road. She knows I’m not looking to settle down right now…even though I love her so much that it scares me. All the other women in my life have just been toys…stuff to do. But with her…she’s the first woman that I actually respect, that I actually admire. She’s like my best friend.”
“Yeah…I know what you mean.” I pulled the food out of the microwave when it beeped and set it on the counter. Instead of taking a seat at the dining table, we both stood in the kitchen and ate standing at the counter. “What about Soldier?”