Ethan looked out and saw the man who had this unknown connection with his wife and Ethan couldn’t fucking stand it.
Shaking off those negative thoughts, his eyes settled on Allie and thought about the special bond he had with her—he loved her like a younger sister. She had become one of the most important people in his life besides Mia and his sons. At first, they had developed a relationship around Mia but over the past few years it changed. They’d become confidants, searching the other out for all kinds of advice. Even so, when she approached him and asked if he would give her away, he was beyond honored. Standing by her side right now, he imagined doing this with his future daughter … if that ever happened.
He needed to have sex in order for that to happen, and his sex life with Mia was pathetic, almost non-existent. How they went from having sex any chance they could get to nothing was beyond him. One day it just seemed to have changed.
A noise behind him drew him from his thoughts. Coming through the door was the woman he was not having sex with—his wife. Her eyes landed on his and she must have guessed he was mad. Her steps faltered and he saw her take a deep breath for strength before she continued to Allie.
“Sorry, I’m late, Allie,” she said to the bride-to-be, going in to hug her.
“What happened?” Allie asked, hugging her back and also changing into her manager role.
“Long story that ends with engine malfunction and a broken phone. It’s not important now, though there may be some pictures coming out of that you may not like,” Mia added before stepping out of her arms. He heard their exchange and thought that it wouldn’t have even happened if she hadn’t gone back on her word to be home all of April.
She glanced over at him, but didn’t step towards him. With a small, unsure smile, she greeted him. “Hi.”
He was so mad that he didn’t trust himself to speak, he just nodded his head at her.
The smile fell from her face and her lips trembled, but her eyes remained on him, even as Reagan, the Stalin-esque wedding planner from their wedding, moved Mia into place behind Kaitlyn. Ethan looked away and focused on what Reagan had to say.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mia’s reaction—a deep exhale and then she greeted Kaitlyn with a hug.
“Hi, squirt.”
“You do know that I’m taller than you, right?” Kaitlyn said jokingly and hugged Mia back fiercely.
“I missed you,” Mia said, kissing the girl’s cheek.
“I just talked to you earlier this week.”
“Yeah, well, that was five days ago. It’s a long time!”
Ethan fought a smile—he loved how Mia and Kaitlyn were with one another, the way she slyly mothered Kaitlyn as well as the obvious love between the two of them. It was a sight to see and he saw it often, because those same looks Mia gave to her boys. Love always shone in her eyes when she was around those three kids.
“After my tour is over, you and me will have lots of time together this summer.”
“Can’t wait!”
“Mia!” Reagan admonished.
“Yes?”
“When do you walk?” the wedding planner interrogated.
“When you tell me to?” Mia answered smartly which Reagan did not like at all and Mia knew it. “After Kaitlyn. I’ve got this,” she added.
And she did. He watched her walk ahead of him, his dick liking what it saw, not caring that he was pissed at his wife. It wanted to be buried inside of her sweet pussy. Who was he kidding? He wanted the exact same thing.
This was going to be an interesting evening, he thought. He wanted to yell at her and at the same time he wanted to fuck her. Probably a good idea to stay away from her until he could get his emotions under control so he didn’t make a scene.
Mia
With her back against the bar, Mia watched her husband be charming with everyone but her. Everyone was chatting it up and celebrating. Mia did do her fair share of it too. She caught up with Luke’s mom, a lot of Luke’s old friends from college who were in town for this, plus most of the Flash football team.
Yet here she was—at the bar—her husband still not speaking to her. Hell, he wouldn’t even look at her. She knew she’d been late. It hadn’t been on purpose. She’d done everything she could to get here on time, but stupid engines and stupid airport employees ruined it. And now her husband was angry and ignoring her, she thought, taking a long sip of her Jack and Coke. She had switched over from red wine a couple drinks ago. She knew the wedding meant a lot to him because of Allie and Luke. It meant a lot to her too. Her two best friends were getting married—to each other. But it was more than that for Ethan. He was giving Allie away—walking her down the aisle. She was one hundred percent certain he had thought about walking his own daughter down the aisle—the daughter she had failed to give him.
She quickly downed that drink and asked the bartender for another. As he placed her drink in front of her, Todd came up to her side, looking out at the party. He eyed the drink in her hand and then spoke. “Frosty in here.”
“You noticed?” she replied, turning in the same direction and instantly felt Ethan’s gaze on her. With her eyes on him, she lifted her drink to her lips in a quasi-toast to him. She was getting angrier with each opportunity he failed to speak with her and was getting pretty tired of those angry eyes of his.
Todd leaned in so he could be heard, his mouth near her ear. “Everyone has noticed. Go fix it.”
“After this drink,” Mia said, lifting the glass in the air. Todd shook his head and snatched the drink from her and proceeded to down it himself.
“Go. Now.”
In shock, she watched as he slammed the empty on the bar. Turning to face her, he placed his hands on her hips. She looked into those light green eyes and saw his concern. Mia had expressed her fears to him about her marriage. He knew pretty much everything about what was and wasn’t going on with her and Ethan.
“Don’t play around, Mia. Go after him.”
And with a push from Todd, Mia went to search for her husband who had now disappeared. Great.
She caught Ethan walking out the doors towards the golf course. She hurried after him and finally cornered him by the stairs leading to the golf course.
“You going to talk to me at all tonight?” she called out, slowing her steps to him, waiting for a response.
He didn’t say a word and continued to stand against the railing and looked out at the club.
“Ethan?” she pressed, moving closer to him, needing to speak to him, be near him.
“What, Mia?” he responded, his annoyance loud and clear in his voice.
“I’m sorry.”
“Whatever. I’m over it,” he said, clearly anything but because he was still not looking at her.
“Eth—”
“No!” he yelled, finally turning towards her.
She got in his face, her body almost touching his, getting in his space, and boy, did that turn her on. Just being this close to him, even in anger, lit her up.
It did the same to him.
He grabbed her arms and kissed her—hard. Spinning her around, he pushed her into the stone wall, the only pause in the kiss was the umphf of her breath as she hit the wall. The punishing nature of the kiss made her ache for her husband, more than she already had.
“Stop ignoring me,” he said like a curse, holding her against the stone wall of the staircase, his hands still on her forearms and his hips pressed into hers, his hard cock straining the fabric of his dress pants.
“I’m not!”
“Fuck, Mia, I’m not stupid.”
“I’m not ignoring you!” she shouted, wanting to pound on his chest. “I sought you out because you were ignoring me. I’m here. Right in front of you. Waiting for you to fuck me.”
With those last words, his eyes changed, gone was the anger, hunger now in its place. She needed them to connect and right now this was the surest way.
“You want that, don’t you?” she asked, latching on t
o that change in his demeanor. “To lift up my skirt and fuck me on these stairs? To hear your name fall off my lips as you make me come? That’s it, right? I can’t ignore that. Neither can you,” she said, rubbing her leg between his, right up against his unforgiving hardness.
She strained her head to move closer to him. “God, Ethan, do it.”
With a growl, he let go of her arms and his hands made a beeline for her skirt. Pulling it up, he exposed her to the warm summer air. His angry movements changed. His fingers tickled their way along her thigh before they headed between her legs, rubbing hard against her panty-covered pussy.
How was it that just a touch from this one man could reduce her to this moaning, needy woman?
“You’re so wet, suga,” he said, his breath hot against her face as he pressed his finger on her clit, making her legs tremble. “Is that for me?”
Mia whimpered as he continued his full-out assault on her clit.
“Is it?” he asked, putting even more pressure on that small nerve factory of pleasure.
“Of course. Only for you.”
“That’s right,” he said, changing tactics and pushing down her panties. “Mine,” he said as he shoved a finger inside her and he had her so wound up that she spasmed around him, her fingers digging into his biceps as she came hard. She was so wet now that she felt it making a trail down her leg.
Mia squirmed against his hand as she tried to unleash his cock. “Please,” she begged.
“Say it,” he ordered and she knew exactly what he wanted to hear. She had no problem with saying it because it was the truth.
“I’m yours.”
The sound of his zipper opening had her moaning a curse in relief. He’d make the ache disappear—the ache that had been there for way too long.
Lifting her up, he wrapped one of her legs around him and she followed with the other, grasping on to his shoulders as he entered her with one wondrous stroke.
This was exactly where she belonged. Nowhere else. She needed to make sure she’d be able to stay there forever.
He rested his forehead against her, stopping his movements. “I …”
“I love you,” she finished for him.
He smiled that smile she fell in love with many years ago. “Yeah, I love you.”
“Make me scream, suga,” she said, her heart filled with love—something that had been sorely lacking lately.
Ethan
Chicago, May 1, 2015
Buttoning his shirt, Ethan regarded Mia sitting at her vanity, applying her makeup. Something was on her mind. She’d been quiet the whole day. Earlier, she’d spent time packing what she needed for the tour—four suitcases worth. Afterwards, she spent the rest of her time with Rory and Pierce. He’d joined them for movie time, but otherwise, he left her to them.
The past two weeks they had been reconnecting, spending long amounts of time in bed together. He had missed that, but he still felt like something was up.
Taking the few steps to her, he stood with his hands on the back of her chair and captured her eyes in the mirror. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, suga. What’s going on in your head? What’s wrong?”
She glanced up at him, then continued with her makeup. “Nothing … I’m fine,” she said, but he noticed her shaking hands, betraying her otherwise calm exterior.
“Mia—”
“Ethan, I’m just sad about leaving the boys … and you.”
Believing what she’d just said to him was hard, but then she turned in her chair and got on her knees and wrapped her arms around his chest. “I’m going to miss you, husband,” she said, her voice muffled by his shirt.
With an exhale of breath, he felt some of his doubt leave him. Smoothing her hair, he tilted her head back, her stormy eyes on his. “I’m going to miss you too, suga.”
A grin played at the corners of her mouth. “I can send you pictures so you don’t miss me as much.”
He shook his head in wonder at his wife’s dirty mind. “I don’t want pictures of attractions or scenery. The only scenery I want to see is under your clothes.”
Teasing her bottom lip, her eyes dipped lower. “I can arrange that. Are you going to exchange pictures with me?”
“Whatever you want, suga.”
Her hand slipped down his stomach and stopped on his now-awakening cock. “Can I have this?” she asked softly, her breath fanning his open shirt.
“It’s always yours.”
Her face broke into a wide, open smile. Guess she liked that answer.
“Umm … maybe we can practice tonight …” she suggested, her cheeks heating in embarrassment.
Holy hell. He swooped down and kissed her hard. “I fucking love you.”
“I love you, too,” she said and removed herself from his embrace and stood off to his side, her hand outstretched towards him. “Let’s go so we can hurry back and get some practice in.”
Mia
When the band went on tour, it was a bit of a tradition to load the tour buses the night before they had to leave and then throw a party with all their crew and family and friends. So when Mia and Ethan arrived, the rehearsal space was thumping, the bass of the music felt in the seats of their car.
“Come on,” Ethan said, grabbing the umbrella and exiting the car. He hurried over to her side and held the umbrella so she wouldn’t get wet. They made the mad dash to the entrance and went in. Ethan closed the umbrella and held out his arm for her rain coat. Shrugging out of it, she handed it to him.
“I’ll meet you in there,” he said, leaning down and quickly kissing her before heading off to take care of the wet items.
Entering the large room, now lit with all kinds of colorful lights, Mia searched out any of her bandmates. She was feeling just a little emotional. She did not want to go on this tour; she wanted to stay with Ethan and continue their reconnection. She’d missed this with her husband—missed him—and felt this tour would be a step backwards for them. That scared her. She didn’t know how much more they could take. Their relationship was way too unstable lately.
Her husband knew something had been bothering her—this among other things. She’d had a chance to tell him everything that had been bugging her. He’d asked and she hadn’t taken the opportunity to tell him she was scared, that she felt she was to blame for the miscarriage, that she was sorry for all of it—including not being able to give him another child. She’d tried—but failed month after month. Failed him. Just like she’d failed to get those words out of her mouth.
She sighed and continued to look for one of her bandmates and up ahead, Mia spotted Todd and headed in his direction.
“Hey,” she said once she reached his side.
He turned and smiled his big, goofy grin at her. “Hey, baby girl. Excited to hit the road again?”
“No, not really.”
“What? Why not? Europe!” he said, the one word supposedly explaining it all. “Those shows are huge—epic. Come on!”
He was right and thinking in those terms did make her excited, but those lingering feelings of leaving Ethan were eating at her. “Yeah, I know. It’ll be awesome,” she said and even she didn’t believe it.
“Hey, what is it?”
With a frustrated sigh, she started talking. “I’m afraid to leave Ethan. Things are better between us, but it’s still so fragile. It’s seriously bad timing.”
“You can’t back out,” he said.
“I know. I would never do that. I’m just nervous that I’m going to leave my relationship off-balance and …”
“He loves you, right?”
One corner of her mouth pulled up into a bashful smile. “Yes.”
“And you love him?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’ve got this. You two are working at it. You can still work on it while in Europe. Talk to him. It can happen on the phone or Skype as you two like to do. Just don’t stop. Got it?”
Oh, how she needed that little pep talk. Closing the distance betw
een them, she put her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Yeah, I got it,” she said against his neck. “Thanks, Todd.”
He stepped back, his eyes crinkling with his smile. “Anytime, baby girl.”
Ethan
Ethan returned to the party after depositing their coats and umbrella in Mia’s office. The place was packed—probably close to two hundred, maybe two hundred fifty people filled the rehearsal space. His eyes scanned the room for his wife, his thoughts on the potential pictures to send to her while she was on tour. Maybe he’d even send her a video, he mused, a wide-ass grin on his face.
That grin fell away when he saw Mia in Todd’s arms, his hands draped casually on her hips. His jaw twitched at the intimate way he was with his wife. Ethan forced his eyes from Todd’s hands to their faces and wished he hadn’t. Now he saw the affection his wife had for the man. They were very comfortable around each other. They obviously liked each other, Ethan thought, thinking of what he knew about them. They’d done drugs together and had crossed the friendship line on more than one occasion.
This was from what Mia told him. Ethan knew she hadn’t told him everything; he still had so many questions. It left him wondering what the hell had happened between them.
Todd and Mia were talking but Ethan was too far away to hear them, so he watched them instead.
The warmth fell from her lips and Todd pulled her into his arms, whispering something into her ear. She leaned back and smiled up at him, then proceeded to kiss his cheek, her lips lingering on his face. And from the look on his face, he enjoyed her attentions. And that pissed Ethan off. He was about to go over and break up their conversation when Todd released her. She turned to walk away but Todd called out to her. He closed the distance between them, toying with one of her long curls, and said something that made her smile sadly.
Ethan watched her walk his way, wiping at her eyes. Was something going on between them? Because it would explain so much. But he didn’t want this to be the answer. He didn’t want his wife cheating on him to be the reason she’d been so distant the past couple of years. But he had no other answers. No other reasons for why she preferred being away from home—away from him.
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