And Then It Happened: An Unexpected Romance

by Annie Green

  I watched him struggle with his decision before I decided to make it for him.

  “Okay, well for now I’ll just go back inside. And when you’re ready you can have me.”

  His jaw flexed as he shoved his hands in his pockets, almost like he was trying to refrain from reaching out and grabbing me.

  “Fine.”

  “Fine,” I said with a wobbly smile before turning around, leaving Adrian standing under the moonlight looking confused, sexy and downright fuckable.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “What was that about?” Marcus asked as his entire family lounged in the living room eating dessert.

  “Adrian’s still mad at me, but we’re working it out,” I replied as I took a bite out of a piece of chocolate cake. The taste only reminded me of smearing chocolate across Adrian’s chest and licking it off. Up until that moment, eating chocolate had never made me so sad.

  After leaving Adrian standing outside, I made my way back to the dinner table. I made excuses to his family as to why Adrian wasn’t feeling well until he showed up ten minutes later, his cheeks flushed and his eyes a little shifty. When he finally sat down, he avoided direct eye contact with me, but I could feel him watching me when I wasn’t looking.

  Thank heavens dinner ended shortly thereafter. Adrian’s stares were making me uncomfortable and I still had that ache between my legs that only Adrian could satisfy. And now I was standing in the living room chatting it up with Marcus like everything was A-okay.

  “I’m glad you two are working it out. When all this shit went down, I told him he needed to suck it up. He’s lived a fast life. He couldn’t expect you to trust him when women are constantly throwing themselves at him.”

  “You told him that?” I asked, my eyes wide. I hadn’t expected either of his brothers to take my side, but from what they’d told me, both understood why I had jumped to conclusions.

  “Yeah,” he replied, pointing to a cut on his eyebrow. “And he punched me in the face.”

  “Oh,” I replied, leaning forward to get a better look. “That’s awful.”

  Before Marcus could reply, Adrian was at my side.

  “See something you like better?” he asked, jealousy lacing his tone.

  I spun around and my cheeks flamed. “No, he was just showing me where you punched him.”

  Adrian’s eyes flew to his brother. “He deserved it.”

  “He did not,” I replied. “He was giving his opinion…”

  “That wasn’t wanted,” Adrian finished for me, glowering at his brother who took a few steps back.

  “Don’t want another one of these,” Marcus said, turning around and disappearing into the kitchen.

  I watched him go in silence until Adrian said lowly, “It looks like you’re flirting with my brother.”

  I turned to stare at him, my jaw opening in frustration. “You’re the one who wanted me to keep my distance,” I hissed. “Marcus is just being nice.”

  “And he keeps staring at your tits,” Adrian replied, anger in his eyes.

  “Well, at least someone can appreciate them. They’ve been very neglected the past week.”

  Adrian grunted. “Which is entirely your fault.”

  “It is,” I said, placing my cake on the table and taking a sip of my water. I didn’t know what else to say so I mashed my cake with my fork instead.

  “You’re wasting it,” Adrian finally said.

  “I’m just not hungry. The last time I had chocolate was when we…when you…” I began to stammer.

  Adrian’s eyes darkened. “Don’t remind me.”

  I sighed heavily, taking his comment to mean that he didn’t want to remember that day. I turned around and threw the chocolate cake into the trash.

  “Well, I’m tired so I’m going to go to sleep,” I said, not meeting Adrian’s gaze.

  He watched me for a second before leaning down and saying, “You better sleep on the floor.”

  “Sure, yeah, I’ll get on that,” I replied before making my way to the stairs. I was suddenly exhausted, emotionally and physically. I wanted nothing more than to sleep.

  So I turned away from Adrian and made my way to our room.

  ***

  “What are you doing?” Adrian asked, pulling me from my sleep. I blinked up at his looming figure before turning over into my pillow.

  “Sleeping.”

  “You’re not on the floor,” he said stiffly.

  “I told you I wasn’t going to sleep there. It’s hard and uncomfortable.”

  “Well, I sure as shit am not going to sleep there.”

  “Then don’t. There’s more than enough room here.”

  Adrian sighed heavily before rustling around in the room.

  “You better keep your hands off of me,” he said, his tone resigned.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll do my best.”

  A moment later, I felt him slide in next to me before turning his back and facing the wall.

  “Goodnight,” I said.

  He harrumphed like an old man as he pulled the sheets up over him.

  ***

  I woke up feeling completely rested and overly warm. A large body was trapping me to my side of the bed and as I began to wake up, I realized it was Adrian practically lying on top of me.

  I bit back a groggy smile as I turned into him. He sighed into the skin of my neck as his arms tightened around me.

  No wonder I had slept so well last night. Tenderly, I slid my hand across his chest before brushing his overly long hair from his forehead.

  He emitted a satisfied groan as his eyes slowly opened.

  “Good morning,” I said and he offered me the smallest of smiles before his eyes opened widely.

  “What the hell?” he asked, pushing away from me so quickly he nearly fell of the bed.

  I giggled at his overreaction, which he didn’t find the least bit funny.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, feigning I didn’t know.

  “I told you no touching,” he said grumpily.

  “I didn’t. You were on my side of the bed,” I said, pushing myself up on my elbows, the sheets moving down my shoulders, revealing the see through nightie I had worn to bed. I mean, I had to be prepared just in case he had a change of heart.

  He frowned deeply as he stood up, his hand moving through his hair.

  “Why are you wearing that?”

  “Because I wanted to.”

  “Jesus,” he said, his eyes slipping from my face to my chest, which I had subtly thrust out. “Put some clothes on.”

  “No,” I said, standing up, full well knowing I wore nothing but a thong. I could feel his eyes on me as I bent down to retrieve my chapstick from my jacket pocket. And when I turned around and put it on, his eyes darkened as he watched me.

  “What?” I asked.

  He grunted in frustration before he grabbed his clothes. “I’m taking a shower.”

  “Okay,” I replied. “Can I join if I promise not to touch?”

  He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Who are you?”

  “I learned from the best,” I said with a small smile. “So was that a yes?”

  He didn’t respond, merely strode from the room. So being brave, I pulled on a robe, grabbed my things and followed him into the bathroom. Thankfully no one else was awake at this god-awful hour.

  “No touching,” Adrian said, as I began to undress.

  “You can touch me,” I said. “I don’t have the same rules.”

  His breath hitched at my comment and I couldn’t help but see his cock straining against his boxers.

  You go, girl!

  I adjusted the nozzle of the shower, taking care to show off my ass to the best of my abilities. I didn’t want to go one more day with Adrian being mad at me. And if that meant I had to use sex to get him to finally forgive me, I’d do it. I wasn’t averse to sneaky tactics.

  As I stepped into the shower, I was surprised to see Adrian just standing near the sink watching me. He seemed
conflicted as to whether or not he should join me, so I just stuck my head under the water and let it run down my face. I really wanted this to work between us. I had missed him so much. I was a better person when he was around and I had a feeling I made him a better person as well. He was someone I could grow old with.

  A minute later, I felt his presence behind me. But before I could turn around to face him, he pressed his hands against my hips, holding me in place.

  “You said I could touch you,” he said lowly and I shivered in anticipation. “But I’m going to fuck you.”

  I moaned at his comment, spreading my legs. “Okay.”

  And then I felt his hard cock piercing me, his hands holding me in place as he thrust himself inside of me. And I was ready, so ready for him. My fingers bunched and flexed against the cool tiles as he moved inside of me. I could hear him grunting, trying to maintain control, but knowing it was slipping fast.

  He was unforgiving and rough and I loved every minute of it. And I knew that I wasn’t going to come because he wasn’t going to last.

  And he didn’t. A few seconds later he bucked into me, groaning into my neck before he went completely still.

  I expected him to leave, but he didn’t. Instead, he pulled the shampoo from the shower caddy and slowly began to wash my hair. And it was so sweet and tender that I began to cry silently, thankful that the water hid my tears. I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t lose him. He was mine.

  ***

  The vow renewal took place in the backyard under the noon sun and was so sweet that I ended up crying in my chair. Adrian just shot me a look of confusion as I mopped at my eyes, but I ignored him. After the shower this morning, he’d successfully avoided me, leaving me to hang out with Marcus and Gabe. Not that I minded. At least Adrian wasn’t overtly mean and it didn’t even seem like he was mad. He just looked perplexed and a little frustrated.

  Well, so was I. I wanted this whole thing to be over. I just wanted Adrian and I to go back to the way things were. I wanted to be with Adrian for a very long time. I wanted to stand with him in Big Bear on our thirty-fourth wedding anniversary and renew my vows to him.

  But it didn’t seem like he was there yet. Not that I blamed him. I had said some nasty things, broken my promise to trust him and I knew that the whole thing had really hurt him.

  I didn’t deserve him.

  The whole time I knew him, I assumed I was better than him when in reality he was a much better person than I.

  When the ceremony was over, I pulled out a mirror to make sure my mascara wasn’t smeared and felt Adrian staring at me.

  “What?” I asked, my eyes meeting his.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, it was just really touching. Didn’t you think so?”

  He shrugged. “I guess.”

  “You’re heartless,” I replied with a small smile and thankfully he smiled back. The gesture gave me hope, so I leaned toward him and said quietly, “Can we go somewhere and talk? I really want to talk to you.”

  His eyes drifted away from mine before he nodded, “Sure, but first I need to congratulate my parents.”

  I stood up and nodded, “Okay, but I’m not waiting another minute after that.”

  His eyes narrowed, “Not waiting for what?”

  “To talk,” I explained, not realizing he had misconstrued the meaning of my previous statement. “I want to fix this.”

  He stood up next to me. “You want to fix what you broke?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  Adrian ran a hand across the back of his neck. “Why?”

  “Because I miss you,” I replied as I fiddled nervously with my shirt. “Because I want to kiss you. Because I want to make love to you and be able to touch you.”

  His eyes darkened. “You didn’t like this morning?”

  I squirmed in my seat. “Oh, I really liked this morning, but I miss kissing you, miss how you feel beneath my hands.”

  “Okay. Fine. You convinced me.”

  “Good,” I said, glancing at his parents who were talking to a few people by the back porch.

  “I’ll go congratulate them first, if you don’t want to do it together,” I said.

  Adrian shook his head before slipping his hand into mine. “No, we can do it together.”

  The gesture surprised me so much that I couldn’t breathe properly for a few minutes. Thankfully, I was able to get congratulations out of my mouth when we approached his parents. Candice was teary eyed and Joel was sighing heavily, but underneath it all I could tell they were both really happy. I really, really wanted to have this kind of love with someone.

  With Adrian.

  Yes, with Adrian.

  And after hugging them, Adrian finally led me away from his family.

  “Where do you want to do this?” he asked, his hands slipping from mine and into his pockets.

  “I don’t know. Any place away from your family’s ears. I don’t want them to hear what I did and then hate me.

  “And start a revolt?” he said with a small crooked smile.

  “Yeah and start a revolt.” Of course Adrian would retain his sense of humor in the midst of heartbreak. What had I expected?

  Adrian led me around the house to a small park with a rustic bench situated underneath a tree. We lowered ourselves onto it and I fidgeted nervously with my skirt. I suddenly didn’t know what to say. How could I ever apologize for what I did?

  “So are we going to sit here all day or…”

  I glared at him. “You’re making me nervous.”

  “Good, you deserve to be nervous.”

  I nodded, suddenly feeling incredibly solemn.

  “I do. I deserve a lot worse for what I said. And that’s why I’m here,” I began, squaring my shoulders and lifting my chin. “So I came here because I wanted to apologize for what I said…for not believing you when you said it wasn’t you next door. I really messed up.”

  “You did,” he said, his eyes meeting mine.

  “I know, but what I need to know is can you forgive me?”

  “You want me to forgive you?” Adrian asked, his brow furrowing in thought and I almost passed out from anxiety.

  “Yes.”

  “And why should I?”

  “Because…well, because I love you and I don’t want you with anyone else.”

  “You love me?” Adrian asked.

  “Yes. I love you…head over heels in love with you. I have been for a while. And I want to be…well, I want you to be my boyfriend again. I want to be exclusive.”

  “So let me get this straight. You love me and want to be my girlfriend?”

  “Yes.”

  “And what if I said I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be with you again?”

  I blinked rapidly as my eyes filled with tears.

  But he had sex with you this morning. He cuddled with you in bed!

  I glanced away and stared at the dirt beneath my feet.

  “Okay. I understand if you don’t,” I said as calmly as I could, my toe digging a hole in the ground. “I don’t like it, but I guess that’s what happens. I deserve it.”

  Adrian was silent beside me.

  “If you don’t want me then I guess I should go,” I added, my voice growing hoarse. I pushed myself up to leave only to be pulled back down in my seat.

  “Where are you going?” Adrian asked, his hands holding me in place.

  “Just let me go, Adrian. I don’t want to stay if you don’t want me.”

  Adrian chuckled beside me. “Don’t go. I don’t want you to go.”

  My eyes shot up and met his. “What? But you just said…”

  “I didn’t say anything, I just wanted to mess with you a little.”

  My mouth dropped open as I punched at his chest. “You jackass!”

  He smiled widely at me. “I know. I know, I’m sorry, but you just looked so cute. I forgave you this morning after I fucked you in the shower. I just wanted to string you along a little longer.”

 
“That’s so mean!”

  “What’s mean is calling me a whore for hire,” Adrian said and my heart dropped in my chest.

  “I know, I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean any of it. I was just hurt. Everything that happened…I felt betrayed all over again.”

  “I would never do that to you, Jane. Tell me you believe me this time. Tell me that this time you will trust me.”

  “I do. I won’t ever assume the worst again. I don’t ever want to lose you again,” I said so quickly that my words all slurred together.

  “I don’t want to lose you again either. I’ve been miserable the past week, knowing you were so close but so far.”

  I cuddled into him. “I know. I hit some pretty low spots last week.”

  “Did you? Tell me the worst?”

  I shook my head. “No, no way.”

  “Come on,” he said. “I’ll tell you one of mine if you tell me yours.”

  “Fine, but you first.”

  “Okay, I read through all of your texts at least a hundred times.”

  I flushed. “That’s not nearly as bad as me.”

  His eyebrows rose. “Now you have to tell me.”

  “I slept with the vibrator,” I muttered.

  “You what?” he asked, touching his ear and leaning toward me.

  “I slept…I slept with the vibrator. It was a low point. A very, very low point.”

  “Did you cuddle with it or…”

  I nudged him in the side, too happy to really be angry. “I will never tell.”

  We sat in silence for a moment before I peeked up at him and asked shyly, “Do you still love me, Adrian?”

  He glanced down at me, his eyes flashing, “Of course I do, Janice.”

  I poked him in the ribs.

  “Janet.”

  “It’s Jane, jackass.”

  He sighed before pressing a kiss to my mouth. “Jane. Of course I do. I love you.”

  Epilogue

  The phone buzzed in my pants pocket and I reached back and grasped it. I was in my art studio finishing up the series of nude paintings. I didn’t have a buyer for them yet, but I had to admit they were pretty impressive. And truth be told, I didn’t really want to sell them. I wanted to hang them up in my house.