She held my gaze for a while before she returned to the bedroom. The door shut a moment later.
I turned back to the screen and continued my search for a new home. I’d never been there before, but I had to find the right place with the right school system, a place where we’d be happy a long time.
I continued to drink and drink, and before I knew it, it was noon and my mind was foggy.
Constance took the decanter away and placed it inside one of the cabinets. “Enough of that…” She moved about the kitchen and made lunch, ignoring me all the while.
I eventually joined her and grabbed one of the pans.
She pushed my hand away. “I’ve got it.”
I saw the way she wouldn’t meet my gaze, the way she pretended I didn’t exist. “You’re mad at me.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not obligated to tell you everything—”
“When there’s a psycho putting acid in my food and stalking me day and night, yes, you’re obligated to tell me.” She stared at me head on, a fire in her eyes. “I haven’t seen you head straight to the bottle since we first met. It was like going back in time…”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Tell me what happened.” Now lunch was forgotten, this conversation taking over the kitchen.
“Bartholomew.”
“So, he survived?”
I nodded.
“What did he want?”
“To apologize—even though I’ll never forgive him, regardless of how many times he apologizes.”
“You aren’t going back. He’s wasting his time.”
“That’s not what he cares about.”
“Then what?”
I gave a shrug.
“What, Benton?”
I leaned against the counter, my arms crossed over my chest. “As I said before…we were close.”
“You didn’t speak for seven years—and that didn’t bother him then.”
“He’s stubborn.”
“So stubborn that it took him seven years to do this when he could have just picked up the phone?”
“He knows I wouldn’t have answered.”
She stood in front of me, her arms crossed over her chest too. “You come in here pissed off like a bull, but when I ask you about it, every answer you give is calm and simple. So…why were you so angry in the first place?”
I stared at her face, seeing the way her eyes showed the depth of her intelligence. She constantly collected information, constantly surveyed the world around her with pinpoint accuracy. It was to my detriment sometimes. “I’m not sure.”
“It sounds like you still care about him.”
“It’s…complicated.”
“It’s not too complicated for me to understand, Benton.”
My eyes dropped to the black-and-white checkered tile beneath us. “I know how he thinks. I see him make bad decisions for the right reasons. I see him try to reconcile his logic and his emotion. This decision he made…was just like one of those. It was a bad decision, but he didn’t know what else to do.”
“He could have just talked to you.”
“There was nothing he could have said that would have made me change my mind. It was the only way to get us back to where we were. It was a bad decision…for the right reasons. I know he’s sorry. I know he wouldn’t put Claire in jeopardy. That’s why it’s complicated.”
Hair wet with a towel around her body, she stood in front of the mirror and ran her fingers through the strands. The towel would slip sometimes, so she would tighten it and keep going, unaware of my stare in the bathroom mirror.
I could see her from where I lay on the bed, the light from the vanity giving her face a beautiful glow. Her face was free of makeup, but her green eyes still stood out like the lights on a Christmas tree. She was gorgeous with no effort. She didn’t have to wear a short dress that barely covered her ass and do her makeup heavy to get a date at the bar. She was all natural—and all perfect.
I tossed my phone aside, dropped my sweatpants, and then moved behind her.
She instantly stilled when she saw my naked body emerge behind her, my shoulders a foot higher than hers, my stare more intense than the sun.
My hand gripped the towel, and with a gentle tug, it fell to the floor.
Her skin was still a little wet, and her small tits had hardened nipples from the abrupt change in temperature. Her stomach tightened when I drew near, her breaths increased, her eyes hardened as she looked at my reflection.
My arms wrapped around her, one across her tits, the other across her stomach. I squeezed her tightly, my hard dick right against the small of her back. My head dipped, and my mouth closed around her neck, my eyes still on the mirror to see her reaction to me.
She sucked in a deep breath as she tilted her head, giving me plenty of access. Her arm moved around mine, her nails lightly clawing me like a cat that enjoyed a good pet. She even purred for me with her pants.