“Nice body?”
“Oh, hell yeah.” She chuckles, shaking her head with a knowing grin. “He works out so much he looks like a Greek god. I’ve never seen him shirtless, though.”
“Sounds to me like you got yourself a great job.”
“Yes, I do, but right now I need to focus.” Kate looks at her watch, instantly dropping her shoulders. “Oh shit, it’s seven. I had better head back. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
I smile. “I’ll be here.”
“Cheerio, then!”
I run back home thinking about how the last few days have unfolded. I know I was taking a risk by asking Adriana to get involved with planning for me to be in Lex’s office, but I wanted him to know it isn’t just him who gets to call the shots. Looking back, I can’t believe I allowed myself to be so bold and carefree. Yeah, I’d fantasized about that shit all the time, but to make it a reality is surreal. He was barely able to control himself, and that’s what I wanted— Mr. Control Freak to lose himself.
Every touch, every sound was sending me over the edge, but then he said he wanted all of me. I knew what he meant, and not one part of me hesitated. As he filled me, I groaned with pleasure. He’s the only one who has ever been inside there. The pressure was intense, and it didn’t take me long to come. He followed quickly, gripping me tight as the waves of pleasure died down slowly. It felt amazing, but then he kissed me softly and I pulled away. I wasn’t prepared for emotions to be involved. This was strictly hardcore, nothing-off-the-table kind of sex. Just fucking. I reminded him of that, and he was quick to acknowledge it, which hurt slightly, but I had to convince myself that’s all this was. Who am I kidding?
As I sit in my office daydreaming about the night before, Eric and Nikki walk in, both of them taking a seat. Eric grabs a handful of M&Ms as Nikki scolds him for putting the brown ones back in the jar. What the hell is his problem with eating the brown ones?
“So, the lady who walked into my office yesterday was Samantha Benson.”
“Wasn’t she that chick at the club that Lex was trying to offload?” Eric asks, raising his perfectly sculpted brows.
“Yes, she was.”
“How do you know her?” Nikki questions.
Answering this question is inevitable. I’ve been dreading it, but I knew it would come out sooner or later, so it might as well be now. “She was Lex’s wife.”
“So, they got married after you guys split up?” Eric’s eyes widen with curiosity. “When did she remarry and have the kid?”
“Eric, I don’t think they got married after Charlie and Lex split up,” Nikki says, turning back to face me. “Am I correct in assuming you were together while he was married?”
“Something like that.” I lower my tone, feeling ashamed at the situation. I know it had been more than me just being a homewrecker, but how can I explain what our love was to them?
Eric clasps his hand on his mouth. “Oh…” and then it dawns on him, “Oh!”
“Guys, look, it wasn’t like that. We were in love, like earth-shattering love. At least, I thought it was.”
Nikki leans over the table, placing her hand on mine. She knows me well enough to know that it had meant something. After all, she was the one who would hold me tight when I screamed Alex’s name in my sleep.
“Charlie, what happened?” Eric narrows his eyes, still confused. “And what’s going on between you two now?”
“He left, didn’t say goodbye. I found out from the town slut that Samantha was pregnant.”
“Hold up, the kid is his?” Nikki exclaims.
“No. She was screwing around as well, but she did tell him it was his. His family put pressure on him to stay with her after Samantha told them about me. Apparently, months later, she confessed to him that the baby wasn’t his, and he left her. He told me he looked for me but not in the right place, and my mother had told him I moved on.”
“But you hadn’t, Charlie. I was there…” Nikki trails off.
“No, I hadn’t. He believed what she said and decided that I deserved more.”
“I’m sorry, Charlie. I knew he meant a lot to you. I mean, you didn’t start to date till the end of college, no matter how much Rocky and I tried to set you up.”
“Oh, gee, Nikki, the blind dates Rocky set me up with were so hideous.” I shake my head, smiling at their pathetic attempt to set me up with so many losers.
We laugh, reminiscing until Eric breaks us from our trip down memory lane. “So, what did she want to see you about?”
“She needed to tell me how sorry she was and asked for forgiveness. We all make mistakes, Eric. Sometimes we need to forgive to move on.”