Dirty Ties

Straight ahead, the skyline twinkled through the windows beyond the sitting room. I was drawn to the magnificent view, but instead followed the diagram, turning down the hall on the right. My hands slicked with sweat in the gloves, and my muscles ached with tension as I forced my boots to move slowly and soundlessly.

This was the part I hadn’t strategized. What if I found them having sex or their naked bodies entwined in sleep? How would I stop myself from going apeshit? I hadn’t thought past the breaking-and-entering and standing-over-the-bed plan. What was I going to say? Choose me.

I reached the open door at the end of the walkway, my heartbeat pulsing in my throat. Time to step into the dark, murky waters of risk. Risk of being turned in once I showed them my identity. Risk of Collin bludgeoning me to death for sleeping with his wife. Risk of Kaci’s rejection.

I wouldn’t have to spell it out for her. She was a brilliant woman and would understand the magnitude of what I was giving her. But was it enough? Was I enough?

I pulled in a deep, silent breath and flexed my fingers. Then I strode through, crossed the room, and stopped at the foot of the bed.

Blankets gathered in messy lumps, but the edge-sharpening perception of the night-vision outlined the forms of two bodies, entwined front-to-back, fit together like lovers after sex.

No amount of mental readiness could’ve prepared me for the jealously surging through my veins. Blood roared past my ears, and my hands balled into fists. I closed my eyes, seconds from yanking him out of bed and losing all sense of reason.

Man up. Power through it.

Stretching out my fingers, I opened my eyes and searched for her toned arms, the strands of her blonde hair, something familiar in the pile of bedding.

I stepped forward, locking my spine and measuring my breathing. But when my gaze landed on the pillow, the strength in my legs threatened to melt away.

Two heads lay side-by-side. Two heads with short, black hair. My vision tunneled. Two masculine jaw lines. My ribs squeezed. Two faces shadowed with whiskers.

The shock of a thousand volts slammed into my heart, electrocuting me into a state of stupefied paralysis. Unholy mother of fuck.

He was gay.

Collin Anderson.

Right-winged commenter.

Kaci’s husband.

Gay.

I wasn’t sure how long I stood there. Remotely, I heard the rasp of my thinning breaths as my thoughts filtered through every interaction I’d shared with Kaci and every goddamned thing she’d said. About Collin. About love. Maybe the clues had been there all along, but Jesus, I would’ve never guessed this.

The longer I stood there, the lighter my chest felt. She loved her husband, but not in a way that would threaten her future with me. Her marriage was a ruse, one that had likely been forced on them in lieu of Trenchant’s goddamned image. God, it all made sense now.

I backed out of the room on silent feet and strode down the hall, headed toward the other bedrooms at the opposite end of the condo. Each step ladened with guilt, every breath filling with hope. Fucking hell, why hadn’t she told me? I’d treated her like a cheater. I’d judged her. Used her. How could she not hate me?

My gait quickened, my blood seething beneath my skin in my urgency to find her. When I pushed through the door of the second largest bedroom, the remnants of my shock fled into the stillness of the room.

The king-size bed was empty, the blankets twisted and thrown to the side. My attention caught on the couch that faced the windows, my eyes locked on the curl of blonde hair draped over the armrest.

Anticipation built in my gut. I locked the door and covered the distance, my need for her powering my strides. I needed her in my arms. I needed her to forgive me. I needed to protect her, to make her happy. My needs with her were endless and intoxicating, and I would spend the rest of my life fulfilling each and every one if she let me.

Rounding the side of the couch, I knelt before the illumination of her sleeping figure and removed my gloves. “Night-vision off.”

Her lashes fluttered but remained closed. The moonlight from the window cast a glow over her golden hair and paled the smooth skin of her long legs folded beneath the tangle of her nightshirt.

The sight of her curled in the corner of the couch wrapped a painful fist around my heart. It also magnified the significance of her loneliness.

She wouldn’t be alone anymore. She belongs to me.

I drank in every detail of her body, from her delicate bone structure and soft breaths to the curl of her fingers beneath her cheek. A steady, calm pulse of peacefulness floated through me, filling me with euphoria. I didn’t want the moment to end, but I couldn’t stop my hands from sliding over either side of her face. “Kaci. Wake up.”