As if she was going to fall down any second.
“I think it’s time to look into that woman.”
I snorted.
“I’ve had people on it for a couple of months,” I admitted. “There’s nothing there. Not a single thing. It’s like she’s a ghost. Hell, even with her and Rome having a baby together and her being in his life for four years, he doesn’t know anything more about her. It’s like she only existed here for a few years while she raised her son. Before Rome’s son died of leukemia, Tara left, stating that she couldn’t do it anymore. But, I’m beginning to think that there’s something a whole lot more going on than we’re seeing.”
Conleigh grunted. “I wish I knew what it was. I’m not sure what to do.”
Her admission was one that I agreed with.
On one hand, I was so angry at her for doing what she did that I wasn’t sure that I’d ever be able to let it go. But on the other, I was looking at this woman, who looked like she was beaten down and broken, and I was wondering if there was anything that I could do to help.
However, at this point, I wasn’t sure that anyone could do anything to help but her.
I had a feeling that whatever it was that she could do wasn’t going to be anything good.
I pushed through the door to my house and closed it behind Conleigh after she entered.
Her face started to take in the house around me, and I winced.
“So…you’ve been redecorating,” she said, trying to lighten the mood.
I snorted. “Sure. If that’s what you want to call it.”
She walked farther into the room, stopping beside the couch and picking up a bag of half-eaten pita chips, placing them on the coffee table.
“I hope your bed doesn’t look like this,” she admitted.
“I haven’t changed the sheets since the last time you were in them. My pillow barely smells like you anymore,” I blurted. “Conleigh, I can’t do this.”
She frowned. “Do what?”
“I can’t be here with you if you don’t think that we can fix things,” I spouted. “We need to be able to fix what I broke if we’re going to make this work.”
She came at me then, her anger palpable. “There’s nothing to fix. Not between me and you. We’ve never been the problem; it’s always been everyone else. So, no, there’s no fixing what’s wrong with me and you, because it was never broken. What does need to be fixed are my reactions to things that I can’t control. I know that you wouldn’t ever set out to purposely hurt me, but it’s going to happen again. You’re too big of a name for the media not to spin things in the most unflattering or untruthful ways, and I’m going to have no choice but to react to that. And I’ll apologize for that now, because it’s going to happen, and I’m not going to be able to control it.”
I pulled her into my arms. “I’ll quit football.”
She smacked me on the upper back, causing my skin to sting.
“You’re not quitting, fool. If you quit, who will I watch in their tight football pants?”
I snorted and dropped my head into her neck, inhaling her scent deeply.
The feel of her so close was causing things inside of me to stir, and I wanted nothing more than to start ripping her clothes off right then and there.
She obviously agreed with me on that, because she pushed back from me and started to rip at her clothes.
The articles of clothing that she had covering her were hastily thrown next to a few articles of mine, and suddenly I had a hot, naked woman in my arms and I was carrying her to my bedroom.
I hadn’t lied.
My room was a pigsty, and I hadn’t cleaned anything in months, including my sheets—just like I’d told her.
Yes, it was probably gross, but I couldn’t force myself to do it with the smell of her still barely clinging to the sheets.
The moment she was down on her back in my bed, I followed her, roughly shoving at my jeans as I did.
Once I had them down low enough to get my cock out, I reared up and lined my cock up with her entrance, sinking inside a breath later.
As she fully surrounded me, I realized that she was right.
What we had was right. It didn’t need to be fixed.
I just needed to believe in it.
And once I was inside of her, I did.
She was home, and always would be.Chapter 21I didn’t know he was planning to breathe so loudly when I married him.
-Conleigh to her mother
Conleigh
A man glowered at me, and I had the distinct feeling that he was set on not liking me from the start.
I was at a party that the Bear Bottom Guardians were hosting, and I was uncomfortable as hell about being there after everything that had happened between Linc and me.