Page 29 of Irresistible Second Chance

I mumbled, “Ok,” and drifted off. I didn’t even remember falling asleep, but I was briefly awakened when he joined me in bed again. He kissed my eyelids and my lips and then cuddled me next to him as if I were the most precious person in the world. That was the last thing I remembered before I was sound asleep, how precious Chris made me feel.

I woke up the next morning with my face planted in the pillows and my leg with the cast bent at a weird angle. It was my own fault. I opened my eyes and saw my panties thrown across the nightstand.

I groaned, when had that happened? Probably the second time we had sex, I thought to myself. Or had it been the third time? I wasn’t surprised by Chris’ stamina. After all, he ate right and worked out. I had been surprised by my own. I existed on coffee, donuts, sandwiches, and snacks. The closest I got to vegetables and a well-balanced meal was lettuce and tomatoes on a hoagie.

As I lay there wondering what was next, Chris came in and dropped down on the bed, sending me rolling a little bit. He laughed, caught me, and rolled me back over to him, carefully avoiding my leg. Before I could say a word, he was kissing and touching me again.

“Chris,” I said as he nibbled on my earlobe, “I have to get to work.”

“Tell them you’ll be late,” he said now kissing my neck.

“I can’t.” He was now placing kisses between my breasts. Now, I could barely think.

“You can,” he said going lower.

He spread my legs and buried his head between my legs. He was right. Work could wait.

A week later, I found myself at my front door like a lovesick teenager, making out with Chris on my front porch. Every time he tried to leave, I pulled him back to me and kissed him again.

“I could get used to this,” he mumbled across my lips, “But you refused to call out, so you need to get to work.”

I’d been late to work all week. Even Robert had noticed but commented that I looked happy. I was happy. I sighed and wrapped my arms around Chris’ neck. I pressed my hips against his and he wrapped his arms around my waist. “How much longer are you in town?”

“I make my own schedule for the most part…” He stroked my back, a possessive gentle touch, “So I’m here for as long as it takes for you to get tired of me.”

“Perfect” I kissed him again, long and hard. “So, another 24 hours then?”

He laughed and smacked me on the butt, “Get dressed. Go to work. I’ll see you tonight.” He kissed my forehead and let me go. This had become our ritual. We would stay the night at my place or at his Airbnb and then I would go to work, come home and we would see each other again, sometimes we spent the evening in bed, other times we would get dinner together. It was nice but I knew part of me didn’t want to get too close. He said before that he traveled most of the year. I didn’t want him to feel obligated to stick around because of me. I didn’t feel that that was something I could ask of him. After all, we weren’t officially anything yet. We were just friends enjoying each other’s company.

I watched him, feeling a mixture of emotions, mostly positive, but as his car disappeared from my view, I could feel the old feeling of insecurity and fear trying to resurface. I told myself to take it one day at a time. I didn’t have to have it all figured out yet, but uncertainty was so hard for me.

“Get it together, Sydney,” I said to myself.

As I went back into the house, I realized that I had missed a call. Frowning, I looked down at my phone. Who would call me so early in the morning? It wasn’t even 7am yet. I swiped my phone and stared at the text message there. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Chapter 9

Mark sat across the room from me with a cup of coffee in his hand. He was looking down into it with a pensive expression on his classically handsome face. I had to admit, I expected to feel a little bit more excited about seeing him, but instead I felt resigned.

“Hi, Mark,” I said sliding in the booth across from him. He looked up and blinked a few times in surprise.

“You changed your hair.” I had gotten a haircut as a celebration of getting the cast finally removed. Being cast less and having less hair definitely suited me. Chris loved my new haircut. He loved it so much that we had spent hours in bed messing it up after I’d gotten it done.

“I’m surprised you noticed,” I said bitterly. I guess I hadn’t moved on. I was still angry with Mark.

“I notice everything about you. Like it looks like you haven’t been sleeping all that well.”

He was right about that. When I heard from him, I had tossed and turned for a couple of nights wondering if I should call him back or even acknowledge that I had listened to his voice messages. He also texted me again, several times, but I had only given them a cursory glance, responding only to the last one where he asked me to him here.

I knew the place well. It’s where we had first met. It felt like a long time ago although we had only been married for a few years. In fact, it had been here that he suggested we get married. He hadn’t asked really. He just suggested it and then the next thing I knew we were picking out his and her rings. We had then gotten a marriage license and from there a quick courthouse visit later had made us man and wife. It hadn’t been the most romantic courting and wedding, but I wasn’t the romantic type. At least, at the time, that’s what I had told myself.

“So, what do you want, Mark?”

“To talk.”

“About what?”

He pushed his hair back from his face. I loc of hair always fell over his forehead. I used to reach out and push it back and place a kiss there, but now I just stared, waiting for him to continue.

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