Page 74 of This Woman Forever

Breathe.

I drag my eyes away, edging through the congestion at the bar. “Water,” I say, my eyes landing on the optics on the back wall. How easy it would be to go down that rabbit hole. Chase away the pain. Escape. I swallow, ripping my eyes away, focusing on the barman getting my water.

A hand rests on my arm. It’s not Ava’s, there are no flames inside. Red nails. Dark hair. Darker than Ava’s. Her skin’s paler. Her eyes not as big. Her lips not at rosy. Her red dress more on the respectable side of short.

“What’s your name?” I ask automatically, turning into her a fraction.

“Selina.” She eyes the water being passed across the bar to me, obviously waiting for me to offer her a drink.

I look over my shoulder, just catching Ava with her glass to her mouth. Defiance. Doing all the things she knows will trigger me. I take my water and turn, leaning back against the bar, ignoring my new friend. Watching my wife.

She heads to the dance floor, and my eyes narrow, studying her, seeing her and Kate close, talking. Yelling? Then Ava is suddenly on her way back to the bar, ordering another drink. It’s hardly landed on the bar before she swipes it up and necks it.

Breathe.

So she does care?

“You didn’t tell me your name.” The woman beside me is doing her best to project confidence and sex. The red dress. I look down at it and see Ava on the launch night of Lusso. See the dress on the bathroom floor after I removed it.

She’s back on the dance floor when I look up, arms raised, her body flowing to the deep beat. Various men in her orbit are watching her. Vultures circling the meat.

Breathe.

Necking my water, I walk away from the woman at the bar, blocking out the men, focusing on my wife. There’s one way to find out how over me she is.

I move in behind her, seeing her moves slow as she registers my presence. Affected. It’s the answer I need, but I don’t stop there. Pulling her back to my front, I dip, latching onto her neck, feeling my heart kick for the first time in days. Yes, it beats, but it still fucking hurts.

Her backside pushes into my groin, my dick loads, and my senses are saturated by her in every way. Doesn’t care? Then why is she positioning her head so I can get my mouth on her throat? Doesn’t care? Then why is her body vibrating with need against me? Doesn’t care? Then why the fuck is she forcing every inch of her body into mine?

Doesn’t fucking care?

Like fuck she doesn’t care. So please, for the love of God, tell me why she’s been acting like she doesn’t. Tell me why she’s left me alone for days.

I stroke down her arm to her hand and clench it, leading her off the dance floor. My wife is about to get a stark reminder that she’ll never get over me.

I go straight for the accessible toilet and get Ava inside, acknowledging Jay’s warning before I shut the door and get to the business of reminding my wife who she’s married to and how passionate he is about making sure they stay married.

I push her against the wall, studying her as she breathes heavily up at the ceiling. I smile on the inside.

Mine.

And no amount of fight from her will prove otherwise. We both know it, as well as we both know I am irrevocably hers. I take her jaw and direct her face down, my need for her starting to get the better of me, every inch of me anticipating her. I release her face, my stare telling her not to look away. She obeys, eyes on me, as I seize her wrists and push them to the wall, my face close to hers, feeling her hot breath hitting my skin as I lean into her. I take her lip between my teeth and clamp down lightly, tasting her for the first time in too long. Her whimpers are drowned out by the loud music engulfing the small space.

She tries to kiss me.

No.

I dodge her mouth and wait until she’s retreated before I put my face close to hers again, my gaze penetrating. Desperate eyes. Desperate body.

Desperate.

“Kiss me,” she demands as I push her farther into the wall with my body and take my lips teasingly close to hers. She heaves against me, her heart thudding against mine, her eyes on my mouth.

Just a teasing brush.

She lunges to capture me.

No.

---