Page 1 of An Ex Affair

PROLOGUE

Colson

24 YearsAgo

I heardher before I saw her. Tully was always making a racket, even when sneaking out to my truck parked out back on her mama’s property. I took care of a lot of the land maintenance for Tully’s mama since her husband died when Tully was just a little girl. The last thing I wanted to do was disrespect her by getting handsy with her daughter on her own property, but this felt safer than taking her anywhere else.

Tully’s voice carried through the trees with some Britney Spears song on her lips. I waited next to the bed of my truck beside the river where we liked to hang out. I slapped at another bug that tried to land on my overheated skin. Thank God I thought ahead and brought a couple citronella candles or else we’d be swarmed. How many times had we made out in this very spot, only to leave with mosquito bites in sensitive places?Tully burst through the line of trees with a leap over a fallen log. Her pretty face was split with the dazzling smile that kept me up late,thinking about her. Her long dark hair was already curling into a frizzy mess that I loved and she hated. For such a small person, she seemed ten feet tall with her personality. I’d been drawn to her the second I saw her freshman year, due to both her beauty and personality.

“Hey, hotshot!” she trilled, oblivious to the need to be quiet. Her mama had never caught us before, but I especially didn’t want to get caught tonight. We were both eighteen and had graduated from high school yesterday. I had plans that couldn’t wait.

“Tully,” I said quietly, hoping she’d catch on.

“Are we skinny-dipping or making out first?” she asked with a shimmy of her shoulders beneath that skimpy tank top that had me harder than the rock we usually laid our clothes on before jumping in the river. I spent most of my time around Tully hard as a rock. It was a condition I was used to, considering she said she wanted to wait to go all the way until we were adults. Over the four years we dated, I thought it just might kill me, but I was bound and determined to abide by her wishes.

“I got something for you.” I held out my hand and her eyes lit up even more. She skipped over, the muscular tan legs below the cutoff jean shorts catching my gaze. She collided with my chest, throwing her arms around my neck.

“I thought we said we weren’t doing graduation gifts?”

My hands landed on her hips, slipping around and down to grab her ass. I loved her ass. Always had. She could probably get me to do anything by turning around and wiggling that thing at me, especially in these short shorts and the curve of her ass peeking out.

“This isn’t a graduation gift.” I reluctantly pulled one hand away from her backside and held out my hand, palm down. “I wanted you to be the first person to see my tattoo.”

She gasped and shoved away from me. Thankfully, I was used to her overly dramatic moves and had braced myself. She snatched my hand and held it up to her face. It was pretty dark back here with the tall trees blocking most of the moonlight. The three citronella candles weren’t doing much to blot out the black night. I grabbed a flashlight from the bed of my truck and clicked it on, shining it on my left hand, ring finger.

Tully gasped again and moved my finger left and right. I sucked in a quick breath when she pulled on it too hard. I’d only gotten it done a few hours ago and the skin was still sensitive.

Her head popped up, but she still gripped my hand. “What is it?”

I smiled, thinking about all the research I’d done before permanently tattooing this on my finger, right below where my wedding band would go one day soon.

“It’s one of the brightest constellations in the sky. Perseus within the Cassiopeia constellation. It’s a big W that’s only visible half the year.”

Tully tilted her head, looking confused, as I knew she would. I’d somehow fallen in love with Greek mythology and what these gods represented. “I’m pretty sure I fell asleep in class when we were going over Greek gods, Colson.”

“Perseus was the Greek god known for slaying Medusa and rescuing the princess Andromeda. Cassiopeia is Andromeda’s mother. I wanted to get a tattoo to show you that I’d slay dragons—or women with snake hair—for you. And your mama. I’ll be your Perseus.”

Tully’s confusion morphed into a soft smile. “And I’ll be your Andromeda?”

“My princess,” I said quietly, referring to the nickname I’d given her a couple years back.

Tully looked back at my hand, seeing the tattoo with new eyes. She dipped her head and kissed it before popping her head back up. “I love it!”

My heart rate picked up just thinking about what was next. “I got you something too.”

She squealed and let go of my hand. My girl loved surprises. I tried to give her something every week, even if it was just a bunch of wildflowers I picked along the way to her house.

Putting down the flashlight, I dug in my pocket until I found the gold band I’d saved several months for. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. Our start. I held the ring between us.

“I love you, Tully Cassio. I want to spend forever with you, starting right now.” I stepped back and dropped down to one knee right there in the dirt that smelled like summertime. Tully gasped, her eyes filling with tears. “Will you marry me?”

Tully’s head bobbed up and down before she finally screamed yes. I stood back up and slid the ring on her shaking finger. Or maybe that was me shaking. I couldn’t really tell because Tully was jumping up and down now, making all kinds of noise. I grinned down at her, feeling like everything in my life was going exactly according to plan with that ring on her finger.

Tully jumped again, this time with her hands on my shoulders, so I grabbed that pretty ass and held her against me. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I spun her around and around until we were both laughing. She sealed her mouth to mine, the laughter abruptly shifting into something else that had me forgetting all about the bugs, the possibility of being found, or even that I had work tomorrow, bright and early.

My girl could kiss. We’d spent hours making out, just teasing each other until I had to walk away or risk embarrassing myself. This time, however, Tully ground her hips against my obvious erection and I nearly dropped her. I broke away from the kiss,my forehead on hers as we both gulped for air. Looking me dead in the eye, she did it again, licking her bottom lip.

“You sure, princess?” The words barely made it through my tight throat.

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