Page 73 of An Ex Affair

Her eyes filled with tears, and dammit, so did mine. We shared a moment of grief, both of us missing our fathers fiercely. Then Tully kissed me, our tongues soon taking over, the moment turning into what all our moments turned into. An all-consuming passion for each other.

Tully lay back, her fingers gripping my hair and bringing me with her. Her mouth was fused to mine still. She shifted her leg and I rolled, settling between her thighs like I belonged there. Her teeth nipped at my bottom lip and she bent her knees, bringing her legs up to wrap around my waist. My tongue plunged back inside her mouth the same time my cock sank into her wet heat. She sighed into my mouth, her hips rolling lazily. I barely pulled back, too far gone for this woman to think about pulling out of her body when I’d waited nineteen years to be back in it.

We took our sweet time, a slow coupling of two people who had all the time in the world. Eventually, the slow grind of our bodies became desperate and Tully’s hands left my hair to grip my ass, pulling me into her harder. I gave her what she wanted, slamming into her harder and grinding my pubic bone exactly where she needed me. Her kiss got sloppy and uncoordinated right before I felt her tighten around me and shatter. Her body arched and her head tipped back into the pillow. I slid my lipsdown the column of her throat and held on by a thread to coax every last drop of orgasm out of her before I let myself go. The all-consuming pleasure was slow and long and bone melting.

We lay in a heap of arms and legs and expanding lungs while we came down. No wonder no other woman since Tully had done it for me. That had just been sex. A way to release tension.This…this lovemaking with Tully felt like merging my soul with hers. It was addictive. It was life giving. It was everything I needed for the rest of my life.

“I love you always,” I murmured against her neck.

“I love you forever,” she murmured back.

It was a long time later that we woke up Hayes and made brunch in the small kitchen. Tully told me all about her ideas for a chef’s kitchen for our new house. I explained that I wanted a porch so we could sit out there in rockers and grow old. She reminded me we were already old. I swatted her gorgeous ass and we headed back to bed for round two.

My phone pinged a little later and I pulled it out to see Joey texting me about Captain. Apparently he had a date tonight with Joselyn. Joey was worried our boss might get eaten alive by the Hollywood Hustler, as he called her. Tully tossed her head back and laughed, saying she’d forever call her by that name now. I told Joey we should make reservations wherever they were going so we could watch and make sure he didn’t sell his soul to the devil. We agreed to a double date that night.

Tully pulled up the number for the therapist Joey had given me and we made our first appointment for next week. We were doing things differently this time. We knew many marriages ended in divorce—knew that all too well—but we were also determined to do everything in our power to keep us together.

Tully got off the love seat just enough to plop down on my lap. I set my phone aside and rubbed my palms along her back.If she was wanting a round three, I’d need more food and a little more rest. I wasn’t twenty any longer.

“You know, I wish I could heal every hurt from your past. I probably caused most of them.”

Startled, I gazed into her troubled brown eyes. “What hurts do you think I need to heal from?”

“The one that says you’re not good enough. Me leaving had everything to do with me and not with you not being good enough.”

I dropped my forehead to her chest and inhaled her familiar scent. I searched my heart, looking for that constant bruise. The one that had festered even after I’d left Blueball and tried to establish a life somewhere else. I was surprised to realize I couldn’t find it. The bruise just wasn’t there anymore. I lifted my head and made sure she was looking deep into my eyes.

“What if I told you that you’ve already healed me?”

Her eyes misted over. “I’d tell you how much I love you, even now. Especially now. How much I want to heal every last part of you and build you up so strong you know in your heart and soul I’ll never leave you again.”

I slid my hand behind the nape of her neck and brought my lips to her forehead before pulling back. “I already know, baby. It’s you and me, always.”

She ran her fingers over my mustache before kissing me. “Forever.”

EPILOGUE

Tully

3 MonthsLater

The leaves hadn’t even started turningcolors yet. The temperature hadn’t come down out of the usual summer range of burning your bare feet on the pavement and hotter than the surface of the sun. Boon still hadn’t finished out his last season of baseball.

But we were having this wedding.

I wasn’t waiting any longer to marry the love of my life.

For the second time.

Our house was currently a concrete slab and a maze of tractor tire tracks in the dusty dirt we’d cleared. I had about a thousand plans for each nook and cranny of this house. Our architect probably thought I was bonkers, but he’d quit arguing with me and gone along with my plans once Joselyn caught wind of everything and pulled some strings. This ol’ house of ours would be featured in the latestArchitectural Masterpiece Magazineonce it was finished. Guess my guy wanted to be in a magazinebecause suddenly my idea about a living waterfall wall wasn’t so ridiculous after all.

But all that to say, we had to have the wedding outside Gigi’s house instead. And it was beautiful in its simplicity. Gigi walked Colson down the aisle. Mama walked me down the aisle, then sat next to Gigi. Georgia was our flower girl and Gabi and Joey were our attendants. We kept the ceremony simple. We knew what we meant to each other, and while Colson wanted the whole town to see us get married, it really came down to just the two of us when we said our vows and exchanged rings.

I hadn’t cared where we got married, as long as we came away with rings and a piece of paper rectifying my mistake from nineteen years ago. As everyone ate and drank around me at the six-foot tables set up under the giant oak tree, I held up my left hand and let the spots of color dance around as the string lights hit my giant diamond. Colson and I had gotten me a new engagement ring for our new life together, though my old wedding band was also on my finger. I’d also had to get him a new wedding ring because the old one had turned his finger purple. In fact, Joey had to cut the damn thing off at the fire station just two days after I’d proposed.

“No, Pookey. Over here!” Georgia was trying to lead the beer donkey back to the kitchen where Gigi would probably rearrange his flower crown that had gone crooked and reload the saddlebags with more beer. Em would freak out about the donkey being in Gigi’s house, but then Vivi would giggle and kick her legs seeing the animal and Em would forget why she was mad.

“That ring’s not as pretty as you, wife,” Colson came up behind me and slipped his arm around my waist, pulling me into his body. He nuzzled my neck and I let my eyes close, savoring the moment. I was doing that a lot more these days, just enjoyingwhere I’d ended up in life. “Feels nice to be able to call you wife now and you not correct me by puttingexin front of it.”

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