Page 59 of Until You Found Me

“That’s odd.” Tessa frowns. “I don’t have to do that and I get plenty of attention.”

“Well, sounds like you’re having better luck than I did. Perfect match.”

“I am feeling pretty lucky.”

This conversation is devolving at light speed. Lydia’s eyes flare defiantly at Tessa’s refusal to ignore her underhanded jabs, and he knows she’s about to say something terrible. “I hope that luck extends to more intimate areas of the relationship…for your sake.”

“I came twice last night. Didn’t have to beg for that either. Still feeling lucky.”

He’s having an out-of-body experience. His ex is standing in front of him like a walking nightmare, he’s having flashbacks of some of the worst moments of his life featuring her, and Tessa told Lydia that he made her come twice in the most deadpan and challenging tone he’s ever heard come out of her mouth.

His brain is splintering and later he’ll be angry that he didn’t stand up for himself. He barely spoke, leaving all the talking to Tessa. But now, he’s only grateful she’s here. Beneath the resurrected trauma, there’s a blossom of pride at the shock on Lydia’s face.

Lydia’s mouth opens as if to speak as the two women gazeat each other for a few weighted seconds. Tessa maintains a smug stare until another man arrives, jogging up with two coffees.

“Hey babe, they were out of the caramel ones, so I got you a peppermint.”

“You know I can’t drink the peppermint kind.” Lydia scowls. “They have too much artificial flavoring.”

“Sorry, here, take mine, it’s plain.”

She accepts the cup with a half glare, taking out her irritation on someone who won’t argue back. “We were just leaving. We have wedding planning to get started on. It was good to see you again, Logan. I’m glad you’re doing well.”

She reaches out as if to touch his arm, and he has to restrain the urge to recoil. Tessa shakes her head in his periphery in a warning and Lydia’s hand drops before making contact. She turns away, clinging to her new man and leaving his life again, hopefully for the last time.

“Are you okay?” Tessa asks quietly.

“Yeah. No. Yeah, yeah I’m fine.”

“I shouldn’t have said what I did—”

“It was the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”

Her lips curl up a fraction. “Yeah?”

“Hell yeah. Think I wanna go home now, though. Is that okay?”

“Of course.” She reaches down to take his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

He never expected to see Lydia again and now that he has, his attempts at denying what happened feel more futile than ever.

* **

Logan retreats to the bathroom once they’re home and hates himself for it. Doesn’t want to shut Tessa out but fears facing her, which is ridiculous considering she’s the only one he trusts. No one’s ever stood up for him like she did today. That means she deserves better than his hiding, but guilt for ruining their outing hits him hard. She was happy at the fair until he threw a bucket of ice water on the whole thing, all because he saw his ex again.

His nerves are on fire, he’s anxious and every time he closes his eyes, he sees Lydia smothering him until he wants to crawl out of his own skin. He’s done a decent job of trying to ignore that part of his life. Pretend it was a normal, if troubled, relationship because everyone has problems at some point. Everyone argues. He didn’t have much to compare it to back then and now that he does it’s so much clearer that nothing about his time with Lydia was normal.

He forces himself out of the bathroom and finds Tessa changing, her underwear-covered ass visible as she pulls one of his t-shirts over her head. His eyes fixate on plump cheeks, raking over the curves of her body, and his dick doesn’t twitch once. In an instant, he’s terrified that seeing Lydia again was all it took to break him a second time. His progress so far has been surprising and confusing, forcing him to learn his own body all over again in an attempt to master an entirely different problem. Instead of not staying hard, he comes too fast, but at least it’s been progress.

Now, that could all be for nothing.

He moves closer, coming up behind Tessa to nuzzle at her neck and press his crotch to her ass, hoping to spark himself back into working order.

She hums out a soft sound, reaching back to cup his neck.She pushes against him eagerly, and he dips his hand past her belly button and down, between the fabric and her skin to stroke her.

His cock remains dormant. Not a single surge of arousal.

Panicked, he encourages her around, capturing her lips and nudging her backward to sit on the bed, standing between her legs when she spreads them. She’s the prettiest damn thing in his whole life, ready and waiting and he can’t respond to that at all.

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