Page 61 of Secrets That Bind Us
“Can we…” She hesitates, and I hate when she does that, like she has to choose her words very carefully in order not to piss me off.Thatpisses me off. She bites that gorgeous, plump bottom lip of hers, the one I’m dying to nibble on myself, eyes still roaming over my body, widening as she realizes what my tattoos are – the cover art for every single one of her books that Zoey intricately placed on me, weaving each one methodically so they intertwine.
It’s either extremely pathetic, or a sweet gesture – but there was never a book she wrote where she and I didn’t have a happily ever after. And some of those sexy scenes? Yeah, Ilivedthem. I flex a bit, proud to say I inspired them.
“Out with it, woman, before I get melanoma standing out here.”
“Can I make you dinner?” She blurts, honey brown eyes finally finding mine again.
Like a Cheshire cat, I grin, ear to ear. “I’m not so sure, I’m a busy man. I got kids, you know.”
“Dean.” She scowls at me, but then her lips lift at the corners playfully. “Kids, huh?”
I down the rest of my water, hand her the plastic bottle after I squish it, and place the cap back on. “Yeah. Kids. Plural.”
She crosses her arms under her chest, pushing them up, and brings a finger up to her chin, tapping on it. “Hmmm… I don’t know if I could date a man with kids,plural.” She shrugs and turns around, but I grab her by the elbow and whirl her back to me.
I inhale that rich scent of strawberries and sunflowers, let it fill my lungs. I cup her elbow, play with a lock of her hair, then rub my thumb over her cheekbone. She inhales sharply, and her eyes dilate just a bit. There you go baby, come back to me. “I’d love it if you made me dinner, Verity. You could serve me cat food, and I’d be happy just to sit beside you.”
She narrows her eyes. “But you wouldn’t eat the cat food?”
I bark out a laugh and tuck the wayward strands of hair behind her ear. “Just tell me when, baby. I’ll be there.”
“Zoey’s taking them for a sleepover tomorrow night since they don’t have school on Monday and they’re feeling loads better – thanks to you taking care of all of us. Thank you, by the way. It… it meant a lot to me.”
I shrug it off because she doesn’t have to thank me. “Happy to do it.” I jerk my chin to the house. “So… you’re gonna stay all alone in that big house all by yourself, huh?”
There’s a gleam in that caramel gaze that shoots another thrill down to my cock. She turns around to head back to the house, but looks over her shoulder at me, “Not if you play your cards right…Sheriff.” She winks.
Can a man swoon?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Verity
Age Twenty-Nine
I enter Micah's office to see him on a phone call, the expensive desktop on the glass, L-shaped desk. The monitor is on, the trajectory of the gallery's quarterly gross dipped even more. He tries to click out of it before I can see it, but it's too late. Besides, I have a copy at home. I go to the window to peer down at the street because I can't stand to look out the other window of his office that shows the gallery below us.
There’s a manilla folder tucked under my arm.
God. How did we get here? Sure. Our marriage wasn't perfect. But we had goods and bads… Unfortunately, it's been more bad than good lately. I get it, we started out rough. I meanreallyrough. I was a single mom, but he was there. And then, when I got pregnant with Noah, he stepped up even more, invading almost every facet of my life. He was there...
Hmm. Maybe that's exactly how we got here.
He was just...there.
Micah had a way of being able to talk me either into something (like this godforsaken gallery) or out of something (like going home to visit Mama).
It still doesn't make sense that he found out I was possibly pregnant with someone else's child while we were broken up, and still, he wanted this. Wanted me. There were times when he reminded me so much of Dean, but in the end... he's still Micah.
But now that I look around, now that if I turn around and see the ‘art’ displayed in his gallery, it all makes sense.
The money flowed through and through andthrough,and he was there and there andthere.
Two small town kids living large in the big city.
It took me a while to realize what my therapist, Doctor Damon Archer, was trying to tell me– Micah’s art didn't take him where he wanted, and so he latched onto my success. Spending like there was no tomorrow. Except now he doesn't spend my money on me or the kids anymore... Albeit it'smymoney and they'remykids, but when did it go sour? When did it become...this?
Why did it take me so long to see it?
