Page 72 of King
Chapter 22
King/Dante
By the time Wednesday evening rolled around, I couldn’t wait to spend time alone with Ella.
We had taken her kids out for dinner on Monday evening, and then I’d been invited, along with Pop, for Ella’s famous lasagna last night. It was even more delicious than I’d heard, and I ended up eating two huge helpings, plus half my body weight in the homemade garlic bread she’d baked. It was worth the extra workout I’d added to my schedule today at lunchtime, though.
I had enjoyed the hell out of spending time with her kids and getting to know them a little better, but aside from a few stolen kisses here and there, I hadn’t had her in my arms since Sunday afternoon.
I timed my arrival at her house so that I would be there before Clayton picked the kids up for his overnight visit. I wanted to be there in case he tried to start any shit again, but he didn’t even try to get out of his G-Wagon this time.
Ella walked the kids out, and I followed just to make sure my presence was noted. I caught him eyeballing Ella through the windshield, and briefly debated dragging him out of the vehicle and beating his ass for eye-fucking my woman.
As I had requested, she was wearing the same outfit she’d worn to the anniversary party. It looked sexy as fuck on her, and I just knew that fucking dickweasel was remembering how she looked under those clothes. I actually had to force myself to unclench my fists as Mia surprised me with a quick hug goodbye before giving another, longer hug to her mother.
Neither kids said a word to their dad as they got into the SUV, and he was too busy staring at Ella’s tits to acknowledge them either. I deliberately slung my arm over her shoulder and pulled her close as they closed the car doors and buckled themselves in. I knew the sight of my hand dangerously close to her killer rack would irritate the hell out of her ex. Judging by the glare he shot my way, I was right. The satisfied grin I shot back at him didn’t help, although I enjoyed the hell out of it.
As we entered the high-end steakhouse a little while later, I was surprised at how comfortable I felt. I hadn’t been on a formal date – lunch with Ella at the diner didn’t really count – in well over twenty years. I had a vague recollection of taking Christy out for a fancy anniversary dinner, a last-ditch effort at getting our marriage back on track for the boys’ sake.
It hadn’t worked, and a couple of months later I had the first inkling that she was sleeping around. By then, I couldn’t work up the energy to give a shit, even though it was a blow to my pride.
The next few years had been filled with misery and celibacy – on my part anyway. I couldn’t bring myself to touch her and made do with my hand when the need arose. Luckily, I was too busy working my ass off to get The Inferno up and running, plus taking care of the boys to have much time to think about sex.
Now, as I sat across from Ella and watched the candlelight flicker across her face, I felt like we had done this a thousand times, but at the same time it was all brand new. I wasn’t sure how to explain it, and knew I’d feel like a pussy if I even tried. It just felt…right, and I knew in my heart that it was.
I listened intently as Ella talked about her day, part of which she’d had to spend at the office. She told me about discovering her talent for graphic design back in college, and how she’d had to fight with Clayton to continue working even part-time after he’d become successful at the new practice. He had wanted her to become one of those Stepford wives who spent their days sipping mimosas at brunch and playing tennis at the club. It was a status thing among his crowd, apparently, but she hadn’t wanted any part of it.
I loved her independence and wanted to learn everything about her. I found myself sharing things about my life that I rarely talked about with anyone – like how fucking mad I’d been at my dad when Ace had come into our lives when I was a teenager. I’d learned the truth then about his early infidelities and discovered that he and my mom had actually separated for over a year when I’d been a baby.
Ella discreetly wiped away a tear as I told her how disillusioned I’d been with my dad, who preached loyalty to family and to the club, yet had fucked around on my mom early on. I’d felt like he was a damned hypocrite, and I’d told him so. That was the first time I’d ever seen him cry. The other two times were when my mom, and then later BeBe, had died.
My relationship with Sinner healed, thanks to my Mom, who sat me down and gave me some hard truths. Number one was that the details of her relationship with my dad back then really weren’t any of my damned business. What mattered was that they had worked things out and were happy now.Number two was that people make mistakes, but good people realize when they’ve fucked up and they make changes. Dad had changed, and Mom had eventually forgiven him. Number three was that if she could forgive him, then I sure as hell could – and would – or she would kick my ass.
The only thing we didn’t really touch on was the MC. I knew she was still leery about the club, but if there was any hope for a real future with her, I needed to know she could deal with club life. I was afraid of overwhelming her, so I decided to ease her into things.
“How would you feel about hanging out with me at the clubhouse tomorrow evening?” Ella paused with the last bite of her cheesecake on her fork, then nodded her agreement.
“I’d like that,” she said, and I got the feeling she actually meant it.
“Great. I’ll pick you up on my bike at six, and we can grab a bite to eat before heading over there.” I knew that on a Thursday, the odds were it would be relatively tame around there, and I’d do my fucking best to make sure that was the case.
By unspoken agreement, we headed back to Ella’s house when we finished at the restaurant. I debated taking her to my place, but it didn’t feel right. Although it had been nearly a lifetime ago, once upon a time I’d shared that house with Christy, and I didn’t want that to taint even a second of my time with Ella.
I pulled my truck to a stop in front of her garage, then reminded Ella to wait while I opened her door. She’d been shocked when I did it at the restaurant, and truthfully, I’d been a little surprised myself. I guessed the manners Sinner and Mom tried to instill in me as a kid were still buried deep down someplace, and they’d come out in full force tonight.
I helped her out of the truck, then reached into the backseat to grab my duffle bag. Ella glanced at it, then looked at me questioningly. I realized I probably should have asked, rather than assumed, but that wasn’t really the way I did things, so fuck it.
“I’m hoping you’ll let me stay with you tonight, so I brought a change of clothes for tomorrow.”
Ella smiled then and raised herself up on her tip toes to give me a kiss on my cheek.
“I would love to have you stay with me tonight,” she said softly, then took my hand and led me inside.
As much as I wanted to take her to bed and fuck her until we were exhausted, I reminded myself that I wanted even more than that from her in the long run. So, we spent a couple of hours curled up on the couch together watching a movie, or rather, Ella watched the movie, and I watched her. It was some kind of rom-com shit, and I didn’t pay much attention to it other than to make a few mental notes about how to win over your woman when you fuck up. If the movie could be believed, grand gestures and dramatic speeches in the middle of the town square were the key to forgiveness. I had my doubts whether that actually worked in real life, but I supposed if it ever came down to it, I might be willing to try.
By the time the movie was winding down, our hands had started wandering. I had inched my way underneath the hem of her dress and was drawing lazy circles on her thigh with my fingers. She had been playing with the buttons on my dress shirt, slipping her fingers between them to brush my skin, before finally unbuttoning it completely.
My dick had been at half-mast for hours and was quickly coming to stand at full attention. The minute the ending creditsstarted rolling, I grabbed the remote control and turned off the TV.
