Page 74 of From This Moment (After We Fall 4)
bsp; “Not really. I just didn’t know what to say to her after it happened.”
“So tragic.”
“So young.”
“So hot. But I heard he had an affair, did you?”
I couldn’t take any more. I paid for my beer, left without finishing it, and drove to Hannah’s. But when I pulled up in front of her house on the darkened street, all I could hear were my mother’s words in the shrill voices of the women at the bar.
I heard his car has been parked in front of her house for hours at night.
I’ve seen them getting ice cream together with her little girl.
I heard they went to his house while it was empty and had sex while the daughter played on the beach.
Ugh, it’s so sleazy.
So wrong.
So tacky.
How could they?
It was enough to make me think twice about knocking on her door. What if my mother was right?
My phone vibrated. My screen showed a text from Hannah. Are you sitting out there because you’re scared to ask me to dance?
I smiled for half a second. Yes.
I told you. I’ll always say yes. And I’m in the mood for dancing.
Her words set my blood simmering. Fuck my mother’s warning, I thought. Fuck those women in the bar, and fuck anyone who thought this was wrong. It had been a long time since I’d punched someone in the face. It would feel pretty damn good.
She was mine now. Mine.
Me too. Be right there.
Fourteen
HANNAH
I bit my lip and backed away from the front window, drawing the curtain closed again. I wasn’t sure where we’d end up—upstairs was out, since I didn’t want to risk waking Abby, but we’d be in plain view on the couch if she heard something and wandered down the stairs. I had every window in the house covered, just in case, and every light off. Not that his car wasn’t in plain sight, but he could just be visiting. A friendly little visit after dark. Nothing to see here, neighbors. Move along.
My heart was pounding as I hurried through the dark to the door. I heard his footsteps on the porch and opened it. The sight of him, still in his work clothes, tie a little loose, hair a little disheveled, made my insides clench.
“Knock, knock, little girl,” he said, stepping across the threshold. His voice sounded deeper and more intense than usual. “Are you all alone?”
Nervous excitement shimmied up my spine, the feeling you get with the click click click of a rollercoaster climbing uphill on the track. “No.”
He pushed the door shut behind him and walked toward me, backing me deeper into the dark hallway, loosening the knot of his tie a little more, then pulling it off. “Then we’ll have to be very, very quiet. Can you do that?”
Given the hunger in his eyes and the don’t fuck with me in his voice, I wasn’t sure I could. And I liked the slow, predatory way he moved toward me in the dark, like a lion that knows his strength far outweighs that of his prey but hopes she might put up a fight anyway. “Maybe.”
“Don’t worry,” he said in his doctor voice, slipping the tie through his fist. “I’ll help you.”
I eyed that tie, my breath coming fast. Drew had never been into games or anything kinky during sex. He’d been a straightforward lover, generous and passionate, and had always made sure I had at least one orgasm. But he didn’t talk during sex, never expressed any interest in toys or other bedroom props, and when I broached the idea of being tied up one time, just to introduce a little play into our routine, he’d said he couldn’t imagine doing that to me and enjoying it. I was his wife; he thought of me a certain way, and it wasn’t as a sexual object. He wanted to take care of me, not mistreat me. I’d been too embarrassed by the reproach to try again.
So when Wes backed me into the tiny hallway bathroom, stripped off my clothes, and turned me to face the mirror, I shivered with anticipation. What would he do to me? The little nightlight by the sink was on, lighting us from below with soft gold light.
