He smirks and rubs his chin. “You see Reese around? I thought she’d be around more than she has been.”
I roll my eyes and stroke my chin. “No, you’d know a helluva lot more about her than I would.”
He chuckles. “Conleigh, love dove. You going to come to my show this weekend?”
“If I’m working,” she answers over her shoulder as she puts a new filter in the coffee maker.
“I don’t think I can perform if you aren’t there to watch,” he attempts lamely to flirt.
“Get out of here.” I shove him toward the living room as he gets up from the table with the rest of Conleigh’s wine in tow.
“What time do you want to leave in the morning?”
Her shoulders sag and she turns to face me after pressing the brew button. “I guess around eight or nine unless you have somewhere to be. I can ask Bailey or get an Uber or cab.” At the mention of Bailey, I remember our conversation. Her telling me to fight for Conleigh but I don’t know if I have it in me. Reese being here has reminded me all too much of what happens when I let anyone in.
“I have an appointment at ten.” I don’t know why I don’t explain that it’s a meeting with a divorce attorney. I don’t know why I never told Conleigh about Reese. It just never seemed important until now.
Does she know? Do I care? Yeah, I care a helluva a fucking lot. More than I want to. More than I should.
“Pull up your socks,” I tell her.
Her lips twitch into a semblance of a smile as she stares at me.
“Why don’t you pull them up?” She challenges and my dick jumps.
“Don’t tempt me,” I warn.
“Are you chicken?”
I take a step toward her as her elbows rest calmly on the counter. “Don’t fuck with me,” I whisper, my eyes traveling down her thighs and down to those socks that are now hugging her ankles.
In a breathy whisper, she teases, “I plan on doing more than fucking you.” She smirks being brazen.
Just as I am about to go down on my knees Ezra calls from the dining room, “Con, will you bring me a cup of coffee?”
“I got it,” I tell her as I reach around her, pressing my hardening cock into her stomach to get a mug from the cabinet.
Her chest shudders as I brush against her and whisper in her ear, “This is far from finished.”
She bites her lip and nods.
“Maybe you had better bring it to him after all,” I tell her, adjusting my dick in my pants, wishing I could bend her over the counter right now, Ezra be damned.
By the time my hard on fades, Conleigh is seated in the living room watching trashy reality TV with fucking Wren and laughing. Ezra has his work spread across the dining room table and is concentrating on his task. I find myself going into my shop downstairs. The butterflies I made for Conleigh stare at me, taunting me to go back upstairs, drag her to my room and fuck her brains out until she truly submits to me. I don’t do that though because deep down I know I don’t want to hurt Ezra even though the bastard deserves to have her taken away from him. I see the way he still looks at her. He still loves her.
I take my frustration out in the form of working. I start working on an order I received online to make a rocking chair. I mostly make signs and take on custom jobs when they come in or generally whatever inspires me. Grabbing my measuring tape and pencil, I take out my pattern and start gathering the wood I will need.
An hour or two later I step outside in the chill of the night to cool down and take a break. Reese is walking down the street with her arms wrapped around her center, shivering. I pretend I don’t see her, but she comes straight to me. “I went to the bar, you weren’t there.”
“Nope,” I answer shortly. Why is she here? I look over at her as she leans against the building next to me. She’s about five years too late. Sure, she’s as beautiful as she ever was. Blonde hair, big blue eyes, huge tits, and a tiny waist. Years ago, she was my world. I thought she would be the mother of my children. I was so young and naïve. It wasn’t just her looks though that drew me in, back then she was so innocent and sweet or so I had thought. I guess I never knew the real her.
Now when I look at her, I don’t feel anything but pity. She’s pathetic. Her and Wren are so alike it’s almost funny. When she left me, she told me she chose the wrong brother and now here she is begging me to take her back. She ruined my life, or at least that is what I thought at the time, but in reality, she did me a favor. Thank God we never had any kids because we would have ended up where we are now, but a child would be the one hurting. We never would have worked long-term. I can see that now. She’s one of those people who will always be searching for the next best thing and sadly for her she let me go. And now that she knows no one will ever be as good to her as I was, she’s back. Thinking we can just go back to how things were before she took off. I’m not wired that way.
“Can we talk?”
“Nothing to talk about. Me and you got nothing in common other than Wren.”
“Holden…” she grabs my arm. “I’m still your wife.”