AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Thirty-Two
Mia
He was studying me. I could feel his eyes. We were still sitting at the breakfast table and it had been a fairly normal morning—after he fucked me against the kitchen wall, something I very much enjoyed. Having sex from behind never appealed to me. I wasn’t a prude—I liked a variety of positions—but something about being fucked from behind like a dog had never seemed sexy. Until he did it in that commanding, all-consuming way. I wanted to do it again and again. Which should have scared me and maybe even confused me, but it didn’t.
Sighing, I looked over at him. “What are you staring at?”
He smirked at me, continuing his inspection of whatever it was he saw when he looked at me, before answering. “Did you know you close your eyes every time you take a sip of your coffee?”
I laughed and shook my head. “I do not.”
“You do. It’s cute, it’s like you’re savoring the feeling of the warm liquid sliding down your throat. Either that or you’re some kind of witch who drinks the tears of children every morning and their tears are giving you life.”
I picked up a grape and threw it at him. “You’re so weird,” was the only come back I managed to get out. I took my coffee in my hands, and I could smell the caramel from my creamer as I brought the cup to my lips. I fought as hard as I could to keep my eyes open, not wanting him to be right. But I lost the battle, my eyes closing as I relished in the feeling of the warmth sliding down my throat.
“It’s cute. Don’t try to change it,” he remarked before getting up to put his dishes into the sink.
I got up to help him clean up breakfast. We worked in silence, placing leftover fruit in containers, tossing leftover eggs, and washing the dishes. It wasn’t an awkward silence but a comfortable one, like we’d been doing this every day for years. I smiled at the thought but immediately became sad when I realized that, had he not left me, this could have been our reality.
I pushed the feelings aside—I’d deal with them later. Just like the questions that had been burning in my mind since I woke up. What were we doing? Were we getting back together? Could I have the answers to the questions I’d always wondered? Did I admit the story of what happened between me and Chad?
“Hey, wanderlust,” Terry called to me, bringing me out of my reflection.
Wanderlust. What an odd thing to call me considering he’s always the one jetting off, I thought before turning to regard him.
“Yes?” I said I turned the word ‘wanderlust’ over and over in my mind. No, that definitely wasn’t me. I liked to stay in one place. Vacations were nice and traveling for business was one thing, but I liked to be firmly planted on the ground and in familiar territory as much as possible. A side effect from the abuse I endured—or so my therapist said. Though I felt like I’d always been this way.
“Are you up for some photography lessons today?” The bright way he smiled at me made my whole demeanor transform. I was no longer considering his words, now giddy with the thought of spending the day with him and taking photos. It was something we used to do together so long ago, and I’d always missed it. Even though I’d kept up the tradition alone, something was always missing. It was him. It’d always been him.
“Yeah, let’s do it,” I said enthusiastically. I jumped at the chance to return to our familiar routines. “But, you know, I don’t need lessons anymore. I think I may even have picked up a few tricks of my own.”
He chuckled. “Oh, believe me, I’ve figured that much out.” Something about the way he wiggled his eyebrows told me he wasn’t talking about photography. My cheeks heated and desire pooled in my belly. “Let’s get out of here before we end up doing something else instead.”
I nodded and followed him into the bedroom. “Where did you want to go?”
“I was thinking the beach would be a great place for some shots,” he told me, smiling hopefully. “Besides, I haven’t been to the beach in a long time.”
“Well, then let’s do it.”
I dressed and followed Terry out of the apartment, camera bag on my shoulder. We needed to make a pit stop at his place so he could change and pick up his equipment.
“You’re not going to pack a whole bunch of stuff, right?” I teased him. I knew Terry—he had a ton of camera equipment, and he tended to overpack on our outings.
He shook his head at me. “No, I’m not going to take a bunch of stuff. Same amount of stuff as you. I may just use this time to location scout a bit.”
“Location scout? Like for an upcoming photo shoot? Or are you thinking of doing another book?”
He shrugged. “You just never know.”
I nodded in agreement. It’s true, I didn’t. Just like I never knew where Terry was headed next. Before, when we were both less successful in our careers, he was always here, always around me. But the more he picked up clients and credits for his work, the more he was taken away from me, traveling to all sorts of wonderful places, some of which I had never heard of before. Then he found fashion photography and went off to work in London, effectively ending us. Of course, back then, I didn’t know it would end us. I always thought I should have seen it coming, but I hadn’t.
“Hey, do me a favor?” he said, bumping into me with his shoulder as the cab slowed to a stop in front of his building. “Don’t get all lost in your head today. Just be with me and have some fun.”
“Okay.”
“Promise me.” His brown eyes narrowed on me. I knew he could tell I was just saying ‘okay’ to change the subject. I would do my best, but sometimes my mind wandered and I couldn’t calm it down.
“I promise you,” I told him. And this time, I did mean it. Or, I was going to do my darndest to mean it.
