Page 64 of Cursing My Cheating Husband

I turned back, hopeful.

“You can sleep inside,” she tossed off.

“Really?” I was practically giddy.

“Don’t get too excited.” She wasn’t looking at me. “On the floor, at the foot of the bed.”

That did nothing to lower my enthusiasm. “Of course. Wherever you want me,” I said, eagerly rushing to my place.

She yawned and gestured at the extra bedding visible on the shelf of the open closet. “No pillows or blankets, though.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” And I wouldn’t.

Curling up on the floor like the dog that I was, I didn’t think I’d ever felt a deeper sense of gratitude. Once, I would have found this humiliating, but now all I could think about was that I got to sleep in the same room with Callie. That only minutes ago, I’d had my mouth on her, bringing her pleasure instead of pain. That she’d let me touch her at all after everything I’d done. It was all so much more than I deserved.

As I drifted off to sleep, I desperately prayed it would not be the last time.

CHAPTER 27

CALLIE

It was a rare sunny afternoon in Nightshade Cove, and I’d left Maddox at the hotel to meet Brie at a gorgeous outdoor cafe. Enchanted vines wove into the trellis above us, the colors of the leaves always shifting, morphing from one stunning painterly image to another. I felt like I was inside a piece of living art.

Brie and I were each struggling to control our laughter as I wrapped up my account of last night’s visit from the idiot militiamen.

“Gods, those boys really are a few ingredients short of a potion,” Brie said.

I nodded in agreement. “You’re telling me.”

“But why did they target you?”

“Oh, it had nothing to do with us. The security office got the full story out of them. It’s just because we were in the last unit before the woods. They thought it would be easiest to escape from there after they’d ‘interrogated’ us.”

“Brilliant strategy,” Brie said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I guess when your entire plan is ‘ask questions and then run into the forest,’ location is everything.”

“The funny thing is, I only requested the furthest room out to make Maddox work harder carrying the bags.”

“And then he had to work even harder, beating two men into submission. That must have been a fun bonus.”

I cleared my throat. “That wasn’t the only fun bonus, actually…”

“Oh?” She lifted her teacup.

“I had him go down on me.”

Brie choked a little on the tea she was sipping.

Before I could continue, a server appeared with our salads. I was impressed to see the greens on the plate were enchanted in sync with the vines above us, the salad’s colors changing in a way that complemented what was happening in the canopy.

As soon as the server was back out of earshot, Brie was all over me. “Oh my gods, tell me everything.”

So I did, unfolding the story of just how overcome I’d become watching Maddox crush two other men in full tactical gear while he was wearing only underwear.

“Yeah, I get that,” Brie said, and was I glad for the affirmation. “I mean, if you ignore his personality, he is a very attractive man.”

“I was worried you’d be disgusted I did anything with him again,” I confessed.

“Oh gods, no. And especially this! You have him providing so many services to you, why not one more?” She gave a mischievous grin.