Page 90 of Cursing My Cheating Husband

A peace I hadn’t felt in so long washed over me. “I feel safe.” I leaned closer to him, my body relaxing into the certainty of what he’d done.

His hands came up to cup my face, and then he kissed me.

When his lips met mine, the whole complicated mess of our past fell away. None of it mattered. All that mattered was his mouth on mine, his hands in my hair, and the taste of him I’d been trying so hard to forget.

We kissed each other with months and years of pent-up longing. Every doubt, every wall I’d built, every time I’d told myself how much better off I was without him… all of it washed away.

This was what I’d been missing. Not just the physical presence of him, but this feeling that comes from trusting someone with your whole heart. The feeling of being completely known and loved anyway.

I’d thought I could never have that with Maddox again. I’d been so sure he’d broken something that couldn’t be fixed.

But here we were.

His hands pulled me into his lap, and I went willingly, straddling him as the kiss deepened. My fingers gripped his shoulders, his shirt, anywhere I could reach. His palms slid up my spine, into my hair, across my skin, as if he couldn’t touch enough of me at once.

“I love you so much,” he breathed against my neck. His arms wrapped around me, holding me tight like he was afraid I might disappear.

“You really did this. For me.”

“It wasn’t a hard decision. I’d do anything for you.”

We stayed like that for a long moment, just holding each other.

Finally, I pulled back just enough to look at him. “We need to talk about this. About us.”

“I know.” He brushed a strand of hair from my face, his touch gentle. “What do you need from me?”

“I need to know you’re not expecting things to go back to the way they were.”

“Absolutely not. The only thing I need from our old life is you.”

“We had a lot of romance when we were newlyweds,” I said. “But even then, it was never really right.”

“I know. I want to build something new with you. I’m dying to move to Nightshade Cove.”

I pulled back slightly to look him in the eye. “I’m not just talking about where we live. Do you understand how much I’ve changed too? I made myself small in our marriage because I thought that was the right way to make you feel big. I will not do that anymore.”

“And I don’t want you to. I never want the smallest version of you,” he said with surprising fierceness. “I want all of you.”

“Well, that’s good.” I paused to savor the moment. “Because you’re going to get it.”

I magically retracted the vines and swung the doors open. Grabbing Maddox’s hand, I quickly led us out into the hall, up the grand staircase, and toward my bedroom.

The sex was everything it had been at the beginning, so hot and intense I could forget who I was. I’d had some of that this summer with other men, too. But this was different. This was Maddox touching me like I was precious and fucking me like he’d die if he couldn’t have me, and somehow those two things didn’t contradict each other anymore.

Thank gods this house was so immense I practically had my own wing.

Afterwards, we stayed in bed, wrapped around each other. I was surprised to notice that the sun was setting. Damn, we really had lost track of time. It hadn’t even been lunchtime when I found him in the conservatory.

Maddox broke the silence. “So there is one thing from our old relationship I’d like to bring back, if you’re into it… bad rom-com night.”

My face brightened. “I would love to bring back bad movie night!”

“Oh, I don’t need a bad movie night. I don’t need to do the rotation with my action movies anymore. I’d like to watch only rom-coms for a while.”

I playfully widened my eyes. “And here I thought choosing a permanent dick curse was a shocking development.”

“What can I say?” He smiled. “I’m vibing more with love stories lately.”