Page 140 of Over Time Advantage

His warm mouth meets my ear. “Spread your legs, angel face. Daddy Jett is coming home.”

I immediately spread them and stick out my ass, nearly orgasming when I feel the hint of his tip at my entrance.

In one hard thrust of his hips, he slides all the way inside me. We both release a series of indecipherable noises at the overwhelming sensation of finally being reunited after so damn long.

He whispers, “I feel like I can breathe again when I’m inside you. When we’re one. I found⁠—”

“I found her,” I hear Tanner’s voice yell out as he opens my bedroom door, letting the highly intrusive sunlight crack through from the hallway.

Nooo. I don’t want to wake up. I need this dream to survive. I’m starting to forget what his hands felt like on my body. I don’t want to forget the feeling of being so beautifully worshiped.

Every night I dream of him. It feels so real. It’s always at the charity event. The night I thought changed my life for the better, but it turns out to have ruined it.

My eyes peel open, and I see my ex-husband standing there, breaking me from my slumber.

Wait, why is Tanner in my bedroom? Am I still dreaming?

I lift my head and croak out, “What’s going on?”

“The school called when they couldn’t get in touch with you. You missed pickup today.”

“But I just dropped her off,” I mumble, feeling very confused.

He looks at me with concern etched all over his handsome face. “That was eight hours ago. Have you been in bed this whole time?”

I’m silent. The past seven weeks have been a blur. It’s like I know life goes on, but I’m just hovering above it, watching everyone move forward when I can’t manage to do the same.

I put on my big girl pants for our team’s victory parade. I put them on again for that first week when Bailey needed help with the babies. But since then, I’ve been doing my best to stay afloat and failing miserably. I’m not sure I have any tears left. I’ve shed enough for two lifetimes.

Jett came by once, shortly after that fateful night. He apologized for scaring Harper. No apology for how he spoke to me or the things he said. No conversation to clarify things. No attempt to reconcile. Just for it all going down in front of my little girl. We’re well and truly over. It’s a pain I didn’t know existed, not even after my divorce.

My friends have been taking turns stopping by, but I send them away. I need to be alone. Hell, I need to get used to being alone again.

I’ve given up some of my custodial nights so Harper can stay with the babies. She was missing them when she was here, and this house is a lot more depressing than Tanner’s. It’s best for her to spend the majority of her time there until I get my shit together. If I get my shit together.

Tanner walks over, pulls down the blanket, and lifts me out of bed like a baby. My head falls lifelessly to his chest. Ohh, I miss Jett’s broad chest. It was my sleeping nook. And it always smelled so good.

Looking toward the door, he says, “Can you draw her a bath?”

I hear Bailey’s voice. “Of course. I’ll stay and help her.”

He sits on the end of my bed with me in his lap and arms. “You’ve got to snap out of this. Harper is freaking out. I know you’re hurting, but you’ve got to move on. She needs her mom. You know I love having her around all the time, but it’s not good for her to be away from her mother so much. It’s not good for you either.”

I look up at him. “What is it about me?” I quietly ask. “What is it about me that neither of you loved me the way I loved you? What’s wrong with me?”

His face softens. “Nothing is wrong with you. I was the one who fucked up our marriage. I was the shitty husband. You were a great wife.”

I shake my head. “I was the one who cheated with David.”

His jaw tightens as it does every time his former best friend is mentioned. “You know I don’t blame you for that.”

“You should. Jett knows I’m a dirty adultering whore. He blames me.”

“Is that why you broke up?” he asks with incredulity. I haven’t given him any details of our breakup.

I shrug. “One of the handful of reasons.”

He sighs. “That’s ridiculous. Does he know all the details?”