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“Hey, Jude,” he said, then he laughed at his own indirect Beatle's reference. It was a joke we'd laughed about more times than I can count. “How's married life treatin' ya, buddy?”
“That's what I'm calling to chat about, actually,” he said.
“Uh oh. Doesn't sound like a good thing,” he said. “What's up?”
I told him everything Ember had told me, not mincing words in the slightest, but added a caveat, “Of course, I hardly know Ember either, but I trust her,” I said. “Why would she lie?”
“I don't know, man,” he replied. “Maybe a personal grudge against her mother?”
I shrugged, relaxing back into the oversized, leather office chair, and spun it around until I could see out the window. Ember was still lounging in the chair by the pool, maybe she was napping. The sun glistened off her slick body, and I remembered how much I'd wanted to help her apply that sunscreen, to touch that perfectly pale skin and feel the softness of her body beneath my hands.
“Earth to Jude,” Dominic said.
“Sorry, I'm a bit distracted,” I said, turning away from the window. “I don't know what to think, Dom. Any ideas?”
“Well, if it's true, you can seek an annulment,” he said. “No problem there. Question is, do you really want to end things this quickly?”
I sighed and closed my eyes. My head was throbbing. “I don't know. I think I rushed into things too fast as it was,” I said. “Maybe, I should have taken some time to think before jumping into marriage with a woman I hardly know.”
“Yeah, well, don't say we didn't warn you,” he said with a rueful chuckle.
“I know,” I groaned. “Don't remind me.”
My business partners, the men in my wedding, had all warned me that I was jumping into a marriage far too fast. They argued that I hardly knew Lydia and that I should take a little time before making a decision like that. Problem was, I'd long since given up on finding a soulmate. Long given up on finding “the one.” I didn't believe in that crap anyway, and I thought finding someone “good enough” would be enough for me.
I was beginning to have my doubts, now.
“Talk to Lydia” he said. “Lay it all out on the table, listen to what she has to say, and if you still want the annulment, we'll make it happen.”
“Thanks, Dom,” I said. “I guess I have some thinking to do.”
I hung up the phone and rested my head in my hands. Footsteps startled me, and I sat up, wondering if it might be Lydia. The footsteps moved down the hall, stopping at the door next to my office – Ember's room. Knowing it wasn't Lydia though, I let out a sigh of relief. I wasn't ready to deal with her right now, there was too much on my mind. Too much I needed to sort through, and decisions I needed to make.
I swiveled in my office chair, rubbing my temples, wishing the headache would subside, even just a bit, so I could think clearly. A sound from the next room caught my attention though, and I heard Ember walking around the creaky wood floors. Probably changing from her swimsuit into some real clothes. A moment later, the shower came on, and the sound of water running was almost relaxing.
I leaned back in my seat, closed my eyes and focused on the sounds from the bathroom that sat between my office and her bedroom. We even shared a door, it was my bathroom when I couldn't be bothered to run down to the master suite. But, since she'd been staying there, it was all hers now.
A low groaning noise coming from the shower perked my ears right up. Sitting up straight, I tried to figure out the source of the sound. I strained my ears and listened – and there it was again. A groan. A woman's groan.
Ember's groans.
Jesus Christ, I thought, swallowing hard as it became clear what she was doing in the shower, oblivious that I was in my office, and as clueless as I was about how thin our walls were. No one had ever stayed in that room before. It usually stood empty, so it never occurred to me that I'd be able to hear sounds coming from there.
Especially not sounds like that.
“Yes, yes,” Ember moaned.
My cock tightened in my shorts as I listened to her pleasuring herself beneath the spray of water. I stood up and rushed for the door to leave my office but stopped. If she heard the door to my office opening and closing, would she know I overheard her in the shower? Would that make things even more awkward for her?
She cried out, “Yes, Jude!” and I froze, feeling the blood in my veins turn to icy slush.
No, that couldn't be right. I had to have misunderstood. I tried to quietly turn the door to leave, when she cried out again.
“Don't stop, Jude...Oh God, yes,” she whimpered.
“Fuck.”
I gritted my teeth and pressed my body against the wall next to the door. Everything in me told me to leave. To pretend like that had never happened. That I hadn't heard a goddamn thing. I couldn't just sit there and listen to that. I just couldn't.
