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“You’re calling me babe,” I grumble and my frustration shines through and I can tell that bothers him because those soft eyes cloud and the small lines around them tighten.
Yes, I’m staring at him that close.
“Can’t really call you wife now, Faith,” he points out.
His words are spoken plain and simple. There’s no vehemence behind them, no attitude given to indicate he meant to serve a blow—but he did. The words hit me and when they hit… they hurt.
They shouldn’t have, but they did. Still, that isn’t his problem and after his last visit I swore to myself I’d stop reacting to Titan emotionally. There is a child involved, a child he obviously wants to play some sort of role with. I grew up with a parent who didn’t want a role in my life, and felt like she was forced to do that. It’s crazy—especially since she had three kids, but it was true. She didn’t want us. We felt that every single day.
Every. Single. Day.
I don’t want my child to know that feeling. I never wanted them to. So I swallow down my pride, paste a smile on my face and shrug away the hurt.
“Got it,” I say, and maybe my voice is a little tight, but I ignore that and avoid Titan’s eyes.
“Does the fan work now?” Ida Sue asks. I hadn’t realized she was gone, but she’s walking back to us holding a glass. “Here you go, some of my sweet tea to quench that thirst you raised,” she adds.
Titan is still looking at me. His gaze is locked on me, and I don’t know what he’s thinking. He looks thoughtful and his face is almost soft and for some reason I wish I could read his mind; I wish I did know.
“Thanks,” he mutters, taking the glass from Ida Sue. He takes a few steps away from us, putting some of the tools he used to work with down on the table.
“Oh, it works perfectly! C.T., you’re magnificent! Isn’t he magnificent, Faith?” she asks.
I should have, but I didn’t. I was hot, I was mourning the fact—however stupid it was—that Titan no longer called me “wife,” and therefore the initials Ida Sue used floated right past me. Instead I am caught up in the view, because Titan tilts his head back, perspiration still gleaming on his dark skin, and drinks the tea. And when I say that, I mean he tilts the glass up and while he drinks, I watch the way his throat moved, his Adam’s apple teasing as it shifts. Jesus, how a man can be that sexy drinking out of a glass with pink flowers on it is beyond me—but it is true.
“Quite the show, isn’t it, Blossom?” Ida Sue asks softly in my ear, repeating her earlier question, and it may be a different show, but the star of it is the same and she’s not wrong.
“Damn it, Lovey! Why is it a million degrees in here?” Jansen asks, coming in from the back door, and yanking me out of my Titan haze—mostly.
“Our AC broke down,” she says, not tearing her eyes away from Titan—not that I blame her. It takes work for me to do it, but I do my best to focus on Jansen. “Titan was nice enough to install a ceiling fan for me. It should cool down soon,” she says—again keeping her eyes glued on all that is my ex-husband.
Jansen stalks over to us. He takes one look at a shirtless Titan, one look at a spellbound Ida Sue, and his face goes tight.
“Son of a bitch,” he growls under his breath and then he literally stomps from the room. I stand there, watching him go—not really understanding. Until a minute later.
“Ida Sue, why the fuck do you have the heat set on ninety-two?” Jansen growls from the hall.
I watch as my aunt is pulled from her Titan-lust-filled haze and annoyance moves over her face.
“That damn man is too smart,” she grumbles under her breath, but I still hear it and I can’t stop the laugh that bubbles out. Ida Sue goes to the hallway for what I can only imagine is damage control.
Titan is standing to the side and with the shocked look on his face, I laugh harder.
“I got played,” he grumbles.
And I laugh even harder.
“Damn it,” he growls.
And I laugh so hard, I feel tears seeping from my eyes.
thirty-nine
titan
“I don’t think Jansen is your biggest fan,” Faith laughs. We’re out on the porch, because even with the air conditioning going full blast in that damn house, it’s too hot to breathe. Everyone grabbed their own box of pizza and retreated wherever. I saw Jansen drag crazy Ida out toward the barn. Wouldn’t have been my first choice, but they didn’t take a pizza box so I figured they weren’t really eating.
