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Six
Last January, the ThomKnox parking garage
“Thanks for the help,” Gia said, chasing after Jayson. “Even though I told you I’d carry that.”
“Not happening, G.” Like he’d let her carry a thirty-six-inch screen from the executive floor down to the parking garage. “Why are you in the garage, anyway? You should be parked up front in the space with your name on it.”
She beeped a key fob. “My interior is black leather. It’d soak up the heat from the sun and then when I climbed in I’d suffocate and die.”
“Well, we can’t have that.” The black Mercedes Benz C-Class was a beauty. He should know. He’d picked it out. At the time he hadn’t imagined he’d be leaving it with her because they were divorcing.
Five days from now they’d finalize their split on paper. Officially.
He’d already secured an apartment. Most of what he was taking there was already in storage. He’d moved out gradually, thinking it would hurt less. Turned out there was no way for divorce to hurt less. It hurt. That’s all there was to it.
He slid the large screen, in its factory box, into the trunk and shut it. She went around to the driver’s seat and climbed inside, turning over the engine. The sound echoed in the garage. Not a soul was parked on the third level. Other than a guard and few brown-nosers, Jay guessed the first floor was just as empty.
Gia rolled down the window. “Guess I’ll see you later.”
He locked onto her brown eyes, stuck on what to say about any of it. All of the arguments he wished could have been simple misunderstandings. All of the accusations said in the heat of the moment that he should have taken back.
Too late now.
“I’m sorry,” he said, the words exiting his throat like broken glass. Not because he didn’t mean it. He was sorry, sorry that their marriage was ending in a stalemate.
“Don’t be.” Her smile was forced. “We did our best.”
“Did we?”
She watched him, chewing on her lip. He hadn’t meant to ask, but now that he had...did they do their best? Or were they giving up?
She shut off the engine and stepped out, folding her arms and leaning on the door. Eyes on his, she said, “Yes. We did.”
“I’m not a quitter. Neither are you,” he offered. “This feels like quitting.”
“We can’t change the past, Jay.” She shrugged. “And the future is unknown. Besides, we’re not quitting. We’re deciding to be apart. Our love for this company, and my family, isn’t going anywhere. The only difference in our lives will be that you no longer live in the house.”
He rested a hand on the car’s roof and hovered over her. “I’ll also no longer be in your bed.”
Heat warmed her caramel-colored eyes to deep, chocolate brown. He brushed her soft cheek with the back of his fingers.
“I’ll no longer kiss these lips good-night.” He touched her mouth with his thumb. That would be the hardest transition—for both of them, he’d bet.
“We have a few days,” she whispered, arching her back and brushing her breasts against his chest.
He didn’t need more of an invitation than that. Lowering his face, he captured her lips with his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
Her entire body participated, from her fingernails scratching his scalp to her leg wrapping around his hip. Hand beneath her thigh, he hiked her leg higher and deepened their kiss. His erection raged as a contradicting voice inside yelled for him to both stop and go faster.
“Point of no return,” he breathed into her ear before nipping her earlobe. If they slept together, it’d change everything. He knew it in his bones.
He wasn’t sure if that was wise, or infinitely stupid.
She pulled away, her tongue swiping her bottom lip. When her teeth came down to capture it, he knew her answer.
“One more time,” she answered.
He didn’t think, he only acted.
