AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ten
It’d been a long day.
Gia left her hunchback of Notre Dame posture at the desk in her home office and walked to the sofa to collapse on it.
The square plastic black containers holding the remnants of their Thai dinner were strewn about the coffee table. They’d eaten before and during reviewing the complicated update code but somehow she was hungry again.
She reached for one of the containers and her plastic spoon, slumping back on the couch again. She scooped the tofu green curry on rice and vegetables into her mouth and chewed forlornly.
Jayson joined her, forking a bite of his leftover dinner, Thai Basil Beef, into his mouth. “I don’t feel any closer to figuring it out,” he said between mouthfuls.
“Me neither. I love lemongrass,” she said before her next bite. No sense in talking about their abject failure.
“Someone at work could’ve had some luck.” But they knew better. If any of their team at ThomKnox had found the solution they’d have called Jay immediately. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Hell yes we will.” She set aside her food and straightened her spine. She refused to be felled by one little error. The T13 had been wildly successful and the update would only improve its usage. She wouldn’t—couldn’t—let her team fail. Er, Jay’s team. Their team.
The tech department was as close to having kids as they’d come.
“Don’t despair.” Food container empty, he rested his palm on her knee. Her bare knee thanks to her changing into shorts and a T-shirt. He still wore his pants from work, his sleeves shoved up, his top two buttons open and revealing the bit of dark chest hair she’d always liked. That masculine thatch reminded her that he was capable. And even an independent girl like herself could appreciate his trustworthy side.
Speaking of...
“I owe you for the food. We’ll split it.” She stood from the couch and walked to her purse, resting on a chair in the corner of the room.
“I got it.”
“Jayson. I ate my weight in Thai food tonight.”
“So?”
“So, I can pay for my own dinner.” She dug some cash from her purse.
“ThomKnox is paying for dinner.”
“Well...you picked it up.” She waved the bills.
“No.” He enunciated the word slowly.
“It’s important to have boundaries. And this is a good way to establish them.”
“Boundaries? The sex on Saturday established our boundaries.”
“I thought we weren’t going to bring that up.”
“I thought you would have by now.” He walked to where she stood and bracketed her hips with his hands. Before she could lecture herself about kissing him, he’d leaned temptingly close. “Why don’t you want to have sex with me?”
She did, but damned if she would admit that. She choked on a laugh and said, “I can think of approximately a million reasons.”
But really, there was just one.
Sex with Jayson made her remember being married to him and remembering being married to him made her remember divorcing him and that hurt.
When he lowered his lips to hers each of those million reasons disintegrated into a million pieces. He erased the inch and a half between them and kissed her gently.
She drank in his spicy kiss before she could argue with herself about it. He banded his arms around her waist like he did the last time they were together. When he’d lifted her into his strong arms and held her like she was the only woman on the planet who mattered.
A long time ago, she was the only woman who mattered to him. He had taken his duties as husband seriously. Some days too seriously. He’d ruled this house, or had tried anyway. So many of their arguments came from his inability to be flexible on a decision, or his tendency not to include her in the decision at all, and her own insistence that she could take care of herself without him.
