AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sorry for the way I spoke to you the other day. I was an asshole.”
An unexpected laugh burst from me, pushing my breasts against the hard wall of his chest. “Yes, you were.” I sober as I give him a small nugget of truth and I don’t even know why I do it. “Honestly, Linc, it wasn’t what you called me. It was the way you were after. It made me feel like a cheap whore and no woman wants to feel that way, at least none I know.”
“It won’t happen again. I’m truly sorry.”
“Fine, then we can try married friends with benefits, but don’t mess with Eric’s feelings. That is a hard no for me, and I’ll cut off your balls if you hurt him.”
His face spreads into a smile that makes my legs turn to jello, he’s too handsome for words sometimes. “Deal.”
“Well, I should go. I have an entire day of getting in Mrs. Jenkins’ way ahead of me.”
I pull out of his arms, and he lets me go.
“Shall I pick you up or meet you at the game?”
The fact he’s asking shows me he’s listened and is attempting to be a good person. “We’ll meet you there.”
His expression remains the same, but I see a slight line mar his brow before he hides it with a smile. “I’ll see you later then, wife.”
I shake my head and laugh. “See you later, Linc.”
I’d come here looking for a fight and had gotten something else entirely. It would remain to be seen if that was a good or a bad thing.
19: Linc
“Is he asleep?”I ask as Lottie walks into the kitchen and puts Eric’s medication back in the fridge. I hadn’t known a lot about childhood diabetes, or diabetes in general, until him. But having read up on it extensively in the last few days, I’m now aware more than ever of what Lottie had been facing alone.
“He was exhausted.”
Her small smile is like a feather over my spine, seductive and gentle, making me want to touch her. Instead, I pour us both a glass of the red wine I’ve found she likes and hand her one. As she leans her hip against the counter, I watch her throat move as she swallows admiring the delicate arch of her neck.
“I’m not surprised. He worked his butt off tonight.”
“Eric is small for his age so he works twice as hard to make up for it.”
“He’s a great kid. You should be proud.”
“I’m incredibly proud of him.”
“As you should be, but I meant you, Lottie.”
Her head tilts and she looks at me with such confusion, that I can’t control the impulse to pull her into my arms. The wine sloshes against the glass as she places it on the island, and I know she must be able to feel my dick pressing into her hip.
All week I’ve been filled with guilt and shame for the way I behaved at the club. I might be that person with other women, but never with Lottie. Yes, I’m controlling and possessive and I like sex a certain way but being cruel to her had left me cold. Too many memories and too much history between us eradicated my ability to switch off my feelings for her.
So, in the early hours of Sunday morning when I’d been holding her stiff body in my arms as she feigned sleep, I’d come up with a plan. I’d rekindle our friendship. She’d fallen in love with me once when we started as friends and perhaps she could do so again.
Getting to know Eric had been a separate decision, despite what she’d thought. I saw a boy who craved a male influence, and I wanted to be the one to give him that, a positive one, not the one I’d had from my father. Eric was a good kid, funny and smart, and he didn’t deserve the hand he’d been dealt. Losing his mother and his own diagnosis must have been incredibly hard, but he had Lottie and that also made him lucky.
“Me?”
“Yes, you should be proud of yourself. I don’t know how you coped as long as you did. You’re amazing.”
She snorts, placing her hands on my chest to try and put some space between us, but I only tighten my hold on her. “Stop buttering me up, Linc. I’m a sure thing, remember? We have a contract.”
Her words irritate me. I hadn’t been thinking of the contract or softening her up when I spoke, I’d just been thinking about her. “Still awful at taking a compliment, I see.”
The blush starts on her cheeks and spreads over her neck when she realizes I mean every word.
