AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, notice how the light here won’t turn on anymore?”
“So what, it worked to open when we got home and then just died?”
“I think so. But a new one’s only a couple hundred dollars, and I can put it in for you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I tell him.
“Do you want to back your car into the driveway and I’ll manually close the door?”
“Sure.”
Grabbing my keys, I back my car out, and then he closes the door, his arms flexing as he maneuvers it down, and then he latches it locked before we head inside.
“Do you want a glass?” I offer him, as I top mine off.
“Sure.”
“Thanks for trying to fix the garage door.”
“I don’t mind at all,” he steps in front of me, and I swallow, the closeness of his body to mine has my heart racing, and I have to stop it. “Wanna see the painting?” I ask.
“Absolutely.”
We head into my studio and on the easel is the new painting. Thane’s eyes are drawn to it right away, and he keeps walking closer and closer until finally, he sits down on the stool I spent the day on creating it as I let all of my pain out while I painted. His glass of wine hangs in his hand, dangling over the wood floor and he’s lost in the colors, the same way I felt painting it—so lost.
“Did you do all this today?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t stop once I started.”
“God, it’s beautiful, Faye.”
He touches the canvas, feeling the dry paint beneath his large fingertips, and I stand behind him, breathing him in. Closing my eyes, I let myself relish this moment. I’m not sure why when I’m around Thane, he makes me feel so turned on, but he really does.
“Are you going to sell it?” he asks me, pulling me back to reality.
“Maybe, what do you see when you look at it?”
“I think it’s the most breathtakingly painful and beautiful painting I’ve ever seen.”
Studying the mixture of paints and how they bleed together, painting a vision of what one could describe as heaven and someone else might see as hell, I lose my breath, and suddenly Thane has me in his arms. I cling to him as if he is the answer to my problems. Leaning into his touch as he cups my face, I can feel Ben urging me for some strange reason, telling me that it’s okay. But I don’t feel like this is okay, not at all.
Thane holds me, not giving me an inch of wiggle room, and his breath is heady against my lips. Then slowly he brings his lips to mine and our mouths mold together. A blazing connection ignites, so hot my soul burns. He’s tender kissing me, gentle like he doesn’t want to hurt me, and the gesture reminds me of how much pain I’ve been through. How hurt I still am. I pull away from him and second-guess everything. That connection to Ben is suddenly gone, Ben is not here, and Ben would not be okay with this. This is another man and what I am doing is betraying my husband.
“I’m sorry, I can’t, I’m not ready,” I tell him. The expression across his face is wounded. I’ve hurt him, and it’s the last thing I wanted to do. But…I’m just not ready.
“It’s okay; I shouldn’t have done that without asking you first. I…I don’t know why I did it. I lost control of my actions. I’m very sorry.”
“You should go,” I tell him, tears burning the back of my eyes and he nods setting his glass down on the table by the door. Before walking away from me, he kisses the top of my hair, and the simple gesture makes everything that much worse. With my back against the wall, I slide to the floor, hugging my knees, disgust running through my veins. What have I done? What am I thinking?
Looking at my empty glass, I want to blame it on the liquor, but I know that two glasses of wine are not what caused me to give in to him. I did this on my own and can only be mad at myself, not Thane. I asked him to fix my garage door when I could’ve called a company or asked my neighbor to take a look at it. But I didn’t. For some reason, I let myself get lost in the connection we have. That pull towards Ben made feel like he was giving me his blessing when really it was all in my mind. Because he’s fucking dead—gone—never coming back to me. There is nothing or no one that is going to bring him back no matter what.
