“What?” Brooke asked. “She just left her husband and two babies?”
“Yep. She went off to start a new life. She had major postpartum depression the weeks following child birth. I thought it was something natural that we needed to work through together. We tried to make it work for months. Me more than her. I did every damn thing I could to help her bond with the children. In the end, she just decided it wasn’t the life she wanted. To this day, it eats me up that our children never experienced the love of their mother. Somehow, we ended up with the same faith. I grew up without my father and they’re growing up without their mother.”
“Kevin, I’m so sorry.”
“Well, that’s karma for you. My kids don’t deserve it but I’m a different story.”
“No. Not karma. No one deserves that.”
I took the last sip of my wine before setting my glass on the balcony.
“She’d been planning it for a while. There were divorce papers for me to sign in the mailbox that morning. She didn’t want to be married and she didn’t want to be a mother, so she left me to do her job for her.”
“Well, you’ve done an incredible job with those kids. They’re great.”
“Were they okay for you today?” I asked.
“They were angels, Kevin.”
“So they were temporarily replaced with alien carbon copies?”
A giggle fell from Brooke’s lips and I suppressed the urge to kiss her.
“I’m over it,” I said. “I never really loved her, though I dedicated myself to trying. But I wish she hadn’t done what she did to the kids. I know they wish they had a mother around.”
“I’m so sorry, Kevin. I really am. I wish there was something else I could do or say to convey how— just—”
I looked down into her beautiful eyes and watched the struggle raging. That was something that had always drawn me to Brooke. She was so empathetic and emotional, and I felt like it permitted me to be the same.
I didn’t always have to be the hardened, calloused businessman when I was with her.
If a wall or two dropped, she didn’t pounce on it.
Our eyes met and I felt the wind wrapping around us, pushing our bodies together as Brooke lost her footing. She tripped into me and I caught her, feeling her hands pressing against my chest. Her curves sank into the spaces of my muscles, cradling her against me as I held her close.
I looked down and held her gaze, watching her as our lips closed the distance.
Fire shot through my veins. My tongue swiped against her lips as I pulled her closer into me. Her legs were dangling beneath her as my arms scooped her up, cloaked her and held onto her as tightly as I had all those years ago. My head tilted to the side and she opened up to me.
I swallowed her moan as my cock pulsed to life.
Her arms wrapped around my neck and she pulled herself upright. I felt her feet plant underneath her as my hands ran down her body, falling into the dip of her waist and sliding down to her hips. Sinking my hands into the rolling curves, I backed her into the balcony.
My knee pressed between her legs and I felt her grinding down on me. The warmth of her pussy radiated against my thigh as her hands ran through my hair.
She tasted like wine and memories and bad decisions. I’d make those decisions right.
Desire and passion and unfulfilled lust. I bet that ignorant ex of hers didn’t fuck her the way I used to. A body like hers, neglected all this time.
That was unacceptable.
And it was something I was going to remedy.
CHAPTER 6
BROOKE
His arms wrapped around me and he picked me up. He set me onto the edge of the balcony as our lips continued to stay connected. His tongue was electric, sending jolts down my spine as his hands ran up my legs.