“Eddie,” I said.
“For now, you’re still my wife. And I’m going to keep my promise.”
In one fluid motion, he lifted me in his arms and carried me across the threshold. He didn’t stop in the living room. I only got a passing glance, but the furniture was different, though the placement oddly familiar.
He crawled onto the bed, me still in his arms. When he laid me down, I felt cherished in a way that started to break my heart. Slowly and with my help, he disrobed me. Then, he got off the bed and I noticed fabric from my underwear protruding from his pocket. That put a five-alarm fire on my face. Had our rescuers noticed and guessed at how we passed the time?
His pants dropped, his cock leaping to attention. Damn him and his lack of boxers. My mouth watered, wanting to take him all the way to the back of my throat and hum.
“Stop looking at me like that.” His grin was teasing as he got back on the bed and covered one nipple with his hot mouth.
Things went slowly after that. He took his time with every inch of my body. I answered with a growl, rolling him onto his back and putting my mouth where it had wanted to be as soon as he’d stripped naked.
I gave him the best damn head of his life and swallowed his pleasure like it was the last time.
If I’d thought that would be it, I was wrong. Sometime later, he nudged my thighs open and slipped inside of me. His strokes were long and leisure, like we had all night. He used his tongue and fingers to bring me close and backed off. I was practically begging to come when he finally brought me there with a satisfied smirk. The jerk.
Though he wasn’t a jerk. Anything but. He was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. But once again, poor timing wouldn’t allow that to happen.
“We can make this work, Jilly. I don’t want to let you go.”
Though he’d said all the right things, my heart didn’t forget the last time he’d said and done the right things only to retract them in the morning. We’d both been drinking then and now. He would realize this in the morning.
Only this time, I wouldn’t be there for him to break my heart by agreeing with me. I slipped away in the cover of darkness, or so I thought. The blackout shades were good. It was morning. I hadn’t brought a lot, but I showered in tepid water and changed under the light of day.
After a long wait, I got into the only working elevator with a crowd of people speculating on what happened and when full power would be restored.
My phone still had some charge and I took an Uber to the airport, which had power. After trying several airlines, I managed to wrangle an overpriced ticket on a bargain airline leaving in a few hours. I’d figure out how to pay for it later. I convinced myself it was an emergency. Flying back with Eddie was a big fat no. He would talk me into a dream that would only turn into a public relations nightmare for him if I didn’t stick to my guns.
While I waited for my plane, I contacted a lawyer and told her my story. After sending her a retainer online and the annulment document I’d had, she assured me she’d file a complaint, seeking an annulment on the grounds we’d done it years ago.
When I got back to my apartment, I considered my financial future. I had no job and no prospects of one. I started my job search, hoping I wouldn’t have to hit up my sister for a loan.
Eddie called several times, but I’d let it go to voicemail. Like the chicken shit I was, I didn’t answer. He hadn’t come over either.
There were still no words as to what happened in Vegas. Whatever it was, it hadn’t been localized to our hotel but the entire city. Words like rolling blackouts or even terrorism had been tossed around. I, on the other hand, hadn’t cared much. We’d survived, though my heart hadn’t.
I wasn’t at all surprised when my sister Chris showed up a couple of days later.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “Mom is worried.”
Mom was always worried, and the last thing she needed was my problems added to her own. Though I would call her when I was mentally ready.
In reply to my sister, I squirted Cheez Whiz onto a saltine cracker and shoved it into my mouth. It wasn’t exactly the healthiest of choices if I ever had a desire to look like my bombshell of a sister. But I hadn’t left the house and was surviving on what remained in my kitchen.