Oliver chuckled softly as he squeezed me with his long, ropy arms. “I think it’s safe to say I’m a lot curious, especially knowing what I know now. Though I think I’ve got a pretty good idea, I’d rather you tell me so I’m not making any assumptions here.”
Pressing my lips to the hollow part of his throat where I could see his pulse beating, I breathed a peaceful sigh before I started talking again.
“I met Colin my first day on campus. I was running late to College Algebra, having not taken in account the geographic location of my classes when I’d set my schedule, so I rushed into the classroom just as the professor was taking roll, and naturally, there was only one open seat—in the very front row, right next to Colin.” A faint smile tugged at the corners of my mouth at the memory. “When class was over, he struck up a conversation with me like we’d been friends for years. Just jabbering on and on about how excited he was to be at school and about how different Ann Arbor was from where he grew up in Massachusetts as we walked across campus to the food court for lunch. We ended up eating together that day, and he didn’t shut up the whole time. I think I maybe said five words throughout the entire hour we were together. I just sat and listened and watched him eat the amount of food I normally consume in a week, and afterward, as if it was our norm, he ruffled my hair then told me he had to get to practice and that he’d see me on Wednesday. And on Wednesday, we did it all over again. Then, Friday too.”
I tilted my head back and peered up at Oliver’s relaxed face, his smile urging me on.
“Before long, Colin and I were inseparable. If we weren’t in class or he wasn’t at practice or me volunteering at the MH house, we were together. Soul mate best friends from the word go. And despite my reluctance to trust pretty much anyone, male or female, I knew immediately he would never hurt me. His heart is so kind and gentle, like a life-sized teddy bear. It was as if God knew he was exactly what I needed in my life at that time.”
“So when did you guys start dating, or how did that work out?” he prompted.
“We never really dated in the sense that most people think of it,” I explained carefully. “Like I said, we did everything together, so after a while, people just assumed we were a couple, and we went with it. I had no desire to really date anyone with my history, and he was focused on football and school, not the coeds looking to get knocked up so they could get a free ride when he got drafted in the pros. No one knew the kisses we exchanged in public were the extent of our physical relationship.”
Pinching his brow together in confusion, Oliver cocked his head to the side. “Okay, I’m with you so far, but why get married? I guess I understand your reasoning, but not his.”
I paused briefly to ponder how I could explain the next part without saying too much. The last thing I wanted to do was to lie to Oliver, but it wasn’t my place to tell Colin’s secret.
“Our marriage is a security blanket for both of us,” I expanded. “Colin knows I love him for who he is and that I won’t ever screw him over. I know Colin loves me equally and that he will provide for and protect me until the day he dies. We have fun together. We enjoy each other’s company. So it works for us. After everything that happened when I was younger, I never had a desire to be close to men . . . in that way. What Colin could provide for me was exactly what I always thought I needed. He gives me love, support, friendship . . . everything a marriage is. Just for us, for our marriage, we don’t have the sexual intimacy. Until now . . . I thought that’s the only thing I needed.”
“And sex? You don’t expect me to believe that your husband is a celibate man, do you?” he asked, not bothering to even sniff the bush, much less beat around it.
I shook my head while nervously rolling my bottom lip between my teeth. “No, I don’t,” I murmured, “but I don’t concern myself with Colin’s sexual activities. Whatever he does, whoever he does it with . . . he keeps it extremely discreet. He’s smart enough to not get caught. He knows the price he’d pay if something were to get out.”
Oliver opened his mouth to say something then closed it, giving his head a light shake. I worried for a split-second he was going to ask me the one question I knew I couldn’t answer, so when he hesitated, I started talking to get his mind off of Colin’s sex life.
“And as for me, like I said earlier, when I agreed to get married, I truly believed I would never find anyone I wanted to be sexually intimate with, so it wasn’t a concern of mine. I’m smart enough to realize the vast majority of humans are nothing like Richard was. Even though what happened to me still happens far too often to other victims, it’s not the norm. He was sick and twisted. But in all of the men I’ve met in whatever capacity over the last twelve years, some of who I thought were very nice people, never once have I had any desire to explore a physical relationship with any of them. That’s why I said I thought I was broken. Like my sex sensors didn’t work or something,” I laughed softly. Lifting up on my knees so I was eye-level with him, I cupped his jaw with my hands and rested my forehead on his. “Then, I met you.”
With a mischievous grin, he palmed my bare butt and lifted me up so that I was straddling his waist and I could feel his cock between my legs. “And then what happened?”
“Then I realized I just needed the right person to make me work.” I nipped at his bottom lip while sifting my fingers through his shoulder-length hair.
It was in that moment I decided Oliver had the best hair of anyone ever. Soft, thick, and silky, his chestnut waves were like something straight from a hair commercial. I could play with it for hours and be a happy camper. I had serious hair envy.
“Feels like you work perfectly to me,” he mumbled against my mouth as his shaft twitched underneath my bottom.
My lips parted on a quick inhale at the strange but arousing sensation, and when it stirred a second time, I instinctively rolled my hips against him, releasing a breathy whimper. “Yeah,” was all I could manage before he flipped me onto my back in a single sweeping motion.
As he hovered over me in all his naked glory, Oliver’s heated gaze swept over my equally bare body and a growl rumbled deep in his chest. “Tell me what happens next, Monroe. Tell me how I get you back in my bed tomorrow night, and the night after that,” he urged, his tone suddenly serious. “I promised you I’d be patient, and I know we need to take things slow, but fuck, babe . . . all I want to do is show you the countless ways I can take care of you.”
“I-uh . . .” I squeezed my upper thighs together as desire pooled in my center, struggling to concentrate on the answer he was waiting for. “I’m gonna talk to Colin tomorrow about everything, and then we’ll go from there. He already knows we kissed, and he’s also aware I think the world of you, so it’s not gonna come as that big of a shock to him.”
“You told him I kissed you?” His eyes widened with horror. “The guy probably thinks I’m a fucking schmuck who just goes around kissing other dudes’ wives.”
“Noooo.” I shook my head against the pillow, snickering under my breath. “Well, at least not anymore. Initially, he wanted to come over here and beat you up, but I convinced him that wasn’t a good plan. So after a little bit of time to think on it, he told me if I wanted to pursue something with you, he was cool with it, but I needed to keep him updated, and obviously not do anything stupid where we could be caught. Luckily for you and me, if we’re photographed just out and about together, it’s easily explained, because we are working on this project together. We just can’t have any physical contact unless we’re here or at my house, where we know it’s safe.”
Carefully lowering his body to mine, his lips found my neck and he began working his magic all over again. “So we’re safe right now?” he whispered into my delicate skin, working his way lower with each open-mouthed kiss.
“Mhmm,” I moaned as my hands found his hair yet again.
“Good, ‘cause I told you I wasn’t finished taking care of you.” He stopped his oral descent just before he reached the top of my mound and
looked up at me, smirking roguishly. “If my beautiful girl is sore, I need to kiss her and make her feel better. Don’t you agree?”
“Most definitely,” I mumbled as my knees fell open for him. “Lots and lots of kisses.”
And kiss me, he did.
Lots and lots of times.
Until I felt much, much better.
Twice.
Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, Oliver and I finally stopped talking and kissing, and we fell asleep with me snugly tucked up against him, my back to his chest. And it was in that same position I woke up just a few hours later to the sound of my cellphone ringing continuously. Looking down at the screen, I immediately knew something was very wrong.
“It was rather
beautiful: the way he
put her insecurities to
sleep.
The way he dove into
her eyes and starved
all the fears
and tasted all the
dreams she kept
coiled beneath her
bones.”
–Christopher Poindexter
Monroe
“HELLO? COLIN? IS everything okay?” The questions rushed from my mouth in a single breath as my heart pounded nervously against my ribcage. Phone calls at 4:40 in the morning weren’t typically a good thing, often the result of someone being arrested, seriously hurt, or worse. “Colin? Can you hear me?”
“Hey, babe, yeah, it’s me,” the familiar, comforting voice of my husband replied, but instantly, I knew everything was not okay. My stomach constricted into a tight knot as I waited for him to continue. “Sorry to call at this hour, but I’ve had a little accident.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “An accident? What happened? Are you hurt?”
Two strong, corded arms circled my waist from behind as I stood naked in Oliver’s living room, the farthest place I could get from his bedroom when I called Colin back, in an attempt to not wake him up. Apparently it hadn’t worked. Leaning my head back onto his shoulder, I welcomed Oliver’s supportive touch and rested my free hand over where his were clasped at my belly button to show my appreciation.
“I was playing basketball with some of the kids and the other chaperones, and there was just a fluke collision between me, another dude, and the wall,” he gritted out, clearly in discomfort. “Ended up dislocating my throwing shoulder, and who knows what other damage. I’m on my way to Foxborough now. One of the guys is driving me. I just got off the phone with Dr. Turner, and he’s meeting me up there to do an x-ray and an MRI. Guess we’ll go from there, but I already know I’m looking at a month minimum.”
“Maybe it’s not really dislocated,” I hoped aloud.
He barked out a painful laugh. “Baby girl, it’s currently not in the socket. I’m pretty sure it’s dislocated.”
“Oh, Colin honey, I’m so sorry,” I lamented into the receiver as Oliver squeezed me tighter and kissed the top of my head, sensing my distress. Although I was obviously relieved he wasn’t in a life-threatening situation like a car wreck or something, I knew football was his life, and if he couldn’t throw the ball with the precision and accuracy he needed, to him, it was a fatal blow. “What do you need for me to do? Just say the word.”
“Since I haven’t been to sleep yet—the kids refused to lay down at any point in the night—I think I’m gonna shower and maybe catch a nap up at the facility while we deal with all this. Once word gets out later today, it’s going to be a media circus, and I’d rather be there with Dr. Turner and the coaching staff to answer everyone’s questions. I was hoping you could bring me a change of clothes, something suitable for a press conference, as well as the black scouting notebook that’s on my desk.”
I nodded as if Colin could see me through the phone. “Yeah, no problem. Let me get up and dressed and I’ll be on my way. If you think of anything else, just message me. Okay?”
“’Kay, babe. Love you.”
“I love you too. See you soon.”
Disconnecting the phone call, I spun around in Oliver’s arms and peered up at him, soaking up his sexy, just-rolled-out-of-bed vibe. Even with the fresh sheet-crease line on his right temple, the man rocked the unkempt, rebellious look like nobody’s business, and seeing the combination of his messy mop of brown curls and a jaw lined with dark stubble, the entire phone conversation with Colin disappeared from my mind for a brief moment as I thought about dragging him back to bed for a repeat of the previous night, damn the soreness between my legs.
“Colin’s hurt? What’s going on?” he prompted, lifting his eyebrow inquisitively.
Nodding again, I gave Oliver the rundown of what I knew about my husband’s condition while we stood naked in his living room in each other’s arms. As wrong and deceitful as that may have seemed to anyone else on the planet who could’ve seen us, I’d never experienced anything more right than when I was with him. And as soon as I got the chance, I’d let Colin know everything that was going on, but right then wasn’t the time.
“Do you need me to drive you wherever you need to go in your SUV? I don’t want you behind the wheel if you’re too upset or too tired,” he offered while tenderly stroking my cheek with the calloused pad of his thumb. Closing my eyes, I delighted in the roughness of his musician hands against the smoothness of my skin along with the selflessness of his words.
“I’ll be all right. I promise,” I assured him as my lids flitted open, my eyes searching for his. “I’m sorry our first night together is being cut short like this. I wanted to wake up in the morning with you and have our Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch and chocolate milk in bed together while we watched Grease or something.”
Oliver’s face lit up like Boston Harbor on Independence Day, and without warning, his mouth collided with mine in a forceful, claiming kiss as his fingers skimmed up the back of my neck and sunk into my hair. I whimpered against his lips when we eventually broke apart for air and he grinned down at me, rubbing the tips of our noses together. I really don’t want to leave.
“Don’t apologize for things out of your control, Monroe.” He smiled with a gentle shake of his head. “Go take care of what you need to do, and me and the rest of the Pink Ladies will be right here whenever you can come back. I’ll even save you some cereal.”
After another kiss—this one soft, sweet, and full of promise—we retreated to his bedroom for me to get ready to leave. When I turned on the overhead light and saw the Poison Ivy costume scattered across the floor, along with several twenty dollar bills that must’ve fallen out of my bra when Oliver had undressed me, sensual visions of the night before flashed in my mind. The urge to stay with him pinged in my chest again, but I knew that wasn’t an option.
The costume also reminded me that I had nothing but the revealing green dress and my jacket to wear home. But Oliver—who’d slipped on some pajama pants at some point—was already a step ahead of me, digging out some sweatpants and a hoodie from his closet. They were a little big, as I had to roll the waist of the pants to keep them up, but it was a vast improvement from my other option, so I was appreciative. Unfortunately, the only shoes I had were the sparkly green heels, which I wasn’t wearing under any circumstance, so he gave me two pairs of socks to help keep my feet warm in the cab ride from his place to my street. I wouldn’t risk being dropped off in front of my house, in case it was being staked out for any reason. Being photographed getting out of a taxi pre-dawn with last night’s makeup and hair, no shoes, and in another man’s clothes would appear to be exactly what it was. And exactly what I had to avoid.
“You look sexy in my clothes,” Oliver announced matter-of-factly once I was dressed and ready to go.
Glancing down at the oversized getup, I laughed. “Sexier than in the costume?”
He nodded as he sauntered toward me, a waggish smirk tugging up the corners of his eyes and mouth. “Absolutely.”
“Sexier than my business suits?” I cocked an eyebrow, knowing how much he appreciated when I wore my fitt
ed pencil skirts and the matching jackets.
“Without a doubt,” he chuckled as our bodies made contact and I found myself encased in his affectionate arms.
I squeaked as he lifted me off the ground and buried his face in my neck. My arms and legs instinctively wrapped around him and I clung to the final minutes I had with him before I had to leave. “I’m not very good at this kind of thing,” I confessed in a soft whisper. “Not sure what to say. I don’t wanna leave you.”
He smiled against my skin and the warmth from his breath tickled my ear, sending a trail of goose bumps down my back. “That’s it, beautiful girl, what you said right there. Knowing you don’t want to leave is all I need to know.”
His lips grazed mine as he lowered my feet back to the ground, but before we were entirely untangled from each other’s embrace, my phone buzzed inside my wristlet. Worried something else had happened, I hurriedly fished it out and glanced down at the screen.
Colin: Please call Seth and let him know. Tell him I’m sorry and I love him.
Shoving the device back into my small purse, I peered up at Oliver and knew immediately by his dumbfounded expression that he’d seen the text. My stomach sank to the basement of my gut where guilt, failure, and self-loathing sunk in.
“Look, I’m sorry—” I started to apologize, but he pressed two fingers to my lips and shook his head.
“You trusted me enough to give me what you gave me last night, right? All of you—inside and out?” he asked, not removing his hand.
I nodded, my hopeful gaze searching his.
“Then you can trust me with this. I promise you,” he swore. “No matter what happens between the two of us, I swear to you, I will never do anything to hurt either of you. That’s not who I am. You know that. You wouldn’t be here if you thought I was.”
Oliver’s words provided some relief, as I felt confident he wouldn’t ever take my and Colin’s story public, but I was still irritated with myself for the way it had happened. That was Colin’s story to tell, not mine.