Wife Unwanted (Corrupt Vows #2)

Chapter 36

Thalia

HIS EYES WERE red and blurry when he opened the door. They looked a little disoriented at first and then they widened. "Thalia." His voice was groggy. With sleep? I couldn't tell, but there was a distinct smell of whiskey coming from him.

"Do you want us to talk here or…"

He widened the door. "No! Of course not!" He shook himself and gave me space to come in. I crossed the threshold of the familiar apartment. It was the same. Nothing had changed and yet it felt as though everything in it had shifted. Some things were not where they were. One of the wall paintings was crooked. There was a vase missing. Sofa pillows were on the floor. There was a box of old pizza on the coffee table. An empty bottle of whiskey was lying on the floor.

I turned to look at him, and he brushed his hair away from his face in embarrassment. "I didn't think you're coming. He rushed past me and began cleaning the mess. "Are you here to take your things? I saw you left most of your clothes here. Your wardrobe is basically full."

I blanched, wondering if I had made a mistake coming here. Maybe he had finally decided to let me go. "You no longer want to give our relationship a chance?"

"No. Wait." He paused. "Is that why you're here?"

"I thought maybe it would be a great idea to do a do over before we call the whole experiment quits. If you still want that, of course."

"I do!" He rushed over to the kitchen to dispose of the stuff he had in his hands and came back looking a little cleaner than he did when he opened the door. He threw the pillows back on the sofas and sat down. I went over to seat in the opposite couch.

"So no more divorce?"

"Not yet anyway. I know you don't love me."He started, but I raised a hand to stop him. "I know you don't love me and I am willing to live with that if you at least show me you care. I think I can leave with a man who cares. That's all I want. And in return, I will show you that you can trust me. I know I lied to you, but I promise never to do that again."

He nodded. "I am okay with that. Are you moving back in?"

"My suitcases are downstairs. I didn't want to be forward."

He smiled for the first time. "Great." He got up. "Let me call concierge and ask them to bring them over."

A few minutes later it was almost as though I had never left, but this time, instead of putting my things in the guest room, he put them in his bedroom. I wanted to protest, but thought against it. If we are going to do things differently, living like a divorced couple when we wanted to work on our marriage wouldn't cut it.

The first days of our new relationship were awkward. We both weren't sure how to go about it. Carey was a little too generous with gifts for one. Every day, he would come back from work with a box of something. A bottle of my favorite wine. A box of Belgian chocolates. An expensive necklace. An exclusive watch. It was after he gave me the watch one evening did I tell him to stop. He looked deflated.

"You don't like them?" We sat across each other from the dining room table. The mahogany wood was not enough to not make me painfully aware of his presence. Even though we were a few feet from each other, it felt intimate, as though we were sitting side by side.

"I don't think affection can be bought, which I feel is what you're trying to do."

"Consequences of being raised by a tyrant and an evil stepmother," he said, sighing.

"They're not bad!" I felt like I had killed whatever hope he had for our future. "The necklace is cute." It was a diamond encrusted sapphire on a white gold band. It was elegant and expensive looking, while also being understated. The type of jewelry that can go with anything.

"But you don't like it."

I couldn't lie to him and say I did. I would always be worried about losing it whenever I wore it. My lack of response was enough to tell him how I really thought.

"And the watch? You don't like it too."

"It's nice." Like the necklace, it too had a white gold band, rose gold face encrusted with diamonds around it. Pretty, but I wouldn't wear it every day. I would be too afraid to lose it.

"You don't like it either." He reached for the watch case that was lying open. I snatched it back. "I'm not saying I won't wear it." The watch was pretty. I clasped it on my wrist, picked up my fork. I scrambled my brain for a new subject and asked him about his work. Twenty minutes deep into the case Carey was currently working on, the watch forgotten. It was good that he was trying. It made want to try as well.

After dinner was done, we both retired to bed. There had been an unspoken truce between us ever since I came back. We were both keeping each other at a distance, waiting for one to make the first move. And while we were sleeping together, he never rolled to my side of the bed and I never to his. But that night was different. That night I must have rolled over to him because when I woke up I had my arm around him, cuddling him. Shocked, I tried to snatch my hand back, but he held it to his chest. "Five more minutes," he mumbled. I froze and let the time pass while my gaze was glued to his back. He didn't have a shirt on, so I could admire the beautiful contours of his back that were constructed by a rigorous gym attendance. My other hand brushed the ridge of his spine of scapula, admiring it. My husband is handsome even where it least matters . A groan rumbled from his chest before he turned around to face me. He took both of my hands and imprisoned them between our chests as he swung his leg over mine.

"You're playing with fire," he said. His erection felt hot as it nudged against my center. I went still even though I wanted to rub myself against it. I shifted to get away from him, but I only did what I didn't want to do, I rubbed myself against him. We both moaned.

"Fuck Thalia." He shifted us so he was on top of me and me under him before claiming my lips. His kiss was leisurely, but laced with barely restrained fire. It was both frustrating and exquisite. His hands left mine as one went to clasp my breast and the other my ass, bringing my sex closer to his as he humped me like a sex-starved teenager. The silk nightdress I had on was a pathetic barrier to his rampant assault. I wanted more. And just when I thought he was going to remove my dress and fuck me like a man demented, he stopped and got out of bed. He had remembered the unspoken truce at the last moment, and part of me wished he hadn't.

Darcy and I were in the middle of doing an inventory assessment when one of the shop assistants told me I had a visitor. "Your husband," she added. Darcy looked up from her laptop and stared at me.

"What?" I was responsible for entering figures for our formal footwear inventory while Darcy dealt with the casual items. It was a long and thankless task, but we were close to being done.

"How are things?"

"Good. He's been very attentive lately. Too attentive, some might say."

She paused and gripped her laptop screen. "Love bombing?"

"I wouldn't call it that. He has…issues with affection. Everything is either zero or hundred. Right now, he's on hundred." I lifted my hand to show her the watch. "Case in point."

Darcy's gasp was enough confirmation that the watch was indeed as expensive as I thought, if not more. "He's laying it on thick."I sighed, getting up. Darcy rolled her eyes. "Give me a break. You can't tell me you're not loving the attention."

"Kinda, to be honest. But I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. For all of this to be some sort of sick revenge for what I did to him."

Darcy smirked. "Trust me, it's not."

I got to the front of the shop to find him perusing the shoes in the formal pumps section. "Find anything you like?" He smiled. A genuine smile that made my heart melt. Jack passed by, arms full of boxes, and Carey's eyes darkened.

Carey turned his attention back to me. "Yes." He hooked his hand around my waist and drew me to him before placing a passionate kiss that had my head spinning when he finally let go of my lips. He still held me in his arms, though. His gaze bore into me, making my insides melt. "Are you busy?"

"Yeah, very." We weren't done stock taking, and if he came here to take me out for lunch, who knows how long I'd be? I didn't want to leave Darcy with the burden.

He growled and dropped his forehead to mine. "I have a birthday surprise for you that can't wait."

"My birthday is on Saturday." It was Thursday.

"Who said celebrations can't start early?"

I tried to pull back, but his hold was firm and part of me wanted to stay in his embrace, as unprofessional as it was.

"Darcy!" Carey smiled conspiratorially.

I turned to see Darcy come out of our back office.

"Can you give my wife an off day? There's somewhere I want to take her."

Darcy beamed. "She can take the rest of the day off, maybe even three."

"You know Darcy is not my boss. She's my partner."

"And your partner is fine with you taking some time off," Darcy said.

Carey looked at me as if to say, see? I glanced around the shop. We weren't busy at the moment. The store didn't even have customers. It was two against one, and Darcy had become Carey's champion in the last few days.Fuck it. It was only an afternoon off.

I nodded. Carey beamed. "You're not going to regret it. And don't worry about clothes. I've already packed everything for us."

"Uh Carey? Where are we going?"

He placed another small kiss on my lips. "It's a surprise."