Don’t Call Me Sugar (Grant’s Crossing #1)

1. Take the Curry

ONE

Take the Curry

TARA

Chicago, Illinois - Summer

The sun was still well above the horizon as Tara Bailey grabbed her purse and sent a mischievous grin to her coworker. They’d muddled their way through to the end of a project so she was ending their workday a few hours early. Being a Friday made it that much sweeter.

She shot a quick text to her boyfriend to let him know she’d be over early and would pick up dinner. Their favorite Indian restaurant was on the way on her short walk back to his place.

They’d been dating for over a year and had recently decided to move in together. She was living in a studio, so they decided to move into his larger, one-bedroom apartment. They’d already lined up a group of friends to help move her in when her lease ended in a couple of months. She was excited that she’d found the one .

A bell jingled above her head as she opened the door to the Taj Mahal restaurant.

“Aah, Miss Tara,” an older Indian man greeted her warmly. “Looking for your usual curry dish?”

“Hi, Raj! Yes, please. Two, if you don’t mind.” She held up two fingers for emphasis.

“Right away.”

Tara paid for her order and then sat in a nearby booth to check her phone.

Oh, good. The Cubs beat the Cardinals.

She checked her text messages and knitted her brow. Her text to Ethan showed delivered status but not yet read. “Probably still out for his afternoon run,” she mumbled, knowing Ethan was training for the Chicago Marathon.

After a short wait, Raj called her name and handed her a bag of food.

“Thanks, Raj!”

Tara started toward Ethan’s apartment with a spring in her step. She looked forward to a weekend with no plans. It was a rarity when neither of them had to work.

As she arrived at his ten-story, brick apartment building, an exiting resident held the door open. She headed to the elevators. An older couple stepped out of the elevator as the door opened. She made room for them to pass, then stepped inside and punched floor number five. She leaned against the back of the elevator, letting her eyes close to the whooshing sound of the elevator doors closing.

Finally arriving at Ethan’s door, she unlocked it with the key he’d recently given her and stepped into his comfortable apartment. His wallet and phone were on the kitchen table. She tapped his phone screen and saw her message up front and center in his notifications. She glanced down to see his running shoes by the door.

A sound from down the hall drew her attention.

“What the…?” Tara wondered as she heard muffled sounds coming from inside her boyfriend’s, soon to be their shared, apartment.

She set her keys down next to the bag of food as butterflies started dancing in her stomach.

As she inched her way down the hall, she could make out more than one voice, if you could call it that, but it was more than one.

Was there someone else in the bedroom with him?

She paused by the mostly closed door, listening to her boyfriend’s grunting along with the high-pitched whimpering of someone who was not supposed to be there. Her heart pounded in her chest, and tears pricked at her eyes. “Ethan?” She swung the bedroom door hard enough to hit the wall.

Ethan was definitely not alone.

Stunned, Tara could only see her boyfriend’s bare ass sticking straight up between two legs that were most definitely not hers.

“Shit!” Ethan jumped up, pulling the sheets with him to reveal a blond woman wearing nothing but the pink on her cheeks.

“What the hell, Ethan?”

Tara gawked at the woman, who was slow to cover herself up. Apparently, he now had a thing for blonds.

Ethan motioned between the woman and him. “This is not what it–”

Tara’s hand shot out. She shook her head and kept her voice low and steady. “Don’t even go there.”

It was exactly what it looked like.

She turned and stormed out of the room, her heart racing in anger. A thud sounded behind her and she hoped it was him falling from the bed. It was followed by more swear words and panicked mumbling.

Moments later, Ethan was fresh on her heels, as buck naked as the day he was born.

Well, maybe not that exact day, but kudos for wearing a condom.

“Tara! Wait! Shit.” He looked down, pulled off the condom, and dropped it in the kitchen trash can.

“For what?” She turned to face him, hoping her anger would keep the tears at bay. “You asked me to move in with you. I… I’m glad I haven’t yet, but….” She hated how her voice raised in pitch when she was angry.

“Don’t. Tara.” His rushed voice softened. He stepped closer. “Please.”

She stepped away from his lithe, muscular runner’s body. “Please, what? I’m dating you, Ethan. ONLY YOU.” She stressed as she tried to catch her breath. “Apparently, you can’t reciprocate that one small courtesy.”

“Courtesy? What do you–?”

“FIDELITY, ETHAN.” She snatched her purse off the table and grabbed for her keys. Her shaking hands fumbled them, and they landed on the floor with a loud clang. “Shit!” She stooped over to pick them up, facing him again with tears in her eyes. “We’re done.”

“Come on, Tara. Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

She closed her eyes and whispered. “Anything I’ll regret.” She coughed out a laugh. With a shake of her head, she raised her lids and gave her now ex -boyfriend an icy glare.

She extended her arm toward the bedroom. “I take it you don’t regret her. Because my list of regrets has just grown by one.”

“Huh?” He said with a knitted brow. Then it hit him. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I should have locked the door.”

“The door?” Her voice sounded much higher-pitched than she’d hoped. “You’re with another woman, and you’re worried about the door? You gave me a key.” For a moment, she couldn’t form words. Her mouth opened and closed several times. She looked down and wrenched his apartment key off her keychain.

Her fingernail broke. “Dammit.” She stuck her finger in her mouth. She lobbed the key onto the table, where it bounced twice before landing flat. “You can have it back.”

“I don’t want you to be sorry, Tara.”

“Sorry for what, Ethan?” She waved her hand holding the keys around in a circle. “I’m not the one cheating in this scenario.”

She took a deep breath while letting her eyes briefly stray in the bedroom's direction. “Goodbye.”

With one final glance back at Ethan, she snatched up the bag with the curry dinners and hurried out of his apartment. She didn’t care that she left the door wide open in time for his neighbors to walk by and see him in all his glory.

The elevator doors closed to the sound of a door slamming in the distance but not before her tears fell.

At least she still had dinner.