Chapter Sixteen Andres
Iknew the second I walked into the condo something was wrong.
There was a certain tension in the air. An energy I wasn’t used to feeling, and I had to admit I was curious.
I knew nothing bad had happened from the reports I’d gotten from the driver and bodyguard I hired from Sigma International, Josef’s security firm, to protect my wife and son when I wasn’t there.
I knew I should probably ask Ellie if it was okay to call him that. My son. But since I was going to do it anyway, it was really a moot point.
Sammy greeted me with his usual enthusiastic squeal, followed by tackling my knees. He must have been snacking on something because his hands were liberally covered with a cheesy film, but I didn’t mind. Clothes could be cleaned.
“Careful! Sorry, his hands are dirty. He was having a snack,” Ellie said, and was about to rush over to take him from me, but I shook my head.
“It’s fine,” I said gently, stopping her in her tracks.
I lifted my boy up and gave him a spin, loving the sound of his giggles.
“How’s my little man doing today?” I asked, knowing I was going to have a confrontation with his mother.
I shouldn’t have gotten excited about that, but I did. Ellie in a mood was something to behold.
“Yayyy! I saw Mmm’cheala, and when we got home, Rocky was sleeping on my bed,” he told me, the excitement of the day making his hazel eyes sparkle just like his mother’s.
“Lucky kitty. So, you saw Michaela? Did you have fun?” I asked.
“Yeah, we played,” he said, still grinning.
“What did you play?”
I listened to his enthusiastic tale that ended with Adrik’s daughter knocking down his block tower, but then Nanny Rosa made them grilled cheeses with apple slices on the side and that fixed everything.
“So one grilled cheese and you two were pals again?” I asked, watching him nod with my eyebrows raised.
“Yup, Mommy says grilled cheeses are magic.”
“That they are. Sammy, can you go wash up for dinner?” Ellie asked, smiling at her son.
“Yup, Mommy. I’m hungry!”
“You just had a snack,” she chided, but I could see the love shining in her eyes as she spoke to him.
I wanted her to look at me like that. Well, maybe not exactly like that, but with feeling.
Soon.
I just had to be patient.
“Sammy, make sure you say your ABCs at least once before rinsing off the soap,” she instructed.
She looked so cute, hands on her hips, using that unmistakable mom voice. So stern. So hot. It made me wonder if maybe she’d consider giving me instructions in the bedroom.
Goddamn.
She was so beautiful.
Today she was wearing a pair of stretchy jeans that hugged her perfect ass, and drew my eyes like a moth to a flame.
She wore a plain t-shirt on top and a small apron tied around her waist. Her hair looked a little wild, even though she attempted to hold it back from her face with some kind of stretchy headband.
I liked it wild. When we first met, Ellie’s hair was short, like a pixie. Now it hovered just above her shoulders in choppy layers that made her big curls look even more tempting, resting just against the soft skin of her neck.
Fuck.
I wanted her so much. That pull I felt to her increased more and more each day.
She was so good. So pure.
I looked at the apron again, noting the different colors where she might have wiped her hands or spilled something, and grinned.
She was a fantastic cook. The entire condo smelled delicious from her efforts.
The telltale signs of a home-cooked meal were familiar now. Something I never expected. I grinned again, wondering what amazing thing she put together for us tonight.
Ellie was a wonder in the kitchen, but I never made demands of her. She didn’t have to cook or clean or whatever. Hell, she could do anything she wanted.
I told her we could hire someone, or multiple someones, to do chores and things like cooking. But she refused the offer and seemed to enjoy doing it.
So, I simply left her to it, giving her access to all the grocery delivery apps I had standing orders with so she could add whatever she liked to it.
I enjoyed eating whatever she made, so really it was a win-win. Ellie could cook all she wanted.
One thing I wouldn’t budge on was the cleaning service.
She worked hard enough already just raising Sammy. I didn’t need her to mop floors or wash toilets.
There was nothing demeaning in that sort of work, but we could afford the staff, and I insisted she use it.
“Hi,” I said, pressing my lips together.
It was so damn hard not to go to her every time she entered a room. My heart pounded, my pulse raced.
All I wanted to do was gather her in my arms and smash my mouth to hers, to breathe in her air and taste her lips.
She always tasted so good. Like the lemon drop candies she kept in her purse.
“Hi,” she replied, and I was struck again by the fact that something was wrong.
It was like a sixth sense where she was concerned. No. I wasn’t psychic. I wasn’t crazy enough to think that was even possible.
But I knew Ellie. I’d studied her.
Okay, maybe stalked was a better word, but I shrugged off the negativity associated with that.
I was crazy about the woman, so yeah, I knew her expressions.
Not all of them. But enough that I sensed she was upset about something.
I furrowed my brows and followed her as she turned her back on me and retreated to the kitchen.
Fuck.
The smells were even better in there.
Hints of garlic, basil, red wine, and tomatoes danced in the air. The unmistakable scent of fresh baked bread, and fuck, was that chocolate?
Did she make dessert, too?
I groaned and licked my lips. I’d taken to working out during my lunch hour just to keep fit. But it was worth it for a chance to have Ellie’s cookies in my mouth.
Goddamn.
That thought sent my mind straight to the gutter.
“So when were you going to tell me Adrik and Marat are your cousins?” she asked, shoulders stiff as she stirred something inside a pot.
“Huh?” I asked, thoroughly distracted by the tiny bow hovering right above her ass.
Like her ass was a present just for me. The little string dangling from the bow was practically begging me to tug it. To unwrap my wife like a fucking gift.
But I didn’t.
I wouldn’t.
I never touched my wife unless she moved first.
It was the only concession I made to her sensibilities.
I didn’t know the details of her former marriage, but I knew her ex was already living on borrowed time.
Gary Peters was a walking dead man for the things he did. I just needed time before I could make that happen.
Right now there was too much attention on him to make his death not look like the cold-blooded fucking murder it would be.
I didn’t need that kind of heat.
But wait, what did she just say?
“Who told you that?” I asked, curious.
“I was at Sofia’s today. The wives talk.”
Ellie shrugged, her back towards me, and I took a step closer to her. I had to bridge the distance, even if just an inch at a time. I couldn’t help it.
It was always that way.
Whenever I was anywhere near her, it was always too far away. Feet, inches, whatever. The space between us was always too much.
Being close just wasn’t good enough.
This pull, I felt, was like a compulsion.
No, it was so much more than that. It was like a gravitational force.
Ellie was my sun, or maybe I was her moon.
At any rate, I orbited her. Helpless to withstand the pull. Every fiber of my being attuned to her.
I didn’t like her upset. But I was curious about it.
“I need you to tell me what’s going on, Lupina,” I said, watching in awe as she straightened her spine before facing me.
“Tell you what’s going on? Sure. I’ll do that when you tell me what else you’re keeping from me,” she said, hands on her hips.
“What do you mean?”
“Your messages are on the side table,” she said, spinning back around to check the heat on the stove.
I frowned and walked to the little table where I tossed my keys. I hadn’t noticed the little pad of pink Post-It notes sitting there. I grabbed it and read the neatly scrawled handwriting.
Gabby called.
Twice.
I smirked. Gabby was my mother’s oldest and dearest friend, and she was undoubtedly calling about my mother’s upcoming birthday.
It was her sixtieth. A big deal, to say the least, and I was planning a party for her.
Something I should probably have told my wife, but really, I just hadn’t thought of it.
“This makes you mad, Wife?” I asked, cocking my head as I watched my wife studiously ignoring me.
“Should it?” she snapped.
Hope began to build inside.
Was it possible I was winning her over? Did my bride of convenience care more than she let on?
All the while I felt like Ellie was the puppeteer and I her willing marionette. But maybe she felt like that, too.
Maybe she thought I was manipulating her, keeping secrets.
Hell, the woman didn’t even have to pull on my strings to get me to come to her. I was so fucking gone for her.
Didn’t she know how desperate I was for her? Couldn’t she tell?
I would run miles.
Walk through fire.
Crawl over broken glass.
Complete any number of feats just for the chance to earn a smile from her lips.
“Thanks for taking the message,” I said, tugging off my suit jacket and draping it over one of the kitchen stools.
“Thanks? Did you say thanks?” she asked, and her annoyance suddenly turned into anger.
“Yeah, thanks,” I said, not really sure what I said wrong.
“You’re actually thanking me for taking a message from some woman named Gabby I never even heard you mention?”
“Uhhhh,” I said like the rocket scientist I obviously wasn’t.
“Ellie, I don’t know what to say right now.”
“Fine. Whatever,” she grumbled, then slammed her spatula on the counter.
“Ellie—” I started to explain, but my wife was all worked up.
And fuck, was she cute.
“You know what? Not fine. Not whatever.”
“Ookayyy,” I began, raising my hands like a robbery victim. “Ellie, I am going to need some context here.”
“You want context? I’ll give you context. What else about your life do I have to find out from my friends? And, well, are you cheating on me?”
“What?!” I was stunned.
“Adrik and Marat are your cousins? Like actual cousins? Some woman named Gabby keeps calling for you and apparently, she doesn’t need to leave her number because you have it already. Just how many secrets are you keeping from me?”
My mouth was hanging open as I watched timid, sweet little Ellie tear me a new asshole.
Cheating on her? Was she nuts?
Her eyes were sparkling with anger and annoyance, which was very encouraging, considering I wanted her to fall for me.
But the flash of hurt I saw, even though it lasted a mere second, was too much.
I never wanted to hurt her.
Not ever.
Clearly, we needed to talk.
I just didn’t know if she was going to let me get a word in edgewise.