3. Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Out of the corner of his eye, David saw someone come to an abrupt stop and he glanced over, almost reflexively. For a split second his brain registered nothing more than a very attractive woman looking at him and he took a few steps forward before something made him take another look. As he did, his eyes widened in shock as his present life barreled into a head-on collision with his past, and he stopped, dumbfounded at the unexpected appearance of his ex-wife.
Paige literally looked nothing like he remembered.
With the exception of her eyes, which were still the color of aged, oak-barrel bourbon, everything else was different. Her hair was longer than he’d ever seen it and she was wearing make-up—not enough to look overdone, but enough to make her look very polished and sexy.
She was wearing leather boots, with honest-to-God stiletto heels and cropped pants that hugged the flare of her hips and curve of her ass, which he couldn’t help but notice because they weren’t camouflaged in any way. Her shirt was tight enough that he could clearly see the shape of her breasts, but perhaps the most shocking sight of all was the teasing display of cleavage.
What in the actual fuck?
She looked smoking hot and he didn’t know what to do with that, other than stare. He also didn’t know what to do with the flush of anger that crept over his skin at seeing how good she looked. The thought that their divorce had obviously agreed with her took up residence in his brain, fueled by the fact that the somewhat shy, understated woman he’d been married to was nowhere to be seen; she’d been replaced with a vibrant, provocative woman who was both put together and self-assured.
A woman who wore pink, eye-catching lipstick, owned fuck-me boots and sported cleavage.
Seriously. What in the actual fuck?
Over the years, he’d thought about what it would be like to run into her, but had never imagined it like this—a vicious punch in the balls that almost dropped him to his knees.
“What is it, baby?” Ashley looked to see what he was staring at so intently. When she saw Paige but didn’t recognize her, Ashley turned back to David, obviously confused.
David barely heard her since his focus was on Paige and the staring contest he was having with her. “Hello, Paige,” he said, striving to sound neutral and not like he wanted to flip a desk.
Ashley’s head swiveled back to Paige in surprise and gave her a more thorough look. As recognition finally hit, Ashley raised her eyebrows and murmured, “Well, this is going to be interesting.”
“Ash, stop it.”
Ash. Paige felt her stomach churn a little bit at the nickname. It was bad enough hearing Ashley call David ‘baby’ because it reeked of familiarity and affection, but hearing David call her ‘Ash’ was worse.
“Hello, David,” Paige returned, her throat tight as she gazed at him. He looked like he’d rather be anywhere but at Bender’s, standing in front of her.
She felt the same way.
“Hello, Paige,” Ashley said.
Paige pulled her gaze away from David and forced herself to make eye contact with his arm candy. For a moment, Paige thought about taking the high road and returning Ashley’s greeting. All Paige had to do was say hello and then get the hell away from her and David, which would be the smart thing to do. However, the memory of the last time Paige had seen Ashley—and the shitty things she’d said—made the simple courtesy impossible.
And that was before Paige saw the undisguised satisfaction on the other woman’s beautiful face that said, Look what I got.
It made Paige want to punch Ashley in one of her young, perky tits, so much so that Paige took a second to fantasize about doing just that. But, because she was a law-abiding citizen and unable to actually do that because she was afraid of going to jail, she did the next best thing, instead.
“You can take your ‘Hello’ and shove it up to your ass,” Paige told her bluntly.
Like a switch being flipped, the energy between the three of them went from uncomfortable to unpleasant in an instant.
David blinked in absolute shock at Paige’s deliberate attack. In their previous life together, she had been polite to a fault—meek, even.
Not anymore, apparently.
Her expression going from fake politeness to full Fuck you, Ashley took a step forward, only to be pulled back by David.
“Let it go,” he said in her ear, speaking low. As pissed as he was with Paige at that moment, he also didn’t want Ashley to engage in any way and prolong this encounter; it was clearly not going to be amicable and therefore it just needed to be over before any shit started to fly.
“Let it go?” Ashley narrowed her ice-blue eyes. “I don’t think so.”
She was obviously unhappy with what she perceived as his taking Paige’s ‘side’. “We’re not doing this,” he told her firmly, then raising his voice and looking directly at Paige, repeated, “We’re not doing this.”
“She took the gloves off first, baby.” Ashley glanced at David over her shoulder. “So, we are doing this.”
“Ash, don’t.”
Disregarding the order, Ashley extricated herself from David’s grasp, which involved a bit of effort since he continued to try and hold her back.
“This will be over in a minute,” she assured him, then turned to Paige. “So … I’m going to go out on a very short limb here and say your shit’s in a twist at seeing David and I together, but any sympathy I might have had for you just went out the goddamn window.”
“Jesus Christ,” muttered David.
“My shit’s not in a twist,” Paige denied. She hoped it sounded like she wasn’t lying, because her shit was totally in a twist. It was a big slice of hell seeing the two of them together.
“Please.” Ashley’s voice was laced with sarcasm. “You should see your face right now. I know it’s killing you that he’s with me, but there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. The minute he signed the divorce papers, he was free to choose who he wanted to be with—”
“You’re right. And clearly, he was also free to choose … poorly.” Paige forced herself to look at her ex-husband as she said the next part. “Well done, David.”
For a moment, he was taken aback at the double-edged insult, which was delivered with outright, blatant malice. While it made sense that Paige wouldn’t like seeing him with another woman (he knew he wouldn’t like seeing her with another man), her anger was palpable, rolling off her in waves. It also seemed specifically directed at Ashley, which he found odd given that Paige had barely known Ashley.
“You might think he chose poorly,” Ashley said, not appearing to be insulted at all, “but I assure you, David doesn’t think he chose poorly.” She glanced back at him and something in her expression triggered an alarm in his brain a second before she asked, “You weren’t thinking you chose poorly when you were coming in my mouth this morning, were you, baby?”
This time, when David blinked in absolute shock, it was directed at Ashley. He heard the words, but literally couldn’t believe his goddamn ears. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he growled at Ashley, avoiding looking anywhere near Paige while he struggled to get his equilibrium back. Very few times in his life had he been this much at a loss and it was awkward as hell.
“It’s the truth, isn’t it?” Ashley returned.
Paige didn’t really need David’s confirmation, not when his gobsmacked expression was clearly broadcasting the truth, loud and clear. So, not only was David probably getting up close and personal with Ashley’s perky tits on a daily basis, he was apparently enjoying morning blowjobs as well. Fan-fucking-tastic.
Paige knew she should walk away, knew it with every brain cell she had and yet … she didn’t.
“So, how long has this—” she waved a hand to indicate Ashley and David’s coupledom, “—been going on?”
Not yet recovered from the blowjob grenade, David actually felt his asshole tighten a little at the question; his ex-wife was wading into waters she didn’t need to be in. “That’s none of your—”
“Four years,” Ashley tossed out, her mouth curving into a smile.