Chapter 27 #3
He moves his hands above me, pulling at the silk scarf, until my arms are free. My hands fall to my sides, my chest heaving to catch my breath.
I look over at him and he’s staring at the ceiling.
“Shit, Indiana. You’re going to wreck me this weekend.” He laughs, then I’m lost as his eyes meet mine. “That was intense.”
I smile at him, feeling like my whole world just flipped. I don’t know if he realizes what he’s done to my life, but I know I’ll never be the same.
We continue staring at each other. The last five years have been about the use of words on paper, and yet, right now, it feels like no words are needed to communicate at all. Our eyes do so much of the communicating instead. Like he sees inside my soul and I inside his.
We finally get up from the bed and head into the shower. What starts off innocently to rinse off, turns dirty again when I’m on my knees and watch Tyler unravel as I take him in my mouth.
The next day, we head out to lunch. I hadn’t prepared to have anyone in my apartment, aside from me, so I’m not stocked up on food.
The moment we step foot outside, the biting cold hits us, and Tyler wraps his arms around me.
It’s the first time I feel protected by him.
I lean into his warmth, and his hand grips my shoulder tighter.
“The diner isn’t far. They serve the best patty melts,” I tell him.
“You know those are my weakness.” He kisses my temple and something about the gesture feels more affectionate.
“I remember.” I keep my gaze forward as we walk toward the restaurant, trying to keep the flutter in my heart from taking off into a sprint.
A part of me hopes that I’m his weakness too. This isn’t what a fake marriage looks like. The lines from pretend to real are starting to blur—my heart and mind aren’t seeing eye to eye.
We’re seated at a booth when we arrive at the restaurant. I’m pointing at a few items that sound good on the menu when someone interrupts me.
“Indy, is that you?” I look up to see an old classmate of mine.
“Oh my gosh. Hey, Chris. It’s good to see you. What are you up to?”
“Not much. Got a job working at the local paper.” He smiles, his eyes swinging over to Tyler.
“Chris, this is Tyler. Ty, this is Chris. We went to school together and graduated under the same major.”
Ty extends his hand in greeting, then brings his arm over my shoulders.
It’s affectionate, something a boyfriend would do.
His fingers move along my shoulders, and I can’t really concentrate on what Chris is saying.
I’m highly focused on the circular motion Ty’s fingers are making over my sweater.
It’s only then I realize he hasn’t stopped touching me since we left the apartment.
He’s been affectionate at every opportunity.
“How’s everything at Medstone?” Chris pulls me out of my daydream.
“It’s great. Loving every second.” I smile up at him.
“That’s wonderful. It’s definitely better than the late night studying we had to do, huh?” Chris winks.
Tyler’s fingers freeze for a mere second before continuing again, but his face looks unaffected while looking up at our visitor.
“Yeah, well, those papers were always a drag.” I roll my eyes.
“Staying up late these days looks a little more fun now, doesn’t it, Indy?” Tyler says, looking over at me. Yeah, he’s marking his territory.
I bring my hand on his thigh and squeeze.
“Well, it was good seeing you. Tyler, nice meeting you.” Chris scurries off without an answer from us.
I watch Chris walk in the direction of his table, and I’m amazed there isn’t a puff of smoke behind him due to the fact he left so damn fast.
“Was that really necessary?” I ask Ty.
“Well, given the way he was undressing you with his eyes while he took a walk down memory lane—I’d say yes, Indiana, it was.” He brings his lips near my ear and kisses right below my earlobe. I feel a zing with the contact.
“There was never anything between us,” I tell him.
“Doesn’t mean he never wanted there to be.” He keeps dropping kisses on my skin.
“Tyler,” I tell him, but don’t pull myself away.
“Indy,” he taunts.
Our server interrupts this building sexual tension and our lunch is ordered. The rest of the meal continues, no other classmates to make it awkward. Tyler fills me in on everything that he’s been up to regarding his time in the Army since we last spoke—that is, everything he hasn’t written about.
It seems that while most people on his deployment travel back to the States to visit family, he opts for smaller assignments that can be fulfilled.
When that doesn’t happen, he goes on trips to visit parts of the world he’s always wanted to see or, most recently, he’s tagged along with Georgie to see his family.
It’s been a dream of his to travel, and the Army has given him the ability to do so.
After lunch, we fight the frigid winds and sightsee. I take him to Millenium Park. Although we’re bundled up, it’s a clear day in Chicago. The moment we arrive, I see his eyes light up. He’s never been to the city, so we walk up to the Cloud Gate statue and he pulls out his phone.
“Want me to get a picture for you?” I offer.
“Alone?” The look of horror on his face is too damn cute. “Get in with me, Indy.” Without warning, he tugs on my jacket to pull me in.
Immediately, he snaps a photo and I can’t help the way my smile grows. What the photo doesn’t capture is the way my heart is bursting behind my ribcage.
“You two are adorable. Do you want me to get a photo for you?” a woman asks as she’s walking by.
I’m about to say there’s no need, but Tyler cuts me off, “That would be great. My wife and I haven’t been here together before.”
There goes my damn heart again. I swear, he’s going to leave on Monday and take every piece of my fucking heart with him.
The weekend goes on with us fucking on every surface of my place. The man is insatiable and I realize that if I was on the fence regarding falling in love with him before, this weekend solidified it. But in-between these moments of intimacy, we talk.
We laugh, we connect, we bond. The one thing we don’t do is divulge what the hell we plan to do with our marriage.
As much as I planned on being honest about my feelings, I chicken out because I don’t want to break whatever we are doing.
It feels too fucking good—this bubble we form over the weekend, and I need it with Tyler.
Even though he continues being that mysterious, broody guy I knew back when we were kids, he has this other side to him as well.
He smiles and laughs with me. He’s romantic when we go out for a bit and grab food.
He holds my hand and shows me a side of himself that I realize is everything I long for in a partner.
And sure enough, as the weekend carried on, I pushed the nagging feeling creeping up that I should talk to him about all the things I told myself I would say when he and I were face to face.
Because I knew all the little butterflies that were forming inside were going to multiply and take off.
I should have done something about what was going on with the thoughts I was forming because these emotions inside were strong and this was only the start.
Could we be more once he’s stateside? Should we be more? “Tyler—I want to be your real wife, do you want to be my real husband? This is no longer fake for me. I love you.” None of those sentiments come out though and the weekend comes to an end way too quickly.
That’s the thing about being young, though. You’re naive and think you have all the time in the world. Little did I know that a year later, my whole world would look a lot different—with no husband to lean on.