CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO #2
I gasped out, holding onto him tightly, as he pumped into me harder and harder.
“Oh God,” he moaned. “Fuck, Blair. Your pussy is home to me.” He proceeding to fuck me, hard and fast, until we both came, gasping and trying not to advertise what was going on behind the screen.
He buried his face in my neck and breathed me in.
“Fuck, baby. You smell so good.” He pulled out regretfully and zipped himself up.
He helped me straighten my dress and smooth my hair so I didn’t have a freshly fucked look about me.
I was about to complain and ask for one more round, when a familiar voice made me tense up.
“What in the world are you doing here?”
Scott and I froze. We were totally busted. Diane Crenshaw had found us and figured out what was happening. Cringing, with my face the color of a tomato, I started to come out from behind the screen.
Then a man’s voice answered her. “I think you know what I’m doing, my good girl.”
It was low, sexy, and had a drawl to it. It most certainly was not her husband, Jack.
Scott and I looked at each other, eyes wide.
“Ellis, you can’t be here and you know it.” She sounded both distraught that he was here and helpless to refuse him.
“I’m tired of waiting. When are you going to admit to yourself that you’re not half as good as you make yourself out to be? Huh? When are you going to let us be out in the open.”
“I’m married,” she hissed. “I’m not leaving my husband.”
He sighed. “Why the fuck not? You don’t love him.”
“I do love him,” she protested, but it sounded weak.
“Not the same way you love me,” the man named Ellis said.
Ellis… Ellis… where had I heard that name before?
And then it clicked into place and I gasped loud enough I was afraid they would hear me.
It was Ellis Malloy. He was the lawyer from Halliwell I’d decided to use as my divorce attorney before I wrecked the car.
I’d never even had the opportunity to meet him.
But I sure as hell remembered Diane being very weird when his name came up. Now I knew why. She was having an affair.
I couldn’t think of one person in Indigo Falls I thought would be less likely to have an affair than Diane Crenshaw. She had done everything perfectly her entire life. Or so I’d thought.
Scott and I were making faces at each other, growing more and more shocked by the second.
I couldn’t stand it any longer and peeked around the screen.
Damn. Ellis Malloy was hot, even if he was old enough to be my father.
He towered over her and was well built. He had bright blue eyes and graying hair that might have been blond at one time.
It made him look more distinguished. A scruffy look and a strong, sharp jaw completed his look. He was sexy.
Of course, Jack was very handsome too, but I couldn’t see it. He’d just been Carrie’s dad to me my entire life. He felt like more of a father than my dad ever had.
So, how did I feel about Diane cheating on him? I wasn’t sure. I glanced around the screen again and saw her face. She looked tormented. She wanted him. She loved him. That much was obvious, but so was the guilt on her face.
“Ellis, I can’t keep doing this,” she insisted while he planted kisses up and down her neck.
Her body said things her mouth wasn’t, though.
She wasn’t pulling away. If anything, she was getting closer.
The chemistry between them was palpable, and I had to admit there was none of that between Jack and Diane.
“Come here, love, I found a spot for us.”
“But what are you even doing here,” she asked as they disappeared into the hedge maze that the gardening club kept up.
“I love you. I want you. I need you,” he crooned as he pulled her along with him. Soon, their voices were lost, and I had to say I was glad.
I did not want to listen to my best friend’s mom have sex with a secret lover.
I shuddered. Not even a little bit.
Scott and I waited a couple more seconds to make sure they were gone, then hurried back inside.
“Do we tell Carrie?” Scott looked at me with worried eyes.
“I’m… not sure.” On the one hand, I couldn’t imagine keeping a secret like that from my best friend.
She was like a sister to me. Oh, a lot of people said that, but I really meant it.
I might love Scott, but Carrie was my person.
My ride or die. How could I hide this from her? “I think I have to,” I said.
Scott looked wary. “God, this sucks. Poor Jack.”
“Yeah,” I said, closing my eyes against the pain of it. Then I opened them. “But did you feel the chemistry between them?”
He nodded. “It was insane.”
I looked around for Jack and finally saw him dancing with a beautiful dark-haired woman I vaguely recognized. It was Natalie’s aunt Sabine. She’d moved to Indigo Falls a few years ago from Paris. They looked… really good together.
My God. What was happening with Jack and Diane Crenshaw? Did I even want to know the answer to that question?
I bit my lip, and Scott held me by the shoulders. “Let’s table this for tonight. I’ve got a lot more planned.”
“More? Are you kidding? This has been perfect. Well, except for catching Diane cheating on Jack.”
“Truth,” he agreed. “But you have to let it go for now, baby. Tonight’s about you.”
“Us,” I insisted.
“Come on, Blair. I think you know this is part anniversary party, part celebration of you making it through this horrible year, part birthday party.”
“Maybe,” I allowed.
He pulled me along, before letting go of my hand. He kissed my cheek and said, “Find a good spot where you can see the stage.”
“Okay,” I said slowly.
I found a place to sit with the perfect view.
Scott walked up on stage, looking like a movie star in his tux, with his dark eyes and hair. He was gorgeous. I sighed a little, happy to know he was mine.
“Hello, everyone. I hope you’re having a great time. I just wanted to say a few words before we move on to the next portion of our night.” He winked.
I frowned and looked around. Everyone was grinning, seeming to know what he was talking about. But I didn’t. I’d have to wait to find out, though, because his speech continued.
“This has been the strangest year of my life. By far. Almost losing the love of my life had a profound impact on me. It taught me that I needed to love her better, that I needed to work on myself in order to deserve her.”
He stopped for some light applause, and I wondered if he was embarrassed that people were agreeing with him. But he didn’t seem to be.
“Charlotte Lucas, a character from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, famously said, ‘Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.’ She wasn’t wrong.
There are a lot of marriages that are based on friendship or lust, love or comfort.
They run the gamut. I’ve known couples who got married because they’d been together so long it seemed like the next step.
I’ve also known couples who got hitched in Vegas due to drunken desire.
Some of those lasted, some of them didn’t.
“I’m standing before you to say that I’ve always loved my wife.
I won’t say much about the details because my six children are having to listen to this.
But I will say that it’s never too late to save a marriage.
At least not ours. Before Blair’s wreck, I knew I loved her.
But after her wreck I learned the million tiny things that made her such a beautiful person.
And I fell even harder for her than I ever had before. ”
I tried to hold tears back as I listened to him detail the trials and tribulations of the last year, combined with the moments of pure joy. How he learned to appreciate what he’d had more fully, and to take advantage of getting to know his children. It was a beautiful speech.
I wiped tears away as he seemed to be coming to close.
“In short, may you all go out there and love everyone as if every day could be your last. Because you never know when it could be. I’m so damn lucky to have another chance with you, Blair, and I can’t wait to start this next phase of our lives together.”
There was clapping and cheers, and then, to my surprise, my children walked up on stage with him. Sutton stepped forward.
“I think I speak for all six of us kids when I say, ew. Dad, you didn’t have to go into so much detail,” she rolled her eyes with a smile while everyone laughed.
“But, as the oldest child, I get to have the honor of presenting our mom with a family gift. One that she’s always dreamed about.
One that Dad learned about when we made him watch three different adaptations of Pride and Prejudice on a rainy weekend while Mom was still in the hospital. ”
Sutton stepped back and let Sophia come up to the mic.
“Mom has always had a romantic soul. You might have guessed by now that Pride and Prejudice is her favorite book, and that she believes Jane Austen was a true genius. Sutton and I couldn’t agree more, and Sammy likes to watch it, too, except for the ‘mushy’ parts.
” She did air quotes, and everyone laughed. Sammy laughed loudest.