Page 52 of His Wild Attraction

I never cared one way or another about what Gary did. The man was more dictator than husband.

But I cared with Andres.

I didn’t want to be kept in the dark or lied to. Even if only by omission.

Fuck that.

I wasn’t old Ellie anymore.

No more boring pastels and pleasant expressions. No more “sure, whatever you like” to what someone asked of me.

I was learning to be strong again. To trust myself. And if that meant confronting my new husband with this, then I would.

Andres wasn’t Gary.

He wouldn’t hurt me.

I knew that as surely as I knew the sky was blue.

I trusted him.

I just had to talk to him, and everything would be okay.

I hope.

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.

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