Page 13 of The Other Woman

“Why not? Didn’t you reward hers?”

“Why are you so bent out of shape about your brother’s and my relationship? Even Rachel didn’t act like this.”

“That’s because Rachel, my dear, is too much of a lady. I’m not. I have not reached that setting in my programming yet. But I don’t think I’ll ever be lady enough to accept trifling man poaching troglodytes like you. Bitch, be gone and stop yapping at me.”

“I already told you these are the languages I do not speak. Slut, bitch, twat waffle, and homewrecking hag. You’re not playing happy family with the kids Rachel labored to bring into this world. I’m here all summer. Doug, I’m hungry, or I can call dad to bring me something. He’d really like that.”

She’s freaking mental, and he’s a coward who left to get his phone to order her something to be delivered when I’d made us a perfectly good dinner. Tonight was supposed to be our night. We were supposed to sit down and plan after we’d put the kids to bed together. She’d just ruined all of my well-laid plans.

RACHEL

If I smoked, I’d reach for a cigarette, but I couldn’t feel my lips or anything else on my body anyway, so it was a moot point. I’ve heard the term well-fucked before but never imagined it relating to me.

I couldn’t move for the first few seconds after the third round of sex and seriously thought he had put me out of commission. I didn’t complain when he lifted me from the bed and started walking toward the bathroom; I just sort of curled into his chest and let him do as he pleased.

He washed me in the shower, like leaned me against the wall and washed me from head to toe. All of this was done without a word. I’d realized when we were in bed that he touched me with a sort of reverence that made me feel more special than I had since my first year of dating my ex-husband, even more so.

When we left the shower after he got cleaned up, he sat me in front of the vanity and brush-dried my hair with the blow dryer. I was in awe. Jacob is a big guy. Six-four, perfectly built with muscles in the right places and he looks like a wet dream.

I’m not going to lie; he’s the hottest of all of Doug’s friends, something I didn’t let myself notice or ponder in a disrespectful way because, well, I was married. Now, I was scarily hopeful as I watched him in the mirror as he tended to my hair.

His own black tresses were wet, his chiseled cheekbones pronounced, and those startling ice-blue eyes with specks of diamonds in the irises were intent on his hand as it moved the brush through my hair.

“So, does this mean….” My voice didn’t sound like my own, but I needed to ask.

“What do you think it means, sweetheart?” I shrugged my shoulders because I was too afraid to guess.

“I told you; I wanted you the first time I laid eyes on you. I’m taking it slow, moving at whatever pace you set for now because I know you’re still raw. If sex was all I wanted from you, no scratch that. I want all of you. I want you, your kids with him, our kids, and the rest of your life.”

His eyes met mine in the mirror, and I think I forgot how to breathe. “Breathe, baby, it’s going to be fine. I’m ready and willing to put anything in place that will make you feel safe. Just tell me what that is, and it’s yours.”

“I don’t know what I need.”

“Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.” He kissed the top of my head and continued brushing, and I felt so safe in that moment it was uncanny. “Now get up and get dressed. I’m going to take you dancing.”

“What?”

“It’s been a while since you’ve been anywhere, hasn’t it?”

“Well, yes.”

“The kids are gone; we know they’re safe because Susy’s on the job.”

“But I haven’t been dancing in years.”

“So? I have to go home and get a change of clothes. Be ready when I get back.”

I combed through my closet after he left and was at a loss. It had been forever since I went out anywhere that required getting dressed up except maybe for a wedding here and there. I found a sexy red dress that I don’t even remember buying way back in the closet and held it up to myself in the mirror.

He'd brushed my platinum blonde hair to a shine, and it did something that made the color pop even more. I was dressed and ready when he returned half an hour later, and we headed out after I called to check in with Susy. I told her where we were going after asking him for the name of the club just in case of an emergency and tried not to worry too much about being a mother of two going out on the town.

DOUG

“What was that about?”

“Oh, nothing; Rachel was just checking in on the guys. Say, since I’m here, why don’t you two go out on the town? I hear there’s this new club over on Hampton.” I gave her a skeptical look because this was a big change from the way she’d been acting all night.

Wendy, on the other hand, was willing to jump on the idea, and I have to admit to wanting to get out of the house. It was the perfect time to be heading out for a night on the town. Besides, what was I going to do? Spend another boring Saturday night at home watching TV? Isn’t that why I got divorced in the first place?

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