Page 16 of The Homewrecker's Fate

“Shit. Sorry. I didn’t realize you were already here.” He held out his hand for me to shake. “I’m Braxton, but everyone calls me Brax.”

“Aviva, but you can call me Avi,” I stated as we shook hands. His grip was warm and comforting. He obviously knew who I was and why I was there. Oddly enough, it made me chuckle because Mel and I very clearly had the same taste in men, considering we shared her husband, and I could see why she might fall into her friend’s bed to try to get over her heartache.

“Sorry,” I muttered.

Mel’s eyes twinkled with mirth. “It’s okay, I was probably thinking the same thing.”

“Yeah?” I asked, not really believing her.

“We seem to have similar taste,” she said quietly as we followed her best friend back toward the kitchen. I ended up laughing and she joined me.

“We really were thinking the same thing.”

“I told you. We are going to be as close as sisters. I feel a deep kinship with you. Maybe it’s trauma bonding or whatever, but I think we should just roll with it, especially since we’ll be in each other’s lives from here on out for our kids’ sake.

“I still don’t know how you’re so amazing.”

“Did you think I’d lure you here to poison you?” She almost cackled as she addressed my biggest fears.

“Honestly? Had I not talked to you before, I would have wondered if that was what you wanted to do, but no I wasn’t worried about that. I’m just still blown away by the fact that you don’t hate me.”

“You don’t hate me, do you?”

“God, no. How could I? It wasn’t your fault that your husband did what he did.”

“It wasn’t your fault that he lied to you, either.” She agreed.

“Fair enough.”

Chapter 9

Braxton Halford was a gorgeous man. I had a hard time taking my eyes off him as he flitted around Mel’s kitchen like he belonged there. My new bestie caught me far too many times and nudged me with an elbow before laughing at my expense.

“You have a little,” she pointed to my mouth and then mimed wiping drool from her own.

“Oh, hush!”

His light brown hair was neatly trimmed, though longer on top than Rich’s had been. He sported a five o-clock shadow on his jaw, like it was his job to almost grow a beard, but not quite. Then there was that body. Oh, my hormones! They were running in overdrive as my imagination ran wild about what it would be like if he wrapped his arms around me. If his powerful body was draped over mine…”

He winked.

“Shit,” I huffed quietly as Mel laughed again.

A cocky smirk danced across his face as he turned back to chopping something. I couldn’t even tell what the man was so busy making because I’d been more attentive of his form than what he was handling. I supposed it was more like I’d been lost in a daydream about him handling me.

“You’re too much,” Mel teased as she stood up and went to grab some more lemon water from the fridge.

“I swear to you, pregnancy is doing funny things to my brain,” I insisted.

“Yeah, it’s called hormones.” She waggled her brows at me while filling our glasses. “The horny kind,” she whispered.

I couldn’t help it. I threw my head back and laughed. She wasn’t wrong and dammit there was no denying what had me all flushed and panting after her best friend who, oddly enough, might just be her baby daddy.

“I love that,” Brax said as he turned to face us.

“What exactly?”

“That you two can laugh and joke with one another despite the messy situation.” He grinned at us before turning back to what he was doing.

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