Page 6 of A Wife by Christmas

She lived right in the corner of one of the quietest streets. Cathy loved her home. Four bedrooms with a garage she had converted to a film studio. She never liked to put her car into a garage anyway.

Most of the street residents had put their Christmas decorations up after Thanksgiving. She had spent a good, long weekend getting her house into the spirit of Christmas. She also loved doing the same for Halloween. One of the highlights of the year for her was handing out candy to the kids. Each year, she changed her costume to keep them guessing.

One day, she hoped to have a family of her own, but until then, she was the single lady at the bottom of the street. She was sure some of the wives looked at her with pity.

Stepping into her home, she closed the door and leaned against it. Last night had been so surreal to her.

Closing her eyes, it was like she could still feel his hands on her body, touching her, exploring her. No one had ever touched her like Brick had. It was like he knew her body better than even she knew her own body.

She wanted him again, but that was not going to happen. Not unless he wanted to. Cathy was not going to be a stalker, the woman he couldn’t shake the following day.

Stepping away from the door, the best she could do was forget about last night and focus on work. Work was safe … comforting. Work didn’t reject her.

****

Brick never chased after a woman. He never had to worry about a woman sticking around. He was used to them holding onto his every word. He had to be the one to push her away in the morning. This morning, after enjoying a night of amazing sex, the woman of his dreams was nowhere to be found. At first, he doubted if he even lived it, but the scent of Cathy was still heavy in the room, and he wasn’t going to forget that anytime soon.

Then, on the way down to the main clubhouse, Rebel held his daughter while Willow was serving up breakfast. He didn’t know who to ask first, but seeing as Willow kept glancing toward him, he figured she knew something.

Cathy had snuck out. That wasn’t exactly news to him. Waking up alone with just the scent of her told him she’d snuck out. She’d also said Willow could tell him where she lived, in case he wanted to find her.

He didn’t understand why she didn’t wake him up. They could have enjoyed round four, or was it five? He lost count of the number of orgasms he had last night.

Now, as he pulled into her very nice neighborhood, he drove down to the bottom corner, and he knew it was her house. There were a few lights and some decorations, and her house was nice. It was a house designed for a family.

Parking next to what he assumed was her car, he turned off the ignition and made his way toward her front door. He was pretty sure there were several neighbors twitching their curtainsright about now. He didn’t give a fuck what they thought. Let them think whatever shit they wanted to. The only person he was interested in was Cathy.

And she opened the door seconds later. “Brick,” she said.

One half of her face was covered in makeup. She looked strange, but then he’d seen a lot of even stranger shit, so it didn’t bother him.

“You snuck out,” he said.

“And you came here.” There was a smile on her lips.

“You want to tell me what is going on?” he asked, pointing at her face.

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I thought you were the delivery guy. I had a notification that I’ve got a package coming.” She stepped out of the way and allowed him to enter. “It’s not weird or anything. Come on, I’ll show you.”

Brick frowned but followed her through to what he assumed would be her garage, only it was like he’d stepped inside a beauty supply store or a salon, or both. He’d been to places with cameras set up, but most of the time, porn was being filmed. Not this woman. She had a desk, a couple of ring lights, and there was an assortment of products on her.

“I was filming a video for my vlog. I do beauty.” She stepped up to the table, and he watched as she took a bottle, spritzed some on a cloth, and then wiped her face, removing the makeup.

Cathy turned toward him with a smile.

“Willow told you where I lived?” Cathy asked.

“I didn’t follow you. As soon as I realized you had left, I went looking. Why did you sneak out?” he asked.

“I, uh, I’ve never done the morning-after thing. I’m not exactly sure what the protocol is. I didn’t want to worry you and make you think I was some clingy woman.”

The irony was that Brick wanted her to cling. He wantedher to stick with him, to hang onto him. And yet, the first woman he wanted that from was happy to give him space, to not seem too desperate. Did Cathy even realize she was the perfect woman?

“Do you enjoy doing this?” he asked, taking an interest in what she did.

Cathy frowned and then nodded. “Yeah, I do. I mean, it’s a lot of fun and I do enjoy it.” She pressed her lips together. “I started doing this in high school.” She walked toward the far side of the room and pointed at a shelf full of notebooks. “I earned pocket money, and I’d buy the latest item, practice with it, and review it. It took me until I was eighteen to set up my channel and have the guts to start filming. I’m not going to lie, my first video is very cringey and I was so nervous. I also think I was out of breath, but I got through it, and I’ve been doing it ever since. I also write for a few beauty websites and magazines.” She shrugged. “This is what I do.”

“I didn’t want you to leave,” he said.

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