Page 15 of Compelling Urges

“I’m Blair Hendrix, of course,” as if everyone should already know that, and Ivy’s name was of no consequence. “Perhaps he told you I was on my way.” She regarded Ivy’s disheveled appearance and said, “It was nice of him to see that the house was cleaned before my arrival at least.” Blair swept by Ivy in a miasma of cloying perfume that made Ivy’s eyes itch. She recognized the smell at once; she had noticed it hanging on one of Bodhi’s suits when they’d helped him move into the master closet. At the time, Ivy had chalked it up to a night out in a pub or something—surely nothing of importance.

“Boy, was I wrong,” she muttered to herself. Ivy was sure she was going to puke any moment. She watched Blair’s critical gaze take in everything around her.

Slowly, Ivy closed the door, leaving Blair’s luggage on the porch. If Bodhi was married to this weirdo—albeit a beautiful one—and he wanted her there,hecould bring in the bags himself. Ivy wanted no part of it. Mortified at the thought of his possible deceit, Ivy’s eyes prickled with unshed tears. She wouldnotlet them fall. She’d already spent too many hours sobbing over that man, and just when things were rounding the corner toward looking good, Blair… hisfucking wifeshows up? It was impossible to comprehend the duplicity of the man. He’d probably been laughing at Cooper and her all along for their gullibility, when all he’d wanted was some dirty, kinky fun.

After eyeing the couch, apparently looking for signs of dust, Blair sat down and primly crossed her ankles. She looked questioningly at Ivy and demanded, “Well? Aren’t you going to offer me some refreshment? A cold drink? Coffee?”

Giving Blair her best no-fucks-given look, Ivy answered, “Nope. I hadn’t planned on it.”

Spluttering a small ladylike gasp, Blair asked, “Aren’t you worried you’ll lose your job for insubordination? That means…”

“I fucking well understand the word, lady. And I’m not the least bit worried about losing my job since I run my own business.”

Wrinkling her nose slightly, Blair cooed, “Oh! You have your own cleaning service? How enterprising of you.”

“No, I don’t own a cleaning service, though if I did, it’s good, honest work and nothing to be demeaned. I live here. Permanently!” Ivy stomped out of the room and was dumping out the bucket of mop water when the back door opened, and Cooper burst in all full of smiles.

“Wait ‘til you see Bodhi’s new car. It’s amazing!” Then he saw her stormy look and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Stomping around for a second or two, she plonked the mop and bucket back into the broom closet and then turned, hands on hips, to tell him angrily, “Bodhi has aguest. She’s in the living room—or she was when I left her. She’s probably moved in by now. She says she’s Bodhi’swife.”

Cooper’s face blanched. “Well shit,” he whispered. “Are you sure?”

Ignoring his question, she asked, “Where is Bodhi?”

“He was right behind me, so unless he wanted to go show his new car off to someone else, he ought to be…” Just then, they heard the telltale sign of a car door closing, and they both glowered at the back door, waiting for it to open.

When it did open, Bodhi swept in with a goofy grin, exclaiming, “Man! It drives like a dream! Oh, Ivy, I’m glad you’re right here. Come out and let me show it to you.” When Ivy didn’t move or stop glaring at him, he got a questioning look on his face. “What’s wrong?” Then he looked at Cooper and saw a similar frown on his buddy’s face, he asked, “What am I missing here? Is someone mad about losing their space in the garage or something? If so, we can add onto it and make it a three-car one. C’mon out and take a look, please?” Brightening, he added, “You’re going to love this, Ivy!”

Finally, Ivy broke her silence and asked, “Wouldn’t you rather show it to yourwifefirst? She’s waiting for you in the next room.”

Bodhi’s face fell. “Oh. Fuck. No.”

Chapter 14

Bodhi felt himself break out into a nervous sweat, and before he could say anything else, his worst nightmare walked through the kitchen door with her arms outstretched toward him. She had a fake-as-sin smile plastered on her perfect face, and she stalked toward him like a lioness with her prey within grasp.

“Bodhi, darling,” she cooed. “It’s good to be here finally. I’ve missed you so much, sweetheart.” She offered him her cheek to kiss, but Bodhi stepped backward until he was plastered against the back door. She approached closer, and he shrank from her as she leaned in for a kiss. He wrenched his head to the side so she couldn’t collide with his lips. Ignoring his slight, she plowed on in a well-modulated and still pissed-off sounding voice, “You really ought to be hiring better help. This messy little woman has been rather insulting to me. And she claims she’s a live-in? Really, darling, you need to be more discriminating.”

Bodhi carefully took Blair’s arms and moved her away from him and then snatched his hands back as if touching her was repugnant. “How did you find me?” he asked.

Ivy and Cooper looked at each other. This wasn’t at all what they’d expected, and their eyes were full of questions.

Cooper had an immediate flash of hope that Blair would take Bodhi away from Ivy—but that meant he’d also be leavinghim, and that was intolerable, so Cooper squelched that traitorous idea.

Ignoring Bodhi’s obvious frustration with her, Blair asked smoothly, “What do you mean, darling? It was all in the papers you left for me.”

“I didn’t leave you any papers,” Bodhi growled. “And I’ve blocked you from my phone.”

Ivy sucked in her breath. She knew how painful it was to have Bodhi up and leave without much of an explanation, but to hiswife? Unreal. He hadn’t learned anything from past mistakes. Instead, he was pulling the same shit again on another woman. He must be the monster she thought he was after all. Her stomach began to ache with the memory of her own emotional pain caused by the heartless cad.

Bodhi looked as if the lights suddenly came on in his head and he asked, “You somehow managed to get into my apartment again, didn’t you?” His voice grew in volume. “What did you do, Blair, blow the doorman?”

“Bodhi! Was that called for?” gasped Ivy. She may have taken an instant dislike to Blair, but still…

Bodhi swung around and glared at Ivy. “Yes. It was called for. You don’t know her like I do.” Then he jerked his face back to Blair and demanded, “What is this crap about being mywife? Who in their right mind would believe that?”

Ivy breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed Cooper’s hand. Maybe things weren’t as bad as they looked—just weird. Really, really weird.

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