Page 123 of Ella Gets the D
What’s best is to leave me alone and let me live my life howIsee fit.
I check her shoulder. “Easy for you to say. Our parents don’t monitor your love interests.”
She folds over in a roar of laughter that lasts so long, I question if her sanity ran out with Camila. “I needed that.” The tip of her finger catches a stray tear swaying from her cheek. “Me marrying an artist brought zero pride to the family. You engaged to the daughter of the CEO of one of the largest health systems in the region?” Her whistle is slow. “You’re the golden child.”
I roll my eyes and pull my blazer off the coat rack. “Stop.” Our parents never stop asking when I’ll marry and give them another grandchild. “They love Joseph.”
Morgan and Joseph had every odd stacked against them, but they found a way to make it work until it didn’t. Pressure from our parents was never a factor, go figure. They had their doubts about Morgan marrying an artist, but she’d already shut down their syllabus for her life, studying art history instead of lawor medicine and marrying a man she’d been dating for a few months, a man she met on a two-week trip to New Orleans.
I always looked up to my big sister because of it. Still do.
“How is he?”
The edge of her mouth tips up. “Good. Really good. We’re working with a couple’s counselor and a family therapist to get us ready to live under the same roof again. Come on, Goldie.” She wipes another tear with a shy smile. “I’m buying lunch.”
The top of the wooden fence catches on my jeans, propelling me head-first over it and into a knee-high stack of chopped wood left over from winter. I groan at the pain cutting through my face as the kitchen light turns on.
Ella flies out the house in silent fury, wearing an oversized t-shirt and holding a rolling pin raised to the night sky. Her sprint comes to a screeching halt when she trips over Haile’s jiujitsu dummy on the grass and lands in a hard somersault.
It’s pitch-black out here, but I’ve never been more grateful that Chad and his wife in the townhouse behind us are still in Florida. With the house on the other side for sale, no one should hear or see us acting a mess in the dark.
“Are you okay, baby?” I wince and roll onto my side.
“Julian?” Ella’s confused whisper is rough after busting her ass. “What are you doing out here?”
“I came to see you.”
“Did you climb over the fence?”
I stand to brush the dirt off my jacket and go to help her off the grass. “I didn’t want to come around front in case anyone followed me.”
Her snort calls me an idiot. “So you hopped afence?”
“Seemed like a good idea at the time.” In hindsight, it was dumb. Me and fences don’t exactly have a good track record.
Her laughter ripples through the mild night that promises warmer days, and she pulls me in by the shirt. “I missed you, Julie. So much.” Our kiss sings through my veins, a reminder that the intimacy we’ve shared was pulled apart by exes who can’t let go. Her nose brushes mine. “I hate being away from you.”
“Me too, baby,” I whisper.
She hooks a thumb at the house casting a glow over the backyard. “I was going to run a bath, if you want to join.”More than you know. “The kids are away for the weekend.”
My fingers slide over her bare arms. “I want to, but I can’t stay. Otis is a few blocks away. I’m leaving, sweetheart.” I take her face into my palms, stroking soft flesh I haven’t caressed in weeks, and swallow the stab of guilt. “You, Jackson, and Haile are my priority. I can’t protect you here, not with your ex and mine conspiring together. I can keep the blogs away if I go back to London, at least until your divorce is final.”
Leaving won’t stop Charles from hurting Ella. Wewilldeal with him in court, but I won’t jeopardize her freedom. Not when she’s so close.
Even if it hurts like hell to say goodbye.
Her sigh drops her lashes to hide hurt she fights to conceal. She hesitates but eventually nods. “It’s fine. It has to be this way, right? I’m just…” Another sigh. “I’m tired, Julie.” Her head tips back to the moonlight clearing from a formation of clouds. A tear streaks down her cheek. “I’m tired.”
I lift her trembling body to mine, trying to absorb the despair that’s been weighing on her for far too long. Her legs wrap around me, and she buries her face in the crook of my neck and sobs. I hold her closer. She bears the cross of every emotion byherself, and I’ll always remind her they’re no longer hers to carry alone. Her vulnerability is a gift for me to cherish and keep safe.
She lifts her head, unable to tear her eyes from mine. I kiss the tip of her nose, which triggers a response of her own. Ella smothers my lips with a fiery possession soaked in passion and anger. Her tongue captures mine on a moan, savoring every moment—for the time we’ve had together, and the time we have to spend apart.
My legs move on their own to the garage, which took me moving out for the woman in my arms to finally use. With her anchored to me, I reach around, twist the brass knob, and step into the small structure with light gray board and batten walls. The new organizing system stands proud, a project I helped her finish a month ago so she could store the kids’ bikes and seasonal toys.
Maintaining our kiss is as challenging as it is rewarding for the simple fact I have my heart in my hands and it’s blocking my view. I check the temperature of her SUV’s hood before sitting her on top. My hands explore the perfection of her honey-tan thighs and glide up under her New Edition T-shirt.
Ella’s lashes flutter closed when my thumbs drag across the base of her breasts. She leans back and bites her lip, dropping her gaze to my hand as it trails back down her belly to the heat between her legs. She arches when my fingers delve into her pussy and bucks her hips to match my speed.
