Page 229 of Falling for the Wife

I knew he wasn’t Reiss, although my heart didn’t seem to cooperate with that pertinent fact. My eyes had seen Reiss, and that was what my heart was acknowledging, nothing more.

Coming back to my nicely shaken up reality, the soft sound of my phone made me forget about Craig and Reiss altogether. While I reached for it, I saw my husband was calling me. I sat myself down, leaning back against the softly feathered cushions as I closed my eyes and pretended to sound normal.

“Hello.”

“Did I get you at a wrong time? You sound knackered,” Ashton mused, sounding rather happy, the exact opposite to the stressed out man I had to live with for months on end due to his newly appointed position in the company.

“I actually just got in. I was out in Park Lane with Allie and her new bloke.” Guilt ate at me as I contemplated if I should mention how embarrassingly my night had ended. We had been married for almost nine years; he knew about those random acts I did. Usually, I was quite honest and open with him. However, for some odd reason, I wanted to keep Craig Chambers hidden for the time being. There were a lot of questions and unresolved things I needed to ponder through before I decided to tell him about this uncanny chance.

“How are things at the office? You sound well.”

The stress from his promotion had him on pins and needles to the point of being beyond neurotic at times. For all the years I had known him, never had I seen him in such a state. Try though I did to soothe his ego and boost his confidence and esteem, the gesture always backfired on me. I became his walking and breathing rubbish bin, the person he could freely and openly unload on about all of his frustrations from work. Ranging from people he didn’t like working with, business transactions that were dealt with in a wrong fashion, company decisions that weren’t approached with care and ended with a lot of baffled and aggravated employees—I heard it all. Being a wife already gave him the right to “bitch” about his work life; however, what ticked me off more than anything was the damning man wouldn’t let me give an opinion about it.

Whatever he had just unburdened on me, he solely expected me to simply nod and forget about it, which wasn’t always the case with me. I liked voicing my opinions, and at times, he didn’t appreciate it, most especially when I pointed out what his role was and how he’d become at fault in the process. This resulted in arguments and tiny, befuddled fights that mostly ended up with him begging for my forgiveness and showering me with his usual love and attention. When Ashton got into this love mode, it was quite impossible not to thaw and forgive his dour attitude.

Tonight, he had simply called without the intentions of venting out anything at all. He only wanted to make sure I was quite all right while also mildly inquiring when I would be back in New York since he was getting lonely without me in the three-bedroom apartment we had in the Upper East Side.

I admit, talking to him made my tension ease a bit. I suppose there was something in his voice that calmed me. After all, it was only him who could soothe me after I confessed what I had done with Reiss and how awful I was to him after I rejected his proposal and what had transpired after the incident, although I still wasn’t certain when I would tell him about all that.

Seeing Reiss’s doppelganger had brought intense emotions out of me. It felt like I had fallen into a darkened cave where I was attacked by thousands of bats all at the same time, leaving me breathless, defenseless, mindless, all at a speedy rate. In seconds, it felt like I was in a time warp, transported back to the summer that had changed my life.

The summer that had taught me the grandest lesson of all …

And that was to never underestimate the power of love. It yielded such incapacitating power it could easily blind even the strongest and bravest kind amongst us beings. We were its muse and its victims, gambling our fates as it chose its next mark.

I was one of the lucky lot chosen to be doomed by it.

CHAPTER76

Craig

“Have the car ready,will you, Emily?” I directed my PA through the speakerphone, readying to leave the office.

I was about to close the lid on my laptop when Emily’s clipped, refined voice came through the device. “There’s an Ava Westwood who refuses to leave, even though I insisted she make an appointment before being allowed to see you, Mr. Chambers.”

Bollocks! “Why the hell did I have to give her my name,” I hissed, knowing well enough that the last thing I needed was to be polite at the end of this strenuous day. If Ava could surpass Emily’s glacial glares and dismissive attitude, it meant that she truly wasn’t going anywhere. Emily was a secret weapon, most handy when I didn’t want to deal with uninvited visitors.

Resigned, I thought it better I deal with this right this moment. “Send her in, and you can take your leave right after. That will be all. Thank you, Emily.”

“Thank you. Have a lovely evening, Mr. Chambers.” She sounded appreciative. I was almost certain she was relieved I didn’t ask it of her to stay in the office while I took care of this unexpected visitor.

Reaching to squeeze the back of my neck, I closed my eyes for a brief moment to release some tension. I listened to the sound of high heels echoing down the hall before I heard the soft opening and closing click of the door then silence.

“Ava,” I rasped out, unsure if I should open my eyes and admire her beauty or if I should keep them shut so she’d know she wasn’t welcome and couldn’t stay for long. In the end, my eyes opened when I heard her sweet voice.

“Sorry. I’m not usually a bugger, but I had this random urge to make you something. It’s my way of apologizing,” she nervously said as she bit her lip and shifted her feet, gazing upon me with an expectant look. She held a gift box with a black bow, lifting it a little to indicate the purpose of her visit.

There was something about her tone that made me thaw a little. Her random gesture touched something in me. When was the last time anyone had gone out of their way to do anything for me, may it be simple or complicated? And she had done it without expecting anything in return. Lovers, girlfriends—they all did things to accomplish something. Most times, those “gifts” showed up in the credit card bill at the end of the month.

I hadn’t thought I’d be truly touched by this, yet I was.

With my curiosity piqued, I gestured her forwards to see what she meant by ‘made something.’

A shy smile played about her lips as she came forward, heading to where I stood frozen, watching her every move. She wore a sleeveless, fitted, powder blue dress with pearls on her ears. She appeared demure, beguiling, and completely irresistible.

“Here.” She shyly handed me the box, seeming quite pleased with herself. “I hope you like chocolate.”

I’d devour anything you want me to eat, my wicked mind enlightened me just as my cock surged forth, clearly thinking of a different agenda, with chocolate icing and a lot of nipping and sucking.

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