Page 24 of Bad Decisions

“Sorry.” She dropped her gaze to the floor, seeming to fold in on herself.

“Stop apologizing.” I pinched between my eyes. How had things gotten so fucked so fast? I didn’t know, and truthfully, I didn’t know if I cared at the moment. “I was grabbing a drink. You want one?”

Pushing past her, I moved to the liquor cabinet at the back of the kitchen, the one I’d fought with Meredith over. I hardly drank before our marriage started going to shit, but she liked cocktails most nights. She wanted the liquor cabinet, I thought it was a waste of space and money.

Now look at me.

I kept it well stocked, mostly with whiskey and nothing else, but still…it had been such a point of contention with us that I’d contemplated throwing it out on more than one occasion. Then the fighting began, and drinking seemed to be the only thing that helped either of us.

We were such a fucked pair from the beginning, but with every passing day it felt like things just got worse.

Pushing thoughts of her away, I grabbed a bottle and two glasses. I filled them with ice, then liquor, and turned. I’d felt Reagan’s gaze on me the entire time, but had chosen to ignore her. Her eyes were wide, but wary, as she watched me.

“Are you okay?” she asked, accepting the glass I offered.

“Great.” I clinked my glass against hers before taking a giant gulp, finishing my drink in one go. Grabbing the bottle by the neck, I began to refill the glass.

“Seems like it.” She took a small sip, wincing slightly.

“You don’t have to drink it.” My lips twitched as she tried to take another sip.

“I prefer wine,” she muttered, setting the glass on the counter, but keeping her hand wrapped around it.

“Noted.”

We stared at each other, tension growing thick in the air. What the fuck had happened tonight? Dinner had been uneventful. It had been normal, like the weird moment in her room hadn’t happened.

But it had, and it seemed like the only thing I could think about as I stared at her.

“Emma’s asleep?” she asked, and I nodded as I took another drink. I set the glass on the counter and leaned my hip against it, folding my arms. Her eyes dropped, and I could’ve sworn her eyes became glazed as she stared at my chest. I didn’t mean to flex, but I did, and wasn’t at all sorry about it. I pushed my shoulders back, standing at my full height.

Her eyes slowly lifted back to mine as she licked her lips. I was helpless to do anything but watch, dazed, as she sucked her lip between her teeth. Her lips looked so soft. So pink. What would she taste like? I imagined sweet like pineapple and smoky like the whiskey she’d just sipped.

My cock began to harden, and I realized I wasn’t staring at her mouth anymore. My gaze had moved down to her damp shirt, to the way her hard nipples pressed against the dark fabric. Her lithe, toned body shifted, but she didn’t do anything to hide herself.

I dropped my arms, clutching my hands together in front of my dick to hide the hardness. She glanced down, and even in the dimness, I could clearly see her cheeks stain red.

“You should go to bed,” I rasped. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she stared at me. She barely dipped her chin in a nod. “I leave for work around eight, but you and Em can sleep in.”

“I’ll make your breakfast,” she blurted, her voice breathy. “I wake up early, so—”

“I don’t eat breakfast.” Her mouth clamped shut, and her shoulders fell, disappointment filling her face. Fuck. “But if you make something, I’ll take it with me.”

I wasn’t used to anyone trying to take care of me. Even if it was just making breakfast, I wasn’t used to it. Meredith had been too busy to be that type of woman, and it hadn’t bothered me. We were both independent. We lived our lives, did our own things, and came together at night.

Maybe that’s why our marriage had fallen apart. Maybe if we’d tried to intertwine our lives, we would’ve been in a better place. Maybe then we wouldn’t have become strangers to each other.

“Do you come home for lunch, too?” Reagan asked, pulling me from my thoughts. “So I can make sure Emma is up so you can see her before you have to go back.”

My throat tightened.

“Not usually,” I murmured. “But I can try.” She gave me another tentative smile. Why had I never realized how sweet Reagan was before?

I always knew she was kind. But I’d never paid much attention to her. She’d still been a kid when Meredith and I got together, then, after she graduated high school, she immediately left to travel around with Lily, despite Cora’s objections.

We saw each other on holidays or the occasional times she came home. We texted sometimes, usually when she wanted to know what gifts to get Meredith or Emma for birthdays.

But I hadn’t realized she wassweet. I’d obviously always known she was pretty—just, objectively, she was an attractive woman. But somewhere along the way, she’d gone from a pretty girl who was a bit awkward to a gorgeous woman with a soft heart.

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