Page 117 of Tempt Her

I want kids. I want marriage. Hell, I wanted to marry him for a time, and we can. It’s legal, but he said no. He said that he didn’t believe in marriage, and with his heart, he didn’t think it would be fair to have a kid.

But it never felt right because I know he loves me. He loves Luke too.

Under all of Ford’s Dom orders and the dirty ways he likes to fuck, he’s domesticated as hell. He likes to work on our houses. He loves to cook. He’s obsessed with cleaning. He loves to have the families of his employees over, and I’ve caught it; when kids are around, he’s the Pied Piper. He spends hours throwing the ball with them or throwing them in the air.

Like he’s been missing out on being a dad.

And he is. The fucker is a father. It surprises me… and it makes me happy for him.

But he’s married too?

I stare through the buzzing haze of fluorescent lights and commotion all around me in the hospital, and it hurtsmyheart.

The lie.

He’s married.He’s cheating on a wife somewhere while lying to my face and Luke’s. For years.

By the time Luke bursts through the emergency room doors to find me sitting on his right in the waiting area, I’m numb.

I don’t know what to fucking say but the truth.

“He’ll be fine,” I tell Luke as he sits beside me, grabbing my knee. “And he’s married with a kid.”

“What?” He squeezes it hard.

“He told Stacey, right before he passed out, that he’s sorry he lied about it.”

Luke stares, processing the betrayal while I wait for it to hit him too.

“While he was in the Army,” he says. “It makes sense.”

“It makes me so fucking mad; if that heart doesn’t kill him, I will.”

Luke falls back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, and we don’t talk. We just sit in it until the doctor comes out and says we can see Ford in an hour. They’re keeping him overnight for observation.

When we enter his room, it takes everything I got not to punch him in the face, but he looks too sexy and very alive, like he’d jab me right back, even in a goddamn hospital gown.

“How’s Stacey?” It’s the first thing he asks, and I’m not pissed aboutthat. Luke’s been texting her every thirty minutes, checking her status and sharing Ford’s.

“She’s fine…so far,” I answer, and the ice in my tone raises his eyebrow.

He sits up, tugging at the wires monitoring his heart. “What’s wrong?” The beeping on the machine quickens.

And I want to tear this fucking room apart, flipping his bed and slamming him against a wall. I rarely get mad, but when I do, it’s deadly.

But I’ve paid that price and will never be done suffering with guilt, so I won’t kill Ford with my rage. I need to keep his heart rate down.

“She told us.”

Ford’s eyes shift like he can’t remember.

“About you being married,” Luke chimes in. “And you have a kid too.” He steps beside me, two feet from his bed. “Wanna tell us why the fuck you’ve been lying to us for so long? Or should we just follow orders and shut the fuck up about it?”

Ford falls back on the bed. Closing his eyes, he draws in a deep breath.

“We have no secrets,” I seethe. “You know all my shit. All my shame. So why would you lie to us?”

“All this time,”—Luke jumps in—“and now I’m leaving, and with this shit? When we talked about my dad, you never said you were one too.”

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