Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
When our limbs grew tired, we went out to the balcony off our master suite to take a turn in the sauna. There were many times when I caught him looking at me with a questioning look on his face, especially when I fed him from my fingers, letting some of the sauce from his shrimp drip onto my breasts.
“Are you going to lick that off, or does a girl have to do everything herself?”
“You bet!” He lowered his head and licked the sauce up before sucking my nipple between his teeth. I wrapped my legs around him and let him take me right there with no care for the chemicals or whatever else could be in the water.
The next day, I sent him off to work with a smile on his face. I had answered one of the only questions I had. Did I want him still? And the answer is a resounding yes. He’s the only man I’ve ever loved, the only man I’d ever accepted into my body.
I feel no shame in wanting to hold onto my mate, even if he was betraying me. It was the hardest of the decisions I made that first night as I swam. I had to be sure that whatever I did was for the right reasons but also what was best for me.
Now, with that out of the way, it was time to find out all I could about her and their relationship, whatever that may be. I had her face and her license plate number; now, all I had to do was find out who she was.
This was going to take some time because I had made up my mind that if I was going to go this route, I would handle it by myself. I wouldn’t involve anyone else. Not yet, anyway, if ever.
I got right to work as soon as the door closed behind him. My first order of business was to check the tenants in the luxury building, which is just one of our real estate properties.
It shouldn’t take long to figure out which apartment she occupied because most of the tenants there had been there for longer than she was alive.
CHAPTER 2
It took me longer than expected to narrow it down because I didn’t want to use my name to ask questions. I didn’t want anyone even suspecting that I was onto this. You might be asking yourself why I’m so good at this, how I knew to stay calm in the face of such despair.
Well, I grew up in a broken home. Although my parents never divorced, our home was as broken as any that endured such a catastrophe. My father was never faithful to my mother, not for as long as I was old enough to know.
By the time I was eight I knew what it meant when Mom cried herself to sleep some nights. By twelve, I understood the bitterness in her eyes, the slamming doors, the screams, and the empty bottles of expensive booze.
I spent my tweens and teens vacillating between wanting them to go their separate ways and desperately wanting them to work it out. I didn’t understand how he could be so good to me while making her life a living hell.
There was a time there, before I met Mark, in fact, when I thought I would never trust my heart to anyone, never be as weak as my mother was. I used to imagine all the ways in which I would react if I ever found myself faced with the same horror, but I don’t think I expected this one, maybe because I never thought I would be here.
Once I figured out who she was, I left and went to the library. I hadn’t been to the library since the kids were in middle school, I don’t think. I spent a few hours on the internet looking up information before going to the ATM to withdraw some cash.
My next stop was the bookstore or the first of many. I bought books on one subject at one and bought books on an entirely different subject at another. Next, I bought leather book covers for each of them before heading back to the house.
I spent hours reading and taking notes in the new journal I’d picked up. I didn’t want to leave a digital trail of any kind, so everything was taking longer. He called me twice that day, something that hadn’t happened since the early days of our marriage. I was most likely to be the one calling him throughout the day.
These calls were completely different from the norm. It was as if he’d carved out time specifically for me because there was no rush and no interruptions. We didn’t talk about anything heavy; it seemed more like he just wanted to hear my voice.