Just a Couple Ex's Blindsided

Just a Couple Ex's Blindsided by S. Anders Read Free Book Online Page A

Book: Just a Couple Ex's Blindsided by S. Anders Read Free Book Online
Authors: S. Anders
Tags: Contemporary Romance, small town romance, interracial romance, multicultural romance
wanted to see Axel, but it gnawed on her as to where Andrew was.
    She saw Axel’s car parked on the street, before she judged the right address, and then she pulled into the driveway. She appreciated the way Axel left her the driveway, and then for some stupid reason the tears she’d been fighting started trickling down her cheeks.
    Hastily, she grabbed a tissue trying to stop the flow, but it didn’t work. Axel was a man treating her like a cherished woman, leaving her the driveway like he had. It was such a stark contrast from Andrew. She couldn’t remember the last time Andrew had held a door for her, brought her flowers, or even complimented her looks.
    Before this, she’d noticed it but she thought it was just the comfortable settlings that marriages did. Somehow she’d fooled herself into thinking it was normal, even as she’d see other couples walking while holding hands and gazing at each other with pleasure. Tears felt hot on her cheeks, and she was glad Axel hadn’t noticed she’d arrived and come outside to see why she hadn’t come in yet. It took her several more minutes to dry her tears and check her mascara in the visor mirror.
    Nothing was going to help her red eyes and she was afraid Axel would guess right away she’d been crying. She grabbed the pizza and salad, nearly defiantly. There would be red eyes because they both had broken hearts.
    When she reached the door, she hesitated. The cold darkness of her grandmother’s house, the only other place she had to go, raised her hand to knock. The minute she saw Axel, she wondered why she ever hesitated. Just looking into his concerned brown eyes made her feel better.
    “Liv, I can tell you’ve been talking to him.” She nodded as he continued to open the screen door, then he grasped her elbow to guide her inside. “Before that,” he said with a deep voice close to her ear. “I’m very glad you came here, to be with me.”
    The tragedy she’d been feeling started to slightly warm and melt away. She knew it would never leave her fully but she hoped perhaps someday it would become a distant hurt that she never dwelt on any longer. They stood in the entryway as she looked up at him.
    “I’m glad I came too.” She felt the immediate thrill of being close to him that she felt each time she was. It soothed her injured feelings to have his attention.
    “I haven’t call Kiki yet,” he admitted as he guided her into the small kitchen where they set the pizza, salad, and soda on the counter. She appreciated the warmth and electricity but more the bottle of wine with two glasses sitting ready. The crazy desire to grab the bottle and just start guzzling it made her turn away from the bitter temptation.
    “What are you going to say to her?” Liv asked about his confession.
    She wanted to smooth the worry lines between his black eyebrows and massage the tension out of his broad shoulders. She couldn’t imagine being alone with this anguish; the death of two marriages.
    “I don’t usually stay out all night,” he muttered. Liv nodded, she thought most husbands didn’t. “But I don’t want to get into it now, before we have photos or video proof.”
    Liv set her purse on the counter and touched Axel’s arm, which felt rock-solid through his shirt. She’d heard him say this before as if Kiki would manipulate him without concrete proof. “How about a friend in need?” she suggested. “Like Jax, you could say he is, um ...” she paused, trying to imagine a plausible lie.
    “I could tell her he’s gone Elvis — that is if she didn’t go back inside the store when we saw her.”
    “Gone Elvis?” Liv asked.
    “Sorry.” He shrugged with a tightening of his lips. “It’s a military saying for missing in action. But here in the states Vets use it to mean anywhere from deep post-traumatic to falling out of contact.”
    The tinny sound of the opera song Ave Maria interrupted their scheming. It was probably the only opera song she could

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