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

recognize. Liv watched Axel reach for his cell phone, while she smiled at his ring-tone choice. Then she instantly sobered at the emotion gathering in his brown eyes. It had to be Kiki. A second later, he sighed with his shoulders relaxing.
    “Just a text,” he muttered.
    Liv guessed he was relieved he didn’t have to talk to her in person. She watched his gaze scanning the message and his full lips firmed as though he grimaced.
    “Shit,” he cursed, and his sharpness startled her. His gaze swung to hers and she saw the haunted quality. “Sorry,” he offered, for his cursing she imagined, and she wanted to yank the cell from his hand, to read the message. She had an awful intuition ...
    “She’s not coming home tonight, right?” she blurted, instantly feeling bad for voicing her concern, if she were wrong, but Axel nodded. “Oh,” she whined, turning away.
    “She says she’s going to return those prom dresses to Houston that I hated and she won’t be back until tomorrow or later.”
    Axel felt his anger rising at having to give Liv the news that their cheating spouses were likely together again; for the whole night. His lips flattened and his teeth ground together as he looked at Liv’s slender back. It was like being stabbed again after the first time. His immediate reaction was to run out and find them, and then ...
    He grunted, trying to restrain his emotions, while images in his mind of guns and shooting started fading. It was not worth that. No woman was worth that. “She’s made her choice,” he uttered beneath his breath.
    “What?” Liv asked, turning toward him and he saw the bruised hurt in her eyes.
    He shrugged, trying to loosen the knotted tension in his shoulders, as he said in a louder voice so she could hear. “She made her choice.”
    Liv released a long sigh, her gaze searching his, then she nodded. “Yes, you are right. They made their choice.” She reached for the bottle of wine beside him on the countertop. “Damn them,” she muttered, lifting the bottle in front of him. “Can we open this? It’s either get drunk or go looking for them.”
    It was amazing, when it should have been worse, the tension loosened. It was because they both felt the same thing — they both were fighting the same demons. He wasn’t alone.
    He took the bottom of the bottle. “My pleasure.” She released the bottle to him and as he turned toward the counter, he said, “But let’s help our need for vengeance a little bit. I’ll call my surveillance friend — get him up here to find them, and then get the video evidence we need.”

Chapter Six
    L iv swirled her fourth glass of wine, judging the yellow-amber color. Luckily, they’d found Axel’s aunt kept a small stash of wine.
    “My guess, it’s a chardonnay,” she said, leaning back, while sitting on the floor in front of a fire that Axel had built. She had her shoes off and her toes curled into the carpet pile.
    He shook his head, sitting more upright beside her with his knees bent and his forearms resting on his knees. “Pinot Blanc,” he said, swirling the wine in his glass, and then taking a drink.
    “It’s close though,” she said of her guess.
    “Very,” he assured her. “If you like white wines.”
    Which he’d said he didn’t. “Decent enough to get drunk on,” she offered, smiling up at him.
    His gaze was warm and she hadn’t felt she was the sole attention of a man in a very long time. They’d discussed their spouses through the first two bottles, then made a deal not to talk about them on the third bottle. There were no conditions on the fourth bottle that Axel had just opened.
    “It is definitely good enough to keep drunk on,” he said. “And, since there’s nothing else but the hard stuff, I’ll make due.”
    Liv was intrigued by the “hard stuff,” but first she asked, “What time is it?”
    He turned his wrist making her eyes follow the rich, dark skin. Axel had very nice forearms. “One thirty,” he