Chapter One
Liv
Hot breath moistens the skin around my ear, forcing my neck to bow in escape. He doesn’t notice as his hips gyrate between my legs, rocking me monotonously atop the arm of the sofa. Without the slightest bit of pressure to my clit, I hardly feelanything.
Is this what he came for?
“Come on, let’s go to bed,” I whisper, pouting sultrily against his shoulder to avoid his ragged breathing. It’s becoming difficult to pretend it’s not repelling.
“I’m close…” He puffs, jerking his hips stiffly as if he’s in pain.
“But–” I don’t have a chance to continue my rebuttal before his pinnacled grunt rumbles against my shoulder. We never even made it past the living room.
“Sorry, sweet thing. I’m in a rush.”
A rush.He hasn’t seen me in over a month.
“Well, maybe next time we can remove all of our clothes before we start,” I remark dully, not quite concealing my boiling animosity.
He smirks as he pulls the soiled condom off and drops it onthe coffee table. “I have a hard time getting any work done when all I can think about are the sexy pictures my fiancé sends me. Seeing you naked only makes me cum sooner,” he chuckles in amusement, turning away before he notices my lack of enthusiasm.
I used to send him sexy selfies all the time, almost every day, but he hasn’t seemed to care that I’ve stopped sending new ones altogether.
“Then you should focus on making me cum before you take your dick out,” I snip, failing to hide the frustration in my voice.
“Don’t be crass. You know that I only had enough time for a quick stop. You’re the one who chose to move away, not me.”
He’s right. I made the choice to uproot my life.
I wasn’t ready to settle into his penthouse condo. Not when other parts of my life weren’t there and parts left unsatisfied. It was too permanent to move into a tower I would never escape from.
Instead, I wrapped up all my clients and found a cottage outside of New Hope, a small Hallmark town in Rollins County in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
I promised a small reprieve wouldn’t affect our engagement. Once we’re married, I’ll move home, and I’ll finally settle down.
Except that our relationship has strained. The distance has grown more than physical. Daily phone calls turned into one every couple of days. Weekly visits turned into monthly, and now we’re nearing a wedding date that looks like a vast black hole.
“I know, it’s my fault,” I mumble, blinking up at the ceiling,waiting for the tears to build up behind my eyes.
“Listen, this is only a phase,” Elliot whispers against my shoulder. “Things will get back to normal when you come home. I won’t be so busy with work, we’ll share a bed again.”
Elliot’s a Chief Financial Officer for a Fortune 500 company; he’s always busy, but that’s never mattered because my job keeps me busier. I was a corporate attorney who juggled multiple caseloads, and now I’m balancing an entire county on my shoulders. Yet, somehow, I still have the desire for a hearty sex life when he is content with quickies.
“Come here, sweet thing.” He pulls me in, wrapping me in arms that used to be comforting. Now, they feel strange. Forced. “I love you, Liv.”
“I love you, too.” I do. I mean, I think I do. Everything in my gut churns, and the words feel sour coming out.
This isn’t me. I don’t question my gut. I’ve built my entire career around it. My brain carries me, but my gut puts the nail in the coffin for all my cases.
We’ve been together going on three years… He’s right. This is a phase. Everything will be fine.
“How about next time I come to you? I can spend the weekend with you, and we can go over some final wedding details,” I suggest, wrapping my arms around his neck. He smiles warmly at me before brushing my thick chestnut hair away from my forehead.
His eyes stay focused there as he speaks. “I was going to surprise you, but the condo is being renovated. I’ve been trying to keep it under wraps until you can see the finished product.”
I attempt to hide my disappointment. I thought he’d be thrilled to spend an entire weekend with me because healways complains that we don’t make the time.
“Oh. Well, you could come here.”
