Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding #3)(29)
Author: K.A. Linde

“Don’t be hypocritical!”

“Hypocritical?” Lexi cried.

“Yes! Just because you’re not around him all the time doesn’t make it any better.”

“Jack Howard is not my problem anymore. He is married to your sister and has been nothing but a good friend to me since that happened!”

“No one is that good of a friend when he stares at you like he does.”

“Are you just trying to make me mad? Are you just trying to push me away?” she asked, walking away from him.

“Lexi, get your ass over here,” he growled. “Right now.”

“No,” she said stubbornly.

Ramsey took two big strides to close the distance between them before crashing his mouth down on hers. She didn’t want to enjoy this. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to slap him and tell him to get his shit together or she was out the door. Of course, she wasn’t going to leave, not really. It was an irrational anger coursing through her from months of pent-up frustration about Parker being around Ramsey, months of wondering if something was going to happen, months of keeping her mouth closed.

Then, she hadn’t been able to keep it closed any longer.

His hands were on her in an instant, yanking her dress over her head, unclasping her strapless bra, and grasping her br**sts in his hands. Her hands went to his belt buckle. She wanted him out of these clothes. She didn’t want him in anything that matched Parker ever again.

Once she was finished with his pants, she grabbed his tie and jerked his face back toward her. “Did y’all plan this?” she demanded.

“Plan what?”

“Matching. You matched.”

Ramsey looked at her in shock, and it was enough to tell her that they hadn’t planned it. Fuck. She thought that would make her feel better, but it didn’t. It made her want to curse the universe for her bad luck.

“We need to get you out of this now,” she said, going to work at the buttons of his shirt.

“No time,” he grunted.

Ramsey pushed her toward the side of the couch and bent her at the waist. Her thong fell to the floor at his insistence. She heard the zipper of his pants, and then they fell to the floor as well. He held her down, facing forward, before thrusting into her.

Lexi cried out. She was already heated from their conversation, but he wasn’t being gentle. He was as angry as she was, and that made for a deadly combination. With one hand on her shoulder and one on her hip, Ramsey pulled back and slammed back into her over and over and over again. He had never been this rough with her before.

It had always been good, but this was…in a different ballpark.

She couldn’t think of anything, except him pounding inside her, her p**sy clenching all around him, and the anger building in her heart.

“I’m so f**king pissed at you,” she growled.

“Good.”

He didn’t give up, even an inch, and she could feel her whole body giving in. She was so f**king pissed at him, but God, did she love this man.

“You’re going to come for me.”

“No, I’m not,” she said even though she knew that she was so close to the brink she was going to explode any second.

“Yes, you are. And I’m coming with you,” he said, reaching one hand down in front of her and stroking her cl*t with his finger as he continued to f**k her.

Her body started trembling. She couldn’t hold out. And he didn’t want her to.

The way she was feeling at that moment, she didn’t want to either. She wanted to feel him thrust up inside her as they came together. She wanted to forget their argument and just live in the here and now—knowing that they might be angry, but it would be okay. They could move on from this.

She felt her legs give out as soon as the orgasm ripped through her body. Lexi collapsed onto the couch as Ramsey let go of her shoulder and released deep into her. His weight shifted as he grabbed on to the couch for support.

As she lay there, panting, she looked up at him and managed to get out, “I love you, Ramsey.”

He smiled a lazy, heartfelt smile down at her. “I love you, too.”

Chapter 11

“You what?” Lexi shrieked through the phone.

“Chica, chill the f**k out,” Chyna said.

“My party is this afternoon. What do you mean you have a photo shoot in New York?”

“It can’t be helped. Fashion week is less than a month away.”

“I don’t care about fashion week, Chyna. It’s your best friend’s engagement party.”

“I know,” she whined. “I tried to explain that to them, but they don’t really care. Plus, we already celebrated when we found out. It’s not the end of the world. I’ll fly you up here to go shopping for it. Oh! Better yet, let me talk to the designer about your dress. We could get it custom-made.”

Lexi shook her head. “You’re insane. Do you know how much a custom dress costs?”

She could almost see Chyna staring blankly. Money wasn’t an object for her. But Ramsey wouldn’t object to whatever Lexi wanted anyway. That still didn’t mean she wanted to spend ten or twenty grand on a wedding dress.

“Don’t worry so much. You’re going to come up for fashion week, right?” Chyna asked, deftly changing the subject.

“I haven’t talked to Ramsey about it.”

“Forget the old ball and chain, and come visit me.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “Real nice of you to say…since you aren’t on your way here for my engagement party.”

“Anyway, what’s really going on? You’ve been quiet lately—besides you bitching at me about the party,” Chyna said.

“We still talk every day,” Lexi told her.

“I mean, almost every day. But you’ve been all scatterbrained, like something happened and you didn’t tell me. Oh, like that time you slept with Adam’s brother. Oh, or like any time with Jack. Does this have to do with a boy?” Chyna asked.

Lexi glanced around the apartment. Ramsey wasn’t anywhere in sight. She knew that he was busy with preparations for the party tonight. The man knew how to throw a party, that was for sure. She was glad that the Sunday night escapades were over, but he was pumped to throw something together for their engagement. She hoped that it didn’t turn out like the Sunday parties she had frequented when they had first started dating. The guest list certainly boasted enough of his friends to warrant it…but she didn’t think it would get like that.

Or at least, she hoped not.

Deciding that Ramsey wasn’t about to walk in on her at any minute, Lexi sighed.

“This should be good,” Chyna said with a giggle.

“Are you drunk?”

“Not yet.”

“Then, why do you take such perverse pleasure in my pain?”

“Because you torture yourself, chica. Dish the goods.”

Lexi grumbled under her breath about the directness of her best friend before speaking. “I told Jack that I got engaged.”

“Right. I assumed so. You’ve been engaged for, like, two months now. I figured everyone knew. Did he…flip out?”

Lexi shook her head even though she knew Chyna couldn’t see. “Yes and no. He just heard about the temporary hearing results. Bekah got everything she wanted. I think she’s going to try to ruin him in court.”

“Alexa…seriously, not your problem,” Chyna said softly.

“I know, I know. I’m not saying it is. I went there for, like, moral support when he was done. I barely got to talk to him about it because he had to meet with his attorney right after. As I was turning to go, he saw the engagement ring.”

“Eesh,” Chyna said. “Not the best way for him to find out. Why didn’t you just…tell him?”

“I don’t know,” she said truthfully.

There had never been a right time. First, she had found out about the divorce, and then a series of unfortunate events had spiraled into existence. She just hadn’t been able to tell him. Maybe she had known all along on some level that it would hurt him, and she didn’t want to inflict any more pain on him than he was already receiving.

“Psh, chica, you know.”

“I don’t,” she denied.

“I know. You’re just acting dumb if you’re saying that you didn’t.”

“Why don’t you tell me then, Chyna?”

Chyna tsked Lexi through the line. “All right, play dumb.”

“Chyna…”

“Besides the glaringly obvious fact that you probably didn’t want your ex…something or other to know that you were engaged, you also clearly didn’t want to hurt him because you two are all buddy-buddy now. Since you’re buddy-buddy, that means you can never, ever let go of your relationship. I know you’re about to jump down my throat and tell me it’s changed—so help me God,” Chyna said, staving off Lexi’s imminent protests. “All I’m going to say is that Jack is probably in a lot of pain because of his divorce, and you didn’t want to make it worse. Whether or not I think he might deserve to be the one hurting this time…is beside the point.”

“You’re a real charmer, C,” Lexi said.

Though, Chyna was right. She was always right about these kinds of things—as irritating as it all was.

“Whatever, chica. The man needs a taste of his own medicine now and again.”

“He’s going through enough.”

“Listen to yourself. Same old Lexi,” Chyna said under her breath. “Stop defending him.”

“I’m not defending what he did in the past. I’m seeing him for the person he is now. Two years of marriage changed him, and I’ll be the first to admit it.”

“If it changed him so much, then why didn’t you tell him you got engaged?” Chyna asked.

“Okay, Jesus, I get your point. You just didn’t see him that day when he was telling me about the divorce papers or after he left the courtroom.”

“I’m not susceptible to those blue eyes.”

“Big words, C,” Lexi said with a laugh.

“Bitch.”

“Anyway, I know you need a lot less than a pair of blue eyes,” Lexi said.

“Not anymore.”

“What? You can change, and no one else can?” Lexi asked. She knew playing the hypocrite card was low, but it made people angry enough to see a point.

Chyna was silent for a minute. Lexi assumed she was brooding over there while trying to find a way out of the hole she had dug herself into.

“Fine. Whatever. What did he actually say when you told him?”

“A lot of stuff,” Lexi said, not wanting to remember. It still made her heart constrict. “He asked me if I was happy, and I told him I was. Then, he said that all he had ever wanted was for me to be happy, so I should leave.”

“Whoa. Did you leave?”

“Yeah.”

“That explains why you’ve been mopey then.”

“I haven’t been mopey. God!”

Chyna scoffed. “You’ve been annoying. You should have just told me. Now, get your ass up here for fashion week. I have to head out. Tell Ramsey I said hello.”