Dangerous Exes (Page 55)

“Well, there goes two million.” Jessie laughed.

“Oh, Danica’s being prosecuted for extortion.” Wayne seemed pleased with himself. “The money will be returned after the case is closed. I hope we’re . . . good.” He looked between us. “I think it will be good for Vanessa to see closure on this end, maybe then she’ll say yes.”

I gaped.

Then gaped some more.

No words would come.

“I love her.” He said it so sheepishly.

By then she was making her way over to us and actually blushing when he turned and grabbed her hand.

Huh.

“She has trouble letting things go,” he continued.

Understatement of the actual century there, buddy.

“Ready?” He kissed her neck, she giggled. She met Jessie’s gaze then mine and nodded goodbye.

“What the hell just happened?” Jessie said out loud.

“How are you not getting arrested right now?” Colin came up behind us out of breath. “I saw you guys talking like normal adults, so I panicked and ran over as fast as I could.”

“Wow.” Jessie whistled. “What was that? Twenty feet in five minutes? Well done, I think Stanley sprints faster.”

Colin gave us the finger as Blaire reached his side. “What was that?”

“Alternate reality,” Jessie finally said. “Apparently Danica was working for Vanessa too. Vanessa was also trying to get dirt on Dirty Exes and paid more than I did, so basically we both paid her to do the same damn job. I stooped just as low as Vanessa, I’m such a jackass.”

I hung my head. “Vanessa is sorry in some strange way, Danica is going to prison for extortion, and somehow Wayne . . . loves her and knows how to deal with her level of crazy.”

Blaire tilted her head. “Really, though?”

“My sister?” Colin needed clarification. “Vanessa?”

“Yup.” I gave my head a shake just as techno took over the sound system. Stanley jumped up and went to the middle of the dance floor while Goo-Poh sat on her throne surrounded by her women.

“Some things can’t be unseen,” Colin said under his breath.

“Hey, best man, one last job for the day . . .” Jessie slapped him on the shoulder. “Make sure none of the old people get drunk and take off their clothes. We’re headed out.”

“What?” Colin and Blaire said in unison.

“See ya!” I laughed while Stanley grabbed someone’s cane and went to town spinning it over his head.

We laughed the entire way home.

Home.

Our home.

I let out a happy sigh and hoped he’d like what I did with the place.

Chapter Sixty-Five

JESSIE

I couldn’t wait to get her inside.

The minute I opened the door, I was ready to take her against the wall, whisper promises into her ear, strip that gorgeous dress from her body.

Instead, she dropped my hand.

“Isla?”

She crooked her finger at me. “This way.”

Dumbly, I followed her down the hall.

She opened the door to her old guest room.

Black-and-white everything.

And then when I looked closer, I could see red.

Red throw pillows.

Red accents in the pictures.

A red leather chair.

“You said to do whatever I wanted . . . but I didn’t want to take over the room . . . the black-and-white is you, the red is me, the perfect match.”

I didn’t let her finish.

Instead I attacked her in the doorway and gripped her hips. “I missed you.”

“I missed you.” She laughed against my mouth. “Do you like it?”

“Love it. Love you.”

I flipped her around and started undoing the buttons to her dress.

There were at least seven hundred.

And I died a little bit with each one I undid.

“It’s like they’re multiplying!” I cursed under my breath as she leaned against the doorframe and thrust her ass out. “Not helping, and it’s too pretty to rip.”

She glanced over her shoulder and smirked. “Sorry, that must be sooo hard on you.”

I was going to strangle her.

“It’s hard when you have a hard day like that, and you drink tea that makes it even harder and—”

I ripped the damn dress.

“Not another word.” I pulled it down, apologized to my credit card, and thrust my tongue into her mouth before she could utter the word hard again.

She tasted like my forever.

The person made for me.

I pulled back for air, her greedy hands were at my shirt, and then her lips twitched and she ripped it open. “All’s fair . . .”

“God, you’re hot when you get violent.”

I couldn’t get the rest of my clothes off fast enough. We fumbled around as she rid me of my pants, still kissing me as I stumbled with her toward the bed, and then it was just us.

Skin on skin.

My mouth on hers.

And every damn dream I’d had came true.

I was inside her in seconds.

Filling her completely.

Coming home.

“Isla.” I drove into her and pressed a small kiss near her ear. “You’re my forever.”

A tear slid down her cheek, one I’d created, a good one. She whispered back, “You’re mine too.”

It was the perfect moment.

Followed by complete surrender on both our parts.

In a room filled with ghosts of our past, present, and future.

After a few minutes of panting, then silence, we held one another like we couldn’t believe it was real, that we were together.

I looked over and fell off the bed.

“Are you okay?” Isla reached for me.

“Isla, I love you, you know that, and I’ll put up with a lot of shit, but why the hell is there a chicken in this room, and why did it just watch us have sex without making a noise?”

She looked where I pointed, made a little yelp, then ran for the front door.

I was close behind her.

She slammed it shut and grinned up at me. “That, that was all Goo-Poh, I wouldn’t give her a key if I were you.”

A knock sounded at the door. I scrambled for a blanket while Isla dove behind the kitchen island. Traitor.

“Hi!” Goo-Poh walked right in. “I knew you’d be hungry after making babies, so I brought leftover food.” She waltzed right by me. I closed my eyes and prayed the blanket wasn’t see-through.

She put the food in the fridge, shut off the kitchen light, humming the entire way back to the door before calling over her shoulder, “Isla, eat the rice, you look pale.”

The door closed.

Isla popped up, her cheeks rosy red from embarrassment.

“Yeah, too late,” I confessed.

And barely had time to run away as she chased me with a red pillow.

Hey, at least it wasn’t white.