The Only One for Me(40)
“Corra, a couple of weeks ago when we were talking you mentioned that Eric had been abusive to you. In what way?”
Corra’s body tensed. Talking about her ex again wasn’t something she wanted to do tonight. But, since he’d bared his soul to her she needed to clear the air.
“He never hit me, but he was verbally abusive. I think it made him feel good to belittle me when things weren’t going good in his life. He wouldn’t go to church or anywhere else for counseling. Instead, he sought refuge in other women. After a while, he started saying things in front of the kids. That’s when I decided I wouldn’t take it anymore.”
“Nobody wants their marriage to end in divorce, but I’m happy you left him. If you hadn’t we might not have been able to reconnect.”
Corra smiled up at him.
“I’m not an abuser of any sort. All I want to do is love you. Like I said before, you’re the only one for me.”
Around three o’clock in the morning, Corra straddled Chris for the second time and they made love again until the point of near exhaustion.
* * *
After a late breakfast Saturday morning, Corra and Chris went shopping up and down the Strip. She purchased Las Vegas trinkets for the kids, and Chris let her pick out a new pair of sunglasses for him. When they approached a designer shoe store, Corra remembered Tayler’s Jimmy Choos she’d admired so much. She had to take a walk on the wild side and venture inside. Chris followed her and helped her pick out a nude stiletto that she modeled around the store for him.
“I like the way those make your calves look,” Chris said, as he leaned over and ran his hand down Corra’s calf and ankle. He glanced up at her. “They’re sexy as hell. Do you like them?”
She held her foot out and twisted it from left to right, admiring how well the shoes fit, and how comfortable they were. She sat down and took them off, holding one shoe up. “God yes! I love them.”
Chris looked up at Savannah, the most patient salesperson Corra had ever met, and said with a smile, “I’ll take them.”
“Excellent choice,” Savannah said, with a wink at Chris.
Corra’s breath caught in her throat as Chris took the shoes from her and handed them to Savannah. She’d only wanted to see if they were comfortable, since they were quite pricey.
“Chris, I can’t let you do that. Those are—”
He stood up and cut her off. “Corra, I’m a big boy, you don’t need to let me do anything.” He nodded for Savannah to go ahead and ring them up. Then he turned back to Corra. “You deserve beautiful things like those shoes and more. And I want to give them to you.”
She quickly stepped back into her shoes and stood to meet him face-to-face. “Chris, if this is because of last night I won’t accept them.” She lowered her voice. “You don’t owe me anything.”
He took a step back and stared at her. “Is that what you think I’m doing?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “I want you to have those shoes. It has nothing to do with the love we made last night.”
Corra crossed her arms. Was he trying to make her feel cheap?
Chris closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. “Corra, if I could buy you happiness and the solutions to any problems you ever have in life I would. But I can’t. So don’t deprive me of giving you something that makes you feel good.”
He released her and ran his hands down her arms. He placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “Let me love you in every way I know how, okay?”
She lowered her arms and blinked several times to keep from crying. She never thought she’d find a man who would buy her expensive shoes and be good to her kids, something she’d laughed with Tayler about. But, here he was standing right in front of her. “Just don’t spoil me. I might learn to like it.”
Chris laughed. “Trust me, you’re gonna love it.”
* * *
Saturday night, Corra wore her new shoes to dinner. The sway of her hips and the new confidence in her stride, all compliments of Jimmy Choo and Chris Williams. She even had a little luck at the roulette table after dinner.
The elevator crawled up to the fourteenth floor, testing Chris’s patience. He hadn’t been able to keep his hands off Corra all evening. Now he wanted her in nothing but her heels.
He opened the door to their room and took Corra by the waist as she crossed the threshold. His hunger for her was insatiable. His lips met hers before he could close the door. She giggled and lay her body against his as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He sucked and kissed her lips before picking her up and walking over to the bed. She tossed her purse across the room in a chair.