With my tail firmly tucked between my legs, I walked over to where my men and Trevor were suddenly very hard at work. And if I had to guess, the assholes were trying their best not to laugh at the epic fail that just took place.
“Here ya go, buddy,” Trevor said, handing me an empty jar.
“What’s this for?”
“Figured you could give it to her to keep your nuts in, ‘cause I’m pretty sure she just ripped ‘em off and shoved them in her pocket. That was just pathetic, brother.”
“Fuck off and die,” I grumbled as I got to work, effectively ignoring the combination of pitying glances and laughs coming from my men, all the while thinking what in the ever loving hell just happened.
Past
“I saw the way you were looking at that man,” Lance declared, coming to stand behind me at the stove as I prepared dinner.
“What?” I asked, looking over my shoulder in confusion. “What man?”
I recognized that face, everything from the ticking in his jaw to the ruddiness of his cheeks. Lance’s expression screamed fury and I immediately went on high alert as fear coursed through my veins.
I should have known.
I never should have allowed myself to fall into the comfortable pattern of the events, but I’d wanted so badly to believe he was changing, that he’d really and truly meant it the last time when he said he’d never do it again.
It had been such a wonderful day. When the alarm went off that morning, I’d shot up to turn it off and go about my morning the way I always did. I was to get up, make Lance breakfast, and then prepare the kids for the day while he ate. Once Cameron and Callie were dressed, I had to make his coffee in a travel mug to his exact specifications—always a splash of milk and one tablespoon of sugar. Any more or less would lead to consequences for not putting forth the effort to take care of my man as he took care of me and the kids by working long, hard hours every day so we could live in a nice house and have food on the table—his words. After coffee, I would take the kids and stand in a line by the front door to offer up our goodbyes to him as he headed off for work.
Every morning was the same thing. But that morning when I rolled over to silence the alarm, Lance reached out, wrapping one of his thick, well-defined arms around my waist and pulling me back into his body, startling a yelp from me at the unexpected movement.
“Leave it,” he whispered as he nuzzled his nose into the crook of my neck. I tried to tell myself that this was wanted attention from him, but the fact was, even though his actions seemed sweet, I still couldn’t will my body to loosen up enough to curve into him. I was just waiting for something to set him off, for something to spark that all too familiar anger in him.
“I don’t want you to run late, sweetheart,” I whispered back, hoping the stiffness of my body against his wasn’t something that would cause him to snap. “I need to make breakfast so you have something to eat.”
I gasped as Lance quickly shifted, turning me to my back so he was hovering over me. The sudden movement and the soft look in his blue eyes as he gazed down at me were completely out of the norm. I couldn’t recall him looking at me that way since before the twins were born, and right at that moment, I realized how much I’d come to miss it.
“You take such good care of me, baby,” he muttered as he brushed a piece of hair off my cheek. “How’d I get lucky?”
Tears welled up in my eyes at his tenderness, and when he leaned in to kiss me, I wanted nothing more than to believe that this was what my life was going to be like from here on out.
“I’m taking the day off,” he said with absolute certainty.
“Are you sure?” I couldn’t help but ask. Lance had only just made partner at his law firm. It was uncommon for a junior partner to take time off. They usually spent most of their time at the office logging as many billable hours as possible in the hopes of eventually making it to equity partner one day. I knew for a fact that that was Lance’s goal, so him declaring he was taking an entire day off in the middle of the week left me stunned.
“I’m positive. I’ve been so busy concentrating on work that I’ve neglected my family. I promised you I’d be better and I meant it.” He was so sincere that I couldn’t help but lift my head and press my lips against his. This was what our relationship was like in the beginning. That right there was why I was so excited when he asked me to marry him; I didn’t even hesitate in giving him a resounding yes, even though, several years and two kids later that marriage still hadn’t happened.
“How about you get the kids up and dressed and I’ll make breakfast?” he asked. I gave a quick nod, unable to speak past my beaming smile. “And after that, I’m taking my family for a day at the zoo. You think the twins’ll like that?”