Page 18 of The Marriage Rebound

He nodded and quickly stepped over to the couch to retrieve her bag. I tried to get her to walk with me, but she was fading fast. Bending, I scooped her up, knowing it’d be easier to carry her out than to continue to try and get her to move on her own.

As I held her close, my mind wandered back to the last time she’d been in my arms like this. She’d insisted I had to carry her over the threshold when we’d returned to our hotel room after our impromptu, late-night wedding following one of my games in Vegas. It was customary because she was a bride.

When I had playfully reminded her I was also a bride, she insisted on giving me the same treatment. I laughed quietly to myself, recalling how my life had flashed before my eyes at her attempt and I’d thought we’d wake the whole floor when I screamed as we hit the ground.

Sasha nuzzled her nose into my neck. “Do you lub me?” she asked, then started giving me small kisses.

Her actions brought me out of the trip down memory lane. “Yeah, Sash, I love you.”

She tightened her grip on me, causing me to stumble a little with the shift of her weight, but I managed to maneuver us out of the club with Darrell leading the way. When I made it outside, I slowly lowered Sasha to the ground. She was unsteady on her feet and clung to me, resting her head against my chest. I held her close, slowly running my hand up and down her back.

“Bay-bee, I missed you.” She was louder than necessary, and Darrell cut his eyes over at us, but quickly darted his attention away when Sasha squeezed my breast and snaked her other hand around to grab my ass.

She always tended to get hornier when she drank, so I wrapped my fingers around her wrists and gently restrained her by locking her wandering hands behind her back.

A lazy grin spread across her face as she pressed closer to me. “I like when you get all bossy.” She placed sloppy kisses to the base of my neck. “You gonna spank me cuz I been a bad girl?”

Darrell and the valet tried to look anywhere but at us as my wife attempted to dry hump me in the parking lot. I did my best to ignore the familiar comfort of her body pressed against mine. This aspect of us always worked. And I had missed her as well, but I was struggling trying to process all the conflicting . . . everything else.

“Let me get the door,” the valet said.

“Actually, her car,” I corrected. “We’ll take hers and—” I looked at Darrell. “Is it cool if I leave mine overnight? I’ll come get it in the morning.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. I’m the one that would call for the tow, so all good.”

Since between the two of us Sasha had the nicer car, it made more sense to leave mine behind. Not that the area was necessarily bad or anything, but leaving a Honda behind instead of a Jag was way more logical.

Sasha wiggled in my arms, apparently catching her second wind and getting more agitated by the second. “Bay-bee, why won’t you kiss me?”

I looked down at her. Her eyes were half closed, full lips parted, inviting. Tempting. It would be so easy to give in, to kiss those luscious lips. To ignore everything, pull her into my arms and pretend all was okay. And truthfully, part of me wanted to, but luckily the valet drove up and brought me back to my senses. Darrell opened the passenger door before the valet even got out of the car.

“Court . . .” She whined out my name as I got her situated in the passenger seat.

She tugged my shirt as I went to buckle her in, pulling me closer to her. She puckered her lips up and squeezed her eyes tight in an almost comical fashion. I couldn’t stop a smile from forming at how ridiculous she looked. With a soft sigh, I relented, leaning in to give her a quick kiss.

When I tried to move back, she held tight, begging for another. I obliged, but instead of it being chaste like the other, she gripped my face, kissing me hard. She thrust her tongue forward, moaning when I gave her entry. She tasted of chocolate and Crown. It was easy to get lost in her, but I remembered where we were and pulled back.

Her eyes were open and glossy. “You left me,” she whispered, then let go.

I let out a heavy sigh and finally threw the covers back, no longer able to ignore Vuitton’s small barks from the other room since Sasha was still passed out. I thought he’d sleep in considering I’d had to let him out and clean up his mess once we got home close to five because Sasha hadn’t locked him up before she’d gone out, but apparently not.

Groaning, I pushed to standing, stifling a yawn while giving my body a full stretch. I stumbled my way from the room, rubbing my eyes. Hopefully, Vuitton would do his business quickly because all I wanted was to go back to bed. I’d been up ’til after midnight hanging with my friends, then had to get up and retrieve Sasha.

I liked my sleep. I needed my sleep. To be at my best, I required a minimum of nine good, solid, deep, uninterrupted hours. I was operating on two, three if I was lucky. It hadn’t helped that Sasha’s teary-eyed statement about me leaving her had kept me from dozing off after I’d gotten her settled.

I scrubbed my hands down my face. I was drained in more ways than one. When I got to Vuitton’s room, he barked more and jumped at the gate. “Hush. I’m here. I’m here.” It was entirely too early for that much damn noise.

He squeezed his tiny ass through the barely open gate and darted off. I ambled behind him, yawning again. His impatient ass came darting back up, spinning in circles on the stairs, whining.

“Stop, Vuitton.”

He yelped and I yanked my foot up. My other heel slipped, and I lost my footing. Free-falling backward, I reached out, attempting to grab the handrail, but my fingers only grazed the wood. Pain shot through my back when my ass hit the edge of the step before I tumbled the remaining way down, landing on the hardwood floor with a sickening crack.

Chapter 9

Sasha

A scream followed by a thud jolted me awake. Vuitton came flying into the room, jumping onto the bed, whining and shaking. What the hell? It took me a few seconds to get my bearings, blinking rapidly against the sunlight as I cradled my dog, who’d apparently been startled by something.