“Ugh, I wish you did get the chance to knee him in the nuts.”
“Me too.”
“Your ex is probably jealous,” she says, and I laugh again. “Seriously, Aria, think about it. You were with him for a long time, then he sees you at your parents’ party looking like a goddess and with a man who is obviously obsessed with you. Men are like that. They always want what they can’t have, especially if that something is wanted by someone else.”
“He doesn’t want me, Gia. Our marriage was…” I try to find the right words. “It was a joke.”
“That might be, babe, but he doesn’t want you with anyone else either.”
“Ugh.” I groan. “I don’t care what Josh wants or doesn’t want. I don’t want him. What I do care about is how Tide reacted.”
“He was jealous and pissed off. I mean, I’m not saying the way he reacted toward you was the right way, but I get it. You’re his, and he came home to another man kissing you.”
“I wasn’t kissing him back,” I defend myself.
“I know you weren’t, and Tide knows that too, but imagine if you saw what he did. Imagine if you saw Anna kissing him.”
“Even the thought of them touching makes me feel sick.”
“I know it does.” She sighs. “I promise it will be okay. After the two of you talk, it will be all right.”
“Right,” I agree, leaning forward to pick up my cup. When I lean back, I catch something out the corner of my eye move, and I scream at the top of my lungs, dropping the cup and splashing water all over the place.
“Aria!” Gia shouts in my ear, and my heart pounds as I watch Tide walk toward me, stripping out of his shirt.
“Umm.” I swallow when his fingers begin to work the button just below the trail of hair that leads into the top of his jeans.
“Are you okay? What the hell happened?” Gia asks, sounding worried, and I start to search blindly for my cup.
“Tide is home.”
“Oh,” she says. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah…” I tip my head back when Tide’s hand lands on my shoulder and he motions for me to scoot forward. “I think I need to get off the phone.”
“I bet you do.” She laughs. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Good luck, girl.”
“Thanks,” I reply, then the phone is taken from my hand, and I hear it land with a thud on the floor next to the tub.
“Scoot, baby,” Tide orders, and I do, then he gets in behind me, wrapping his arms around my upper chest and pulling me back against him.
“Tide—”
“Shhh,” he whispers against my ear, his arms tightening and cutting off anything I might have been about to say. “I fucked up, baby.” He tucks his face into the crook of my neck. “I haven’t always been the guy to do or say the right thing. I’ve ran when I should have walked, spoken when I should have listened, and given up when I should have fought. Tonight, I let my temper get the best of me.” Tears fill my eyes, and I cover his hand with mine. “I’m sorry.” I shouldn’t be surprised he would apologize so easily, but I still am. “Seeing him...” His chest vibrates against my back. “Seeing him touch you pushed me over the edge.”
“I know.”
“I saw red. I swear I could have killed him.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” I say quietly. “I don’t know the first thing about getting rid of a body, and I’m not a very good liar. The Google searches alone would be a red flag to the police when they’d examine my computer.” When he chuckles and kisses the side of my neck, I relax back against him and let out a deep breath. “I get why you were mad. I would have been mad too.”
“But you wouldn’t have lost it like I did.”
“If you mean jumping over a banister, no, I wouldn’t have. That move would have ended in me going to the hospital. That said, I can’t guarantee there wouldn’t have been blood spilled.” I smile, using my toes to turn off the tap that is still running.
“Why was he here?”
I bite my bottom lip, not really relishing the idea of pissing him off all over again.
“I can guess, baby, but I wanna know.” He kisses the side of my head.
“He said he wants me back.”
“He can’t have you,” he growls as his hold on me tightens like I might disappear, and I smile at the possessiveness in his tone. I’m sure some women might get pissed at a man for acting like he has, but all I’ve ever wanted is to belong to someone, so all it makes me feel is secure, safe, and needed.
“He doesn’t really want me back,” I assure him as I drag in a breath, then let it out. “I think Gia is right. He just wants me because I don’t want him anymore and sees I’m happy. He’s just trying to start trouble and is stupid enough to think I would choose him over you.” I look at him over my shoulder and lift my hand to cup his jaw. “You know I’ll always choose you, right?”
His eyes roam my face for a moment, then he maneuvers me around to face him.
Once I’m straddling his lap, with his hands on my hips, mine on his shoulders, his cock hard between us, and our eyes locked, he slides his hand up my side, his thumb curving under my breast. “I never doubted that, baby, because I know the universe wouldn’t give me the gift of you, if you were not meant to be mine.”
With my chest warm and my nose stinging I lean down to kiss him, thankful that we were once again able to work through an issue and come out the other side together.
Chapter 18
Aria
I LOOK AT the shopping list on my phone and then down at my cart that is full to the brim, making sure I got everything I needed. This week, Olivia will be staying with Tide and me at my house, something I have been looking forward to since he told me it was going to happen. Something I’ve also been nervous about, since Anna has decided to switch directions and instead of threatening him with custody, she’s using Tide’s devotion to his daughter to call him at all hours of the day and night to ask for advice, to fix things around her house, or to have him come over to pick stuff up or drop it off.
If he wasn’t as frustrated as I’ve been, I don’t know what I would feel or what I would do. Part of me gets it, because I wouldn’t want to know that I let a guy like Tide get away, but she did that. She let him go, and now that he’s moved on, she can’t deal. Or how she is dealing with it, is immature. I just hope she comes to realize sooner than later that her new game isn’t working and lets it go.
After I double check my list, which includes junk food with a healthy dose of fruits and veggies, along with the stuff to carve the two large pumpkins I picked up, I head toward the checkout, digging out my cell to call Tide.
“Hey, babe,” he answers on the third ring as I start to unload my cart.
“I’m checking out at the store now. Do you want me to bring home something for lunch?”
“A Ruben sandwich from The Wedge sounds good to me if that works for you.”
“That actually sounds really good.” I heft one of the pumpkins from under the cart. “Are you about done setting up the bed?” Yesterday, we went into town and picked out a new bedroom set for Olivia, wanting her to be comfortable. Unfortunately, the store couldn’t deliver anything on such short notice, but thankfully they said we could pick up the items from the warehouse. So Tide called Colton, and the two of them were able to pick up the mattress, dresser, and side tables using their trucks. With everything still needing to be set up, Tide took the day off work today to get Olivia’s room ready while I cleaned, washed all the bedding we picked out for her, and conquered the grocery store.