Justin was stunned to see his wife skinny-dipping in their pool while the man he paid to maintain the pool and grounds pretended to clean the pool as he looked his fill. Melissa floated on her back with full frontal to give their handyman the maximum view. At first it seemed Justin had had a momentary brain cramp. He felt as though he’d walked into an alternate universe. There was no way what he was seeing or hearing was real.
“Care to tell me what the fuck is going on?”
Melissa shrieked and immediately lost her balance in the water. She started splashing about in a near panic and seemed to temporarily forget how to swim.
Justin watched her dispassionately as she floundered about in the water, splashing water as she flapped her arms about wildly for purchase.
Andy jumped into the pool to assist her.
“I suggest you don’t touch my wife,” Justin told him with the same cold demanding voice he’d used in combat, causing Andy to stop mid-swim and look up at him with fearful caution. “Melissa is a survivor. She’ll remember to swim once she has thought of a story to feed me.”
Melissa suddenly came to a stop in the middle of the pool once she realized Justin wasn’t coming into the water to rescue her. “I don’t need to think of a story. You’re being incredibly mean to me, Justin,” she shouted peevishly. “I don’t deserve your ill treatment. You’ve been ignoring me for weeks. You didn’t even attend the Heart Ball with me knowing how important this event was to me.” She ended that complaint with an almost convincing sob. But then she ruined it by peeking up at him to see if he was feeling contrite yet.
Justin maintained his cold stare. Did she really expect me to attend the same event that had led to my faux baby-making sessions? Fuckin’ unbelievable! After the initial shock and bitter feeling of betrayal, he was now embracing the blissful emotionless vacuum of “I don’t give a shit.” He watched dispassionately as Melissa scrambled out of the pool, pulled on a robe she’d left on the poolside chair, and turned to further plead her case with the kind of tears he would have found convincing before he knew his wife to be a liar.
“I had to go to the ball by myself and make excuses for you,” she sobbed. “How do you think that made me feel?”
“So, swimming naked in the pool while our handyman and all the staff stare at you is making you feel better?”
“You’re deliberately trying to make me the bad person in this.”
“Melissa, stop wasting my damn time and go put some fuckin’ clothes on.” Justin ignored her sputtering of indignation to turn to Andy. “Finish cleaning the pool. After that, I won’t be needing your services any longer. Lily will ensure you’re adequately compensated.”
“But, Mr. Ragnarson…”
Justin turned toward the house and started walking away.
“Don’t you dare leave me here like this! It’s not what you think, not that you don’t deserve to think so. I hate what you’ve done to my life,” Melissa yelled behind him.
Justin kept going. He was so done with her. He couldn’t look at her now without wanting to inflict violence. Never would he hit a woman, but Melissa made him so crazy in that moment that he had to get away from her.
“Why couldn’t you be born the first son!” Melissa continued yelling following him out to his car.
Justin saw Lily peek at them from the next room before turning away, not wanting to intrude on such a personal conversation. He didn’t care anymore.
“I should have married Colt instead of you!” she continued yelling even as he climbed into his car. “At least I wouldn’t have to be scraping and borrowing money all the damn time!”
Her words had lacerated him, but there was no way he was going to let her see how much she was hurting him. He’d instantly squashed his emotions and hardened his resolve. There was no way in hell Melissa was getting into his head, ever.
Justin remembered going into the court that afternoon, where he was the lawyer for a man who was divorcing his wife of twenty-three years. Usually out of principle, he would have encouraged the husband to financially take care of his wife and kids, but he was so pissed he wasn’t in a charitable mood. He felt almost guilty now for how ruthless he’d been that day. Because, when he was done, the wife was left with nothing, no house, no alimony, no kids, and for damn sure no husband.
He eventually forgave Melissa, and things were good between them for a while. He’d accepted that she did what she did with the pool hand not because she was promiscuous but because she was an exhibitionist. Melissa had always loved to show off her beautiful body, and she was a freak in their bed. And really that was part of her charm and one of the reasons he’d married her in the first place. There wasn’t a sexual act or position Melissa wasn’t game for. So, yeah things were good for them again, and he gave her whatever she wanted even though he couldn’t afford it.
And then, a few months later, he saw his wife get into the car of a known womanizer and wealthy businessman. He followed them to a local hotel. Justin couldn’t go in after her. Instead, he called her cell. She told him that she was out shopping with her friends. Melissa spent hours in that hotel, until Justin got tired of waiting and left. That was when he knew that she was having an affair with the bastard. He couldn’t lie to himself anymore. He hadn’t told Colt that either. That was almost a year ago, and he still wasn’t ready to break the family honor code and get a divorce.
Ragnarson men married forever, and he wasn’t going to be the first Ragnarson man to break a commitment. However, that didn’t mean he’d let Melissa take advantage of his honor code either. Yeah, she was wasting her time calling him tonight. Nakia needed him, and he wasn’t about to leave her alone at such a vulnerable time. Melissa was going to have to deal with whatever shit she got herself into because he wasn’t going to play along.
Chapter Five
Nakia had been out of the hospital for almost two months, and she was settling nicely into the new office in Austin. Initially she’d been assigned to work with one of the senior attorneys in the firm, but Justin had made such a production of trying to tell the guy what she could and couldn’t do that Colt got pissed and assigned her to work with Justin instead.
Under any other circumstances, she would have been thrilled to be working with a senior partner. His experience and caseload alone would assure her career. However, the sparks between her and Justin had been almost combustible for weeks. Ever since that night when they’d almost kissed, they had both been on edge. The chemistry between them grew more and more intense by the day, as if an invisible string was pulling them together.
Now that she knew Justin better, understood his code of ethics, she knew that nothing was going to come from their attraction. It was almost liberating in a way, because she could openly flirt with him, knowing that he would never take it further than that.
It didn’t help that they worked out together in the office gym either. In fact, it was pure torture on them. At first it was only supposed to be a way for her to get the physical therapy her doctor had recommended to get her strength back. Justin had shown up to check on her and make sure she wasn’t overdoing it, given that she’d refused a physical therapist.