One Night With His Ex - Katherine Garbera

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practice.”

      Mauricio gave her a hard look, which surprised her. He seemed so easygoing when it came to her sister but it was clear that he wasn’t as cool as he pretended to be.

      “Sure. Why not?” Hadley said.

      Mauricio took Hadley’s hand and led her to the dance floor. She could handle herself despite what their mother thought. Helena sipped her water and turned her attention to her phone. She clicked on the friend finder app but didn’t see Malcolm’s icon. She was starting to worry that he was having second thoughts about getting married.

      She sighed and kept refreshing the app to try to make him appear, but he was still unavailable. Waiting had never really been one of her strong suits so she finally texted him.

      Where the hell are you?

      She saw that the message was delivered and kept staring at the screen as if that was going to make him respond to her. But nothing.

      What was going on with Malcolm? They’d always been on the same page with their relationship. She’d counted herself lucky that she’d fallen in love with a man who wanted the same things out of life that she did, but now she didn’t know if she’d been fooling herself.

      That’s what Hadley had said about Mauricio when they’d broken up last year, that she’d fooled herself into believing he was a different man than he really was. As Helena shoved her phone into her handbag and looked up at her sister, dancing way too close to the man she’d said she was over, she realized that they all did that. Hadley was just like her, fooling herself into believing she was in control of her emotions when in reality they were all prisoners to them.

      Her phone pinged and she scrambled to get it out of her purse. It was Malcolm. Finally! His phone had died and he was at home waiting for her.

       Four

      The Bull Pit crowd had thinned out, but Hadley and Mo still alternated between doing shots and dancing. As the night wore on, she couldn’t remember why she’d been so mad at him.

      When the DJ announced last call and then played Eric Church’s sensual song “Like a Wrecking Ball,” it seemed natural to press herself against him, her hands on his lean hips, her head on his shoulder as he held her and they swayed along to the music. She looked up at him and he was watching her.

      He lowered his head but she ducked away from him.

      “Not feeling it?”

      “Yes and no,” she said.

      “Should we talk about this?”

      “Yes,” she said. “I know we were on a break, I mean, I get that. But why text me how much you wish I was there with you and then hook up with Marnie?”

      He shook his head and stepped back. She had thought she’d dealt with everything that happened but when he’d almost kissed her, she had wanted to cry. For most of her adult life she’d believed Mo would be her man for the rest of her life and then...well, he’d hurt her more deeply than she wanted to admit.

      “I don’t know. I wanted you. Just you. But you weren’t here and I wasn’t sure you were ever coming back and I hated that feeling of wanting you and feeling...”

      Vulnerable, she thought. But that didn’t excuse him or take away what he’d done.

      “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you like that. I honestly wasn’t thinking about anything,” he said, leaning even closer. She felt his lips brush over hers and closed her eyes. She knew that she should walk away. Sure, she’d regret this in the morning but tonight there was nowhere else she’d rather be. She’d been alone for way too long and she was horny.

      For him.

      This could be that farewell hookup they’d never had because of the way things had ended. Maybe then she could move on with a nice guy like Jackson or someone else.

      He cupped her butt and lifted her more fully against him so his groin nestled into the notch at the top of her thighs. She parted her legs slightly, rocking against him.

      He lifted his head, and she noticed his lips were wet from kissing her and his eyes were heavy-lidded. She felt the ridge of his erection against her so she knew he was as turned on as she was.

      “Uh...that wasn’t what I intended to do,” he said, stepping back. She did the same.

      “Me neither, but honestly, Mo, I think we both need it,” she said. “Ever since Sunday when you put your hand on my shoulder, I’ve felt it.”

      “Me too,” he said.

      That was all she needed to hear. She took his hand and stopped by the deserted table where she’d left her handbag and then led him out of the Bull Pit. The night air was cool and fresh as they stepped outside. She tipped her head back and looked up at the big Texas sky dotted with a few stars and a half moon.

      She heard him sigh and looked over at him.

      He had his hands on his hips and his head was tipped back. The way his legs were parted, she knew he still had a hard-on, and when he glanced over at her, she saw... Well, she thought she saw him hesitate.

      “Changing your mind now?” he asked.

      “Are you?” she returned.

      “Not a damned bit but I don’t want this to be something I forced on you,” he said.

      She turned and closed the small distance between them, rubbing her hand over the ridge of his erection and putting her other one on the back of his neck as she went up on tiptoe and kissed him hard and deep.

      “I’m exactly where I want to be tonight,” she said.

      He lifted her off her feet, into his arms. “That’s all I wanted to hear.”

      She put her arm around his shoulder as he carried her toward the parking lot but she stopped him. “We can’t drive.”

      “Uber?” she suggested.

      “The only driver out this late will be someone we know,” he said.

      “That’s true,” she said. “So...”

      He stopped and set her on her feet. “The Grand Hotel is only a five-minute walk.”

      “Perfect,” she said. “It’s a nice night for a walk.”

      “Is it?”

      “I think so,” she said, slipping her hand into his. She’d missed this. The way his big hand completely enfolded hers. She wasn’t going to remind herself of all the reasons why she shouldn’t be enjoying this. For tonight she wanted some good memories of Mo instead of the painful ones from the recent past, including their breakup and then Mauricio fighting with her date at the Bull Pit last fall.

      “I thought you had book club on Friday night,” he said as they walked to the hotel.

      “Is there a question there?”

      “Just wondering why you were at the Bull Pit instead of at Helena’s place,” he said as they headed down historic Main Street with its wide sidewalks to accommodate the pedestrian tourist traffic.

      “We all needed a night out,” she said. “You know Helena delegated the wedding flowers and interior design to me so I have to liaise with Mom on it.”

      “I didn’t know that,” he said. “She seemed pretty determined to do it herself.”

      “She was. She had to ask our parents to pay for some of it—” Hadley clamped her hand over her mouth. “Please forget I said that.”

      “It’s okay, I knew about the problem. I’ve been trying to talk to Mal and figure out what is going on for her.”

      “You have?”

      “Yes,”

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