Her hand still resting on his knee, Chelle asked, “If I promise that you can have the cherry that comes on top of the shake, will that ease your pain?”

Right now, he wasn’t so much concerned with pain as the way every nerve in his dick was tuned in to her hand. It wasn’t that having his offer of help turned down didn’t still sting, but one of the hottest women in the world, who also happened to be married to him—if only temporarily—was literally inches from touching his cock. He was going through some things, okay?

Still, sitting here silent wasn’t really going to do anything to persuade Chelle that he wasn’t a complete fool, so he managed to string together some words. “I really could have helped.”

“But you’re gonna leave a good tip, right?”

He wasn’t a complete dipshit. “Yeah.”

“Well,” Chelle said with a smile, “I’ll cover the check, and you leave a ginormous tip, and that will give her the help she actually wants, not the kind you think she needs.” Her hand traveled up his thigh an inch before she seemed to realize what she was doing and pulled back, flexing her fingers as her cheeks turned bright red. “Deal?”

How the fuck was he supposed to argue with her logic when it was right on target? “You’re kind of obnoxious when you’re right.”

“Are you going to hold that against me in the divorce?”

Fuck. That little bit of reality was like a sucker punch to the kidneys, but he managed not to flinch. “Absolutely.”

“Fair enough.” She pivoted back in her stool so she faced the counter, moving her glass of water and nearly empty plate to the side so Carlene, who was making her way back over to them, would have room to set down the pie and shake. “I’m holding the fact that you moved my coffee table to the perfect spot and picked out my new favorite color for the kitchen against you when I talk to the judge.”

Carlene put the shake and the apple pie with a ginormous scoop of vanilla ice cream between them and then slapped the check down on the counter before moving on to take care of another customer.

“Sounds like it’s going to be a contentious divorce,” he said as he grabbed the cherry from the top of the shake’s mountain of whipped cream and ate it. “Don’t worry, it’ll be worth it.”

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Nash

What first caught Nash’s attention two hours after he and Chelle came home from their date and went to their separate bedrooms was her dogs’ determined scratches at his closed bedroom door. And when he opened his door, he heard it.

At first, he wasn’t sure. Maybe? Nah, his dick had to be influencing his ears. Then again, that was a pretty unique sound.