“Wait, we did?” he asks jokingly.

Faintly exasperated, I answer, “Yes, Wilder.” He chuckles, and I continue, “But I wasn’t sure if that was just a one-time thing⁠—”

He laughs. “Scottie, I can tell you right now, that was not a one-time thing. Being inside you…that most certainly was not a one-time thing.” His thumb skims the underside of my breast. “There is no way I could handle only fucking you once.” His lips find the back of my neck.

Goose bumps break out over my skin as I shift my head to give him better access.

“Are you sure?” I ask.

He chuckles against my skin. “Positive, Pips.” His lips trail up my neck and to my cheek while his hand tugs me down to lie on my back. When our eyes meet, he smiles. “There you are.”

I sigh into his touch and can feel myself getting emotional over the way he treats me. And I don’t want to be that person. I don’t want to be the one who cries after sex, but I can feel the sting of my tears starting to form because he’s so gentle. So sweet…

“Hey.” His brow creases as he notices my impending emotions. “What’s going on?”

I try to suck them down, hold them back, but it’s no use. I’ve been so fucking unhappy. The last few years of pain, disappointment, and hurt come tumbling down like a boulder, destroying my feeling of joy. Because it was never like this with Matt. He never sought my pleasure. He never delighted in me, in my taste, in my body. And I can see how that damaged me now that I’m not living in it anymore.

I stayed with someone who didn’t treat me the way I deserved for so long. I stayed faithful to a man who cherished his gaming console more than he cherished me. I don’t believe he had a physical affair, but in some sense, he had an emotional affair with the gamers he chose to spend time with rather than his wife. And I stayed. It’s breaking my heart all over again, simply because this stunning man holding me showed me what it was like to feel adored. Revered.

“Scottie, talk to me,” he says as my tears brim, ready to fall over.

“I’m sorry,” I say, sucking in a breath. “I’m just…my mind is reeling right now.”

“Good or bad?”

“It’s not about you.” I caress his cheek. “You were…you were perfect. You did nothing wrong. You actually did everything right, and I’m starting to realize that I spent so much time in a relationship with someone I shouldn’t have been with. I’m seeing that there is more out there in the world. There are people who’d appreciate me the way that I want to be appreciated.”