• Willem •

The bell above the door of the jewelry store went off when I entered. The engagement ring I was looking for was somewhere in that brightly lit case where Amir was standing.

I wasn't sure what kind of ring Amelia would like, but it was a chance I was willing to take. If she didn't like it, I could always exchange it for another one.

I picked out a pear cut diamond among the series of rings Amir was showing me. Getting a cut like that to shine the way this one was shining, spoke of true craftsmanship. I could already picture it on her slender fingers.

Her hands were made for healing and she deserved this diamond and so much more.

I was going to ask her to marry me again since I never got a chance to ask her that first time all those years ago. Hopefully, she said yes.

"Thank you for letting me use your toilet," a familiar voice said and I looked up. Jessie hadn't changed much. She still wore overalls, this one a dark grey paired with a white tank top that left the sides of her breasts exposed.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw me. "I'm going to take these to the shop," she said, reaching for a matching set of rings sitting on the vitrine on Amir's left. "The bridal party will pick them and the flowers up in the morning."

She walked around to the front and I noticed the faint smudge of dirt on her jaw as she approached me. I glanced down at her hand and her nails were clean. I remembered that she always wore gloves while working in the dirt.

"Tell me, Willem," she said, watching me, her brown eyes intense. "Which one of them is your wife? The feisty blond or the stressed out black chick with long legs?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. What kind of game was she playing? And how did she even know what Amelia looked like? I also never recalled her meeting Tessa.

"Why would you like to know? Don't you have your hands full at the flower shop? It being wedding season and all."

Another customer entered the store and Amir gave me a look that said 'good luck, buddy' before moving on to assist the newcomer.

"Why wasn't I good enough?" she asked. "I gave you years of my life and you strung me along like I was just a piece of meat your dog didn't want."

"This is neither the place nor time for this conversation, but since I have no interest in dragging this out any further, I will make one thing clear. You need to let me go. I've moved on. I cheated on my wife with you and it's my only regret."

"You cheated on your wife with me? How? When? We haven't had sex going on two years, Willem. So when did you meet her?"

"I've been married for eleven years, and yes, my wife and I were practically strangers until recently."

"So I was just the placeholder, then? Wow, just wow. I thought you cared about me. God, I dreamed of having so much more with you."

"I never promised you more."

"And that makes it okay? To use me whenever you felt that particular itch in your balls?" she asked loudly, causing the gentleman at the counter to turn and glare at us.

"Let's take this outside," I said, leaving Amelia's ring on the counter. I was so pissed at Jessie for ruining my mood.

I had a second meeting to go to after this, but here I was having to deal with disgruntled exes.

I just wanted to buy my wife a way too fucking expensive ring and then go home and make love to her. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. Just me, her, and Bradley.

Jessie was a stark reminder of all the years we spent apart. A reminder that I hadn't tried hard enough to get Amelia back in my life where she belonged. Instead, I'd fallen into the arms of another woman, albeit being celibate for years.

I had every intention of cutting Jessie off for good. I never wanted to have this conversation with another woman again.

I also needed to find a way to get rid of Tessa. I couldn't stand her meddling in my life, chasing after me all those years, disrespecting my wife. I despised that woman for cheating on my brother with a lowlife like Sintus. Pieter had been nothing but good to her.

It was after midday and the sun was high in the sky, the whispery thin clouds providing no reprieve from the blasting rays.

There was a bench right across the jewelry store and I led Jessie to it, pulling her out of harm's way when a cyclist biked past too fast.

My hand immediately went around Jessie's thin waist. She gasped and shouted, "What the fuck, dude! Slow down." Her hand came down to rest on mine, out of instinct I guess. She shook her head in disbelief. "They shouldn't be allowed on this part of the boardwalk. They're going to hurt people if they keep this up."

I took my hand back, not liking how familiar it felt to hold her like that. Jessie was the first grown woman I'd ever been with. When I met Amelia at twenty-one, all my girlfriends up to that point had been teenagers. I had quite a few girlfriends back then; was quite the ladies' man.

Although Jessie and I hadn't done much as a couple, she'd taught me a few things about relationships. One of them being the place I went to in my head the first few times I orgasmed and how that made me realize that I didn't belong with Jessie.

As soon as my seed left my balls and I whipped the condom off, my mind would drift to Amelia. Always. The oxytocin wouldn't even be out of my blood yet and my heart would still be jumping in my chest.

Jessie would turn to me and smile and I would smile back. And then five minutes later she'd try to have sex again. By then my estranged wife would have taken camp in every nook and cranny in my head with her soft voice. And what a boner killer that was.

The guilt of betraying my seventeen-year-old wife was a surefire way to drain the blood from my cock. It was always that sad scene of her crying after her mother passed away and she tearfully thanked me for being there for her and I promised her that I would always be.

There was no logic to feeling that way after I'd repeatedly tried to make contact with her over the years but to no avail. She could have been dead the whole time, but there I was, unable to get my rocks off because sticking my dick into another woman was not the way to show that I would always be there for her.

From that I learned that my mind and body would never belong to Jessie. She was a good person, but we weren't good for each other, due to no fault of hers.

The last thing I learned as we sat down on the bench was that being honest and having those hard conversations were necessary to define a relationship and setting boundaries.

Instead of telling Jessie what was going on, I tried to avoid having sex by asking her out on dates in public places and then taking her home right away. I even bought and helped her set up her flower shop so she'd have a reason to stick around.

I was lonely and horny half the time, but I could only allow her to meet only one of those needs, so I settled for companionship.

"Are you alright?" I asked, removing my suit jacket because it was too hot outside.

I wasn't wearing a tie and had left a few buttons of the white dress shirt open. Jessie's eyes scanned my torso slowly. She swallowed before glancing away.

"Yeah, I'm a little flustered. Saw my life flash before me back there," she said.

"Jessie, I'm sorry you feel like I used you. I thought I made it clear that I didn't want anything serious, but apparently not clear enough."

"You didn't tell me you were married," she pouted.

"And I'm sorry. I never felt like I was truly married until now. She's real, living, and breathing, and I'm falling in love with her. So I hope you understand why I had to cut things off."

"So which one is she? I'm going to be disappointed if you say the blonde one."

I smiled. "Definitely not the blonde one."

"Whew, don't know how you'd go from all of this—" She made a flowing motion with her hands to demonstrate that she was referring to herself. "—to that. You have good taste in women."

"I'd like to think so."

"You made her cry that day. Why was she crying?"

A frown formed on my forehead."Who? And what day?"

"Your wife, black chick, gray hair. She cried when you left with the blonde in the red car."

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about this? And how do you know all this?"

Jessie bit her lip and avoided my gaze. "I may have been watching from a distance with a binocular. I needed to see the woman who stole you from me."

"Really, Jessie?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes really. It's not every day a girl like me gets to get with a billionaire who's handsome, generous, and kind."

"Is that why you showed up at the house recently? Cause you wanted to see my wife?"

"Yup and I'm not ashamed. I thought she was the maid when I bumped into her that time. I'm glad I have closure now and your apology has been accepted. For now, I'll just sit on the sidelines and watch you elevate your queen and be happy for you. My king will come along in due time."

"I'm sure he will." I thought about setting her up with one of my associates but decided against it. The less involved I was with Jessie, the better things would be.

I bid her farewell with a kiss on the cheek and went back to the jewelry store to purchase the ring.

I drove back to the office thinking about Amelia crying that time I drove off with Tessa to visit Bradley at the hospital. Not too long before that, she and I had been making out in the kitchen.

I recalled her soft moans and how tight she felt around my fingers, how she made them glisten with her wetness. How she questioned what we were doing with her eyes but her body burned and yearned for more of me.

When I'd gotten back from the hospital Filo told me that she'd left me. And I understood now that Filo was right about me embarrassing Amelia. I'd left without a word. With a strange woman.

Of course, that would make her cry.

For the first time I sat in a meeting with the board, bored out of my mind. My phone lit up and I saw a call from Filo coming in. I excused myself, saying it was an emergency before I even knew what Filo was calling me for.

Turned out Amelia had been bitten by a centipede. When I got to the house it was quiet. I took the stairs two at a time and the small box nestled inside my suit jacket seemed to get heavier with every step.

I found her sprawled out on our bed, her face buried in the pillow. My heart softened and then quickened at the sight of her. She had on jean shorts and a black tank top that had risen to expose her midriff.

I had this sudden urge to make up for lost time. I hung my jacket over the nearest chair, tucked my shirt out of my trousers, and kicked off my shoes before crawling on the bed behind her.

She was warm to the touch and I buried my nose in her neck, my hand settling over her breast. She had on a bra but I could feel her nipples reacting to my touch.

Being with her like this was like nothing I'd ever experienced. I kissed her shoulder, my tongue picking up on the salt on her skin.

She moaned in her sleep, turning slightly. The sound of paper rustling underneath her body caused me to pause. I pulled a sheet of paper from beneath her arm and I immediately recognized my handwriting.

Memories came flooding back in a rush. This was the first letter I'd ever written to her. I remembered sitting in Bradley's nursery when he was nothing but a few days old writing that letter with a pen I'd taken out of my brother's office.

I didn't have to read it to remember what I'd written. I remembered every word I poured on those papers year after year. How candid I'd gotten about my feelings with each passing letter. I'd send my heart out, seeking, searching, knowing fully well I'd get nothing back in response.

Peeking from underneath her pillow was the stash of letters her father had kept from her. I despised her father the same way she despised mine for keeping us apart all those years.

If it were up to me, I wouldn't have let him set foot in my house. He was a selfish human being, and selfish people only cared about satisfying their own needs and were willing to hurt anyone in the process, including their children.

And if Amelia's father didn't care about her thoughts, feelings, and what she needed to be happy, I would do it. He'd taken so much from her and now he was going to die a sad lonely man. I wouldn't be surprised if their relationship was never the same again.

I hope Amelia wasn't too keen on forgiving him just yet. Did he even understand what he'd done wrong?

Selfish people rarely did. I should know, my father was also a selfish man. He did everything with the idea of what he would be getting in return. Everyone else's feelings be damned.

Maybe we were all a little selfish at times. Right now I wanted to make love to Amelia, not caring that she probably needed this nap. I had every intention of waking her up. Again for my own selfish needs.

I didn't care as my hand went for the button on her jeans and my fingers dipped inside her pants to play with her clit. I spread her folds apart needing her to be wet for me. I kissed her lips, telling myself that we both needed this.

But it was clear that I was the one who needed to bury my dick deep inside her pussy right now.

She just wanted to sleep.

💞