Taking Chances - Ann Omasta (epub e reader .TXT) 📗
- Author: Ann Omasta
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Book online «Taking Chances - Ann Omasta (epub e reader .TXT) 📗». Author Ann Omasta
We stood like that for a long while. He had his arms around me, and I was stiff as a board. I opened my mouth to speak, but words failed me. He was rubbing up and down my back, soothing me, when I finally managed to croak out a sentence. “I thought you had dumped me.”
He pulled back to look directly in my eyes. “I know, and I’m so sorry for hurting you, Sweetheart. I reacted all wrong. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and it was all moving so fast that I got scared and took a little timeout. I’m here now, though, and I’m not going anywhere.”
I was struggling, unsuccessfully trying to come up with a way to gently say what I needed to tell him. “Why didn’t you call me to tell me you needed some time to process? I thought we were finished.”
“If I could take it back, I would handle it all so differently.” He ran his hand through his dark hair again, obviously feeling guilty. What he had done paled in comparison to what I had done. Okay, who I had done. I just couldn’t seem to formulate the words to confess.
Seth took my silence as anger and continued with his apology. “Abby, please forgive me. I spent the entire week thinking about you as I finished the boat that we christened and took her out on her maiden voyage. I couldn’t wait to get back and call you, but I was already late for Mother’s Sunday brunch when I docked, and she doesn’t react well to tardiness.” I could imagine that Janice would have a frosty side, if things didn’t go precisely her way.
Seth went on, barely pausing to take a breath, “I decided that a family event wasn’t the best place to try to explain things to you; so I waited to call, even though I was desperate to talk to you, to see you, to touch you.” He tenderly ran a finger along my jawline. I closed my eyes and another tear plopped out and trailed down my cheek.
Seth continued his explanation, seeming desperate to make me understand. “Before brunch was over, Jessie asked me to watch Katiedid for a while. I think she and Katie’s dad needed to talk through a few things. Jess rarely asks for anything, so I couldn’t turn her down. Katie and I swam and played outside for a long while, and then she fell asleep on my lap. I had left my phone in the Jeep, so I missed your call. As soon as Jess picked up Katie last night, I went to call you and got your message. I’ve been trying to call you back ever since. You probably have half a dozen messages from me.”
“My phone fell in the water and got ruined,” I responded, feeling numb. Everything that he had said made sense. He shouldn’t have put me through the torture of waiting for over a week with no contact, but considering what I had done last night, I had no right to be angry with him. It didn’t matter anyway. As soon as Seth found out that I had slept with Sam, he would be finished with me for good.
“Ab, please say you’ll forgive me. I do love you, even though I didn’t show it well this week. If you’ll give me another chance, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I promise to do my best to make sure our life together is what we have both always wanted.”
I was floored by his glorious words. Why couldn’t he have said them last week before I made such a mess of things? I had to tell him before he said anything else. There was no way to say it delicately. I couldn’t sugarcoat it. I just had to spit it out.
My mouth was so dry. I licked my lips and took a deep breath, which did nothing to calm my frantic nerves. “Seth,” I started. He was looking at me, his eyes so full of hope. I hated that I had to do this to him, but I didn’t have another choice. He deserved the truth. My voice was barely above a whisper, but I got the words out. “I slept with Sam.”
Seth moved back as if I had physically punched him in the gut. His face registered shocked disbelief, so I nodded in confirmation as tears ran freely down my cheeks. I saw his features change to disgust, then anger before he whirled around, muttering the words, “I’m going to kill him.” Then he left me standing alone in my kitchen.
It took a moment for my wits to return. I called out for him to stop and chased after him, but he was already gone. I silently prayed that the brothers would be able to forgive each other.
I had never been so appalled with myself, specifically with my lust-filled body. How could I have let this happen? How could I have made such a horrible mess of things?
I had met two of the most sexy, amazing, wonderful men on Earth, and I had managed to screw things up with both of them. I was sure that the twins would fight, and I was also certain that once that fight was over, they would realize that I wasn’t worth it.
I prayed that their relationship wouldn’t suffer any permanent damage from my lack of morals. They were both better off without me in their lives. I vowed to try to move forward with my man-free life, and to try to forgive myself for screwing things up so royally.
I could be happy without a lover. I had a great life before I met the Davis twins, and I would try to get back to that point. It would take a while to forgive myself for my indiscretions, but I would work on it.
Right now, I needed Court and Annie. I could use some unconditional love, and I knew those two would dish it out, even if I didn’t deserve it.
I had sat there with my mind spinning for so long that I was now late for work. I was normally extremely punctual, so I used our home phone to call Annie. “Sorry I’m late,” I started in as soon as she picked up. “I’ll be there in a few.”
“Take your time, Love. I’m just glad to hear you’re okay.” Annie was already doling out the unconditional acceptance. Most bosses would at least want an excuse about why you were late. Not my sweet Annie, though. All she cared about was that I wasn’t sick or injured.
My next call was to Court, asking her to meet me at the shop in half an hour. “I’ll be right there,” she responded. Again, no questions asked. These two ladies were truly there for me, and I was so grateful to have them in my life.
I raced up the stairs to take a quick shower before heading in to work. When I walked into the boutique, Courtney was already there chatting with Annie. She had obviously already filled Annie in on what she knew of the horny details of the last 24 hours because they both held their arms out to me.
I rushed to them for a soothing group-hug. As we stood there holding each other, I thought about how happy I was that the two most important women in my life had begun to forge a solid, caring relationship with each other. I needed both of these fabulous, nurturing, wild, lovely women, and I wanted them to be able to lean on each other as well.
Courtney was the one who finally broke the silence. “I can’t stand the suspense any longer. Did you tell Seth about Sam?”
We broke the three-way hug, but stayed close to each other. It was my triangle of solace as I nodded in answer to her question, unable to utter the word. Tears began to pool in my eyes as the guilt over what I had done washed over me.
“Oh, Sweetie, it’s okay.” Annie put a hand to my cheek as she said the words. Court grabbed my hand as she nodded in agreement. I didn’t feel judged by either of these wonderful women, even though I knew that what I had done was despicable.
“I know that I have ruined my chance of being with either of them, but I just hope that I didn’t destroy their relationship with each other.” I managed to get the words out despite my sniffling.
Annie reached for the box of tissues as she said, “Honey, why in the cosmos would you think that you’ve lost your relationship with both of them?” She seemed genuinely perplexed.
I knew that Annie was flighty, maybe to the point of being occasionally ditzy, but I couldn’t imagine that she didn’t understand this. Maybe Court hadn’t fully explained the situation to her. “I slept with both of them,” I said simply.
She shook her head as if still not getting it, so I continued. “Seth hates me because I slept with his identical twin, when we hadn’t officially broken off what we had. Sam is furious because I told him that Seth and I were finished, when evidently we weren’t quite done yet.”
Court was the one who answered. “None of that was your fault. You tried to reach Seth, and he ignored you. You had every reason to believe you
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