My Husband’s Regret After I Cheated

The moment I stepped into the hotel suite, a large hand caught me around the waist and pinned me against the wall. His body pressed flush against mine, tall and solid, and his mouth sealed over mine before I could breathe.He was shirtless. His heat poured straight through the thin fabric of my blouse. I couldn't catch a breath.He caught my hands and pressed them to his chest. Under my palms I could feel his heartbeat, the cut lines of muscle, and whatever was left of my resolve went out from under me.Ethan Harrington. International supermodel. And, for the last year, the man I'd been sleeping with behind my husband's back.A long, lean build, a knife-edge V, eight-pack abs, a face that sold magazine covers. He had everything a man could possibly have, and then some. I couldn't really blame myself for losing my head.We came from the same orphanage. We'd known each other since we were small.The woman who'd switched me out of the Ashford family hadn't fared well afterward, so she did

I'll admit it. I used to be pathetic where he was concerned.All it had taken was the handkerchief he'd once handed me when I was hurt, and I'd carved the name Lucas Sterling into my head.Unlike the rest of them, he hadn't mocked me. He'd always been mild with me, polite, and when he happened to cross paths with me he'd ask after how I was doing.He was the only one who'd remember, on Seraphina's birthday, to have something set aside for me too.In a house of cold eyes and casual cruelty, those small gestures of his had felt like real kindness. I'd been grateful for them.So when the Sterling family went bankrupt, I pulled out everything I'd saved.I sat up with his sick grandfather when Lucas was burned out and stretched thin. I joined that ragtag company of his when they couldn't even afford a decent office, went to the work dinners he couldn't stomach, and drank myself into a bleeding ulcer so he wouldn't have to.Edmund Sterling's one dying wish was that the two of us would end up

"Ivy. It's been so long."Seraphina leaned against Lucas's chest and spoke in that soft, airy voice of hers. "You were just leaving? I have so much I want to tell you."She coughed a few times for good measure, and Lucas tightened his arm around her immediately.So that's what a man looks like when the woman he's been pining over for years is finally in his arms. I'd never actually seen him like that before.I let my mouth curve, not quite a smile. "Never mind the talking. You two have so much to catch up on. I wouldn't want to intrude. Unlike you, I haven't exactly been missing anyone.""Ivy, are you upset with me?"Her lips were white, tears trembling on her lashes. "Lucas was only worried my body couldn't handle the trip. That's the only reason he went with me to the hospital. Please don't misunderstand. I know the two of you are married."Lucas's brow was knotted tight. Probably blaming me all over again for making his precious Seraphina cry.Catherine had already started laying in

Two men on either side of a dim stretch of pavement, staring each other down without a word.I stepped forward and put myself in front of Ethan, eyes locked on Lucas."So that's the guy you've been seeing on the side?" Lucas said, moving closer."Ivy. Come with me now, and I'll pretend I never saw this."He kept walking toward me. Ethan put a hand on his chest and shoved him back. I'd flinched back a step on instinct, and I saw Lucas register it.Ethan's arm settled around my shoulders, chin lifted, not a flicker of deference for Lucas."Ivy isn't going anywhere with you. You had her. You wasted her. That's on you.""I'm back now. And a grey, joyless man like you has no business standing next to her anymore. You don't know what you have. Step aside."Lucas's hands flexed at his sides. His smile was thin and all teeth. "If memory serves, Ivy and I are still on the same marriage certificate. Legally and publicly, we're husband and wife.""A man without even a name on paper shouldn't find

At the hospital entrance, Lucas was standing beside me. His head was lowered, his voice low. "You can still back out."I didn't answer. I stepped past him into the elevator.He was still standing in the exact same pose as the doors slid closed.Whatever Lucas had put me through, the damage had long outgrown whatever affection I'd ever had for him.Those feelings had burned out in me years ago, ground down to nothing. I hadn't even noticed when, exactly, the way he looked at me had changed.Dealing with this mess of people had already drained me. I had no interest, even now, in peeling back whatever was happening behind his eyes.I didn't understand him. Pining after Seraphina on one side, holding onto me like he couldn't afford to lose either of us. A heart split in half. He probably thought love could be divided up like that. But half of anyone's love will never be enough.And I had something already. Something hot and real and whole.I took Ethan's hand and stepped out of the elevato