ADLEY On Monday, Mykel dropped me off at my office. Of course, he caught everyone’s attention as if he was the leading man in a new sexy rom-com movie. This time, he smiled and waved at my team instead of being on his cocky swagger persona. “How’s your weekend, everyone?” “Hey, Mr. Creed,” my employees in unison. “Not every day we got a visit from a billionaire, ex-playboy philanthropist.” Blaze joined us. “How are you, Blaze?” They exchanged pleasantries. “I’m great. How are you?” Blaze turned to me, inspecting me from head to toe. “You look great, Adley.” “It’s because I take care of my wife.” Mykel slipped his hands into his pocket. A brow raised from Blaze with a slight nod. “I can see that now.” “Anyway. Baby, can I take you to lunch later?” I rubbed the back of my shoulder. “It’s Monday. I have a lot of work to finish. Our clients are piling up.” Mykel looked around. “You needed to expand your area and hire manpower.” “I agree,” For the first time, Blaze was with M
MYKEL “You’re upset.” I took off my suit and watched her undress in silence. It was a pleasant dinner until Lex opened up about expanding a family. I didn’t take it as a burden. A pressure, maybe. In fact, I wanted to have a family with Adley, but I wanted us to be on the same page because this was a lifetime responsibility. Considering what kind of past I had, I wouldn’t want to raise my child alone. “I’m fine.” Adley’s necklace was stuck in her dress, and she struggled not to damage what Mom gave her and the dress. “I’m here, baby.” I went to her. “Asking for help is not a flaw.” “Who said it’s a flaw?” “Let me.” The clasp was stuck into the lace of her dress. “Done.” Once done, she put a sweater on and left the walk-in closet after hanging her dress. I changed into sweatpants and shirts. Then I went to the office. I knew I would find her there. “You can use the desk.” Her laptop was on her lap as she typed something, her eyes glued to the screen. “I’m fine.” “But we’re
ADLEY It had been a week since we didn’t sleep together. Every time he started kissing me, my excuse, I was not in a mood. I admired his patience, and he never forced himself into me. Deep in my heart, I felt terrible for him, but as long as he would not throw the condom in his drawer, we were not having sex. Call it childish, but I wanted to teach him a lesson, and that condom was his idea. We were good, though. In fact, we were great. We started talking about planning a family in three or four years. Life was good either way. Kaelie knocked and came in. “Someone here insisted on talking to you, Adley.” “Who?” I lifted my gaze from the screen of my laptop. “Me.” I was on my feet before I even realized it. Icy seeped through my veins as if I’d seen a ghost. “What are you doing here, Gary?” “I just wanna talk to you. I can’t get close to you if you’re with Lex or Mykel. You blocked my number, too.” That was the whole point. I didn’t want to talk to him. Yet he still did not get
MYKEL Rage blinded me that I could barely grip into my self-control. I was mad at myself for not being there to keep her safe. I was beyond furious at Gary fucking Merick for assaulting my wife, but no matter how I wanted to blame Adley for not telling me, I couldn’t. I couldn’t even yell at her, and I could barely look at her for the guilt I felt inside. Somehow, I blamed Lex, and I blamed myself even more. “Just get it over with.” She was undressing herself. “Scream out the rage and anger inside your chest. It’s my fault that I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to get in trouble.” “So I should thank you for doing me a favor. Is that it?” I grunted, asking her sarcastically. “I know how you feel about Gary, Mykel.” “We’ve talked about keeping secrets, yet here we are again.” I threw my hands in the air. “If your assistant didn’t call the cops and me, you would have been hurt, Adley. Do you know how it feels watching someone I care about get hurt? Of course, you don’t. A
MYKEL“Yes! Yes, please?”“Then be a good wife, Adley!”“I told you, you can’t make me submit to you.” Her voice was resisting, but her body was submitting. I could feel her giving in to her pleasure. She was dripping wet, her pussy lips swelled, and her clit was hard as a diamond, begging to be fondled.“We’ll see about that. I know you want to be the boss of your life, but you are married to me. I will always take care of your well-being, including keeping you safe and satisfying your needs in bed.”“You’re awfully chatty in bed tonight. Either we talk or continue what we started. But we can’t do both.”“Then be stubborn, or you won’t come.”“If you deny me, I might have to invest in sex toys. You know it’s a thriving business. People get creative in bed. And you asked me once for a butt plug. I could design one, maybe a shape of your tiny—”“Tiny what?” She got a spank from me.She moaned louder, and the grip on the sheets tightened as she pushed her ass upward. I knew what she was
ADLEY At a glance, I walked down memory lane. We decided to visit Grandpa at the Kross Corp. He was more determined to work in his office than at home. I remembered those days when Dad brought me here—it felt like yesterday. Though this place had gone through a lot of redecoration, the memories were still fresh to me. I scanned through old photos. Grandpa kept the picture while I was just a kid, taken at the private airport. It was the day I lost my parents. I put it back when the emptiness in my chest became too much. I looked at Mykel. He was in deep thoughts as he stared through the cityscape outside. I was about to say something when Grandpa walked in. “Mykel, Adley, what are you two doing here? Not that I’m not happy to see you both.” “You should have told me, Lex. It happened in your home, and I was there the next morning,” he stated matter-of-factly. Grandpa sighed deeply. Regret and pain reflected in his eyes. “I felt ashamed. I was about to push my only granddaug
MYKEL I was glad Adley slept like a log last night. She started to make me worry. One thing I learned about her was she had this obsession with something, and she would not stop until she was done with it. Maybe that was one thing we had in common. Even if Adley woke up late in the morning, she was energetic and went to the mini-gym for her yoga. I was preparing breakfast when she joined me with a kiss on my cheek, then wrapped her arms around my waist. “What was that for?” “For reminding me that health is also wealth, and there’s more important than making money and good impressions.” “Like what?” I put a small amount of butter on her pancakes and poured a good amount of syrup. “You and our marriage.” Her reply froze me for a moment. Did she really say that? My heart started pumping hard. I held her hands and turned around. “Do you mean it?” She looked fantastic today. “Yeah. You took care of me last night and reminded me that my husband was more important to me than maki
ADLEY The evening started rocky to the point that Mykel was ready to walk out. After dinner, I got a chance to get to know his father. The man was a jerk, but he was making his amends, and he had nothing but respect for his ex-wife, who he abandoned. And who was I to judge against someone willing to change to be a better version of himself? We all had issues, made mistakes, and learned each step in our lives. We fell, stood up, and started over. That was all that mattered. While Mykel was tensed the entire time, he exchanged a little conversation with his father’s girlfriend. “You have an accent. Where you from?” “I was born Queens, but my parents are originally from Colombia.” “That tells your skin. It’s lovely. I’m jealous,” I butted in. “Do they approve of your relationship?” Lyra looked down. “I see. Do they know you’re pregnant?” Mykel asked. “Yes. My family is a little bit traditional regarding raising a child.” “They didn’t approve of raising a child out of wedlo