THE EX

licks into place. You stop worrying about the should-have-be

that I, Sophie Scaife, self-pronounced "eternal fuckup" just a year before, had founded a

e to her and her wife-and my forever bestie-Holli's new loft. It was a two-hour drive for me, but I usually took a chartered helicopter or slept in the backseat of the Maybach to get there. The rent was

a after graduating from college there. We'd been her first job interview, and Deja and I had felt instantly protective of her. We'd snatched her up under our wings

t the split ends of my long, dark hair. I was so happy it was Februar

iling eyes in the reflection of the gilded mirr

"Yeah. I haven't been home in, like, two days. Are you cool wi

which wedding" type of story. Maybe it was because I had been thrown into the deep end with my sorta step-daughter's lavish New York fairy-tale dream

e. "I hate them. I'm going to meet with Dan at fi

"I'll still be in the car at fiv

e buttons down the front-I got a rush of giddy excitement. I had a job again. I had my best frie

part of his job, but now I'd come to realize it wasn't antiquated chivalry as much as means for a driver to make sure his passenger was actually in the

tan apartment. I pressed the button and answered, "Straight h

g woman in fashion, at one time-but the toll it took did surprise me. Just two short years ago, I'd been capable of pulling all-nighters and working through the next day. Now, if I didn't get at lea

of the jack pines towering over the car in the twilight. I sat up and rummaged through my purse for a piece o

's this sprawling seaside Hamptons mansion, way too big for just two people, but Emma would fill it up

from the windowed hall that led to the kitchen. Smiling, he h

een since we'd gotten together-evidenced by my "oof" of pain as I collided with his chest. When he'd still been recovering from his stem cell transplant the year befo

ably excited at the prospect-he'd already converted a room in our house into a nursery, "just in case we should ever need it,"-nobody was entirely okay with aging. Heck, even I was

r and breathed in the smell of his

head as he said, his voice full of raw,

n my ass was slowly bunching my s

a playful s

etic soul." He pretended to be wounded then

" I scoffed.

a compliment. Come on

ith a sexy sway to my hips. "I thought you

Emma and Michael sitting at the island. I switched tracks to avert disaster and

me when she knew something was up, but s

ng to give me a hug. Michael came fro

gest damn people I'd ever m

motioning for her stay seated. I hugged he

e basketball in front. I was jealous, and I was never even going to have kids. But everything Emma did was adorable. Waifish, with blond hair in a chin-le

is money on Emma's blond hair, but Michael's height, while I was rooting for a

d!" Emma said, flapping her h

ing on the stove, and I leapt behind the island to rescue it. He wiped h

, both he and I raised o

the back of his neck. "Well, s

o Emma for confirmation. "Why didn't you tel

le girl yet," Michael reminded

t he's really Oliver." I fished the spoon from the pot, keeping myself at arm's length from

d the gender politics carousel of hell with Neil ever since Emma and Michael had announced that they weren

was fun. We made an excellent team for ganging up on her father. And Michael was finally able to speak without fear of being destroyed by th

intment. I'd stayed in the kitchen to load the dishwasher while Neil walke

h I enjoy this whole domestic t

y waist. "You enjoy it so much, you starte

ed the giant saucepot in the sink, which I hadn't b

to rewash all the clean dishes

cky. Besides, isn't that a good thing

e refrigerator. Pulling out a bottle o

me shiver. Before I'd started Mode, Neil and I'd had all the time in the world for sex. Now, with work k

t I'm more interested in hearing about your day than I am about getting into yo

etter idea. How about I take

e into the hair at the nape of my neck as he kissed me, and my toes curled in my shoes. My pussy clenched, and I momentarily conside

little wobbly on my

eatre, a hot tub and a sauna, and forty-nine acres of grounds that included the prev

part of the plac

an antique-part of the apartment I'd shared with my best friend Holli. When I'd moved in with Neil, h

ht stand I'd thought I'd never see again. Back then, I'd thought Neil was Leif, a hot forty-two-year-old guy who'd swooped in like a sex guardian angel and fucked

e getting the happily ever after

was like returning to the womb. I moaned with unabas

u started

on the granite tile. The cool, slender stem of a wine glass presse

ed my eyes to bat my lashes at him above th

ed out his phone, flicked the screen a few times, and "La Femme d'Argent" by Air softly slunk over the room. Despite the steam

a long sip from his own glass. "

wallow and held it out for him to take. Then,

f his sweater drew me in, made me acutely aware of his body. I knew every inch of it, had kissed so many parts. He'd learned all of me, too, so I knew he could visualize my fingertips stroking the hood of my clitoris forward and

es. I didn't want to close my eyes, but as I drew nearer and nearer to the apex of my pleasure, I had

Sto

red, but I pulled my fin

l

ples along my tingling skin. He parted my thighs and sought out my pussy, sliding two fingers inside, f

e before you come, So

moving his hand, he had me on the edge again. He circled his finger

for a towel. While he dried his hands, he instructed, "Finish your bath. Ed

ic, surrounded by silky, perfumed water, and I wasn't supposed to

oking glass in our bathroom. He'd placed a small, padded stool in front of it, where I dutifully sat and spread my legs wide. Though he'd made me do this several times already, the novelty hadn't worn off yet. I watched as my fingertips pa

fought my body to stop myself from coming. I held my own gaze as I waited for my nerves to calm, for the danger t

ad to fulfill his every command. The body under my hands was not mine. The pleasure I felt was hi

sm that wouldn't happen. Disobeying him was

took threatened to tip me over the edge. I stopped once and braced myself against

ed the floor in front of the hearth. A few throw pillows were scattered about. Neil stood befor

nd he pointed to th

ed the platinum circle around my neck. The latch cl

to the floor beside me. Then, he turned, the fly of

to open wide to take it in. With a gentle hand, he pressed on the back of my head until he went so deep he triggered my gag reflex. I breathed through it and opened my

My thighs were coated with cool wetness, and every brush of my breas

wn to hook a finger under my chin and tilt

rozen in my chest. "Yes

t do y

e fuck m

Mor

big cock and fuck me until I come." I shifted on m

your legs and play with your clit.

t from my lips befor

of dark, amused intent. "Did

d. I would be punished now. I had been so

find you've moved a single muscle w

essed, our limits had broadened. Neil felt more comfortable

get me off to ease my discomfort. But, more often than not, I found the consequences just tolerable enough that I would accept them to

and returned with our wireless wand-st

he began, parting my legs to settle bet

k pocket. He placed the scissors on the edge of the hearth, within reach, and

hat he would do. Neil wasn't going to punish by withholding orgasms. The orgasms w

cheek. The touch was at once tender and a mockery of tendern

body was eager to complete the journey. He brought me back the way I'd already been until my hips bucked and I wr

! He'd tr

digging into the rope that bound my

ack to my clit, teasing me to the first flu

sperately moving my hips against the vibrator until he could o

d, clicking the switch again, killing the

My thighs ached from constant tension. The fire warmed my s

t the corner of my eye with his thumb. He brought it to his lips and suc

good thing, o

t me once more, parting my labia around it, reaching above the slick black sili

nd broke with a shout. My entire body bucked, and the noises that wrenched from my throat were half scream, half animalistic groan. He circled the head of the vibrator, and I twi

safeword. Not when I was sobbing and too limp to move. Not when it seemed like the pleasure would never end, that I would be trapped in t

g the wand aside, "that was sixteen. If you

y hands and deftly untied the knot. "D

om shouting. I motioned toward the wine bottle and glasses on

id his jeans and boxer briefs down. "I have been waiting for t

ould return some of the pleasure and peace he'd just given me. I spread my legs wider as he found my

a long "mmm" of satisfaction as he filled m

I wept and clung to him, whimpering, "

sure. I strove for my climax, wanting it, wanting him, becoming someone other than myself, someone who existed

d his face into a rictus of concentration. He lost the battle, pumping into me furiously, and came with

lms down his back, danced my fingertips over his shoulder blades and down the flexed m

head with a

ike to take yo

ad. "I want to wear it j

protectively around mine. I flattened my palm

ifted his mouth from mine

*

't have a suddenly fitness obsessed, recently retired f

t phrase in front of him. Although, it wasn't as poor a choice as telling him about the "rise and shine and give God your gl

n a long, frustrated groan into my

on had sounded petulant, I would have been miffed, but he was right; at the beginning of our

ntral Park was two hours away, I doubted it was in the cards

be a lovely, snowy day. Why not get up, have a jog, then I'll make us

s in the city. He'd bought me this sprawling, ocean-view mansion because I hadn't wanted to be trapped in Manhattan, and I kept abandoning him-and

self to sit up. "I'm in. Give me te

rly at the door when the phone rang, and I p

he reached for the cordless handset. "Tight yoga pants, maybe. And that

calling at-I checked the time on one of Neil's dinner-plat

of being engaged to a billionaire-and there were, well, billions of perks-was the ridiculous amount of clothing a fashion-obsessed girl could buy, and the lavish space to hang it in. The dressing room in the master bed

hell and a total mirror hog. And there w

s were lined up neatly on a wall of custom shelves, and I plucked my sneakers from the bottom row. I grabbed the yoga pants Neil had suggested-my ass is pretty fantastic, and giving him

nytail and headed back out to the bedroom. Since he w

as it?"

asn't until he sat up and I saw how red and wet his eyes were that I realized he was