A Hot Mess (The Truth in Lies Saga #3) Read Free Page B

stomach.
    Drew stood before me, in all his naked glory, proud of what he’d accomplished.  What he didn’t understand was that, in that moment, he accomplished more than an intense orgasm.  The ice I’d built up in my heart had shattered into a million pieces. The fight in me was now gone.  With the final wave of my release, my anger became sated.  
    Was I still hurt?  
    Absolutely.  
    But we could talk about it.  I still believed there was no place for me in his world.  Not when he had Olivia and the baby to think about.  He made his decision when he cut me out of his life that night at dinner.  I couldn’t turn a blind eye to that.  I would simply have to forgive him and attempt to create a friendship with him.  We’d been the best of friends before.  We could be again.  
    Drew leaned forward, resting his hands on the mattress above my head, and kissed me.  The combined taste of us on his tongue was intoxicating.  I thrust my tongue into his mouth, savoring the flavor.  My arms wrapped around his neck, drawing him closer to me.  His mouth moved against mine, rough at first, but turned soft and gentle, the way it had been earlier in the kitchen.  I was more susceptible this time, accepting the tenderness that exuded from him, shifting the balance of power back to him.  
    A tiny whimper escaped me as I ran my fingers through his hair.  He’d cut it so short, but I didn’t have it in me to tell him I liked it a little longer.  Not that anything could make Drew Wise look bad.  Not my Andy.  He’d be gorgeous wearing a burlap sack.
    He moved his hands to my face, pushing my matted hair away from my temples.  Somehow in the middle of all my anger and my need for revenge, I had managed to reopen the wounds in my chest, allowing him to slip right back into my heart.  I loved him.  I knew I always would.  
    He placed sweet kisses to my forehead, over my eyelids, and on the tip of my nose.  I sighed as a flood of emotions welled up inside me.  His tender kisses continued, moving over the corners of my mouth.  I caught a glimpse of his smile and my heart exploded in my chest.  I couldn’t tell if he was still buzzed.  I knew I wasn’t, but the smile he wore was one I recognized all too well.  This was Drew in love.  Drew happy.  Drew content.  He pressed his lips firmly to mine, and I melted into his kiss, yearning to feel his love once again.
    “You never cease to amaze me,” he whispered as his lips moved from mine down my neck.  “If you only knew how much I’ve missed you.  How much I need you.”
    My heart skipped a beat.  I touched his face, tracing the crinkles at the corners of his eyes that I loved so much.  They always deepened when he smiled like this.
    “I’ve missed you too,” I whispered.  My eyes brimmed with tears that I refused to shed.  His back stiffened and his brow furrowed as he stared intently in my eyes.  Whatever he was searching for, he must have found, because he pressed his mouth to mine, kissing me with such fervor that my toes curled.
    My need for the man intensified.  In this moment it felt as if we’d never been apart.  I scooted up the length of the bed with Drew crawling over top of me simultaneously.  His lips never left mine.  There was nothing but tenderness in the way he touched me.  He hovered over me, staring with such longing into my eyes.  The atmosphere around us had shifted in such a way that our former acts held no bearings on what was happening now.  I wanted to touch him, to love him, not ravage him as I’d done before.  
    My hands slowly moved over his sculpted chest down to his stomach.  He’d lost weight.  I could feel his ribs where there had once only been muscle.  It saddened me to realize he’d neglected himself in my absence.  I thought about how he said he hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol since I left.  It made me proud of him, and I only hoped I hadn’t killed his sobriety by telling him where my