3 BOOK BUNDLE "Her Last Love Affair", "Her Last Love Affair: Breathing Without You" AND "Her Last Love Affair: The Final Journey" (21 page)

And just as she was screaming his name with the power of a
third massive climax, he whispered, “I love you,” in her ear, while his member
lengthened and pulsed. Relatively little fluid erupted from him, unsurprising
given their recent activity. But Allie was happy to note that it didn’t seem to
affect the pleasure Reece had felt.

Eyes closed, his head dropped back on his neck and he gulped
in large mouthfuls of air. “Oh, God,” he breathed. “That was...” he fumbled for
another word, slowly opening his eyes and returning his face to the level of
hers. “I mean...” he gasped.

“I love you, Reece,” Allie offered, smiling deep into his
eyes. “I love you so much,” she added, drawing her arms around his waist and
pulling him closer. She would not be able to say how long they stood that way,
but by the time they finally emerged from the bathtub, it was only because
she’d run out of hot water.

Going Home

A
llie
woke up over twelve hours later, not that she had any concept of time. The only
thing she was aware of was the fact that it was dark, whether that indicated,
evening, middle of the night or early morning, she had no clue. As her eyes
drifted open, she automatically turned expecting to find a comforting, warm
body next to her. However, the security of Reece’s form, something that had
become a mainstay over the previous days was no longer present.  Her hand
slipped out over the mattress, feeling the sheet for any trace of warmth and
found it. He obviously hadn’t been gone long.

Pushing the sheets off her, Allie slid off the bed.
Completely naked, she wandered across the bedroom to the bathroom door. It
stood ajar and she gave it a little nudge. As the door swung wider, she
listened to the complete silence and already knew that Reece was not inside.
Turning away from the bathroom, she retraced her steps, stopping by the side of
the bed to pick up a large towel she’d dropped there after their shower. Feeling
a little chilly,
she wrapped the fabric around
her, tucking it on itself to keep it up.

Unhurriedly, she exited the bedroom and strolled
through to the kitchen, she didn’t find him there. But the open plan living
space afforded her a view of the back of his head. He was sitting on the couch,
in the dark. “Hey,” she called, smiling.

His face snapped around and he grinned in return.
“Hi,” he mumbled. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“
I
don’t think you did,” she assured him, her feet crossing the cool kitchen tiles
and eventually finding the hardwood of the living room. It was then, as she got
to the end of the couch, that she noticed he was fully dressed and in the
process of putting his shoes on. “Going somewhere?” she wondered aloud.

“
Umm,
yeah,” he responded, leaning forward to refasten the laces of his dress shoes.
“I’m just going to pop back to my apartment.”

Resting her butt on the arm of the couch, Allie draped
her forearm over his shoulders. “What happened to your promise to keep me
entertained?” she asked, leaning forwards and kissing his temple.

“
I
won’t be gone long,” he chuckled.

“
You
want to go in the middle of the night?” she queried, her eyes drifting to the
digital display on her DVD player. It was almost nine o’clock.

“
Well,
I was awake,” he sighed, sitting upright. “I figured I’d be back before you
missed me.”

“
Oh,”
she chuckled. “Sneaking out, huh?”

He laughed in reply, pushing himself to his feet. “Not
exactly,” he responded.

“
Well,
why don’t you wait for me?” she suggested, jumping up from the couch. “I’ll get
some clothes on and we can grab a late dinner or go to a movie, or something.”

Reece didn’t reply quickly and his laughter slipped
away. He paused in his movement for the door. “That sounds nice,” he said not
quite convincingly enough. “While you’re getting ready, I’ll just run to my
place.”

Allie cocked her head, amused by his attempt to put
her off. “You don’t want me to come with you?” she noted. “You got a wife
hiding at home?” she joked.

He laughed at the suggestion, shaking his head. “Of
course not,” he told her.

“
So,
what’s the problem?”

“
No
problem,” he insisted. “I only want to grab some clothes, I won’t be long.”

“
And
you have to go and get some clothes in the middle of the night?” Allie asked,
her tone becoming more serious, as were her questions.

Sighing, Reece moved toward her. “Look,” he said
softly, smiling. “We’ve been in this apartment for days. I’ve got nothing clean
to wear and, at some point, we’re going to need to go out and get some food,
because right now you have a packet of dried pasta and a half loaf of moldy
bread.”

“
I
can’t cook anyway,” she replied dismissively.

With a bemused roll of his eyes, Reece reached forward
and brushed the back of his fingers across her cheek. “I can,” he countered.

She gestured with her thumb, as though she were
hitchhiking, at the coffee table behind her. On it sat two pizza boxes and an
assortment of takeout cartons. “We’ve been managing,” she quipped.

Allowing his hand to drop from her face, he nodded.
“Yeah, and I don’t think that crap is doing you any good,” he responded in
kind.

“
I
just don’t understand why you have to go right now,” Allie said, avoiding his
statement and returning to the topic that was actually bothering her. “If you
come back to bed, I’ll give you a good reason to wait until morning,” she
suggested, wriggling her eyebrows.

“
Look,
Allie,” he replied. “I’ll be gone for an hour at the most, there’s really no
need to make a big deal out of this.” As he spoke, he took a step back.

Her brow creasing, as she studied him closely, Allie
ran her fingers through her silky, shoulder-length hair. “I’m not making a big
deal out of it,” she insisted. “I just don’t understand why you can’t wait five
minutes, so I can come with you.”

“
I’ll
be back faster if I go alone,” he quickly replied, taking another step
backward, but keeping his face to her.

“
Reece,
are you hiding something?” she blurted.

“
No,”
he scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I just need to get some clean clothes.” He
was beginning to get frustrated, and as he took another step back, he reached
behind him and blindly grasped the doorknob. “In an hour, I’ll be back and this
will seem like a such a stupid argument,” he huffed.

“
I’m
not arguing,” Allie corrected him, even though she knew there was an element of
‘spoiling for a fight’ to her method of questioning him. And a part of her knew
she was being childish in insisting on going with him. However, there was
something so adamant in his refusal that had prodded her suspicion, and that
was not something she’d be able to dismiss as immature neediness on her part.
She knew him too well, knew that he was a lousy liar, and could clearly see
that he wanted to keep her away from his home – the question was why.

“
All
right,” he relented. “This discussion will seem stupid,” he offered, rewording
and reaffirming his opinion.

Striding forward, Allie stretched out her arm. Her
hand shot over his shoulder, landing palm down against the door in an attempt
to keep it closed. She was aware that he was physically much stronger than her,
so it wasn’t about actually preventing him from opening the door. However, she
hoped that by making her desire clear, he would do the gentlemanly thing and
respect her wishes.

“
Allie,”
he groaned, shaking his head. “For God’s sake.” His fingers, slipped from the
doorknob and he placed both hands on her towel-covered waist. “All I want to do
is get some clean clothes.”

“
Then,
why did you come over so shifty when I asked to go with you?” she demanded.

“
Why
won’t you let me out of your sight for two seconds?” he snapped. The moment the
words were out of his mouth, his face fell. He wished he could take it back. “I
didn’t mean that,” he sighed, shaking his head. “It’s just...” he added.

“
I’m
smothering you?” Allie offered, her hands darting to his and prizing them away
from her body.

“
No,”
he stated. “That’s not it at all.”

“
You
think I’m being too clingy?” she added.

“
No,”
he repeated. “Well,” he hedged. “Maybe, but I’ve been clingy, too.” He made a
move for her as she stepped back.
“
Allie, I feel it as well,” he
reasoned. “That desire to be near you.”

Unmoving, Allie remained silent. She could see the
sincerity in his eyes, which made it even more difficult for her to get her
head around his sudden conviction to leave. If he felt the way she felt, why
was he determined to go back to his place without her.

“
Allie,”
he coaxed softly, “come on.”

Nibbling on her lower lip, Allie nodded. “Okay,” she
offered, her voice cracking slightly. “If you want to go; go ahead.”

“
It’s
not like that,” he groaned. “I need something to wear, that’s all.”

“
Uh
huh,” Allie skeptically responded.

Reece heard the doubt in her tone, but didn’t have the
strength or inclination to question her further. Instead, he turned for the
door and resumed his attempt to open it. “Listen, I’ll be back in an hour or
so,” he told her. “We can talk about this then, all right?”

“
Sure,”
Allie agreed halfheartedly.

“
I
don’t know what’s going through your mind,” he added, as he pulled the door
open and placed one foot across the threshold. “But you’re wrong.”

“
You
can’t say that if you don’t know what I’m thinking,” she responded, following
him to the doorway. She didn’t try to stop him, she just watched him leave,
standing with her arms folded beneath her breasts.

“
I
can tell by the look on your face that you’re thinking something bad,” he
informed her. “This is me we’re talking about,” he added. “You know me.” With
that, he closed the door quietly behind him.

“
I
did know you,” Allie muttered to herself.

She’d known him when he was in his late teens and
stayed in touch into his early twenties. Beyond that, she wasn’t aware of
anything he’d done or been. He’d seemed the same to her: charming, funny,
incredibly handsome and seemingly perfect. And yet, what did she really know
about him? How much time had they spent talking about him; what he’d been doing
in the ten years they hadn’t seen or heard from each other? The answer, Allie
quickly realized, was that they hadn’t.

At no point had they spoken about his life. Mostly,
they’d talked about nonsense; occasionally they reminisced about old times; and
even more infrequently, he’d asked her about her career. Never had he mentioned
his life; not his job, his friends, girlfriends, places he’d been, people he’d
met – not one word had been spoken on those topics.

Allie hadn’t given any of these things a second’s
thought. Her brain had been too fogged with sexual pleasure and the desire for
more of it to realize that they hadn’t discussed anything of importance. Now,
she wondered whether Reece had deliberately not spoken of his life, because he
had something to hide. Her assertion that he had a wife had been a joke, but
after some thought, she noted that it wasn’t such a ridiculous supposition at
all. Maybe he was married, at the very least he may have a girlfriend. After
all, he was an incredibly good-looking guy, it was highly likely that he was in
a relationship.

“Oh, God,” Allie muttered, moving numbly back to the
couch and dropping into the corner of it. “Oh, shit,” she whispered. Surely,
she told herself, that was the only explanation. He didn’t want her to go with
him, because his wife or some live-in-lover would be there. Although how he’d
managed to explain away his absence for several days, she couldn’t account for.
“No,” she breathed, shaking her head. This was Reece; she may not have seen him
for the better part of ten years, but people don’t change that fundamentally,
do they?

There was a time when Allie would have sworn that
there were no circumstances under which Reece would be unfaithful. He was a man
of strong principles, he was moral and respectful. Allie wondered whether those
core values could be changed over time. The only answer she could reach was:
possibly. It wouldn’t be the first time that a person had acted in a way that
seemed contrary to their convictions.

She still coudln’t quite bring herself to believe that
Reece would intentionally cheat, but her imagination was starting to build
scenarios that could account for the present situation. Maybe he and his
girlfriend, or wife, split
up
just before Allie came back into the picture. It was
quite possible that said wife or girlfriend th
e
n patched things up with Reece
when Allie ended their brief fling. However, by then, knowing the truth about
her condition, Reece felt guilty and wanted to be there for Allie during her
last weeks and months. Not wanting to lose his girlfriend/wife, he decided to
temporarily have an affair, keeping both women a secret from the other.

This all seemed perfectly plausible to Allie, who
brought her feet up onto the couch and wrapped her arms around her legs.
Staring blankly toward the window in front of her, her eyes gravitated toward
the amber glow of the streetlight. Mournfully, she released a slow, decidedly
shaky breath. “Too good to be true,” she mumbled. “Always too good to be true.”
She was talking about the last few days, which had seemed so wonderful. And she
was talking about the man she’s constantly put on a pedestal; the guy she was
sure was so different from other men. However, Reece was just a man. He wasn’t
the perfect, flawless character she’d held in her mind’s eye.