As Long As I Have You

~ Chapter Forty Five ~

Evan barely masked his contempt when he secured his hands around the hips of the woman who expertly touched him not so long ago. He was intent on shoving her away from him even as she finished telling him how good it was to see him again, that it felt like forever since they last made love, and that she couldn't wait to 'try him back on'. Before he could push her away though, Victoria stepped up on her toes and kissed him with as much seduction as her tiny frame could summon.

She kissed the way she always did, with tantalizing provocation and daring sexual promises Evan remembered being unable to resist at one time. But after discovering the touch of an intriguing hellcat who gave everything of herself in a kiss and tasted of sweetness and strawberries, the woman thrusting her tongue into his mouth was little more than an overdressed counterfeit with transparently false charms and synthetic looks.

Knowing from personal experience that it was always easier to let Victoria think she was getting her way, he let her finish her supposed seduction, complete with writhing against his groin and provocative moaning into his mouth.

She lowered herself back down, and started drawing circles on his chest with her freshly manicured nails aimed at distracting him and lightly said, "I know I messed things up last time, my darling. But after seeing you last weekend I knew we should be together."

"Is that so?"

"Mmhmm. You know Christopher never really meant anything to me, my love. And that whole mess with the baby... well, I know we came to a financial arrangement to keep things quiet afterwards, but if you want to have another baby we can. You know I'll do anything to be with you, Evan."

He stiffened at her words, not because of her gall, but because out of nowhere Kirsten was standing in his open doorway, the look on her face just as shocked as his own. Kirsten, his lovely and guileless bride, stood dumbstruck at the sight of him with his arms wrapped around another woman.

The woman he himself promised wasn't worth talking about because she was part of the past.

The very woman who just revealed the terrible secret he had shamefully paid a ridiculous amount of money to keep under wraps and thought never to speak of again.

Evan recognized every nuance of horror and heartbreak in Kirsten's eyes in the microseconds before she hurled her items to the floor and disappeared from his doorway as mysteriously as she had appeared.

He wanted to run after her just as she ran from him, but he was stuck in an internal loop of watching morsels of dim sum explode out of a paper bag and mingle with a fragrant amber liquid that seeped across the floor after making a dull splintering sound inside its casing. His mind tried to make sense of things and reverse the process, but the tiny steamed dumplings refused to roll back into their bag, and the bottle of broken Scotch spreading ever wider across his red oak floors simply would not flow backwards and make itself whole again.

His senses jarred back to reality when Victoria slithered up behind him and eased a hand around his tensed midsection. When had he pushed her away, he wondered? He looked down at her perfectly slender, perfectly pampered digits and smiled cruelly to himself, immediately recognizing the diamond ring he so foolishly gave her but never took back. She undoubtedly chose the bauble specifically for the occasion.

"If that pale-faced mouse had any consideration, she would have at least left the dinner and drinks for us."

Evan looked down at the strewn mixture at their feet, thinking again of the tortured look in Kirsten's eyes before she fled.

"Get out," he finally managed.

"Evan, darling..."

He ripped himself away from Victoria's touch and turned on her with feral speed. Unwisely, she stepped towards him and reached out a hopeful hand. Without any compassion he grabbed her wrist and allowed his fingers to bite into her artificially tanned flesh, not enough to hurt her, but just enough to show her he meant every word he was about to say.

"I've always tried to be a decent man, Victoria. I think you knew that when I offered to raise our baby alone so you could leave and do whatever the hell you wanted. You certainly cashed in on my generosity and made my life hell as a bonus, but you're not going to get your way again."

He took a long, steadying breath and squeezed her wrist once more. "If you ever come near me or my wife again I will spend the rest of my days making sure I ruin your perfectly toned, tanned, manicured life. I will destroy you until there is nothing left. Now. Get. Out."

He released his grip on her and she held his gaze just long enough to understand the words were no threat but a very real promise. She turned and quietly picked up her purse from the back of the nearby sofa, then quickly ran out of the apartment without looking back.