As if it hadn’t done enough damage the first time, he looked at the text message again, needing to make sure that he had read it correctly. Yeah, shit, there was no mistaking what she had said. He desperately wanted to run from the room, go straight upstairs, rip her panties off, and fuck her on the top of her well-organized desk. Instead, with a none-too-steady hand, he texted back My house tonight, eight. His hand hovered over the SEND button before deciding on a little payback. He added two words before hitting SEND—No panties.
The rest of the meeting passed by in a blur. He was grateful that he had been the first to speak and had finished the items on his agenda before Ava’s text. As it was, he was so scattered that both Gage and Dom had gone from looking curious to downright concerned. Wanting to avoid the questions that he knew would be coming, he’d gathered his stuff and left early for his next appointment. At moments like this he hated the fact that the men he worked with were like a bunch of nosy, gossiping women.
Chapter Sixteen
Suzy was already wearing a green string bikini when Ava arrived at her house after work. She handed Ava a black bikini that looked similar in style. “Er . . . do you have anything else—like maybe a one-piece?”
Suzy shook her head, before pushing her toward a bathroom off the hallway. “No, of course not. If I did, I wouldn’t let you wear it. Mac doesn’t want to see you dressed like his mother. You’ve got a banging body; you need to show it off.”
Ava knew it was futile to argue. Instead she took the swimsuit and quickly changed. She looked at herself in the mirror and decided that even though it looked okay, she’d never felt so exposed in her whole life. Was anyone ever really comfortable in a swimsuit on the beach in front of dozens of people? Ugh! “Do you have a shirt or something I can put over this?” she yelled back through the door.
“No,” Suzy yelled back. “Come on out, we’ve got to go. And don’t put your clothes back on over that suit!”
Ava gaped at the door, wondering how the other woman had known that she was considering doing exactly that. Grumbling under her breath, she picked her clothing up and walked out the door. She came to an abrupt halt when she spotted Gray standing in the living room grabbing what looked like a handful of Suzy’s butt.
Ava had started to edge backward, trying to make her escape before being spotted, when Gray’s eyes landed on her. He smiled at her apologetically before swatting his wife’s ass lightly and saying,“behave yourself, minx. You are embarrassing your partner in crime.” Suzy spun around, narrowing her eyes as she saw Ava clutching her discarded clothing to her chest. She noticed that Gray still kept a possessive arm wrapped around Suzy’s waist, seeming to want to be in constant contact with some part of her. They were the sexiest couple that Ava had ever seen.
“Ready, chica?” Suzy asked, before leaning up to kiss her husband. “We’ll be back in a few hours, babe. You’ve got Mac coming over, right?”
Gray looked from his wife to Ava and then back again. “Mmm-hmm. Mac seemed a little surprised that I needed to meet him this evening just to discuss an upgrade. Neither he nor I could discern why it was suddenly so earth-shakingly important to my beautiful wife.” When Suzy just gave him her best innocent look, he shook his head in resignation. Kissing the top of her head, he said, “Be safe, baby.”
When Gray walked off into another room, Suzy wrestled the clothing from her hand and threw it into a nearby armchair. “Come on, drop the body armor. We’re going out onto a beach. There are many people with swimsuits on. It doesn’t matter who you are or what size you wear, just own it. Confidence is sexy.” With those words, Suzy pulled her out onto the deck and then down the steps that led to the beach.
Ava felt naked with strangers around but tried to take Suzy’s words to heart. Was it as simple as just seeing yourself a certain way? Even though she had been told she was attractive, a part of her had always felt ugly . . . since that night. She thought if she exposed too much skin, she was asking for bad things to happen to her. She had lived with the fear for years that she had somehow been responsible for her assault. Had she given him the wrong idea by how she dressed and the things she said? All the books said no. That there was never anything you could do to justify those acts of violence, but deep down inside, the doubts festered.
Being exposed like this now, for strangers to see, was almost paralyzing. Sure, she had worn more revealing clothes lately but always with some kind of escape plan in mind. But here and now, there was no car near, there was nothing to hide behind. If she freaked out and ran, everyone would see . . . Suzy would see.
Ava had no idea that she had stopped walking until Suzy put hand on each of her arms, shaking her lightly. “I don’t think . . . ,” she began to explain before letting the words trail off. Why? Why couldn’t she stop being afraid?
“Hey,” Suzy said quietly, “listen to me. I know you’re all up in your head right now. Trust me, I recognize the signs. I’m not going to force you to see this through. But I will promise you this: I’ll be with you every step of the way. I won’t leave your side. We don’t have to parasail today. We can just hang out. No one is going to bother you; I’ll make sure of that.”
Ava studied her new friend for a minute, seeing nothing but sincerity in her eyes. If there had been one ounce of pity, Ava would have collapsed, but somehow Suzy’s strength fueled her own. She really looked at her surroundings for the first time, seeing other women on the beach dressed just as she was. She didn’t stick out here. No one was looking at her; she was just another face in the crowd. Releasing the breath she hadn’t been aware of holding, she gave a nod of agreement and a tentative smile of reassurance. “I—okay. Can we just watch other people do the parasailing before I commit, though?”
Doing a little victory dance, Suzy threw an arm around her shoulders. “Hell yeah, we can. If we’re being all honest and stuff, I almost pissed my pants the first time I tried it, so I’m all for taking baby steps. Most important thing is that we’re actually considering it, right? Big points for that! Hey, by the way, what was Mac’s reaction to your sext today?”
Ava felt her face go up in flames as she looked around to make sure no one was listening before saying, “He said to be at his house at eight . . . with no panties.”
“No, he didn’t!” Suzy all but shouted. “I bet you don’t make it as far as the bedroom tonight before he jumps your bones! That man probably hasn’t been able to think of anything else all day. You go, girl.”