No Easy Ride
Ellie let the hot water from the shower wash away her humiliation. God, what had she been thinking? The look on his face when they came up for air had nearly destroyed her. Talk about a confidence killer.
Sure, he hadn’t been alone in his shock over what they just did but dammit, did he have to look like he regretted it so much? He could have at least tried to make the effort to not appear so disgusted.
Regrets were better saved for huge life mistakes. This didn’t qualify and while it might hurt that he acted like such a jerk, she refused to dwell on it. In fact, she'd use the experience in one of her books. They always said to write what you know and now she knew what it was like to be rolled by a guy like Rex. Hot sex with a less than stellar exit strategy.
Besides, she hadn’t seen him in years when he showed up in her world tonight. It would most likely be years before she had to see him and face the humiliation all over again. Yes, this was definitely going in a book. Maybe there she could express the hurt she was refusing to let herself think about in her real life.
***
Rex was halfway home before he realized that he couldn’t leave things the way he had with Ellie. Talk about a train wreck. Sure, both of them had sudden realizations about whom they just had sex with but she handled it much more graciously than he had. Like a teenager, he threw on his clothes, made a ton of excuses and practically ran out the door. He came across as a real jerk.
He didn't regret a moment but there was no way to tell that by his reaction. Not only did he not regret it but he couldn’t stop thinking about her now that he was over the initial shock. Every reaction he had replayed in his mind like a movie.
It wasn’t just the sex either. It was the open and easy way she talked with him. How she really listened to what he said and seemed interested in his life. Yes, they shared a history but it had been so long since they saw each other that it was like meeting a whole new person.
Dammit, why was he so shocked in the first place? Didn't he make up his mind that he was going to have her while he was on that dance floor holding her in his arms? Maybe the shock was that she actually wanted him back. Women like Ellie didn’t go for men like him.
Relationships never worked for him. Not that he hadn’t tried, but to be honest, women didn’t see long term commitment in Rex. Well, he should say, the women he liked didn’t see him that way. The women at the club were always ready and willing. That was the problem; they were always ready and willing but not ready to commit that readiness to one man.
Growing up in a world where sex was as easy to get as a beer didn't exactly foster a good image of what the future might hold. His mom had jumped ship when he was a kid, unprepared for what life with his father Manny was really like. It was a surprise that she lasted as long as she did considering the way she was treated: like an outsider. Someone who didn’t belong.
The truth was that his mother didn't really belong. She was a nice girl from a good family, a nice girl who fell for the bad boy on a bike and got knocked up before she really knew whom she'd been sleeping with. When she realized she made a mistake, it was too late to fix things. So she took off and pretended her life with Manny--and the kid she gave birth to--didn’t exist.
When Rex was ten, he ran into her--completely by chance--at the little convenience store close to his school. He'd been skipping, thinking about shoplifting a couple of candy bars and heading over to the ditch to hang out until it was time to go home. She pulled up in a fancy little Mercedes convertible, wearing an expensive looking outfit and smelling like money.
At first, all he could do was stare at her. The woman he remembered changed little yet was a complete stranger. It was a temptation he couldn’t resist. Making
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