“I want to hear that noise again,” he says against my lips. A thousand butterflies take flight in my belly. “Right now.” He stops and looks into my face, his hands bracketing my cheeks. “Is this okay with you?” he asks. “Tell me if it’s not.”

I nod. I can’t even speak.

Matt lifts my skirt, bunching it in his hands until he gets to my panties. He hooks his fingers in them and draws them down my legs. One side hangs over my ankle, and he leaves it there. I don’t care. He unbuckles his belt and lowers his zipper quickly, and then reaches into his inner coat pocket and pulls out his wallet. He flips it open and takes out a condom, which he tugs open with his teeth. He rolls it over his length with a grimace, and then he hoists me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist.

He looks into my eyes as he lowers me onto him. My back is pressed against the wall, and one of his hands clutches my na**d bottom, opening me up for his penetration, while the other anchors his fist beside my head. He fills me slowly, his blue eyes looking into mine as he impales me. God, I feel so full this way. He doesn’t stop until our bodies touch at the hilt of him.

Then he starts to move. His lips touch mine, and he says against my lips, “I love you so f**king much.”

I can’t speak. I can’t think. Matt hits my center, and I adjust my h*ps a little so that I can take more of him with every stroke.

“Yep, that’s the noise,” he says, as my breath leaves me. He pulls my hand from where I’m holding on to his shoulder and drags it down to where we’re joined. “Rub your pussy, Sky,” he says.

“I don’t need to come like that,” I say.

“I need for you to come like that,” he says. “Please.” His forehead rests against mine and I can feel his every inhale and exhale. We’re sharing the same air.

I reach between us and squeeze the base of his dick as he retreats. He stops moving. “I’m too close,” he warns. He growls at me. “Rub your pussy, Sky.”

I reach down and rub my clit. I’m already close. I’m so close. He’s stroking me from the inside as his big, powerful body holds me tight against the wall. My cl*tis hard and sensitive, and I rub it quickly, Matt’s feral grunts by my ear keeping time with my strokes. They’re quick and raw, and I suddenly feel it wash over me. Matt grunts and pushes all the way inside me as I flutter around him, milking his orgasm from him. He stills and pulses inside me, his lips tender against my temple as he finishes.

“Sky,” he breathes.

“What?” I whisper back.

“Did I hurt you?” he asks. He pulls back, his brow furrowing. I love that he’s asking.

“No, you didn’t hurt me. You made me come like crazy, though.” I giggle. I can’t help it. Nothing ever felt this good. Ever.

“Me, too. I felt like my toes were going to come out my throat.” He chuckles. I untangle my legs from around his back, and he lowers me to stand. My shoes fell off, so I’m on my bare feet on the linoleum floor, and I don’t care. My panties are still hanging around my ankle.

I rub my thighs together. Something feels off. “Matt,” I say.

“Umm,” he says as he pulls the condom off. He looks up at me sheepishly. “We might have a problem.”

“Why am I all wet?” I ask. More wet than I would be just from me.

He pulls the condom off and holds it up. “Condom broke,” he says.

My heart skips a beat. “What?”

“Yep,” he says.

What startles me the most is that hearing that he just came inside me doesn’t freak me out. Not in the least. “It’s okay, Matt,” I start.

“I know.” He heaves a sigh and tosses the condom in a trash can, covering it up with the garbage that’s already there. “I told you. It would take a miracle for me to get you pregnant. And I got tested for everything under the sun when I was sick. You’re safe.”

“I wasn’t worried,” I say quietly. I want to spend the rest of my life with this man.

He buckles his belt and raises his zipper. Then he bends to unhook my panties from around my ankle. He’s suddenly really quiet. More quiet than I want him to be. I don’t know what to say to him because I don’t know what he’s thinking. “Do you want to go and get cleaned up?” he asks.

I nod. “I should.” He holds my panties out, and I stuff them into my clutch, which I dropped when he pushed me against the wall. He holds out my shoe, and I step into it. He repeats the process on the other side. He looks up at me from my feet and runs a hand up my leg.

“Matt,” I say. But he takes my hand and leads me to the ladies’ room. He kisses my temple and lingers there, breathing lightly by my hair.

“I’ll wait for you in the banquet room,” he says. “That okay?” He’s suddenly so quiet.

I nod and go into the bathroom. I let myself into a stall and sink down. My knees are still shaking and not all of it is because of just ha**g s*x against a closet wall. I’m scared that I don’t know what’s going on in Matt’s head. I don’t know what his sudden silence means.

I clean up and just as I’m pulling my panties up, the outer door opens. Female giggling flows into the room. “Can you believe he brought her?” a voice asks.

“I can’t believe Matt even came, much less brought a woman. Maybe he’s over April.”

“Matt will never get over April. Not after what she did.”

“So, who do you think his date is?”

“Just some girl,” the voice says. “Someone who will never mean as much to him as April did.” She snorts. “They have so much history.”

April is the girl who broke Matt’s heart.

My gut clenches, and I have to blink back tears.

Matt brought me here to watch April, the woman he loved more than anything, get married. And he didn’t even tell me.

I let myself out of the stall when the sound of voices goes away, and I hear the door close. I fix my makeup and wipe my brow. I feel like I just got punched in the gut. But there’s nothing I can do about it now.

I walk back out to the table, and I see Emily sitting there. Matt and Logan are talking with a small group of men they know. I sit down beside her, and she eyes me up and down. “Where did you two get off to?” she asks, grinning.

“A closet down the hall where he f**ked me against the wall,” I say.

Emily freezes. “For some reason, I don’t think that’s as good as it sounds. What’s wrong?” She looks toward Matt like she wants to get his attention. I knock on the table, and she watches my hand. “April doesn’t look repentant at all over what she did to Matt,” I toss out. I watch for her reaction.

“Oh,” she breathes. She lays a hand on her chest. “I wasn’t sure he told you.”

I smile. “He told me.” He told me about the girl who broke his heart. He just didn’t tell me April was the one. “Why do you think he wanted to come tonight?” I ask. I take a sip of my water.

“Closure, he said.” She looks toward where April is dancing with her new husband.

“He really loved her, didn’t he?” I ask. I say it casually.

“He even wrote her a letter when he was dying. He made me promise to give it to her. I’d sooner rot in hell. But he made me promise because his brothers refused to give it to her.”

I smile even though my insides are roaring.

Matt comes to the table and takes my hand in his. “Come dance with me,” he says.

I nod and let him pull me to my feet. There’s a slow song playing, and he leads me onto the dance floor and then draws me into his arms.

“Something wrong?” he asks.

I shake my head and smile up at him. His brow furrows. “Did you get a chance to congratulate the bride yet?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Not yet.” His gaze roams to where she’s dancing with her new husband. I maneuver us in that direction and then pull myself from his arms. I turn and lay my hand on April’s husband’s arm.

“Can I cut in?” I say with a huge smile. He looks down at his wife, and she shrugs. Then he sees Matt beside me and his grin falls, but he puts it back as quickly as he loses it.

“Matt,” he says.

Matt nods at him, a quick jerk.

As though he understands, the groom passes the bride to Matt, and he takes me in a dance. I watch out of the corner of my eye as Matt says something to April, and then he reluctantly takes her in his arms. He scowls at me and looks in my direction, but I give the groom my attention.

“A lot of history there,” the groom says.

“So I hear,” I say back.

“Mighty big of you to give her to him.”

“Yep,” I say, and I let out a little pop on the p.

“They’re done, you know?” he says.

I look over and see them talking while they’re dancing. “No, they’re not.”

He heaves a sigh. “I know,” he says. “It doesn’t bother you?”

I shake my head. It f**king kills me.

The song stops, and I turn on my heel. I need to get out of here before I fall apart. I nearly run down the hall toward the exit. I jump into a waiting cab and give the driver the apartment address. But I don’t want to go home. When did the apartment with the kids become home? I don’t know, but it is. But I know Matt will go there and wait for me.

I pick up my phone and dial. “Hey, Dad,” I say when he answers.

“Sky?” he asks. “Are you all right?”

“Oh yeah,” I lie. “I’m fine. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I’ve had too much to drink, though. Would it be possible for you to go and stay with the kids tonight? I want to go to my apartment and crash there.”

Dad pauses for a second. “You want me to stay with the kids.”

“Would you mind?” I lay my head back against the seat. “If it’s too much trouble, don’t worry about it.”

“It’s not too much trouble,” he rushes to say. “I’ll go. I’ll go right now.”

“Thanks, Dad. Text me when you get there, will you, so I know everything is okay?”

“Sky,” he says, his voice hesitant. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Dad. Really I am. Text me when you get there. I have to go.” I hang up on him. And then, and only then, do I let myself cry.

Matt

Why the f**k did she do that? One minute, I had Sky all nice and warm in my arms and the next I’m holding April. April, I can ignore. But the fact that Kenny has my Sky in his arms, that tears me apart inside.

“I’m glad you came,” April says softly.

I look down at her, and she blinks her pretty brown eyes at me. There was once a time when I could get lost in her gaze. Hell, I got lost in her. “I’m glad you invited me,” I say.

I am glad. I didn’t think I would be, but I am. Because what was between us can now be considered closed.

“Do you think we could ever be friends?” she asks.

I can’t answer that. I don’t possibly see how but saying that could hurt her feelings.

“I’d like to at least not be enemies,” she says, instead.

I stop dancing. “I don’t think you understand. I would have to care about what you do from here on out for that to matter, and I can’t really say that I do.”

“You did once,” she says. People are looking at us.

“I did, and then you stomped all over my f**king heart. It took me a long time to get over it. Much longer than it should have. But I did realize one thing: I was in love with the idea of being in love a lot more than I was in love with you.”

She sucks in a quick breath.

“I don’t mean to hurt you. Heaven knows, I would have done that long before now if that was my intention. But what I felt for you wasn’t strong enough to last a lifetime. I know that now.” I take her forearms in my grip. “Thank you for leaving me. I appreciate it more than you know. Because what we had for one another was nothing compared to what I feel for someone else. So, if you invited me here to be sure you still had my heart on a f**king string, let me confirm for you that you do not.” I set her back from me, even though she’s still protesting. “I need to go find Sky.”

“Matt,” April says, clutching onto my arm. “Wait.” I turn back to her. “I didn’t mean to fall in love with him,” she says.

I get close to her. I shouldn’t do this, and I wouldn’t if I didn’t think she really, really needed to know. But there’s already a buzz about it in the crowd. She’s the only one who doesn’t know. I lean down close to her ear. “I’m sorry you fell in love with him. He’s not the one for you.”

“And you were?” she sneers.

I toss my head back and laugh. “No, I wasn’t. But one thing is certain. I would have never, ever cheated on you.” I close my eyes and steady myself with a deep breath. “He f**ked your maid of honor last night,” I blurt out.

“That’s low, Matt.”

“He’s been sleeping with her for the past six months. Everyone knows it but you.” Then I leave her standing there in the middle of the floor.

I can almost feel her behind me, devastated and broken. Her pain radiates through the air, but I don’t stop.

My heart is heavy when I get back to my table. Devastating her wasn’t nearly as freeing as one might think. I take my jacket from where it’s draped over the back of my chair and put it on. “Have you seen Sky?” I ask Emily and Logan. They both stare at me with their mouths hanging open.