Page 227 of Falling for the Wife

Setting down my glass as cautiously as I could, my gaze dropped, staring at the beading and stitching of my dress as hard as I could.Thinking,rationalizing, that I was losing my bloody mind.

He is dead, my mind persisted. There was no way he was here, in the same bar as I was. And more importantly, hewasn’talive. The very idea itself was absurd.

He was dead. He was gone. Yet, that very same throaty laugh made its way into my gut again, making me shiver as if I was cold.

For Heaven’s sake, Ava, snap out of it! I reprimanded myself, loathing that I was still affected by the memory of him even after a decade.

Ten years—ten bloody years of chasing the ghost of him, and tonight was no different. It had happened through the years, but nothing had come as close as this.

Looking ahead to where my gaze landed upon the unknown gentleman’s suited back, the butterflies’ haphazard effect resumed in my insides.

Goodness, how often had I embarrassed myself each time I had these damning spells? I had lost count. It definitely was too many at this point.

“Ava?” Allie questioned, getting my attention as I dragged it away from the man’s beautiful back. Even from afar, I could tell he was going to be just as gorgeous up close and personal. “You’ve been quiet, my love,” she stated offhandedly, but I could detect the worry behind the words. She knew me too well, way too well for my liking, especially tonight.

Shrugging, I took the liberty in grasping ahold of my drink and took a huge sip before giving her a nonchalant smile. The last thing I needed was for her to question me. Then the newfound lover would start asking questions about my long lost, tragic love from once upon a time. No thank you very much.

“I just had a thought is all. Would you two excuse me for a moment? I need to use the loo.”

Maurizio said something in Allie’s ear that made her laugh, easily distracting her from my intentions.

Slowly getting up, my heart jack-hammered against my chest as I took small breaths through my slightly parted mouth, determined to follow through with my instincts. Making a move, I started to pave my way halfway across the room, unwavering from my decision to meet the very man who held that one-of-a-kind laugh which had gotten me into a tizzy.

Without looking back, I gradually strutted towards where he was standing amidst a few women and a handful of men while I straightened the short length of my dress. Nervous though I was, it had been quite some time since I had felt like something had plugged in some electricity to my drained batteries. Revived and alive was what I felt at the moment. It was as if I was going to get a new revelation. And I knew, the inkling remaining as always, that I would be disappointed after this ordeal was done. It had been ten years, after all. Regardless that disappointment greeted me in the end, I didn’t stop striding forward.

As I inched closer, I pondered over how I was going to approach the situation, meaning the very man himself. Could I simply come up to him, tap him on the shoulder as if I was an acquaintance, and pretend we had met somewhere? It was my go-to strategy, the very same one I used in all of my mild enquiries. I supposed it had never failed me before, so using the same ploy wouldn’t hurt, would it?

Gaining confidence, I stuck to my guns and swallowed whatever pride I had before slowing down my pace when I was a couple of feet away from him. From then on, everything felt amplified, from the sound of my deafening heartbeat to my shallow breathing and the hot and cold feeling that ran all over my body. Everything felt familiar. From the magnetic pull this man had on me to the trancelike way I was captured by him, it was all too familiar. The heady sensation came upon me in waves, drowning me with nostalgia of what I once had.

Boldly tapping the man’s shoulder, I cleared my throat before saying, “Sorry. I couldn’t help but notice you across the room. You seemed very familiar—” I paused as the man spun around and faced me, eyeing me with sparkling, intense, emerald green eyes, eyes that I used to stare at all night long as they showed me unparalleled love and affection. “Reiss—” I gasped, flabbergasted as my mouth hung ajar before I simply lost my mind and reached out to cup his face, staring wildly at him. “It’s you.It’s you, isn’t it?”

CHAPTER74

Craig

“Reiss—”She looked gob smacked, seeming erratic as she wildly stared at me. “It’s you.It’s you, isn’t it?” The random woman persisted while I gave her a thorough perusal before I cleared my throat and shook my head, flirtingly smiling at the beautiful woman before me.

“Name’s Craig, but Icouldbe Reiss if you like,” I smoothly provided, knowing well enough that women did this sort of trick to get my attention.

She adamantly shook her head, disbelieving. “No.No.Your face—” she stammered the words out, frantic. “And,and your eyes!” Her gorgeous eyes roved all over my face as they started to water. “How is this possible?” she hissed as her tears welled, brimming to spill over soon. “You’resupposedto be dead.”

All right, this had gone too far because she looked like she was about to have a breakdown. Right here.In the middle of a bar.

“Apologies, but you must’ve mistaken me for someone else. I would truly appreciate it if you’d stop and not cause a scene,” I cautiously warned her, not feeling so jovial any longer.

Tonight, of all nights, I decided to come out, even though everything in me protested that it was best to stay out of the social arena. My gut inkling had never steered me in the wrong direction, but tonight I made an exception because it was Brandon’s, one in my small circle of trusted friends, birthday night. I couldn’t very well say no when he suggested he wanted to go for drinks before adamantly suggesting he wanted to have dinner precisely at midnight and not a minute more. It was thirty past ten and we all had been feeling the pangs of hunger even though he had been severely providing us with inconceivable amounts of strong alcohol.

The beautiful, distraught woman shook her head before gently wiping the wetness on the sides of her eyes, trying to regain some clarity and composure. “What did you same your name was?”

Gritting my jaws, I gazed down onto her delicate face. “Craig Chambers, and if you have any more questions, you can easily Google me.

“Chambers …” she reiterated before looking pale.

“Will that be all, miss? We’d all gladly appreciate it if we could get back to our conversation.” My crude, dismissive approach caused hurt to appear in her eyes, as if I had just slapped her.

“Of course,” she apologetically whispered, still looking dazed. “Forgive me.” She stared into my eyes before apologizing towards my companions. “Have a lovely evening. Again, I’m sorry.” She made a tight smile before hastily wiping her face and rushing towards the exit, looking distraught and out of sorts.

Staring after her, I took a moment to clear my head before I heard Brandon’s voice break through my train of thought. “If you don’t plan on going after that poor, gorgeous woman, I will. She certainly looked beyond distraught to be out there on her own right now.” He didn’t need to warn me again before I found myself taking the same route as she had, following her out the door.