Her Premarital Ex (The Alexanders Book 3)
Read Her Premarital Ex (The Alexanders Book 3) Online
Authors: Tina Martin
Tags: #suspense, #reflection, #true love, #unrequited love, #jealousy, #stalker, #fiction romance
(The Alexanders, Book 3)
SMASHWORDS EDITION
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any
form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including
information storage and retrieval systems, photocopying and
recording, without prior written consent of the author.
characters, places, businesses and products are used fictitiously.
Any similarity to actual events is entirely coincidental.
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : :
Padma’s Food House
: : :
Menu
: : :
Our Vision
: To serve five-star
quality food to people of all walks of life. All food is free of
charge. All we ask for is a small donation.
: : :
Appetizers
: : :
Ms. Bea’s Clam Chowder
Crab Dip
Mozzarella Sticks
Hot Wings
House Salad
Caesar Salad
: : :
Entrees
: : :
(All entrees served with hush puppies and a
choice of two side items.)
Stuffed Flounder
Crab Cakes
Fried Shrimp
Fish Tacos (Two Tacos served with rice
pilaf)
Rotisserie Chicken
: : :
Sides
: : :
Fresh, steamed veggies
Macaroni & Cheese
Coleslaw
Rice Pilaf
Baked Potato
Steak Fries
: : :
Desserts
: : :
(All desserts by famous pastry chef, Tyson
Alexander)
Ask your server about the pastry of the
day.
: : :
Drinks
: : :
Carolina Sweet Tea
Lemonade
Coke
Diet Coke
Dr. Pepper
Sprite
Hi-C Orange
Chapter 1
Gabrielle
lay comfortable early in the morning, drowning in
a mess of white sheets, her legs intertwined and locked with
Tyson’s. She closed her eyes and pulled in a long, relaxing breath,
releasing it as a soft yawn. From an opened window, she could hear
the pleasant tussles from the Roanoke Sound. The beach morning
breeze and trickling water made her want to stay in bed. Even the
salty smell of ocean water that seeped in brought a smile to her
face. But nothing made her happier than the man lying beside her,
Tyson Alexander, her amazing husband.
brag about – like people who’ve been married for thirty plus years
do – but they were just starting out, beginning their journey
together. That was just fine with them. And they’d started out on a
good note. They hadn’t argued over a thing. They both made
concessions to satisfy the other person before any disagreements
could morph into arguments. On top of that, Tyson was good at
giving her any and everything she wanted, completely spoiling his
lady with a new car, flowers, candy, romantic dinners on the beach
and surprise vacations.
Gabrielle stared at her husband in complete
awe. She’d put him on a pedestal a long time ago. Her king. Not
only was his sun-kissed brown skin evenly toned, but so was every
muscle in his athletic body. He kept in shape, had an aristocratic
face that was sculpted to perfection. His nose was stately, his
mustache and thick eyebrows added texture to his smooth, handsome
face.
How did I get so
lucky
, she thought.
displayed 3:56 a.m. She secretly celebrated the four additional
minutes she had to gaze upon Tyson’s face without him knowing she
was doing so. She wanted to reach out and run the tip of her index
finger across his lips, but she didn’t want to disturb his last few
minutes of sleep before their morning jog. Instead, she moved
closer to him – so close that their noses almost touched. She
smelled a light, musky cologne on his skin, listened to him breathe
and watched his chest rise and fall. Looking at his well-formed,
alluring lips made her smile. She was close to stealing a kiss when
she watched his lips form into a smile.
He chuckled softly. “This is the third time
this week I wake up to you staring at me.”
A look of surprise and embarrassment swept
over Gabrielle’s face. “Tyson! I thought you were sleeping.”
“
You know my internal
clock is already programmed to wake up a few minutes before four.
I’ve been doing it for years, sweet lips.” He took a kiss from her
soft lips, then closed his eyes again with a look of satisfaction
on his face.
the side of his face and played with his ear lobe. “Yes, I know
that,” she whispered.
“
Then why do you seem so
surprised?”
Goodness
. Those eyes. His relaxed
coffee brown eyes in the morning made him incredibly irresistible.
Well, he was already irresistible, but it was something about his
placid demeanor in the mornings that made Gabrielle want to stay in
bed instead of going for a jog.
was about mornings – he was calm and not on his laptop ordering
food and supplies for his restaurants. He wasn’t running off to
Padma’s charity restaurants to make pastries or in the kitchen
cooking – things he enjoyed doing, but activities that also took up
a lot of his time and energy. He was just calm, and she had all of
his attention.
“
Bri, did you hear
me?”
“
Yeah. I heard you.” She
left a few pecks on his cheeks. His chin. His neck.
The alarm clock interrupted her advances,
but it hadn’t stopped her.
“
It’s time to
go.”
“
No,” Gabrielle said,
continuing to place little kisses on him. “We can run
later.”
“
Bri, time to go,
baby.”
“
Noooo, Tyson,” she
pouted.
go.”
“
Oh, Tyson...don’t do this
to me,” she drawled out.
arms up in the air. “Come on, little lady. Up. Time to get that
adrenaline pumping.”
“
Ugh…okay,” she said,
taking a deep breath and sitting up. Finally.
listening to seagulls squawking, seeing a few other runners out as
early as they were. Over the months, Gabrielle learned to keep up
with Tyson, running alongside of him instead of lagging
behind.
Today, however, she stayed behind him a
little so she could see the sheer power in his thick, muscular legs
as his size fourteen Nike’s struck sand. He always had strict
determination with whatever he did and that’s something Gabrielle
admired about him. He selflessly gave everything his all, from
helping the less fortunate to making her feel loved in every way he
could think of.
As they ran back towards home, she watched
sweat dampen the gray tank top he was wearing.
“
Bri...you okay?” he
asked, when she began falling behind a little too much.
“
Mmm hmm,” she
replied.
“
Are you getting
tired?”
“
No.”
“
What’s wrong then?” he
asked, turning around to face her, jogging backwards now. “You’re
usually good about keeping up with me.”
“
Nothing’s wrong, Tyson.”
She wouldn’t tell him that her concupiscent feelings for him is
what slowed her down, but somehow, she had a feeling he already
knew that.
“
Come on...get on my back.
I’ll take you the rest of the way...just like old
times.”
“
I’ll make it,
Tyson.”
“
No, get on my back,” he
said, stopping, then leaning over so she could hop on.
“
All right...if you
insist.”
like it didn’t faze him.
Gabrielle closed her eyes
and rested her head against his back, just below his neck, rubbing
her face in his sweat. This was love. True love. The kind of love
most people dream about. The kind of love
she
used to dream about when she was
in an abusive relationship with her ex. The love she thought she’d
never find. The world could totally fall apart and nothing would
matter, as long as she had Tyson.
“
Bri?”
“
Yes?”
“
Are you drooling on me?”
Tyson asked with a smirk on his face.
whimpered.
“
Hey,” Tyson said,
lowering her from his back so that he could look her in the eyes.
“Why are you crying?” Tyson wiped her tears away with his
thumbs.
“
It’s nothing,” she
said.
“
Gabrielle, why are you
crying?”
shouldn’t even be crying right now.”
“
Gabrielle,” Tyson said,
placing his hands against her face, wiping her tears away again.
“Why are you crying?”
“
Because I love
you.”
“
You’re crying because you
love me?” he asked, confused.
“
Yes,” she sniffled. “Told
you it was silly.”
Chapter 2
Dilvan
sat at his large, twelve-chair dining room table alone,
feeling the emptiness of his home along with the incompleteness of
himself. His family thought he was some sort of a psychopath and he
couldn’t understand why. He’d never done anything to harm them,
never inflicted harm upon them – not his brothers, his father or
mother. He wouldn’t think of doing such a thing, but somehow, since
the family moved from Sri Lanka and became grounded in North
Carolina, he’d become the outcast, the one who was looked down upon
because he had no interest in being a part of the family business.
He wanted to be his own man, make his own success story without
living in his parent’s shadows. Most parents raised their children
to do this – to grow up and follow their dreams, be their own man
and pursue and fulfill their goals in life.
that, instead of sitting in an office all day, he decided to travel
the world and become a model. It’s not like he was bad at it. He’d
made millions pursuing his dreams. He had major companies coming at
him all the time to model clothes and do shoots, but lately, he
found himself turning most of them down in order to free up some
time to do what his parents wanted – what they expected of him.
With the rest of the time, he was busy thinking up ways to get
Gabrielle back.
“
Here you go,
Suh...scrambled eggs, pittu and fried plantains. You already have
some coconut milk, don’t you?”
“
Yep. I’m good on that.”
He took a sip of it.
“
Alright...well, enjoy,”
Beatrice said, heading back for the kitchen.
“
Hey, have you eaten?”
Dilvan asked, before she could leave the room.
“
No, Suh...wanted to make
sure you were taken care of first.”
“
Bring your food in here
and eat with me, please.”
attempt to take another step. She couldn’t have heard him
correctly...sounded as if he asked her to eat with him.
Dilvan watched her in a thoroughly confused
state. He knew his request would come as somewhat of a surprise to
her. He’d never asked her to join him for breakfast before, which
is probably the reason why she looked like she was dumbfounded, but
he hadn’t expected her to completely freeze, stand still in time
and grimace. In this moment, Dilvan realized that he hadn’t known
Ms. Beatrice as well as he should have, especially considering
she’d been his housekeeper for five years. He wasn’t so sure if she
even liked him, let alone being his housekeeper.
Maybe she only stays
because I pay her well. Other than that, she probably thinks I’m a
jerk like the rest of the family does
.