Annie came, trembling beneath Oksana. Before she settled, she added her own fingers to the mix. She watched Oksana's eyes as she stroked her clit.

"Fuck me some more," Annie whispered.

Oksana obliged. She pulled her fingers out, just for a moment and traced Annie's swollen lips below her clit. She was soaked now, her juices coating her pussy and her ass. Annie sighed as Oksana plunged her fingers back in, deeper, twisting against and stroking the right spots. Annie couldn't hold her orgasm back this time. She came quickly and hard and nearly blacked out as Oksana drew her cum out of her. She squirted, just a little, but enough to make her jerk and cry out on the sheets.

It was ages before she opened her eyes. Oksana was still touching her with gentle strokes up and down her thighs with her other arm wrapped around her waist.

"Do you want me to get a strap-on?"

"No. Why?" Annie panted.

"I didn't know if you missed being fucked that way."

"I like your fingers just fine. Come here." Annie gripped Oksana's hips and motioned for her to move up the bed. She didn't stop until her knees were on either side of Annie's head. Annie latched on to Oksana's pussy with her mouth, drawing her wet lips in. She scraped her with her teeth, teased her with her tongue until Oksana started to move. Annie held on to her hips as Oksana rode her face. Her motions were fierce and jerking and some of the sexiest undulations Annie had ever experienced. She encouraged her. Annie cupped Oksana's ass, rocking her back and forth, probing her hole with the sweetness that was spread all around. She devoured every inch, hoping in the back of her mind that at some point she would be enough to heal what Vivian had done. Would anything be enough for that sort of repair?

Oksana spent into Annie's mouth and she swallowed every available drop. She orgasmed again, rolling her forehead against the wall as she screamed Annie's name. "Anne. Anne."

When her thighs couldn't take much more, Oksana collapsed beside Annie on the bed, breathless and blinking. She slid close to Oksana's still trembling body and stroked her hair.

"I think about you all the time," Annie whispered. She didn't know where the confession came from, but she wanted Oksana to know.

"I think about your dimples." Oksana touched her face as she smiled. A second later, she drifted off.

Annie left Oksana sleeping and snuck to the living room to grab her computer and her phone. There were two missed calls and a text. All from Shane.

Two days later, Annie still hadn't answered Shane.

Annie stared at the texts-Hey, where are you? I want to bowl. Call me. Call me bitch. Don't make me come over. Are you dead? Don't text me back if you are-and didn't know how to respond. She wanted to tell Shane and Feather the truth, but in a spiteful way. She wanted Shane and her mother off her back. She wanted them to know the truth so they could get a head start on accepting the new person Annie had become, the person she was meant to be, and the person she was meant to be with. Annie had been avoiding Shane for over a week now, but she had to reply before Shane did something foolish like showing up at her house while Oksana was there.

"I'm sending Jewel to get Thai for lunch. You want anything?" Esther asked.

"Uh, yeah," Annie replied. Esther wrote down her order then glanced back up.

"I must say you are pretty ballsy, or you must have some serious faith in your trainer."

Annie froze with her hand on a stack of time sheets. "What do you mean?"

"I couldn't eat chicken Pad Thai and not have it go straight to my thighs. If Pace and I were getting married, I wouldn't eat for a year beforehand."

"Oh yeah. I'm not really worried about it. Oksana's a genius in the gym."

"Obviously." Esther chuckled as she walked out of their office.

Annie felt terrible. When she and Oksana were together, the rest of the world didn't exist. Annie was still happy, happier than when they first agreed to give each other a chance, but she was so tired of pretending her wedding was still going to happen.

She had to tell Shane and Feather the truth and her parents, but Jeff had to know first. Annie hadn't heard from him in a while. She expected she might not hear from him again until he got home. Clearly, he was having a blast. Annie couldn't decide whether that made things better or worse. Would Jeff remember this trip as the reason his engagement fell apart? If he hadn't taken the trip, Annie might never have been with Oksana. Would he blame himself for that? There was no way for Annie to know until they talked, and that conversation was still days away.

Annie couldn't avoid Shane that whole time. She dialed her number.

"Oh, hey. Finally taking calls, are you?" Shane said. She was pissed.

"Hey. Sorry, it's been kind of crazy at work. I was trying to catch up on sleep this weekend." Which was sort of true. She'd brought her computer back to bed, but as soon as she laid eyes on Oksana, she decided a cuddle nap was a better idea than working on a budget. They'd slept all afternoon, ordered pizza for dinner, then watched a documentary on the history of Africans in Latin America. Annie was starting to understand Oksana's love of history. It was pretty cool learning things about the world you never even considered before.

"Feather came out of the tipi. I took her for some real food and we went to the movies. You should have come. We decided what shoes we're going to wear and constructed a whole plot to kidnap you for your bachelorette party." Right, the shoes. Megan had mentioned they were all going to wear different shoes during the ceremony.

"I know. I'm sorry. What are you up to this weekend?" Annie cursed herself as soon as the words left her mouth. She already had plans this weekend.

"Nothing yet. You want to hang out?"

"Uh, yeah. Sergio got this new pilot green lit, so let me just make sure I don't have to be on set, but if not, it's me and you."

"And Megan and Feather. They miss you too. Let's do something before Jeff gets back."

"Yeah, okay. I'll let you know."

Shane seemed okay with that.

A couple days later, Annie met Shane near her office. It was awkward and forced, but Shane was so busy chatting about the wedding she didn't seem to notice.

On Friday night, Annie told Shane she was sick.

On Saturday, she ignored her calls.

Chapter Thirteen.

The Truth The doorbell rang, but that didn't stop Annie's pacing. She was ready. She hated to hurt Jeff. It still made her sick to think of breaking his heart, but things between them were over, and Annie had to tell him the whole truth.

Jeff had flown in that afternoon. He and the boys took a shuttle from the airport. Beyond getting back to his house and washing the Europe off his face, Jeff hadn't tried to make any official plans. He wanted to come over so they could catch up. He had stories, according to his last e-mail. The only other e-mail he'd sent during his trip, but Annie wasn't bothered by the lack of communication.

The last few weeks had been exceptionally good for her and Oksana. There were moments of awkwardness when the elephant in the room would make a strange noise and draw them both out of the haze of their deepening relationship. A call from Shane, Feather, or worse, Annie's mom, while they lounged on Baba's couch. A simple question from Kat about Annie's wedding dress.

When the beast was silent, though, Annie felt herself settling into this new life, a new partnership with Oksana that felt perfectly right. She had a new family of sorts in Kat and Baba Inna, who now included Annie in everything, and she'd grown closer to Noelle and Ronnie in that time too. She even had Megan's continued reassurance that she was doing the right thing when it came to Oksana. Annie knew where she belonged, and now that Jeff had returned, she could close the door on that part of her life and start fresh. He didn't deserve to be disregarded, but Annie deserved to be happy, and that happiness came in a very specific form.

She would have to deal with the aftermath of any regular breakup and the questions that came once people discovered you were seeing someone else. There would be questions about Oksana, and the extremely annoying questions about what happened with her and Jeff. Annie refused to go into detail about either. But she would defend what she had with Oksana and defend what used to be with Jeff. It wasn't his fault; they simply weren't meant to be.

The back bell rang again. Annie had to answer it.

Oksana had offered her services in any way she could, but all Annie needed her to do was wait. Oksana hesitantly agreed, and for now, she was on standby for a call or a text from Annie that begged her to come and console. Hopefully, it wouldn't get to that.

By the time she made it to the backdoor, Annie was shaking. Her stomach was in a sour knot. If she'd had enough nerves to eat anything at work, she would definitely throw it up.

He knocked loudly, just as Annie reached for the knob.

"Hey," she said with a weak smile.

Jeff frowned at her for a moment. "Hey."

He stepped inside and wrapped his arms around her. The embrace was strange. He wasn't a hugger, but Jeff pulled Annie tightly against his chest, as if he were trying to memorize her frame. He smelled different. Not bad, but not good. Like unfamiliar cologne and spices. Summer was late and the breeze from the ocean made his odor somehow stronger. Annie wrinkled her nose to shake the scent as he pulled away, grateful he hadn't gone in for a kiss.

"Come on in." She looked him over as he walked into the mudroom. He looked like shit, exhausted. His hair was wet, but he was anything but refreshed. Dark bags shadowed under his eyes and his beard had gone from scruffy-chic to scraggly.

"You look different," Jeff said, still frowning.

"The glasses maybe?" She'd been wearing them a lot lately.

"No, it's something else." He touched her face. Annie did her best not to jerk her head away. It didn't feel right having anyone besides Oksana touch her like that anymore. "You look healthier."

"Oh. I put on some weight."

"That's probably it." Annie tensed as Jeff leaned in, but he planted a kiss on her forehead instead of her lips. At least his breath smelled fresh.

"Come on," Annie said. "Come sit down."

Jeff accompanied her to the living room, his arm loosely draped over her shoulder. She swallowed, praying he was too tired for any more affection.

As they sat, Jeff sighed and stretched out with his feet on the coffee table. His black boots looked new.

"How was your trip?" Annie slid back to the arm of the couch, just out of his reach. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt and turned the black ring box around. Annie thought about putting the engagement ring on the table, but that was a bit dramatic.

"It was good. Took lots of pictures. I got you some stuff, but it's over at my place. I'll bring it by later." Jeff looked her in the eye, and that's where Annie found her courage. She didn't feel the same about those brown eyes anymore. That love was gone.

"You all right? You're usually all over me," he said.

Annie let out a breath. "I have something to tell you."

"What's up?"

"I can't marry you."

"What do you mean you can't marry me?" he asked. "What happened?"

"I met someone."

"What?" Jeff's eyes flashed with shock.

"Just listen." She put up her hands. "I took advantage of our deal. I've told you how attracted I am to other women before."

"Yeah?" He edged forward.

"Well, I slept with someone while you were gone, per our agreement, and it turned into something more."

"Oh, is that all? So you fucked someone and now we're just done? You're just breaking up with me?" Jeff's voice steadily increased in volume as his anger seemed to build. She'd never seen him that pissed before.

"I didn't want to tell you over e-mail. It happened and it spiraled." Annie swallowed then delivered the final blow. "I love her, Jeff. And I want to be with her. I'm going to be with her."

She had yet to say those words to Oksana, but she realized them as she tried to explain their situation, so Jeff would understand that she was serious, she meant it. She was in love with Oksana.

Annie watched him while his eyes scanned the floor, back and forth along the edge of the rug. Then Jeff closed his eyes in the most painful way.

"Who is she?"

"I'm not sure I want to tell you. I promised her she wouldn't get dragged into this, between us I mean."

"What do you think I'm going to do? Beat her up?"

"Her name is Oksana. We met at the gym."

"You mean your trainer. You're fucking your trainer." Annie had never mentioned more than the fact that she had a trainer to Jeff, and he never asked anything about her. She thought, at least in his mind, Annie was just going to the gym. Great. As soon as she recognized her attraction for what it was, Annie remembered wanting to keep details of Oksana to herself, especially from Jeff. She had always been someone special, and telling Jeff about her would somehow draw him into their secret world of giggling on the treadmill.

"How did you know she's my trainer?"

"Taum. She asked me if I wanted Oksana to train me too. Is this why you wanted me to go away? Is this why you were all for me taking off for a month?"

"No, Jeff. It wasn't like that. I...I told you that I've been wanting to sleep with a woman for a while. Oksana and I, we didn't mean to, but we hit it off."

"Must have been really intense," he said with biting sarcasm.

"Jeff, I swear, it started off innocent. I thought I would have my fun. I thought you'd have your fun too. Sleep with some girls in Amsterdam, maybe Paris-"

"Yeah, because nothing says commitment like bringing home herpes from your bachelor party. I didn't sleep with anyone." Jeff paused, the eerie look coming to his face. He looked at the floor and then Annie again. "I bet you hoped I would so you wouldn't feel so bad. What's going on with your brain? Cheating on me and breaking up with me isn't innocent, Annie. If you wanted to fuck around you shouldn't have agreed to marry me."

"Jeff, I swear to God it wasn't like that." But he wasn't listening to her. He whipped out his phone and a few seconds later, shoved the display in her face. Annie stared at her favorite picture of Oksana. From the Elite Fitness website.

"That's her isn't it?" Jeff said with a cruel smirk on his face. He pulled the phone back and examined the picture some more. "The one your mom hired. Irony of ironies. It's very Hollywood of you I have to say. Having an affair with your trainer." Jeff examined the picture for a while. Annie watched the various expressions pass over his face and then the focused stare he got when he was examining the composition of a photo. "She's really pretty."

"She's beautiful," Annie said softly.

Jeff tossed his phone on the table with a thud that made Annie jolt in her seat. He slid back against the couch cushions and covered his eyes with his arm. Annie watched him for a long time, afraid to move. There was nothing more she could say; all of her words were coming out wrong. There was no way she could ask him to forgive her. It was too soon, or maybe too late.

"What are you thinking about?" Annie asked after a while.

"I'm wondering what the fuck you were thinking. What the fuck was I thinking? Fuck!" Jeff let his arm flop to the side. "Should have listened to Bran."

"Why? What did Brandon say?"

"He was with me when I bought your ring. He told me not to do it. He said you liked me, but you weren't in love with me."