Nick went to check on Ashton. I was sleeping. Nick thought she looked like an angel. He placed her suitcase and bag on the floor. He watched her sleep.

“Ashton, I still love you.” He placed a kiss on her cheek and walked out of the room.

He needed to call Kevin and let him know what was going on. “Hello, can I talk to Kevin?”

“Sure Uncle Nick.”

“Hey Nick. How’s it going?”

“I’m just calling to let you know that Ashton broke her arm and ankle this afternoon.”

“What happened?” He asked concerned about his little sister.

“She tripped over the cat and fell down the stairs.”

“Is she okay? Where is she now?”

“She’s staying at the condo. Since she’s incapacitated at the moment, I offered to help her. She isn’t allowed to put any pressure on her ankle and her arm is in a cast. She can’t do anything.”

“Nick thanks for helping her. You still love her, don’t you?”

“Kev, I’m not going there with you. Some things have changed between us, and I don’t know how things are going to turn out until we discuss it. I’m not promising anything either way. Well, I’m going to check on her. Talk to you later.”

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~ The Next Day ~

I sat in bed bored; nothing was on television. Nick was in his office doing some work. He was very helpful, but something was different about him. He wasn’t his usual jokey, fun-loving self. I was still in a lot of pain from my injuries. “Nick, can you come here?” I yelled.

A few moments later, he popped his head in my room. “Yes.” He smiled at me.

“Can you help me get a bath? I feel kind of gross from yesterday.”

“Sure, I’m thinking a sponge bath might work better, so you don’t have to get out of bed. Let me get it ready for you.”

I waited as I heard Nick in the bathroom getting things ready. I was nervous. Nick hadn’t seen me naked in a while. I couldn’t believe fate would do this to me. Having my soon to be ex-husband giving me a sponge bath was not what I had planned.

Nick came walking in with a small bucket of water, my body wash, and shower pouf. He set is on the nightstand and smiled at me. “Nick, this is not funny.” I complained.

“I can’t help it. I’m a lucky man to be giving you a sponge bath.” I rolled my eyes, lost at what to say. “I’m going to carefully move your arm and remove your shirt.”

I sat there as he gently removed my shirt. I was sitting there in sweats and a purple satin bra. He smiled his trademark smirk. I watched as he looked at my upper body. He seemed to be enjoying himself. “Sit up Ash. I need to unhook your bra.”

“This is sooo embarrassing.” I uttered.

“Why?” He looked at me and started to unhook my bra.

“I feel like I’m in high school and having sex for the first time.” I blushed. It’s not like this was anything new to him, but it was awkward.

“I remember the day you lost your virginity.” I looked at him and groaned. He laughed. Nick’s libido had never been tame. He could do it any where and all the time. He was a horny man.

Nick placed my bra on the bed. He got the shower pouf and placed it in the warm water. Gently he rubbed it over my shoulders and moved his way to my chest. He looked up at me. Desire was written all over his face. He dropped the pouf on the floor and placed feather like kisses all over my chest and face. It felt incredible. I missed his touch. His lips met with mine, and we started to kiss. I gently placed my tongue in his mouth and his had grazed my breast. Our tongues dueled and the passion grew. I don’t know who broke away first, but our eyes locked with each other.

Quickly, Nick picked up the pouf and continued giving me my sponge bath. The silence in the room was deafening.

“Sit back up. Now that you’re clean and dry, I’m going to put a new shirt on you.” I nodded my head and let him help me get dress.

“Thank you Nick.”

“You’re welcome. I found the letter.”

“I wanted you to find it. That’s why I put the shower cap on the list.”

“It has me confused and upset.” He sat down next to me. “Why?”

“There shouldn’t be a why. The letter explains everything. I was dishonest with you. You have the divorce papers now. Send them to your lawyer and move on.”

“It still doesn’t answer the question, Ashton.”

“You want to know why. Fine, I was stupid. I couldn’t give you the one thing you wanted.”

“Ashton that is a lie. Having kids wasn’t the only thing I needed in our marriage. I was fine with having the two children we have. I would have been fine with adopting. We could have gotten a dog. You yell about me and how I acted, but you were deceitful. You purposely lied to me and pushed me away.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“Well, it worked. You pushed me right out of your life. Now I’m stuck in this condo missing out on seeing my kids everyday.” His hands played with the comforter.

“You are the one who fell out of love. You didn’t think our marriage was worth it.”

“I still love you.  You are the one who kept a huge secret from me, ignored me for months, and pushed me away. Do you know how that makes me feel?” I shook my head afraid to think. Nick was right for once, it was my fault.

“Nick, I can’t begin to understand you anymore. I was dumb and stupid. I was irrational. But now you’re all over me one minute, then you’re yelling at me and telling me you love me. I personally can’t stand this double personality. You need to make up your mind.”

“We’re going to play by my rules from now on. You will be spending the next three weeks with me. I will decide then about the divorce. I’m going to forget that anything in the last year has happened. You never hid any secrets or lied to me. I never fell out of love with you. We are going to get to know each other again. Starting now, we just met.” He said confidently. “Hello, I’m Nick Carter.”

I had no choice than to play his idiotic game. “Hello. I’m Ashton Richardson. I guess you’re that prick from the Backstreet Boys.” I smirked at him.