“It’s true.”
Rose had never been his—she didn’t compare. He thought highly of her and always would. She was a beautiful, lovely woman. But she wasn’t Louise. The everyday intimacy of being with his wife blew any guilt-ridden daydreams of Rose out into space. She just wasn’t real to him in the way that Louise was. Rose didn’t draw him in the same way at all. When his wife stopped and stared at him, it seemed time stopped as well. What he wouldn’t give to know what went through her mind. Never before had he been so driven to know a woman down to the last detail. Having Louise with him was a revelation. The sense of belonging had been lost to him for a very long time, but Louise, sitting beside him in the bar, sleeping next to him with an arm thrown over his chest… Listening to her quiet breathing in the dark of night. The warmth of her and the scent of her. All those small intimate things fed something inside him that he hadn’t even known existed. He had barely gotten a taste of it and now he was on the verge of losing her.
“Louise?”
Her breath left her on a sigh and she reached back, threading her fingers through his hair. She tugged only once. But she tugged hard. Whether from frustration or affection, no matter, though it did smart. “You’re driving me out of my head, Adam Elliot.”
“Right back at you, Mrs. Elliot.”
“This is insane. It’s only been four days.”
“Imagine what we’ll be like in four years.”
“You really think we’ll last that long?”
“Yes.” He clung to her in the quiet of the garden, bussing the side of her neck ’til her breathing calmed and she leaned back into him. “To answer your question, I think maybe I had a crush on Rose. Before…”
“You and your before.” Slowly, her hand slid down from his hair, pressed against the arm circling around her middle. So long as they were on him, it was all good.
“There’s before you arrived and after. Before shouldn’t count.”
“It doesn’t,” she said firmly. “I agree. But you realize I’m going to do savagery to you and your man bits if you pull any more shit with me.”
His stomach tightened and his cock hardened inside his jeans. It felt a little wrong but a lot sexy when she threatened him. With castration, no less. She could be so fierce, his wife. Adam rubbed his nose against her neck. Gods, she smelt good. It was the lemony, citrusy thing again. “Loving the honesty, princess.”
In a voice so small it sounded lost, she said, “Honesty is important.”
“Yes it is.”
She said nothing for a moment. Then she opened her mouth and made him a very happy man. “So is make-up sex.”
“Very.”
“I thought you might agree. Your dick’s poking me in the back.”
“Ah.”
“Lucky I’m fond of it.”
“You’re going to confuse it, threatening it and then complimenting it under a minute.” He palmed one perfect, small breast through her shirt. His wife upped the ante, sliding a hand down to cup his groin, stroking the heel of her hand over him through the thick denim. He loved how she was all boldness when it came down to this between them. It worked for him like nothing else ever had. She worked for him.
“It doesn’t seem worried,” she said.
He grunted, pushing said appendage into her hand. “Hmm.”
“Home?”
“Water.”
“What? Here? Someone might see.”
“I know.” He plucked at her nipple and her breath caught audibly. “Your nipples are hard. Excites you, doesn’t it? That someone might see us.”
“No. If you’ll please recall our earlier conversation about privacy, Adam.”
“Shhh. We need this.” Her hasty denial failed to convince, but he kept that to himself. He started in on the neat line of buttons running down the front of her top. “There’s no one around. No security or anything in here. No one will know but you and me. And every time you come down here, you’ll remember…”
“Adam…”
“And you’ll think of me.”
“Egotistical.”
“Practical.” He slipped the top off her shoulders but it caught on something. A belt. The impediment could be dealt with easily enough. “You spend a lot of time down here. And no, I don’t mind you spending a lot of time down here, so don’t give me that look. I just like the thought of being on your mind now and then.”
“You’re definitely on my mind now and then.”
“Good.” The waist of her pants gaped sufficiently to let him slip his hand down the front and burrow into her panties. Why she wore such ill-fitting clothes he had no idea, but it came in handy right then. His fingers found her meltingly hot and wet, and he nearly came right there. The faint, heady scent of her arousal drove him mad. “Princess, you need help.”