I can’t help my frown. ‘Miss what?’
‘The tidy little bruise on my chest that has kept me company for the past twelve years. I feel a little incomplete without it.’ The slight tilt of his head spells out his want. ‘Suck, baby.’ He rolls over and points to the area he wants me.
I’m bemused, but I’m getting kind of used to some of the bizarre shit I’m learning about our marriage. And to be fair, I won’t deny myself a few more minutes of us in bed together. So I straddle his waist and latch onto his solid flesh, sucking him into my mouth as I look up through my lashes to his satisfied face. The man is a nut. And so am I, since I’m going along with all the madness he throws at me. ‘Happy?’ I ask, inspecting the perfect purple circle.
‘Delirious.’ He gets up off the bed and tucks me in. ‘I’ll sort the kids for school.’
I watch him pull on some boxers before he leaves the room, my eyes nailed to his solid back until he disappears.
I relax and think forward to tonight. I need a good drink. To numb myself of feeling. And that’s just what I plan to do.
Chapter 46
I sit in the kitchen trying not to think about Ava upstairs getting ready for her night out. Lots of women together, backed up with lots of alcohol. And one of them gave birth six weeks ago, and according to Sam is champing at the bit for a night of freedom since she’s finished six weeks of breastfeeding. I forced myself to agree. I’m regretting it now. Grabbing my phone, I dial Ava’s mother.
‘What’s wrong?’ she answers in greeting.
‘Nothing’s wrong.’ My face twists. ‘What are you up to tonight?’ I ask, all casual, catching the kids’ eyes where they’re sitting at the island finishing off their dinner. They know my game. I raise my finger to my lips, a sign to keep my secret.
‘I’m out,’ Elizabeth declares. ‘Bridge and cocktails.’
Fuck it. ‘Okay, have a lovely time.’ I hang up and beat the marble worktop with my fingertips, thinking. ‘Ah!’ I quickly dial John. ‘Hey, big man,’ I chirp down the line.
‘No.’ His gruff, flat reply has me frowning.
‘What?’
‘It’s Raya’s hen night. No, I won’t watch the kids so you can stalk your wife.’
I snarl. ‘Some friend you are.’
‘Fuck you. Have you heard from Sarah?’
My mood plummets further. ‘No, why? Should I have?’
‘Just checking. I’m hoping she’s gonna fuck off soon, because, frankly, I’m sick of looking at her miserable face.’
I flinch on Sarah’s behalf. ‘Tell her to go, John.’
‘I can’t do it. I’ve fucking tried, but your damn uncle Carmichael is in my ear like an annoying fucking gnat, telling me to do right by her or he’ll haunt my motherfucking arse.’
I smile a little, but I’m mad, too. ‘You owe her nothing. Uncle Carmichael owes her nothing.’
‘Tell that to a dead man,’ he grunts, hanging up.
I fall into thought, going back to my past briefly. Then I catch the kids giving me wary looks. ‘What?’
‘Don’t do it, Dad,’ Maddie sing-songs. ‘She’ll tear your head off and use it as a football.’
‘You’ll regret it,’ Jacob warns.
Scowling at my kids, I march out of the kitchen and head upstairs where Ava’s getting ready. So what am I supposed to do? Sit home all night worrying to death?
I find her in her underwear standing in the mirror. I groan. What’s she trying to do to me? ‘You look lovely,’ I grunt, slumping my arse on the bed.
She looks at me in the reflection, a smile playing at the corners of her nude lips as she tweaks her hair into position. ‘I’m not dressed yet.’
I shrug, pouting like a moody schoolboy. ‘You still look lovely.’
‘You come to mark me?’
I look to the door, hearing the kids in the kitchen downstairs. My scope for marking is limited.
‘What do you think of this?’
I return my eyes to Ava, finding her holding up a little black dress. I just shake my head. Negative. ‘What about this?’ A green thing appears, and once again I reject it. She sighs, sweeping her arm out to the wardrobe. ‘Choose a dress, any dress.’
Good. She’s getting the hang of this. It takes me five seconds flat to find something suitable – a high-necked, long-sleeved, full-length jersey dress. ‘Perfect,’ I declare.
‘I’m not wearing that.’ The dress is snatched from my hand and put back on the rail. She quickly takes another down and goes back to the bedroom. ‘And stop sulking.’
‘You’re not wearing that, either,’ I call, trudging after her. She’s pulling the stupid gold thing on by the time I make it to the bedroom, a salacious grin on her face. ‘Why’d you have to be so damn beautiful?’
My wife is a goddess, and I know every other man on the planet must think so, too. And in that little gold number, she’s a shimmering goddess. Her cheekbones are also shimmering, and her eyes are smoked out, making them smoulder madly. They’re ‘take me to bed’ eyes.
‘Don’t look any man in the eye,’ I tell her, falling to the chair in the corner of our bedroom. I’m slumped. Moody. I can’t help it.
She wanders over and slowly turns, looking over her shoulder at me. With my chin still low, I lift my gaze, dragging it over her exposed back until I reach her eyes. ‘Zip me up?’
‘No,’ I grunt, eliciting a cute twitch of her lips.
‘Please?’ It’s a purr, one that hits my dick and takes it from semi-erect to rock.
‘Why are you doing this to me?’ It’s a serious question. Just look at her. This beauty, still in her prime, glowing before me like some otherworldly creature. I’ve tried to reason with myself all day. Told myself she needs to let her hair down and have some time with her girlfriends. Yet that primal, possessive streak in me has only grown by the hour, and now I’m in two minds whether I’d get away with bolting her to the bed. I ponder that for a second, thoughtful, my head tilting as I weigh up the option. I’d get away with it. There’s nothing she could do to stop me.
‘Don’t even think about it, Ward.’ Her tone is warning. And ignored. I love how she reads my mind.
‘And what will you do about it?’
‘Divorce.’ She points to her back again as my jaw drops. ‘Zip me up.’
‘No.’
‘Fine, I’ll get Kate to do it when she gets here.’ She saunters off, all strut and arse. I’m out of that chair like lightning, and I’ve captured her before she makes it to the door.
‘Jesse!’ she squeals as I throw her over my shoulder and backtrack to the bed. It’s doesn’t escape my notice that her screech of my name was more laughed than angrily yelled. She was prepared for my trample.
Flipping her on the bed, I pull off my T-shirt and capture her wrists, pinning her down, straddling her stomach. She blows some stray wisps of hair from her face and blinks up at me. And she smiles. She knows what’s coming. I get her hands under my knees to secure them, and pull my cock from my shorts.
‘Tell me you love me,’ I demand, my voice already displaying the hunger in me.
‘I love you.’ She complies in a heartbeat, and I smile.
‘Tell me you only have eyes for me.’ I pull a long stroke down my shaft, watching her as she watches me.
‘I only have eyes for you.’ She licks her lips, flipping her gaze up. ‘Fuck, you look lethally sexy when you get yourself off.’
‘Watch your mouth.’ I drop one hand to the mattress, slowly starting to pump my fist, electric energy sizzling all over my skin. And I dip, taking her mouth greedily. It doesn’t take me long to find my rhythm, my body stiff with pleasure.
‘Dad! Mum! Everyone is here!’ Maddie’s yell hits my hearing like a foghorn, followed by the sound of her feet pounding the stairs. No! No, no, no!
‘Fuck!’ I drop my cock, hissing when it springs back and hits my lower stomach. ‘You have to be fucking kidding me.’