Husband Stay (Husband #2) (10 page)

“Yes,
the big
guy
,” I said, humoring him. “I’m sure I’ll feel more comfortable when
you’re seated.”

“I figured you’d
be…squeamish.”

That’s not what
he’d meant to say, and I wondered if he’d wanted to say
prudish.
Despite
my lack of orgasms with Danny, I didn’t consider myself a sexual prude. But he
was right, I was uncomfortable, which begged the question, “So why are you
naked if you figured I’d be
squeamish.
”

“Last night you
wanted to push boundaries.” He put a plate of toast down in front of me and I
could smell strawberry jam. “…so I thought, I’m not in your life to be
comfortable old slippers. I must be the guy who challenges you.”

In my life?
What
did that mean? I shook my head. “My only area of ‘challenge’ was in achieving
orgasms,” I said primly. “I think we’ve established—”

“That you’re
sexually responsive to
me
.” He smirked again.

Despite the truth
of his statement, it seemed impossibly conceited to rub my nose in the fact. So
I said, “Then our work here is done.”

He leant back on
the counter and crossed his arms. “Is that all I am to you? Some guy you used
to get you over a sexual hump.” He didn’t look tense, but he’d gone very still.

“Used?” I blinked
at him in surprise. “I used you?”

“Looks that way.”
He tilted his chin up, challenging me. To what? Did he expect me to say he
meant something to me? He didn’t. He was just as much a stranger this morning
as he had been last night, despite our physical intimacy.

“Look…” I
scrabbled for something to say that wasn’t insulting. “I appreciate your expertise
in the bedroom. I’m sure it will help me believe I don’t need to…fake orgasms
in the future.” There. I’d said it aloud. I actually felt proud of myself.

He raised an
eyebrow. “Well, at least not with me.”

I stared at him,
amazed at his arrogance, as if he
was
a sex god and I was some poor
orgasm-starved little thing who should feel grateful for his miraculous
attention.

I could feel a
pulse throbbing in my temples, and it didn’t matter that I told myself to just
be polite and leave because there was no way I’d be having sex again with such
an insufferable braggart. Instead, I ended up saying, “You’ve really got
tickets on yourself, you know that?” I didn’t often insult people, but he was
so
infuriating
. “Just because you made me come—”

“Three times,” he
cut in smugly.

And that was it. I
had to go.

I pushed back my
chair with a scrape and stormed out of the kitchen, only stopping at the
bedroom to snatch up my purse before I marched to the front door where Jack was
now waiting, still naked and with his arms crossed.

He raised an
eyebrow. “Going without a goodbye kiss?”

Honestly, I felt
as if my head would explode.
Don’t say anything. Just get out the door.
I knew I should hold it in, but all the freedom of the past twenty-four hours
appeared to have short-circuited my diplomacy program.

I narrowed my eyes
and said, “You…bastard.”

He grinned at me
and my blood pressure rose. “That all you’ve got?”

I shook my head,
trying to work loose some appropriate insults. “First you vomit on my shoes.”

“Which I’m going
to replace.”

“Then you wreck my
wrist.” I held up the cast. “
And
come to my apartment,” I hurried to add
before he could cut in. “So you’re a stalker. Then instead of acting like a
normal human being about last night, you embarrass me and insult me and—”

“So you don’t want
to go back to bed and have more orgasms?”

There was only ten
feet between us, and something hot and angry was pulsing in the space between.

“Because we
could,” he said casually, pushing away from the door to walk toward me. “I
could strip those clothes back off you, tie you to the bed and lick you until
you tell me to stop, which I imagine won’t be for a while.”

Jack’s arrogance
was completely breath-taking, but as he came to a stop in front of me, I
realized that outrage had slid into a throbbing heat that made my lips tingle
and my breaths shallow. I didn’t recognize myself inside this sensuous,
responsive woman.

“Angel baby?” he
taunted, completely convinced that I’d fold.

I shook my head
but I didn’t trust my voice.

“Yeah, you want it,”
he contradicted me, then he reached out and caressed my breast through the thin
voile of my tunic. I felt the nipple harden instantly, but I couldn’t drag my
attention from his gaze. It was so hungry. “We could try for another three.”

He was making it
sound like the attraction was one-way, so I said, “You want me.”

He nodded. “I’ve
told you that.” His thumb stopped stroking my nipple and he let the back of his
hand slide down over my stomach to my groin where one of his fingers stroked
back and forth lightly over my clitoris.

I had to close my
eyes in the struggle to control myself, to stay still, when I wanted to open my
legs and let him do what he was so very good at. Making me come. But at what
price?

I raised my chin.
There had to be a catch. “What do you want from me?”

“Regular sex,” he
said straightaway, as if he had it all worked out. But his voice was low and
rumbling and it really turned me on. “We both want it,” he added persuasively.

I opened my eyes
again and glanced at his penis which was as rampant as I’d ever seen it. And I
wavered. One step forward and we’d be kissing. But where would
that
end?
Eventually?

It was one thing
to be excited by the lure of orgasms, and quite another to turn into the sort
of woman who was more interested in sexual pleasure than her own self esteem. I
had a life outside this cottage. Friends. A career that looked set to take off.
Why would I jeopardize any of that for another few hours of sexual gratification?

My friends were
waiting for me, probably worried. I’d had my crazy fling. It was over. I needed
to get back to the real world. Jill and Finn were driving me to the airport
this morning. Kamal was picking me up in Sydney. And Noah Steele was sending
through details of an agent. I didn’t have time for this. And I needed to stop
it now.

So I took a step
backward. And then another. “Whatever this was.” I gestured between the two of
us. “It’s over now. I’m going back to my life.”

“Oh, I see. And I
clearly don’t belong in your life, is that it?”

“You said you only
followed me to Fritha’s launch to make amends, but now you’re trying to talk me
into a sexual arrangement? As if I’m…”
A slut.
The heat between us
hadn’t diminished, and in fact the angry words had only made me crave his touch
more, but I just knew, “This isn’t right.”

“Because it’s not
romantic? Because I’m not telling you I’m in love with you?”

He sounded so
surprised, I wanted to laugh. With hysteria probably. I was starting to realize
what I’d done, and how appalling it was, how unlike me, how cheap. I seriously
wanted to go.

He shook his head.
“You don’t want a relationship. You want orgasms. I can do that.”

Cocky bastard. “And
what do you want?” There had to be something.

He stared at me
for five long seconds. “You. Again and again.”

I could almost
hear Fritha’s voice in my head
That’s so romantic
, but it wasn’t. It was
lust.

And then I heard
Jill saying,
What’s wrong with lust?

But they weren’t
standing in my shoes. I needed to find out what was right for
me
, not
them. This felt wrong, and I wanted to go. I held up my good hand. “You’ve said
your piece. I’m going now. Stand aside.”

I’d never heard
myself so abrupt, but I desperately needed to escape. Having him so close, so
naked and ready to make love with me, was making my body respond, and that scrambled
my brain. I had to get away from him and think. Because I wasn’t the sort of woman
who had casual sex. He’d dazzled me with sensations and I needed to find myself
beyond that.

“I should have
tied you up,” he said and shrugged, clearly trying for nonchalance, but the
intensity hadn’t gone out of his gaze. If he’d been trying to create
mind-pictures that would travel home with me, it worked. I instantly saw myself
spread-eagled on the bed with my arms and legs tethered so he could please me
in whatever way he wanted to. And that was
so
sexy I had another second
of faltering.

But in the next moment
he stepped back, and I wasted no time in marching past him and opening the
door. It was only when I stood in the opened doorway with the surety that I
could escape, that I turned back to say, “Thank you. For everything. And
goodbye.”

It sounded final,
even to me, and as I closed the door softly behind myself and walked down the
front stairs of the cute rental cottage on trembling legs—wearing my clothes
from the night before—I was forced to admit that I’d just had a one-night-stand,
something I’d never imagined myself doing.

My mother would be
horrified. Danny had been my only lover, and I’d never imagined myself being
promiscuous, even after I’d left Danny. Jack’s declaration that he wanted me
again
and again
sounded exclusive, but I knew if he couldn’t have me he’d move on
to the next woman.

Men liked novelty.
Everyone knew that. Well, unless they were truly in love, in which case they
were supposedly happy with monogamy. I hated thinking about that, because it
reminded me that Danny hadn’t been in love. And despite the delicious ache
between my legs, which reminded me of all that I
hadn’t
had with Danny,
I still missed having him in my life.

Before last night,
I’d felt so betrayed by his infidelity that I hadn’t been able to remember my
love for him, but having sex with someone else had magically unlocked that
feeling.

Intellectually, I
knew I hadn’t just cheated on Danny, but emotionally, it felt like I’d had sex
outside our marriage, and that caused some part of my brain to felt empathy
with him. It made
no
sense, but as I trudged back to
Bohemian Brew,
down the pretty tree-lined streets of Belandera, I felt—for the first time—as if
I understood why he might have strayed.

It had been six
months since our separation and he hadn’t moved anyone in with him, so he
clearly hadn’t fallen in love. He’d probably just been promiscuous. Maybe he’d
known I was faking and wanted more authentic sex. Exactly as I’d craved.

With Jack.

I turned a corner
and saw the shop up ahead with one of Fritha’s young waitresses sweeping the
footpath and setting out tables and chairs. I had a flicker of wondering
whether I should turn-tail and find another way to the Bed and Breakfast where
I was supposed to have slept.

But really? Fritha
would find out sooner or later. I may as well get it over and done with. So I
walked up to the café and said to the waitress, “Am I too early for breakfast?”

She dimpled and
shook her head. “Our best table for the diva.” And led me to the booth at the
back where Noah Steele had sat.

After a spinach
frittata and two mugs of coffee, Fritha and I were deep in
What does ‘slut’
mean anyway?
when Jill and Finn arrived, both in jeans and tee-shirts,
looking casually stunning. Fritha waved them over enthusiastically, bangles
clanking and long red curls flying everywhere in her excitement. I brushed down
the creased front of my tunic and tried not to feel embarrassed as Jill scoped
me out.

But it was Finn
who spoke, frowning. “Angela…you’re in the same clothes. Didn’t we bring your
suitcase?”

Jill smiled as she
shook her head. “Clueless,” she whispered to us, and grabbed his arm, pointing
to a table in the sun. “Can we sit there, honey? I want to work on my tan.”

Poor Finn looked
from one to the other of us, clearly realizing something was going on, but in
the end, he said, “Sure,” and left us alone.

Jill leant down to
look me right in the eyes from close range. “So…?”

I shrugged. “The
curse is broken.”

“Three times,”
Fritha whispered across the table, and bless her, she held up three skinny
fingers, clearly impressed.

“Fuck,” Jill said,
eyes wide. “Are we talking three sessions, or three
I’ll have what she’s
having?
”

I kept my voice
low. “The second.”

“Wowsers.” Jill
straightened and looked at me afresh. “That’s what I call breaking the
drought.” She looked around. “So where is the super stud? Sleeping in?”

“I don’t know.” I suddenly
felt put on the spot. “It was just a one-off. I’m not—”

Jill raised one
eyebrow. “A one-night stand? Angela Lata?” She shook her head. “Sister Carmel
didn’t see that coming.”

Damn it, I was
blushing again. “Jill!”

“All right. But
you surely don’t imagine he’s just going to let you go?”

I frowned at her.
“I told him it was over.”

“Of course,” she
said, and exchanged a knowing glance with Fritha. “I’m sure it was all so
disappointing, he won’t come after you for more amazing sex.”

Damn her, that
forced a grin out of me, and I had to say, “It was amazing. But he’s
so
cocky.”

Fritha burst out
laughing.

“Not like that!” I
slapped her. “Arrogant. A pain in the ass—”

“Oh!” Jill
smirked. “What
have
you been up to?” She glanced across at Frith. “I had
no idea she was so kinky. Did you?”

Fritha’s shrug
clearly said she thought I was now a naughty girl capable of anything. “Let’s
call her Super Slut.” She knew it was so outrageous, I wouldn’t take offence—me
who had only ever slept with two men in my life.

I grabbed her hand
and leant forward across the table, forcing Jill to lean in so the whole
restaurant didn’t know my business. I kept my voice pitched low. “While I’m
glad this…difficulty has been cleared up, I won’t be making a habit of sleeping
with random men—”

Jill was back to
smirking. “So maybe just stick with ones who can make you howl.”

Fritha started
giggling and I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk sense to either of them. I
slapped Jill’s arm. “You’ve got a man waiting for you.” I nodded at the table
in the sun where Finn was looking at the menu.

“Come over and
join us if you want.”

I shook my head.
“I’ve had breakfast.”

Fritha patted my
cast in a consoling manner. “I don’t think she’s slept.”

I gave her a mock
glare, then said to Jill, “I’ll see you guys back at the B&B.”

She nodded. “You still
want us to drop you at the airport?”

“Please.”

She considered me
for a moment longer and I prepared myself for more teasing, but all she said
was, “I think we’re going to see more of this Jack. Or at least
you
are,
SS.
” She winked at Fritha and walked off, edging past a group of three
couples who were making their way into the shop, looking around to see where
they’d sit.

Fritha eased
herself out of the booth. “Much as I’d love to stay and talk dirty, I’ve got
work.”

“Thanks Frith.” I
stood and gathered up my purse.

“I’d do the same
for any slut, really.” She grinned that lopsided grin that made it impossible
to hate her.

Girlfriends—can’t confide
in them, and can’t live without them.

What I needed was
to escape, but I didn’t make it out of
Bohemian Brew
fast enough, which
was a pity. As I was heading for the door, Jill waved me over to their table
where a petite blonde with pixie hair and a hugely pregnant belly was grinning
at me.

“You were
amazing
last night,” she squealed.

Jill raised an
eyebrow. “I’ll bet that’s what Jack said,” she muttered quietly before I shot
her a quelling glance.

“Thank you,” I
said to the girl who was exactly as Jill had described her—like a tiny white
kitten. “You must be Lizzie. I’ve heard so much about you.”

I could easily see
how you’d have to love her, no matter that she was carrying Finn’s baby. I held
out my hand and she shook it loosely, as if she wasn’t quite sure how to do it.

“Probably the
usual things,” she said. “Adorable. Cute. Blah.” She pulled a face at Jill who
just laughed. “I’m actually quite mean when I’m cross.”

Jill glanced at
me. “I rest my case. Who says
cross
? Honestly.”

Finn sat between
them with his arm on the back of Jill’s chair, smiling at his foster cousin
Lizzie with obvious tenderness. Jill appeared completely relaxed, which was a
huge relief to me.

It was one thing
for Jill to
say
she was okay with Lizzie, but quite another to see that
in action. So a part of me was thrilled that Lizzie’s impending motherhood
would bring them all such joy. Finn was about to become Uncle Finn, and no
doubt Jill would be Aunty Jill. It was all fabulous, except…

There was an
aching part inside of me that looked at Lizzie’s belly and said
When will it
be my turn?

I hated that part
of me—the envious part that couldn’t just be happy with another woman’s
success, that had to turn it around to me, me, me! But there was no denying it.
I was jealous. And after the hedonistic night I’d shared with Jack, breathless
excitement and orgasms just didn’t feel like…enough.

I wanted more.

I wanted the love
and fun and laughter and genuine
family
I could see at this table. And
more than anything, I wanted a tiny baby growing inside me. In fact, at that
moment while I watched Lizzie laughing at something Jill said, I felt an acute
hole, like a stabbing psychological wound, and it was making my throat tight.

Since I’d decided
to leave Danny in the face of overwhelming evidence of his infidelity, I’d had
tears and anger in the safety of my own room. I’d felt the profound loss and
failure that came with leaving a fifteen-year marriage and knowing I’d never
celebrate a fiftieth wedding anniversary. There was simply no time to start
over with someone else and have that perfect life.