The Sizzle Saga

by Sarah O'Rourke

  One of Devil’s large hands fell against her hip and squeezed firmly. “Now, that’s just bullshit,” he objected sternly, his jaw hardening as he stared into Molly’s expressive clear green eyes… eyes that right now looked more wounded than he ever wanted to see them. “It’s been a crazy month. New baby, gay friends committing their lives to one another, needy husband… you haven’t exactly had it easy, darlin’. You’ve got too many irons and not enough fires to put ‘em in.”

  “Still…” Molly whispered, trailing off as she dropped her eyes to stare at the floor. “I should have done better,” she admitted through a thick throat, her nose stinging ominously.

  “Molly, if you cry, I’m not gonna be happy, babe. In fact, it’s a fairly good bet that I’ll end up losing my mind tryin’ to get you to stop. There’s nothing here for you to be sorry about, okay? I just want us to take tonight and devote a few hours to each other. Sound good?” he asked, pressing a gentle kiss against her forehead.

  Molly nodded eagerly as she felt some of the tension start to release from her shoulders. “Sounds really good. Did you have something special in mind?”

  “Nothing much beyond being with you. I need to put your flowers in water,” he pointed out, indicating the roses he’d bought for her with a nod to where he’d dropped them on the kitchen table. “What about you? Do you have any thoughts on what you’d like to do this evening?”

  “Oh, I’ve got a few things in mind that you just might enjoy,” Molly returned coyly with a wicked grin, her overworked mind starting to formulate a plan. “Why don’t we start by relaxing together? I’ll go draw us a nice, hot bath in the Jacuzzi while you put my gorgeous flowers in water. And, I should say thank you for them, too, shouldn’t I?” she noted huskily, going up on her toes to press a damp kiss to Devil’s lips. “Thank you, Devil,” she breathed, nipping his lower lip as she drew back slightly and smiled at him. “Maybe you could pour us a couple more glasses of wine, too, while I get the bathroom ready for us?” she asked, more than ready to take this night and make things up to her husband. She’d screwed up; it was true, but, he’d reminded her where her true priorities were.

  Seizing her lips for another heated kiss before he released her, Devil groaned as he let her go. “Get out of here before I decide that a soak in the Jacuzzi sounds overrated and that our nice, king sized bed seems like a much better option.”

  Molly giggled as Devil growled playfully against her neck, his hands clenching on her ass. “Give me fifteen minutes,” she ordered before spinning on her heel and hurrying down the hallway toward the master bathroom.

  Scorched: Chapter Three

  Molly

  Closing the door to the bathroom with her foot, Molly quickly shed her ratty old sweatshirt and nursing bra before she took care of pumping her full breasts. The last thing she wanted to do is leak milk all over her hubby. She already felt like she’d failed him once by not making their six-week appointment special; the last thing she wanted to do was kill the romantic mood she was trying to set now by squirting breast milk in his eye during a pivotal moment. That certainly wasn’t their kink, she thought, wrinkling her nose as she dumped the fluid down the sink and tossed her bra and shirt toward the wicker hamper in the corner of the room. Pivoting to her left, she twisted the silver taps and began to fill the tub, adding a liberal dose of aromatic salts to the swirling water.

  Peeling her soft cotton sweatpants down her legs, Molly sighed as she turned to stare at her reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors lining the east wall of the bathroom. Tilting her head, she studied her body with a critical eye. Wrinkling her nose at what she saw staring back at her from the mirror, Molly shook her head, lifting a hand up to pull the elastic rubber band from her hair. Shaking her head, she knew it was now entirely safe to say that the word ‘petite’ no longer defined her. Her freaking curves had curves. Eyeballing herself disapprovingly, she bit her lower lip painfully. This definitely wasn’t the body with which Devil was previously acquainted. She felt like she was looking at a stranger; she certainly shuddered to think about how he’d feel when he saw her. While she had never considered herself to be one of those tiny waifs that could happily exist on angel whispers, she had at least attempted to maintain some sort of a figure. Well, until now, that was.

  Pregnancy had not been kind to her form, leaving her body in the worst condition she’d ever been. Where once she’d had firm, toned muscles, a semi-flat, concave belly and pert bouncy breasts, now she sagged…absolutely everywhere. Molly cringed as she ran a self-conscious hand over the swell of her lower stomach, the slight bulge seeming even bigger today. Okay, swell and bulge were far kinder words than she should have used. It was more of a full stomach swelling. And no amount of abdominal crunches or sit-ups seemed to be designed to make that ungainly pouch disappear. Talk about disheartening. God knows she had tried everything she could think of to diminish that unseemly mass. Nothing worked!

  Then, as if that unsightly bulge wasn’t enough to draw her attention, there were those faint white lines...those garish stretch marks standing out against her pale skin like neon arrows directing the way to her unfortunate attributes. The only thing she might have going in her favor was the fact that she had at least managed to do a small amount of landscaping in all the right places earlier in the week when the baby had taken a longer nap than usual. But that was not enough to raise her spirits at the moment. Not at all. And while she was inventorying the substantial damage to her body, she really ought to mention that brand new zip code that seemed to have grown around her hips and thighs.

  No, pregnancy had definitely NOT agreed with her body at ALL!

  Who knew that her seven pound bundle of love could inflict so much damage on her figure, leaving at least an extra fifteen pounds hanging off her previously almost-slender frame?

  Molly closed her eyes for a moment and drew a deep breath, trying to center herself as she leaned one hand against the cool marble counter of the bathroom sink. What the hell was she going to do here? It wasn’t as though she could escape through the bathroom window, she thought, cracking one eye to assess the opening above the Jacuzzi. Devil would just chase her down.

  It might not have been so bad if her husband was the happily oblivious sort. But, he was not. Never had been. Ever.

  Oh, no, her handsome hunk was a visually-oriented lover that memorized every single crack and crevice, hill and valley, peak and pitfall of her body. Before their baby, that keen eye he had for detail had made her an exceptionally happy and exceedingly satisfied woman. Repeatedly. What could she say? Her husband had a gift … a way of taking his time as he had traveled up and down her body as he’d loved her. It had made her feel special and valued. Wanted and loved.

  But, if she was going to be honest (and generally, she tried to be truthful), she didn’t think the Casanova she’d married was exactly going to enjoy the new rides decorating her personal playground. Especially once he got a look at the new equipment.

  Her body had changed – changed in a big, bad way.

  Yep, her figure was markedly fuller while his cut physique had remained unaltered by the cruel hands of pregnancy.

  How the hell was that fair? And what if that wonderfully hot, sensual pastime that they’d both once loved so much (yeah, folks, the S-E-X)… what if it just didn’t work for them anymore? What if, once he got a full view of the ‘new’ look she was sporting, her husband decided that he wanted a younger, firmer model? What then? Devil Delancy was a red-blooded, hot-headed, domineering Southern male, after all. He was accustomed to all the bells and whistles that went with her old body. What if she just couldn’t satisfy him anymore?

  “Oh, God,” she panted, as her breaths suddenly came faster and faster, a panic attack rising faster than she could manage to reach for her wine. “He’s gonna trade me in for something new and shiny!” she whispered to the reflection staring back at her in the mirror.

  Clutching her chest, she shook her head as she tried to clear those overw
helming and terrifying thoughts from her hormone-soaked mind and forced herself to take a deep cleansing breath. “I can do this,” she ground out through her teeth, continuing to stare at her naked body in the unkind mirror. “I’ll just figure out a way that I can do it clothed,” she continued, snatching her long black silk robe off the hook hanging from the bathroom door while the tub continued to fill behind her. She could absolutely bathe clothed! If she had to, she’d start a new fashion trend, dammit! Jabbing her arms into the sleeves, she was cinching the sash at her waist when she heard the door open behind her.

  Holy Christ, that moment she’d been trying (albeit unconsciously) to avoid was upon her. It really wasn’t that she didn’t want to be intimate with her husband. She did. Badly. It was just that insecurity like she hadn’t felt since her sexy husband had conned her out of her knickers a few years earlier flooded her every time she thought of getting naked with him again. And she knew, without a doubt, she was screwed in the no-fun-at-all kind of way.

  “Did you say something to me?” she heard Devil greet her as he entered the oversized bathroom, carrying two very full goblets of red wine.

  Startled by his sudden question and presence, Molly jumped slightly, clutching the sash of her robe as she spun to face her husband. Forcing a smile to her lips (or at least what she hoped would pass for a reasonable facsimile of one), she swallowed quickly. “Lord, you scared me, Devil.”

  Canting his head, Devil’s eyes narrowed on her, his intelligent eyes automatically cataloguing the look on her face. “You okay, baby?” he asked slowly, as his gaze tracked her stiff movements suspiciously.

  “I’m fine,” Molly stated quickly as she moved to turn off the water and press the button that would begin to churn the water into foamy waves. “Just a little nervous, I guess,” she admitted over her shoulder. She could tell by the way Devil stilled almost instantly that she’d captured his attention with that remark and she mentally kicked herself for being so blunt. Way to go, Molly, her inner voice almost sneered at her.

  “Nervous,” Devil echoed, his deep voice spitting out the word as though it tasted foul. “Why in the hell would you be nervous? And why are you clutching at your robe like a lifeline? It’s pretty hard for us to relax in the tub when one of us has clothes on,” he noted dryly, his perceptive eyes missing nothing as they watched for her reaction.

  Well, shitty Mcshit Shit SHIT! They were off to a roaring start, weren’t they, Molly thought anxiously. Desperate for something to occupy her hands and keep her eyes somewhere besides her husband, she began to collect the linens they’d be needing.

  “Molly, I’m waiting,” Devil reminded her, calmly putting their wine glasses on the wide lip of the tub where they could reach them easily before he moved toward his tense wife. “Babe, it’s just you and me here. Why in hell would you be nervous with me?” he asked again.

  Molly’s neck went hot as she imagined his eyes boring into her. “I’m not nervous exactly, Dev,” she replied quietly, stacking thick fluffy towels beside the tub within easy reach. “I shouldn’t have put it that way,” she muttered.

  Picking up her goblet of wine, he slid an arm around her side to hold the glass in front of her. “Here. Drink,” he suggested against her ear. “Then explain to me what you think you should have said.”

  Taking the wine from his hand, she took a long sip, letting the fruity notes play against her tongue before swallowing. Feeling slightly calmer, she turned to face her husband. “It’s just been a while for us, Devil,” she said carefully as one hand toyed with the silky sash of her robe.

  Capturing her fingers, Devil chided, “Quit fidgeting, Mols. I know it’s been a while, honey. Hell, I can tell you just exactly how long it’s been down to the hour if you want me to.”

  “I don’t,” Molly interjected quickly, rolling her eyes.

  “Okay,” Devil averred, “Then how ‘bout you explain what has you looking like a trapped cat in a roomful of rocking chairs. And don’t tell me I’m imagining it because we both know that I’m not,” he added, moving his hands to cradle her hips as she opened her mouth to speak.

  Scowling because he knew her entirely too well, Molly blew out a frustrated breath. “Fine! I’ll tell you. I am nervous. In fact, I’m jumpy as all hell. Devil, you haven’t seen me naked in a really, long time.”

  “Molly, I saw you naked last night,” Devil retorted instantly with a deep laugh, rolling his eyes at her. “I loved your body then, and I’ll love it now.”

  “No, what you saw was a naked shadow last night. I made sure to turn the lights off before I changed into my nightgown. The body you think you love is nothing but a dim memory. Your mind is recalling the shape you want to see… not what I actually look like now.”

  “Babe, I’ve seen you without your clothes. You’re being insane right now,” Devil admonished tenderly, trying to pull her rigid body closer to him.

  “I’m not! In fact, I know you’ve only seen blurry naked shadows of me since before Devlynn was born. I’ve made sure of it,” Molly continued resolutely, trying to ignore how good it felt as Devil massaged her hips with his thumbs and not let her mind wander to how wonderful it would feel to let him rub something else. “I’ve been real careful about not letting you see me without my clothes since the baby got here. Especially in the daylight or under fluorescent lighting,” she explained, gesturing at the light fixtures above their heads. “My body was never exactly model-worthy, but now….”

  “Whoa!” Devil interrupted on a low roar. “Molly….”

  “Just let me get through this, Devil,” Molly ordered, putting her hands against her husband’s broad chest. “My body isn’t going to be what you remember, honey. It’s….bigger…mushier. Kinda like a marshmallow.”

  “Mushier,” Devil repeated incredulously. “Are you crazy?” he asked in exasperation.

  “No, I’m not. Just listen. I need to prepare you for what you’re gonna see, Dev,” Molly huffed, growing irritated at him and his interruptions.

  “I already know what I’m going to see,” Devil replied, growing impatient as he moved his hands to the tied knot at her waist. There was only one way he could put her baseless fears to rest and the first step was removing the robe that was in his way.

  “Stop that,” Molly demanded, batting away his hands. “Devil, I don’t look the way you remember me! Just let me dim the lights and….”

  Quickly backing her against the mirrored wall, Devil pressed his body against hers, effectively cutting off any hope of escape she might have harbored. Anchoring her still squirming body with his torso, he shook his head. “Settle down, Spitfire, and listen to me,” he urged warmly against her cheek.

  “Dammit, Devil,” Molly complained even as her traitorous body began to soften against his. “If you’d only just hear me out, you’d know…”

  “Shhhh,” Devil hushed her, as one persistent hand slipped between them to untangle the knot at her belly, “I don’t need to hear anything else, babe. You’re scared. I get that, but it’s unfounded, Molly.”

  “Is not,” Molly mumbled, dropping her head against his shoulder as she felt his nimble fingers divesting her of her security covering. Well, hell! That wasn’t supposed to happen so quickly, was it?

  “Molly,” Devil began insistently, “It’s an established impossibility for my body NOT to want yours. The sun will always rise in the east and set in the west. Water will always freeze at thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit. And my cock will always think its home is in your pussy. Some things, my sweet angel, are just facts set in stone. I am completely incapable of not wanting you!”

  “But,” Molly tried to cut into his diatribe.

  “No, sweetheart. I’m talking now,” he denied sternly. “You know what I want? I want you to tell whatever fucked up voice in your head is talking that your husband thinks you’re fuckin’ perfect. You could weigh three hundred pounds, have a tail, goiter, AND hunchback, walk with a limp, and have a severe stuttering problem, and I would STILL want yo
u. You wanna know why?”

  Blinking back tears, Molly swallowed hard. “Why?” she whispered, her voice thin and fragile.

  “Because you possess the missing piece to my heart. You are the only woman in existence that fits me….right down to my goddamn soul, babe. Now, is that clear enough for you?”

  Sniffling, Molly tried to still her wobbly chin. “Yeah. It’s clear.”

  “You sure? Because if you don’t believe what I’m sayin’, sweetheart, that means I’m not doing my job as your husband. So, I’ll ask one more time. We clear?”

  “Very clear,” Molly agreed with a voice trembling with emotion, a shaky smile creeping over her lips.

  “Fuckin’ perfect,” Devil groaned appreciatively, sliding one side of the robe over Molly’s shoulder, his fingers caressing her smooth, alabaster skin. “Then, let me see the body that belongs as much to me as it does to you. And for God’s sake, give me that mouth before I lose my mind, woman,” he ordered harshly an instant before his lips claimed hers in a deep, consuming kiss.

  If it was possible for a kiss to spontaneously combust, theirs was on the verge of doing so, Molly thought wildly as his tongue plundered the depths of her mouth, marking and claiming her as his. Wet and intense, the kiss caught fire, burning bright and hot, threatening to incinerate them both with its intensity. “Mmmmm, Devil,” Molly hummed breathlessly against her husband’s parted lips.

  “Good God, woman, you do have the singular unique ability to drive me out of my mind,” Devil half-chuckled against her mouth, his teeth nipping her full lower lip as he finally broke away from their kiss. “Have I adequately convinced you yet that there is absolutely nothing about you that could ever repel me?”