Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set

by Misty Reigenborn

  Two days later, she had lain down with Nathaniel on the bed, propping his little body on a pillow as she nursed him, while Paul had run to the store for groceries. She had fallen asleep, when she awoke to Paul's angry voice.

  "Sierra damn it, what the hell are you doing?"

  She sat up, still half asleep, wondering what he could possibly be talking about.

  The baby was sleeping peacefully on the bed. He still hadn't been letting her do anything around the house so she couldn't be behind on chores. And it wasn't as if the house was on fire. "What?"

  "The bassinet is there for a reason Sierra. I told you not to fall asleep with the baby in the bed. It's dangerous."

  "Really Paul? He's fine. I've been so tired lately. I was having quite a nice nap when you so rudely interrupted."

  He snorted, as if she was lying about her lack of sleep. "Don't let it happen again okay?"

  She stuck her tongue out at his back as he turned to go down to put the groceries away, muttering under her breath "Uptight asshole."

  When she tried to move Nathaniel to the bassinet, he woke up with a yelp, as is wondering why his mother had deigned to interrupt his nap.

  She looked down into her husband's eyes looking out at her from her son's tiny face, and shrugged her shoulders at him, whispering "Sorry baby. Mama doesn't understand it either, but Daddy insisted."

  She breathed a sigh of relief when Paul went back to work, beginning to wonder if their lives would ever go back to normal again.

  If he would let her return to work when the time came or if she'd be stuck at home taking care of the child she adored more everyday but still couldn't see herself giving up her career for.

  She felt that she shouldn't have to, was angry that she was starting to feel more and more that she'd never lived up to Paul's lofty standards as a mother and as a wife.

  She could understand why he wouldn't make love to her at this point so soon after birth, but wondered whether their sex life would ever be the same.

  She could easily imagine Paul wanting more children, though they hadn't yet discussed it. But she didn't want to have sex with her husband only to get pregnant. She wanted to have sex with her husband because she wanted to, because HE wanted to.

  She was chatting with Ashley on the computer one afternoon when Nathan was about a month old, having found out that Ashley was pregnant and that her boyfriend was freaking out because they'd only been together three months, when there was a light knock at the door.

  She glanced at her son sleeping peacefully in the bassinet, and then got up to go to the door, wondering who it was.

  Paul's mother was supposed to be coming to town for a few days, but wasn't scheduled to arrive until this weekend. They were supposed to be going to visit her parents two weeks before she was going back to work, but other than a few neighbors and friends from work who'd stopped in at times, Sierra had few visitors.

  Sierra peeked out the peep hole; her heart feeling like it was stuck in her throat when she saw it was Luke standing on the other side of the door.

  She threw open the chain lock, glancing back only when she'd realized that the noise might startle her son, and seeing it hadn't, turned the dead bolt and stepped back to let Luke into the house.

  He had a small box of chocolates in one hand and a gift bag in the other.

  She wanted to throw herself into his arms, wanted for him to be coming to tell her that he was here to take her away from everything. From what was turning into a dissatisfied (at least on her part) marriage at best, or what was a downright unhappy one at worst.

  "Hi."

  "Hi.” She felt like an idiot when there was so much more that she wanted to say to him.

  “How have you been?"

  "I've been. . ." She couldn't take it anymore and she crossed the floor, throwing her arms around him and kissing him with so much passion that she felt herself go weak in the knees when he responded in kind. "Oh Luke, I've missed you."

  "I've missed you too Sie but. . ."

  "No buts today babe." She moved her hand to the crotch of his jeans. As she rubbed him through the fabric, she could feel him grow hard.

  She moaned as his hand moved to cup her breast, forgetting that she wasn't wearing a bra. It was something which for some reason drove Paul nuts, but bras drove her crazier at the moment. Her breasts were still full as she weaned her son, and she found them to be totally uncomfortable.

  Luke didn't seem to mind though, as he took her hand and led her to the couch, where he stood for a moment, slipping off his shoes.

  She slipped her shorts and panties off, leaving them to lie beside the couch.

  He didn't bother to do anything more than pull his pants down part way before he was inside her. They were both too conscious of her sleeping son in the other room, knowing that he could wake up any minute.

  He rode her hard and fast. She bit into the thin material at the shoulder of his t shirt to keep from crying out as she came. Why couldn't Paul make her come like that she wondered for a moment? Then all thoughts were shut out of her head as she felt Luke's release inside her.

  He kissed her as he moved to pull his pants up, then reached down to hand her her shorts.

  She accepted them from him without a word, looking into his eyes and knowing that he hadn't come here to ask her to run away with him at all, probably hadn't been planning on fucking her on the couch that her husband had picked out.

  "Luke. I'm sorry. If only I hadn't been so young and dumb."

  "I know darlin’, I know."

  He pulled her into his arms. She felt her feet leave the floor he was holding her so tight.

  "You came to say goodbye didn't you?"

  "Yes baby, I did. You and I both know that we can't do this anymore, as good as it feels." He grinned but it quickly faded. "We had something special Sierra, but we gave it up honey, both of us did. And we have to move on now for good. I still love you. Maybe I always will, but I've got a wife now and a little girl whom I love more than anything. I can't give that up."

  She nodded, biting her lip. She wanted to tell him that she'd always love him too. That even if he wasn't willing to give up his family for her, she was willing to give hers up for him (or her husband at least). But she couldn't get the words out, and figured maybe they were better left unsaid at this point.

  He picked up the box of chocolates and the bag he'd abandoned earlier, handing them to her with a wry grin. "Kimber craved chocolate a lot after she had Alexis so I thought maybe. . . And the outfit, I let Alexis pick out. She says all the kids at school miss their favorite teacher."

  "I miss them all, too. It sucks that I'll only have a month back before they're out for summer. I thought about working at a daycare, taking Nathan with me, but Paul put his foot down again.” She glanced at her son, who was beginning to stir.

  "I guess I'd better go. Goodbye Sierra."

  He moved to her side, brushing the lightest of kisses across her cheek.

  "Goodbye Luke."

  She watched him walk out the door, get into his car and drive away.

  Her legs were a little unsteady as she crossed to the bassinet, picking up her son who was now starting to cry, letting her know that he was hungry.

  "It's okay, baby," Sierra said soothingly, though she wanted to cry herself at the moment.

  Chapter 21

  Life went on much as it had after that, though Paul calmed down some after his mother's visit when she chided him for hanging over Sierra's shoulder while she gave their son a bath.

  They had both survived the visit to her mother's house and the time was growing closer for her to go back to work.

  She had started to lay Nathan in the bassinet in their room Thursday night when he stopped her, putting a hand on her arm.

  "He can sleep in the nursery tonight. We shouldn't be letting that expensive crib that my Mom bought go to waste. And besides, I want to make love to my wife."

  He took their sleeping son gently from her arms.
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  She was still standing there beside the bed when he returned. "Sierra baby. What's wrong? Don't you want to make love?"

  "It's not that Paul."

  "Then what is it?" He took her face in his hands, giving her what started out as a gentle kiss but which soon turned hungry as she felt his tongue probing at her lips.

  She was racked with guilt then, and as he started to undress her, she opened her mouth, wanting to tell him about Luke, about what she'd done.

  But she shut her mouth quickly. This is what she'd wanted for so long. For her husband to make love to her, to want her as much as she'd always wanted him.

  As she lay in his arms that night she knew what she had to do. As soon as Paul went to work the next morning, she was going to retrieve the engagement ring that Luke had given her from its hiding spot, shoved to the back of her underwear drawer, and she was going to get rid of it.

  She wasn't sure how she'd hidden it from him this long, but it didn't matter anymore. Her husband had reached out to her tonight. She thought that with work and a little patience on her part, probably a lot of patience really she thought, she could make her marriage work.

  Paul wasn't Luke. She had to stop thinking that there was any way that she could turn her uptight husband into anything close to resembling Luke's sex drive and awareness. But it was worth the effort to get her husband to loosen up at least a bit.

  Now if he'd stop wanting her to be the little Miss Susie homemaker that they both knew she was never going to be, she thought with a yawn, they might be in business.

  But she thought, as her eyes drifted closed, knowing that she needed to get some sleep before her son awoke wanting his nighttime feeding, tomorrow was another day, and she'd worry about everything then.

  She found him at the kitchen table the next morning, trying unsuccessfully to give Nathan his bottle, while trying to knot the tie that hung around his neck at the same time.

  He had the bottle propped underneath his chin; one arm looped behind the baby's head, Nathan on his knee, and looked rather comical.

  "Here.” She took Nathan from him and put him in the car seat that sat beside the table. "You can put him down for a minute you know." She tucked a rolled blanket against the baby's chest to hold the bottle for a minute. "I doubt he'll starve to death if you do. Let me do that.”

  She knotted the tie for him, stepping back to admire her work before she retrieved their son from the car seat, bringing him to her shoulder to burp him.

  "How'd you know how to do that?"

  She rubbed the baby's back and then patted it as he still hadn't burped. She shrugged, satisfied when Nathan finally let out a rather large belch. "I watched Timothy do it so many times that I kinda figured it out I guess. He was never one to wear a clip on. Why are you so dressed up?"

  "The boss wants to talk to me. He likes the work I've been doing, so it might mean a raise. That would be nice wouldn't it?"

  "Of course.”

  "I guess I'd better get going. I love you Sierra.” He gave her a quick kiss before bending over slightly to nuzzle his son's nose with his own. "And I love you too, little guy."

  "Good luck.”

  "Cross your fingers for me will you? Maybe we can finally find the money to get a house of our own."

  She showed him her crossed fingers and he headed towards the door with a chuckle.

  She got busy, doing the laundry that very much needed to be done, and had almost forgotten about her quest to get rid of the ring when she laid her son down for his nap, a little before noon.

  She remembered though, when she was putting her clean clothes away and found herself reaching into the back of the drawer.

  She pulled it out and sat on the bed looking at the box for a minute.

  She'd never tried it on. Never taken it out of the box and felt herself slipping her wedding set from her finger, and setting them aside on the nightstand.

  She took the ring out of the box, and slipped it on her finger, not surprised that it fit perfectly. She was almost in a world of her own then for a few minutes. She was still a little out of it when she started to reach for the box to put it away, planning to toss it over their back fence into the alley behind their house, not caring who found it, just that she'd be rid of it.

  "Sierra." She looked up to see her husband standing before her, though she hadn't heard him come into the house, let alone into their bedroom.

  She moved to hide the ring, but knew from the look on his face that he'd already seen it. She glanced uneasily at the rings he'd given her, thrown so carelessly onto the table. "What are you doing here Paul? You should be at work."

  He laughed, though there was no humor in it. "Yeah, funny thing. They let me off early today. I not only got a substantial raise, they want to move me to another site. A newer branch of the company, where we would be closer to both of our families. So." It was like she could see storm clouds gathering in his eyes. Their blue seemed to darken like the sky before a storm was coming. "I came home to tell my wife, that's you by the way Sierra, in case you hadn't noticed, the good news. I wanted to go out to celebrate, and instead what do I find but that same wife sitting on our bed with a ring on her finger that looks suspiciously like an engagement ring, which is certainly not the one I gave her." He looked pointedly at her rings on the table. "Looking like she's lost in some kind of daydream. I think you owe me an explanation Sierra. And it had better be a good one. If it's not I'm going to walk right back out that door."

  She told him the whole story of what she'd done with Luke and what he'd been to her. She tried to tell him that it was over and that she'd been planning to get rid of the ring. That she didn't know why she'd put it on. She was sobbing by the end.

  She looked from him to their sleeping son. His face was a blank as he stared at her. She didn't know which was worse, the fire in his eyes from before of the total lack of emotion he was giving her now.

  "I'm so sorry Paul."

  "Do you really think that it's enough Sierra? Did you really think that you could destroy our family and then tell me you’re sorry and 'poof' everything would be all right again?"

  "I didn't want to destroy our family Paul. You don't understand. It wasn't like that."

  "Then what was it like Sierra? What exactly was it like while you were letting another man fuck you?"

  "Paul I. . ."

  "Did you really plan to end it? Or was I going to come home from work one day and find my wife and son gone, having taken off with another man?"

  "No. I wouldn't do that."

  "You expect me to believe you? You expect me to believe a damn thing you say from here on out? Where is he Sierra? Where is the man that you were so willing to spread your legs for even if it's destroyed everything I've worked so hard for? I think I'd like to meet him."

  "No Paul, you can't do that. He's got a family of his own. A wife and a little girl."

  A dangerous glint came into his eyes. "So you set out not only to destroy your own family but somebody else's too? What an ungrateful little bitch you are after all I've given you."

  "What you've given me?" She snorted, feeling herself start to get angry, too. "The only thing you've ever given me that's worth a damn thing is our child. Other than that, you've been trying your best to take everything away from me, so that I'd fit your image of what a wife and mother should be like. It never mattered what I wanted Paul."

  "Of course it did."

  "Who the hell are you kidding? You made me quit working. You practically forced me to marry you. And now you're pissed because you found out I'm nothing like you wanted me to be. Wake up Paul. I want to work, I can't cook worth a shit, and I happen to like sex."

  "Forced you to marry me. Hell, I knew you couldn't cook as soon as you moved in with me and it never bothered me. This isn't about cooking Sierra. It isn't about whatever bullshit excuses you're trying to come up with to justify your little affair to yourself. It's about one thing, plain and simple. You had sex with someone else."

/>   "Did you ever think that maybe just maybe I wouldn't have fucked around if you'd been more willing to take care of my needs at home? We haven't had sex in almost five months Paul. Five fucking months. What kind of man wants to go without sex for that long?"

  "I was thinking of our unborn child. Unlike you obviously."

  "Yep, right after the doctor said that normal sexual activity was perfectly safe. He's a doctor Paul. I think that he might know what he's talking about."

  "We had sex last night."

  "Wow. Give the man a gold star. He screwed his wife once in five months. No I take that back. You never just screw do you Paul? It might make you feel dirty. You only 'make love'. You must be the only man on the whole planet that can still get it up that doesn't want to fuck every now and then."

  "Oh please Sierra."

  "Please what Paul? You never wanted to listen to me when I was begging you for sex. Do you have any idea how worthless that made me feel? That my own husband, a man I've been with for almost five years, didn't want to have sex with me? I felt unattractive enough being pregnant and you only made it worse."

  "You've got it all wrong Sierra. But." He shook his head at her. "All of that is again beside the point. We're not talking about me, we're talking about you. You're the one who cheated and now I'm the one who's got to deal with it."

  He took a suitcase from the shelf in the closet, opening the drawers and throwing clothes in, and then moved to the closet, throwing work clothes in on top.

  He returned from the bathroom with his electric razor, shaving cream, cologne, his hairbrush and his tooth brush. "I'm leaving Sierra. I don't know when I'll be coming home. Don't know if I will be really. Thank you for turning what should have been a really great day into one of the worst in my whole life. Take care of our son. Do whatever the hell you want about your job. If you need any help with Nathan I'm sure you can find someone willing to help, since you decided that I didn't deserve the chance to be his father."

  She stood at the top of the stairs and watched him walk out the door, struggling with the suitcase.