“Hey.”
She paused for a second, licked her lips and then laid the knife down before turning around.
“Hey, yourself.”
He glanced at the knife, his blue eyes cautious. “Putting it down so you don’t give in to temptation?”
“Nah.” She shrugged and glanced at the knife. “You know how I hate having to clean up a mess. If I was going to tear into you, I’d use a blunt object. Less blood that way.”
So she didn’t have to keep staring at him while her heart raced and hurt and shuddered, she turned back to the vegetables.
“Ah…I’m sorry about last night.” Garrett came a little closer, keeping a wide berth like he thought maybe she’d decide to use that knife anyway. “I fucked up, plain and simple. It’s not an excuse, but one of the big cases we were working finally came together and…hell. It doesn’t matter. I should have called.”
Her heart lodged in her throat. Well, at least it wasn’t something minor, she supposed. “Which case?” she asked quietly.
“The Bayside Rapist.”
She paused and looked up at him. “You caught him?”
He nodded, a grim look in his eyes as he stared off into nothing. “We’re keeping it quiet for as long as we can but it will probably hit the news tomorrow. I should have called you and I would have but I wasn’t reading email or anything—things were moving fast and I just forgot, Lex. I’m sorry.”
She looked back at the meal she was working on, focused on it for a minute.
She needed to think.
If he’d called, she might have been disappointed, but she would have understood.
The crazy thing, though…she wouldn’t have come to that hard, painful self-revelation. The longer the day went on, the more clear it had become for her. She did love him too much to just keep going as they had and if their dinner had gone off without a hitch last night… She would have just keep going on, business as usual, for who knows how long.
They deserved better. Both of them.
It had taken a painful nudge to push her to this. But she wasn’t going to explain that just yet.
She was going ahead with her plan of a slow seduction.
Garrett needed to need her again. The way she realized she still needed him.
So instead of explaining anything, she just nodded. “It would have been nice if you’d called,” she said softly. “I’m not going to apologize for not coming home or talking to you yesterday. I needed some time to think.”
His hand stroked down her back. That light touch sent a small thrill through her and part of her just wanted to dance…because he’d touched her. Damn it, he’d reached out to her. Touched her. They so rarely touched anymore…
“Does this mean you’re…?”
Stirring up the chicken, she checked to make sure it had browned and then she stirred in the veggies. “Mean I’m what?” she asked, easing away from his hand. Hard to think when he had his hands on her. And damn, it had been a while. Such a long, long while.
Maybe a month?
And that time had been quick and hurried, in the shower.
The times before that, a few stolen minutes in the middle of the night here and there.
She was tired of it.
She wanted more.
Needed more.
Needed what they’d once had and she was taking it. They were taking it.
He still hadn’t answered her, she noticed. As she got a saucepan out for the rice, she glanced at him and asked again, “Mean I’m what?”
He was staring at her, hard.
“Aren’t you mad at me?” he asked.
A faint smile curved her lips. “Well, I won’t deny it was unpleasant to sit there and wait, and wait, and wait…” She set some water on to boil and added some salt before she turned around to study him. “But it’s over and it’s done. What do you want me to do? Yell? Have a tantrum?”
A muscle pulsed in his jaw.
He had something in his hand, she noticed absently.
A little blue gift bag.
Her heart bumped against her ribs, but she pretended not to notice as he continued to watch her.
“Are you divorcing me?” he demanded.
Alexis blinked.
Then she blew out a breath. “Well, you’re as blunt as always, aren’t you?”
Nervous, she reached up and toyed with her necklace. “Garrett, I…”
“Damn it.” He tossed the bag down on the counter beside her and closed the distance between them. Big hands, strong and rough, closed around her hips.
She gasped as he boosted her up and settled her on the counter, glaring at her. “I just want an answer. Do you want a divorce?”
Alexis lifted an eyebrow. Oh, no, my man, she thought. She’d just decided she wasn’t ready to give him up. There was no way—
“Answer the damn question,” he snarled.
“No,” she snapped.
“Good.”
His mouth came crushing down on hers and she forgot anything and everything else as hunger, so long forgotten, came rushing to fore.
His hands worked her skirt up while she fought with his belt.
Distantly, she heard the food sizzling on the stove, but she didn’t care.
It could burn. As long as the house didn’t catch fire.
She managed to get his trousers unzipped and then they both groaned as his cock sprang free. Closing her fingers around him, she stroked him, from root to tip, passing her thumb over the fat crown as he caught the lacy scrap of her underwear and managed to work it out of the way. “Now,” he muttered against her mouth. “Fuck, I need you, Lexy.”
“Now,” she agreed. She could totally get on board with that.
He tugged her closer to the edge of the counter and she leaned back a little, her breath coming in harsh, little pants as she stared down, watching as he held his cock steady, pressing against her.
A weak mewl escaped her as he pushed inside, so hard, so hot, rasping against swollen, sensitive tissue… “Garrett,” she whispered.
“I miss you,” he muttered. “Fuck, I miss you. I miss us.”
She gulped in a desperate breath of air, lightheaded, burning inside and tortured by the feel of his cock just right there, right at her gate. He reached down, touched her lightly, toying with the bud of her clit as he surged inside, driving deep.
Feeling the stretch of her pussy around him, Alexis gasped, reaching up to clutch at his shoulders, a sob catching in her throat. “Garrett.”
“I miss that.” He laid a hand on her neck, using his thumb to tip her chin up. “The way you moan my name when I’m inside you like this. I miss the way this snug, sweet little pussy feels around me and I miss making love to you. Aw, fuck…”
Alexis wrapped her legs around his hips and arched closer. “Damn it, Garrett, too long.”
He slammed a hand against the cabinet by her head, banded the other arm around her hips. “Too long,” he muttered. He rode her harder, canting her hips higher so that each stroke had him rubbing against her right there. “That’s it, angel…that’s it…”
She shuddered under the force of his strokes. Shuddered. Sobbed. Shoving up his shirt, desperate to feel his skin, she sank her nails into the muscled flesh of his back.
The thick ridge of his cock swelled inside her, rasping over her. “Lex…” he muttered against her lips. “Damn it, Lex…I love you…”
With a broken cry, she came around him, clutching at him. Desperate and needy.
And the one thing that she could think, as he joined her, was that he seemed to be just as desperate, just as needy.
Against her chest, she could feel the ragged rise and fall of his own. The rhythm of his heart. Smiling, she nudged him back and muttered, “I need to stir the food or we’ll be eating burnt curry.”
“Don’t care,” he whispered against her hair.
“I do. ‘Cuz it will be a pain in the ass to clean up the dishes.” She wiggled and pressed against him, easing of
f the counter.
“Okay, okay.” He sighed and swatted her on the ass. “That was probably the best five minutes I’ve had in…forever. Just so you know. Sorry it was only five minutes, though.”
She grabbed a spoon and working it under the chicken, grimacing as some of it stuck. It wasn’t too bad, though. Dinner could be saved. Over her shoulder, she said, “I’m not…we can just go again after dinner.”
“Good.” He tangled a hand in her hair, tugged her head back. “Or maybe we can go ahead now and just eat it cold.”
A few breathless moments later, she pulled away from him and tugged at his hands. “Can’t. I went without lunch.” She checked the time and said, “It should only be twenty minutes. Then you can have your way with me.”
“Fine…” he groaned and rested his head on her shoulder for a second before moving away.
He lingered long enough to adjust her panties and tug her skirt down and she shivered at the feel of his hands on her thighs. She’d so very much missed having him touch her. She closed her eyes and swallowed around the ache in her throat. She’d missed a lot of things. Having him in here while she cooked dinner. Having him with her. Talking to her.
So many things.
“Maybe you can pour us some wine,” she said quietly. “And then you can give me whatever is in that bag over there.”
“Okay.”
She licked her lips and then added, “I’m afraid I drank part of your anniversary present last night. I bought you some wine but figured I’d enjoy it with Melissa.”
He laughed a little. “I guess that serves me right. What was the other part?”
“Well…the other part, I’ll show you some other day.”
* * * * *
Five minutes of hot, brain-blowing sex did not a healed marriage make. As he stood in the bathroom, staring at his haggard reflection, he reminded himself of that.
They had to talk.
They had to fix this marriage.
But first…hell, would it kill them to take a night and just be together? He’d missed that. So much. When had they drifted apart like this? When had he let it happen?
And he had. He’d stopped taking care of his wife. There had been a time when he made sure to call if he was running late. A time when he’d pick up little gifts for her. A book. A sweater he thought she’d like. Even just a bunch of flowers that made him think of her. Anything.
He hadn’t done it forever, all because he didn’t think…what, he couldn’t even explain why he’d stopped.
“That’s a lie,” he muttered, scrubbing his hands over his face. He’d blamed himself for everything that had gone wrong. He didn’t deserve to have her look at him with that light in her eyes. But if he gave her all those little gifts…
He had to stop this. Just had to. But there was only one way to do that. He had to let go of what had happened. Had to move on. Even though it was a grieving ache in his heart that would never fully fade, he had to accept the loss of their little girl. Had to accept that he hadn’t been able to protect her or Lexy, and deal with it, damn it. Before it cost him his marriage.
“So do it, already,” he muttered.
Just do it.
Too bad it wasn’t as easy as the commercials made it out to be.
He’d damn well try, though.
Ten minutes later, Garrett poured her a glass of white wine and then held out the blue bag.
He downed about half of his own glass and wished he wasn’t nervous as hell as she pulled the blue box out.
This seemed too easy.
Way too easy.
She wasn’t mad.
They’d just had mind-blowing sex.
And she didn’t want a divorce.
Yes. Way too easy.
Any time something was going easy in his life, that meant something was about to go very, very wrong. A fact that Garrett knew all too well.
Immediately, his mind started to wander down that familiar path and he mentally kicked himself in the ass. Stop it…you’re accepting. Dealing. Moving on, remember?
With an ache in his throat, he pushed it all aside and watched as she untied the silky bow from the box, taking care the entire time.
That was Lexy’s way. Christmas was an interesting event with her. He was used to people who tore into presents, shredding the wrapping paper and everything else in their haste to get to presents.
Her careful precision drove him nuts even as it amused him.
By the time she had the paper off, he had emptied his wineglass and was ready for another.
Nervous, he headed over to the stove and gave the bubbly curry a stir. “You’re going to have another present ready by the time you get that one open,” he teased, trying to lighten the tension he felt inside.
“Hmmm.”
Turning back around, he watched as she studied him over the box. “I think I’ve decided I am mad at you. You’ll have to do something really hard to make me unmad at you,” she said, rubbing the box with her thumb.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. You’re going down on me after dinner.”
He damn near choked on his wine. Swallowing, he slammed a fist against his chest and then set the glass down before he dropped it. “I can do that. I should probably do it a lot just to make it up to you.”
“Sounds good.” With a mischievous grin, she opened the box and then her eyes widened. “Oh. Wow. Garrett, this is…wow.”
As she pulled the diamond and sapphire bracelet from the box, he moved over to her side. “Do you like it?” he asked softly.
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured.
He took it from her and then caught her wrist with his free hand, guiding it down until he could put the bracelet on. “You have no idea how much I wanted to kick myself last night,” he said softly. “I could have beaten myself with a stick and I tried to call…”
“I know.” She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’re being punished, remember?”
He chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeah, well, unfortunately punishment is meant to deter bad behavior. That sort of thing will only encourage me.”
It wasn’t the romantic dinner she had planned the night before.
She wore a shirt that was still half undone, her panties were wet and her skirt was wrinkled.
Garrett’s shirt was completely undone, although she didn’t remember when she’d undone those buttons. Considering the state of her mind, she could have chewed the buttons off and she doubted she’d remember. She’d just wanted him so badly, so blindly…a hot, pleasant flutter settled in her belly as she studied him. She still wanted him badly. Blindly. His belt was undone, his trousers as wrinkled as her skirt.
Romantic or not, Alexis was convinced she hadn’t had a meal taste quite so good in a long, long while.
Part of her wondered if he’d mention the rose, the book.
But by the end of the meal, she knew it wasn’t going to happen. Well, she’d been aiming for subtle. Maybe she was being too subtle, but that was fine. For now.
She wanted to move slowly with the seduction part and even though they’d already jumped the gun on the sex, there was more to making him need her again than just that. Seduction and making him remember how they used to be was a hell of a lot more than just a quick romp on the counter, right?
She had a few more things planned for tomorrow and the day after.
Friday was the big day. Friday was all about games. They needed to spend a few days just focused on them. Reconnecting. That was what they needed.
They needed to remember how they’d been…get it back.
“You look like you’re thinking kind of hard,” Garrett murmured.
Scooping up a bite of chicken, she popped it into her mouth. Quick delaying tactic. As she chewed, she shrugged. “No…” she murmured. They could do all the heavy thinking after…right? Then she made the mistake of looking at him, seeing the solemn expression in his eyes. So solemn. So serious.
&n
bsp; “Yes.” Lowering her fork to her plate, she covered her face with her hands and whispered, “We’ve been a mess lately, Garrett.”
Seduction aside, they needed to discuss this. It didn’t matter if she seduced him, if she made him want her, need her, if the feelings weren’t there.
She needed to know if the feelings were still there.
Feeling the heavy weight of his gaze, she looked up.
“I know,” he said quietly.
“I’m tired of it. I hate feeling like I live with a stranger. I hate waking up to an empty bed, going to bed alone. I miss us.”
Snatching her wineglass, she tossed half of it back. If he didn’t feel the same, it was going to gut her.
But he said nothing and after the silence continued to stretch out between them, she finally had to look up.
When had he gotten out of his chair, she wondered?
As he closed the final few feet between them, her heart jumped up into her throat and she realized she was lightheaded, just trying to breathe. Of course, just looking at him did this to her. It always had…
If any part of you still loves him…
Damn it. What had she been thinking, imagining that she could walk away from him?
As he knelt by her chair, she lifted a hand and cupped his cheek. The rough stubble scraped over her palm and she smiled a little as he turned his face into her hand, kissed her palm. “I miss us, too, my pretty Lexy. I…” He laid a hand on her thigh, toying with the hem of her skirt and sighed. “I wanted to talk to you about things. Tell you pretty much what you just said. We can’t keep up like this. I want things the way they were, but I don’t know how to do that.”
Leaning in, she pressed her brow to his. “One step at a time. That’s what we do. We just take it one step at a time.”
“So that’s what we’ll do then.”
As he pressed his lips to hers, she wrapped her arms around him.
She wasn’t giving this man up.
And she still had a seduction to carry out.
Granted, it wasn’t going to be as hard as she’d thought.
But she’d already set up the next few days and she was going to see them through.
Chapter Four
Adele was snickering again when he walked through the door.
Sexy Little Secrets Page 4