Page 26 of Prognosis Irreconcilable Differences

CHAPTER FIVE

An hour later theywere laying sated in a post-coital haze that, had they been able to bottle it, would have made them a lot of money on the party drug scene. They were staring at the ceiling, Nathan’s hand trailing up and down her bare arm.

‘We should have reconciled years ago,’ he murmured.

Jacqui smiled. ‘If I’d known the sex was going to be this good, I might have considered it.’

He chuckled, rolling himself up onto his elbow and looking down at her. ‘It was good, wasn’t it?’ He trailed his finger down her stomach, tracing the decorative loops of gold adorning her waist, the coins tinkling.

She gave a half-laugh. ‘Sex was never our problem, Nate. Sex we did good. It was just marriage we sucked at.’

He swirled patterns outwards to her hip. ‘Why was that again?’

Jacqui sobered. Because I was never enough for you. ‘We were just too different.’

Even in the semi-dark, with the room illuminated only by the moonlight filtering through the partially open wooden louvres, he could see the swirl of emotion in her toffee eyes.

He dropped a hard kiss on her mouth. The blood roared through his veins, his stomach muscles twisting as her arms snaked around his neck. Her nipples grazed his chest and he wanted to taste them again, hear her cry out as he laved them to tight peaks.

He pulled away, his breathing ragged. She was naked and glorious, her russet curls fanned out on his pillow, and he was surprised by the streak of possession that lanced him with sudden savage intensity.

‘You’re not going back to the guestroom.’

Jacqui knew she should protest. Sex hadn’t been part of her reluctant bargain. A public reconciliation to pay back a debt and divorce papers to finally draw their relationship to a close - that had been the deal. But something primal was calling to her.

Something too big for her to stop.

‘Guest bedroom? What guest bedroom?’

Nathan rubbed his thumb against her lips, staring at them intently for long seconds. ‘Good answer,’ he murmured, before savaging her mouth in a blatant display of possession.

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The next two weeksflew by. Between the flurry of media events heralding the float, dinner parties, and their insatiable desire keeping them awake into the wee small hours, Jacqueline was exhausted.

They slipped into a routine. Nathan worked all hours —practically all the time apart from when they were attending a function or making love behind closed doors. And she was at his beck and call.

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