Page 27 of Between Our Hearts

“This is what I want to be doing right now. I’m really enjoying it. If that changes in the future, we can talk about it, but you don’t need to worry.” His affectionate gaze made her pulse knock against her chin. “I’m right where I want to be.”

???

A comfortable warmth resonated in Sadie’s muscles as she followed the taillights of her husband’s truck home. She wasn’t sure how long it had been since they’d been able to speak to each other without heavy pauses dropping between each sentence. Tonight, they’d simply chatted. And then as dinner had rolled on, they’d laughed and even flirted a little.

After parking in the garage, Clark took a few steps toward the main door to the house before she opened her car door.

“Wait.”

He paused, pivoting in his black dress shoes.

“Your woodwork,” she reminded him.

That unfamiliar bashful grin laced his lips again. “Right.”

He flipped on the lights to the woodshop and brought her to a corner where more than a dozen pieces were stacked. “Those ones are finished.”

Her greedy hands leafed through the sanded and sealed designs. Several prompted her to run her fingertips over the sharp, exact lines. She pushed aside one that looked like the center of a seashell before stopping at the visual representation of the feeling that surged through her body when her husband touched her—wooden lightning streaking through a wooden sky. She tilted her head. “These are amazing.” Her gaze flicked up, and the pleased look on his face made her ache.

Clark cleared his throat. “We should pay Aurelia. She’s probably wondering why we’re home but haven’t come inside.”

Ten minutes later, they both eyed each other through the bathroom mirror, their mouths full of toothpaste foam. It’d been so long since they’d both gotten ready for bed at the same time. Clark’s lips curled up around his brush. He spat and rinsed his mouth, stepping back and watching his hands in the mirror as he loosened the knot of his tie.

The whispered sound of him pulling the silky fabric from his collar woke her in a way that’d been dormant for months.Without thinking, she stepped in front of him, lifting her hands to slowly unbutton the black buttons over his throat.

“Sadie.” Her name sounded as if it was being pulled over gravel. “We’re not supposed—”

When her fingers pressed against the notch between his collarbones, his sentence halted in a sharp inhale. His lips parted as he watched her.

She let her gaze fall to the rapidly heaving fabric over his husband’s firm chest. “We won’t. I promise. I just—” When her fingers worked their way over his tightened abs, her own breathing became irregular. Her fabric-clenched hands were a half inch from his belt buckle. The sudden impulse to lick her way down the center line of his body was suffocating.

“Love.” His hands covered hers. “I can’t give you that tonight”—he paused until her dilated eyes found his—“but I can hold you.” A pained expression flickered across his face. “I’d really like to hold you.”

The truth escaped her mouth before her brain heard the words. “I’d like that too.”

A small smile traced his lips as he turned toward their walk-in closet, tugging his shirt tails from his slacks. Sadie worked on scrubbing the makeup off her face, relieved that by the time she pulled the washcloth from her soapy eyes, Clark was already tucked under the covers. She took her time flossing her teeth and brushing out her hair, trying to calm the itchiness streaking down her arms.

After changing, she gave herself a shake and marched to the bed. When she flicked off her light and turned, Clark’s expectant eyes made her stomach squeeze. She clumsily crawled over the gap between their sides of the king bed. It’d been so long since she’d lain this close to him, but when his muscled arm wrapped around her and nestled her in the crook of his shoulder, it was as if all the tension she’d been holding melted into his heat.

She became pliable as her breath evened out and the exhaustion of a call day plus a late night with wine finally tallied up. They didn’t speak or say goodnight. Clark simply stretched his other arm to flick off his sconce before wrapping it around her. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness as she found herself memorizing the feeling of his steady frame beneath her, beside her—simply supporting her. Eventually, her eyelashes fluttered closed, and his slow, steady heartbeat was the music she listened to as she fell asleep in her husband’s arms.

?Chapter 14?

Clark woke in the morning covered in a sheen of sweat and his wife’s limbs. Her leg was pulled up over his abdomen and her hand dangled off the bed as her arm rested across his chest. Sadie’s hair was matted around her face, her head still tucked into the nook he’d placed her in last night. His shoulder strained from holding her weight all night, but he couldn’t have cared in the least.

When he’d asked to hold her, he’d expected her to lay in his arms for a few minutes and then shift back to her side of the bed. But when her breaths evened out and her limbs started to twitch as she crossed into sleep, he found himself unable to let go. It had been almost a year since she’d let him hold her like that.

Highly compressed elation pushed against the warm, heavy arm draped over his heart, and he shifted to kiss her forehead.

Only movement was a mistake.

The minute he shifted, Sadie made her humming-grunting sound and rocked her hips into his side. Her eyes were still closed as she wiggled her fingers and pulled back the dangling hand until it snagged on his bare chest. When her palm flattened and began to explore, her lashes blinked open. Their gaze held for two heavy seconds before she looked down at herself, having the same realization he’d experienced only a moment before.

He’d expected her to bolt to her side or maybe chuckle and scoot away, saying she had to get ready for work, but instead she watched her fingertips trace the ridge under his pecs. Clark bit back a moan as his eyes rolled closed with a halting exhale.

You idiot.

He knew he could resist procreation-minded Sadie, who only wanted one distinct part of his body, but he’d never been able to say no to this version of his wife. Not when he’d always wanted her as much as she wanted him. It had taken a truckload of effort to stop her last night, and that was before they were both half naked and in each other’s arms.

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