Page 15 of Naughty Secrets

Chapter Nine

SAM

Iknow the exact moment I lose her. She slips away like my last breath before sleep, her body stiffening beneath me, head turning until my lips slide over her cheek.

“What’s wrong?” I don’t want to know, but I do. Don’t want to stop, but I have no choice.

“You’ve got blood on you.”

I look down. There are a few streaks of blood on my shirt, a few more on my arm, and one on the back of my hand where I wiped my brow.

Relief floods my veins. “I’ll go wash it off.”

“You’ll probably need to take a shower.”

An image of naked Natalie in the shower flashes in my mind. Soft, soapy skin. Warm, wet heat. “We can shower together.” I push myself up and pull my T-shirt over my head.

Her voice tightens. “No . . . I’ll wait for you. Maybe I should order something for you to eat.”

Clearly this isn’t about a few streaks of blood. She’s pushing me away. My chest tightens, squeezing the breath from my lungs. If I don’t fix this tonight, I might lose her forever. And I can’t . . . even imagine . . . She’s my girl. My Natalie. She’s been mine since we were sixteen. I would do anything, risk everything, cut out my heart and die for her.

Maybe that’s what I need to do.

“It hurt too much,” I say.

Natalie freezes, her hand outstretched toward the phone. “What are you talking about?”

“Ethan. Losing Ethan. And then you. And then my dad.”

“Me?” She turns to face me, propping her head up with her elbow, mirroring my position. “You didn’t lose me.”

“You were there, but not there.” I stroke her cheek. “You just sat in the rocking chair in his room every day, and I didn’t know how to help you. I didn’t know what to do. You wouldn’t eat. You wouldn’t talk . . . ” I shrug. “It was like the day my mom left and it was just Dad and I sitting there at the kitchen table, not saying anything for the longest time. We didn’t know how to cook, or where anything was, or how to run the house. And then he started to cry.” My stomach knots at the painful memory. “I’d never seen my dad cry. I didn’t know what do, how to help him. So I cried too.”

“You never told me.”

“It’s not something a sixteen-year-old boy admits to the girl he’s crushing on.”

Her lips tip up at the corners. “You might have got a hug. Maybe something more.”

I run my hand over the curve of her hip and along her narrow waist, back and forth, remembering how desperate I was to get out of the house every morning to see Natalie. She saved me then, but she couldn’t save me after Ethan died. Not only was she suffering alone, I made it clear I didn’t want to be saved.

She edges closer, so close I can feel the heat of her body. “I like to know you’re human after all.”

“You thought I wasn’t?”

“You shut down after Ethan died.” Her fingers trace along the edge of my jaw, sending a flush of heat through my veins. “I guess I did too. Tonight was the first time I really felt happy. Not happy for having lost Ethan, but happy for the time I had with him. Aiden helped me remember that, and he also made me realize I was lucky for every day I got to spend with my son.”

“I should be the one to make you feel good.” I cup her breast gently in my hand, rub my thumb over her nipple until it peaks beneath her clothes. I’m half afraid that she’ll push me away again, but I can’t be this close to my wife and not touch her. Our connection can’t be repaired by words alone. “You’re mine.”

She moans softly, arching into my palm. “I wasn’t interested in getting it on with Aiden.”

“I’m glad because good dentists are hard to find.” I move slowly, carefully, rolling to my back beside her. Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her on top of me and settle her against my chest.

“It was kind of sexy the way you beat him up.” She rests her chin in her cupped hands. “Wrong, of course. And totally unacceptable behavior. But . . .”

A grin spreads across my face. “It turned you on.”

“I think I’m genetically programmed to be attracted to powerful alpha males who beat up dentists so they can spend the night with me in a hotel.” She pushes herself up until she is sitting across my hips, straddling my thighs; so beautiful she makes my heart ache. “What do alpha males do with the women they seduce for a night?”

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