Page 45 of The Bloke

“What are you listening to?” I glanced down at the earbud she had removed, curious to see what she would do. Would she share that information with me instead of shutting me out completely?

I was surprised when, instead of pulling away from me, she tucked the earbud into my ear and played the song she was listening to. It was an alternative version of “In The End” by Linkin Park, sung with a hauntingly beautiful tempo.

Closing my eyes, I leaned down, pressing my forehead against hers, swaying with the soft cadence of the song, pulling her tighter against me.

I wanted this with her—the intimacy.

I wished she would let me in, and give me a chance to win her heart without dismissing me completely.

“Dance with me,” I murmured in an attempt to be even more intimate with her—to be raw and real for once.

“I don’t—” She shook her head with apprehension.

“One dance, love.”

My eyes pleaded with hers for one chance, just one. If this didn’t win her over, I would leave her be until she was ready to come to me.

She squeezed my hand, gazing deeply into my eyes while tapping her earbud. The song started over from the beginning again, and I took both of her hands in mine, pulling her in close and leading her in an intimate dance across the room to the flow of the music.

I pulled her body in close, my hands gliding along the soft skin of her back as I spun her in my arms and away, before snapping her body back towards mine. She leaped into me and using the momentum, I wrapped her legs around my waist, swinging her upper body around me like a snake as her arms wrapped around my neck to complete the move.

As I released her from my grip, she slid down between my legs, and I stepped over her, widening my stance. With my handsunder her arms, I lifted her from the floor. She placed her hands on my shoulders, and I used my knee for support as she pulled her leg upward into an arabesque.

My wife was flawless—breathtaking in her element of dance.

I stared up in awe as our eyes locked with one another. This woman was mine, all fucking mine.

Feeling her weight shift on my shoulders, I bounced her foot off my knee and tilted my head to allow her body to fall against mine. She rolled down my back until her feet touched the floor.

With her back pressed against mine, I gripped her hand and pulled her to my front, grinding my hips against her back with the music, not wanting this moment to end.

A single moment where she no longer fought with me but instead moved with me. I buried my face in her hair, breathing in her scent deeply. It was comforting—how much she smelled like home.

I spun her back out and dipped her body down, her arms flowing above her head and a leg wrapping around my waist for support. She relaxed in my arms, holding her body up with her leg and hips, before I lifted her upper body until it was flush against mine.

My wife’s blue-grey eyes swirled with her fierce storm—the one that swept me away, taking me wherever she wanted to go.

“Colby.” My name was a breathless whisper as her eyes searched mine.

She left me just as breathless, my lips parting at the sound of my name on hers, as she leaned up and captured my mouth, kissing me deeper than she had ever kissed me before.

I backed her into the corner of the room as her mouth continued exploring mine, unable to hold back from tasting her.

When she started tugging at my shirt, I smiled against her lips before pulling it off my back and dropping it to the floor.

Her eyes roved my body in awe as her hands trailed down my chest and abs as if committing every dip and curve to memory.

“Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?”

Her eyes flicked back up to mine, and I tensed, feeling her fingertips gliding along the inside the waistband of my sweatpants.

“Why?” Was all she gave as a vague answer, and I knew what she meant by it; I could feel it, but I wanted her to ask me.

“Why what?” I asked, offering her another chance to tell me what had been eating at her this past week.

“Why the sudden space? The silent treatment?”

I drew in a breath, pulling her closer to me. How was I going to explain this past week to her? That I had been out late waiting to catch and murder whoever was still sexually assaulting women in the back alley of Fallout?

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