Page 191 of Wicked Fantasies

Faith,

The hardest thing I’d ever had to do was tell you that the construction company was expanding and we would have to move to Parksville. Asking you to uproot from your hometown, to leave your parents and to start from scratch in a city full of strangers felt like way more than I had the right to request. You’d already given me two healthy, beautiful children and you’d worked hard to make our house on Anders Street into a home.

After our wedding, we’d chosen to live in Carlysle because we knew it was a safe place and that we would always be surrounded by our families. We said Carlysle was where we wanted our kids to grow up. I worried for days before I could actually bring myself to say the words aloud to you.

And, in your typical fashion (you would think I would have known better after twelve years of marriage), you smiled and said let’s go. You treated it as an adventure and I think it was your enthusiasm that made it so easy for the kids to accept. Hell, it made it easier for me to accept. All of us were nervous, afraid of what the future would bring and yet, you made certain our adjustment to a new city and our new lives was painless, easy.

Once again, with your quiet confidence, you gave me the courage to make a fresh start somewhere else. You helped the kids adjust to their new schools, you made our new house warm almost from the first week we moved in, and you never made me feel like you were anything other than completely happy with our changed circumstances.

You’re my home, Faith. You always have been and God-willing, you always will be.

Love,

Troy

Chapter Six

When they entered the hotel, Faith dropped down on the bed and closed her eyes. “What a weekend.”

Troy claimed the chair by the bed, his legs sprawled out in front of him. “Tired?”

Faith shook her head, and then reconsidered. “I’m not physically tired, no.”

“Emotionally drained.” Troy spoke the words, his assessment a statement, rather than a question.

“I guess that’s one way to describe it. When you suggested that we come to Carlysle this weekend, I jumped at the chance because I thought it would help me snap out of my depression. Give me a chance to figure out what I’m supposed to do with the rest of my life.”

“And have you? Figured it out, I mean?”

She pushed her upper body up, rested her weight on her elbows, so she could look at him as she spoke. “Actually, I think by coming here and spending this weekend with you, I realized there was never anything to figure out. Jackson and Jenna leaving didn’t mark the end our lives together. It’s freed us. Given us more time to explore all the options that got put on the back burner while we were raising them. You were the answer to the question twenty-five years ago and you’re still the answer. You’re my future. I’m not sure how I could have missed that.”

“I like the sound of that. Like being your past, present and future.” He rose and stretched. “I think I’m going to hit the shower.”

Faith sat up. “Alone?”

He looked at her and grinned. “You got a better offer?”

“I sort of like the idea of scrubbing your back.”

Troy grasped her hand and pulled her up. “Yep. That’s a better offer. Come on.”

They took turns undressing each other, the process made longer by the fact they kept stopping for long, wet, incredibly thorough kisses. Troy turned the hot water on high, the small room quickly filling with steam. Faith groaned out loud as the strong jets hit her sore muscles, and Troy chuckled.

“Been getting quite a workout this weekend.”

“I’m discovering muscles I never knew I had.” She bent down, reaching for the soap as Troy gave her a wicked grin, and then turned, offering her an up-close view of his tanned, muscular back.

“Damn,” he said as she rubbed the lather into his skin. “When’s the last time we took a shower together?”

Faith tried to remember, but couldn’t think of a single instance since the kids were little. “Years.”

“You know, I’m thinking in an effort to support the Go Green movement, we should consider teaming up on our showers more often. Save water.”

“Something tells me one hot showertogetherwould last longer and waste more water than both of us going solo. Even so…” She pushed him until he turned, wrapping her arms around him to rinse the soap off his back. Dragging her tongue along his chest, she stopped when she hit the tight brown pucker of his nipple. “I do like the idea of showering together.”

“Screw the environment, eh?”

She chuckled. “Yeah, something like that.”

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