Page 115 of An Unexpected Love

“I don’t know. Why don’t you find out?” Charlotte leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed her arms. “When you’re finished, I’ll show you all the loot we collected. I had no idea everyone would be so extravagant.”

“Don’t get any ideas about spending our honeymoon writing thank-you notes,” he warned. He was grinning but she caught a serious undertone.

The honeymoon.

She wanted to talk to Jason about that,neededto talk to him about it, but there’d been so little time. They’d each been caught up in a whirlwind of activity. Since the evening he’d taken her to dinner and proposed, she hadn’t spent any uninterrupted time with him. Now wasn’t good, either. He was tired and so was she. Perhaps they could arrange to have lunch one day later this week.

Jason tore at the paper.

“You wouldn’t believe Mom,” Carrie said, her hands on the back of a kitchen chair as she looked on excitedly. “She doesn’t tear a single piece of wrapping paper.”

“It’s all so pretty,” Charlotte defended herself. “And I can use it again.”

“It takes her forever to unwrap anything. I had to help her tonight, or we’d still be there.”

Jason paused when he uncovered a plain white box. He raised his eyes to Charlotte.

“Don’t look at me. I have no idea what Mrs. Bondi sent you.”

Carefully he raised the lid and folded back the white tissue paper, but Charlotte couldn’t see what was inside with Carrie bending over the table.

“All right, Mrs. Bondi,” Jason said, emitting a low whistle.

Carrie covered her mouth and giggled before glancing at her mother.

“What is it?” Charlotte asked.

“Wait until you see this, Mom.”

Using both hands, holding on to the thin straps, Jason lifted the sheerest, slinkiest, blackest nightie Charlotte had ever seen.

Charlotte forced a smile but she felt as though the older woman had slapped her in the face.

* * *

Charlotte knew better than to even try to sleep.

The next morning she’d walk down the church aisle and pledge her life to Jason Manning. She would vow to love and honor this man who’d come to mean so much to her.

To love him….

What would happen if she couldn’t love him properly? What would happen when he realized she was incapable of satisfying him sexually? Would he claim he’d been cheated the way Tom had? Would he seek out another woman who’d give him the gratification she couldn’t?

Oh, please, not that, not again—she couldn’t bear it.

Charlotte didn’t know how Jason would react, but she knew she’d find out soon.

She stared at the bright green numbers on her clock radio as one in the morning became two and then three.

The alarm was set for six. Charlotte’s stomach tightened and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead. Her happiness had been supplanted by her fears, her anxieties and the certainty that her heart would be broken once again.

She’d made an effort to talk to Jason several times, she reasoned. It wasn’t like she’dplannedit this way. In the past week alone she’d called him three times, but he’d been so busy with his practice, tying up the looseends so he’d have two uninterrupted weeks for their honeymoon in Hawaii.

The honeymoon terrified her even more than the wedding.

What was she supposed to do? Wait for Jason to say “I do,” before she whispered in his ear that she wasn’t sure she could satisfy him? Or should she say something before he slipped the ring on her finger?

It seemed cruel to wait until they got to their honeymoon suite. How could she possibly tell him something like that wearing the sheer black nightie Mrs. Bondi had sent?

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