Page 71 of Vengeful Seduction
Chapter 21
Kaye
Karaoke had nothing on my husband. I was glad I had ended up staying, given how things had worked out.
Nestled in close against David, I closed my eyes and let myself bask in the moment, floating on a wave of satisfied arousal and love. I had been right. Staying home had been the right choice and I didn’t regret it at all.
I felt so close to my husband right then and I could swear he felt the same. There was a look in his eyes, one that was loving and affectionate. Maybe it was the time to bring up something that had been bothering me for quite awhile now.
“David …” I steeled myself for his reaction. He hadn’t been particularly open to this idea before, but things had changed, right? Surely the experience we had both just had would have drawn us closer together than ever.
“What is it?” he murmured, his voice sleepy. He seemed satisfied, and I smiled to myself. There were definitely worse times to bring things up than right after some incredible sex.
If he would ever be receptive to this idea, it would be while the sweat from our joining was still on us, slicking our skin.
“I want to talk about the baby.” There. It was out there. It came out a lot easier than I had expected it to. After our huge fight over it before, I was a little hesitant about saying anything about wanting a baby again. God knew I did not want to mar the perfection of the moment.
The silence that fell between us then made my heart clench and my stomach churn. I didn’t even dare look at him, despite the firm tone of my voice. I took in a big breath, gulping it down, then shook my head.
No. If I was going to champion this, I needed to be willing to stand firm for what I wanted. I had to be able to look him right in the eyes and tell him. Otherwise, how could I expect him to take me seriously?
So I raised my gaze and looked right at him. What I was expecting to see, I didn’t quite know, but not the torment I saw there.
“Kaye,” he whispered, and I thought maybe I had won him over. Perhaps he was finally willing to consider this seriously. Maybe he had finally realized there was no point in waiting. Waiting for what? We were already married, we had the money, and we were deeply in love.
We would make an amazing home for a child. It seemed like he might finally see what I did.
“Kaye, stop it.” His voice was so dismissive suddenly, despite the conflicted look in his eyes. “I told you. It’s too soon.”
“David, it isn’t. Why is it too soon? When won’t it be?” I asked, hating the desperation in my voice. I sounded like I was begging him, and in a way, I was. Not for the baby—not really—but just for some sort of reasonable explanation for why it couldn’t happen now.
“Not one more word about the baby for a year. For at least a year.” David froze me with his words, which stabbed into my heart like icicles—bitterly sharp and cold—freezing me to my very core, then he rolled over.
Rolled away from me.
Shut me out.
I was dismissed. The intimacy between us was utterly destroyed, and I still didn’t have my answer. He wouldn’t tell me why we had to wait, and worse, he wanted the baby. I don’t know how I knew, but I did. I could see it in his eyes, maybe—his eyes, which contradicted the words that spilled from his lips.
Tears came to my eyes and I didn’t try to shut them down. I needed the release of crying if I were to somehow remain sane through all of this. So I let myself cry, but in utter silence.
David was facing away from me. I refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing how thoroughly he was breaking me.
What was with him, anyway? He was so loving, affectionate, and cuddly sometimes, and the sex, of course, was amazing. Then there was this whole other side to him, cruel and irrational, holding things I wanted back from me, seemingly as nothing more than an act of spite.
What was wrong with him? Or with me? Maybe it was me.
Soon enough, David’s breathing changed, and it made me sob harder to realize he could sleep at a time like this. But why shouldn’t he? It obviously wasn’t his dream to have a baby.
I had to stop this. I had to pull myself together.
Dashing the tears from my cheeks, I slipped out of bed and found a robe to slip on. I needed to calm down and lying beside David’s unresponsive back wasn’t going to be the best way to do it.
It was late, I realized. I might have gone out to the karaoke bar, but it was probably closed by now, which was actually too bad. I could use some distraction, but it seemed it was just me, alone in the kitchen, wondering what kind of marriage I really had.
David was kind most of the time, but he did have awful bouts of moodiness and even a bit of meanness to him. But, still, I loved him. I was wondering if we’d ever be able to have fun with our friends or if that was something we’d never do, since he was always so busy. But, still, I loved him. And then there was the big thing between us about me wanting a baby now and him wanting to wait a year before we even considered it. Would I feel this lonely and alone forever?
Just as I was thinking about how alone I was, a knock came at the door. I was pouring myself some milk, getting ready to heat it up with some vanilla—there was really nothing better when sleep was elusive—when I heard the sound. Frowning, completely confused about who could be coming by at three in the morning, I went to answer it.
