Page 37 of The Light to My Darkness (The Light to My Darkness 1)

"Now, my beautiful wife, let me show you how fucking right you and I actually are." He scooped me up into his arms.

I clasped my hands behind his neck. "What did you have in mind?"

"There's at least six hours before Scarlett wakes us up," he said as he carried me to the stairs.

"You have work in the morning."

"And you need my undivided attention for a few hours. But maybe not quite as much as I need yours." He smiled down at me. Any lingering sleepiness was gone from his face. That empty feeling was about to be extinguished. Maybe a couple more times.

Chapter 14

Wednesday

I closed the lid of my suitcase. James would be home any minute. I touched the center of my chest. All I needed to do was go to this appointment and get the all clear. Then I could focus on Bee's bachelorette party. We were leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning. Separate cars so that we'd have a little girl time before meeting the guys at the beach. It was going to be so much fun. And I was beyond excited for their wedding on Saturday. I had been waiting for years for Bee and Mason to tie the knot.

My phone buzzed and I lifted it off the bed. There was a text from James. I clicked on it.

"We just pulled into the garage. We should probably get going if we're going to make the appointment on time."

I laughed and slid my phone into my purse. That was his nice way of saying, "get your ass down here or we're going to be late." I made my way down the stairs. The house was too quiet today. Scarlett had insisted on going to the park and Ellen had insisted that I wasn't allowed to accompany them. She usually tended to agree with James.

I stepped onto the elevator and watched the doors close. The day alone had given me time to read through my rough draft for my second book. And our heated night made it easy for the words to flow. I was pretty sure all the scenes with him were perfect. It was the moments with Tyler that were tripping me up. Picturing him in his Wesley costume on Halloween put this feeling of guilt in my stomach. And my son could feel it. It was as though he was trying to kick it out of me.

I needed to talk to Hails. That's what was bothering me. I'd be hanging out with her all day tomorrow. Certainly I could smooth things over. But maybe she wasn't even upset about that. We had never talked about my past with Tyler. She had always seemed cool about it. Was there something else bothering her? I tried to shake away the thought. The last thing I needed before going to the cardiologist was to get upset.

Breathe in. Breathe out. "Hi, William," I said as I walked up to the car. "How has your day been?"

"Very good, Mrs. Hunter." He bowed slightly as he opened up the door.

Had I just imagined him doing that? Our relationship or lack thereof was really starting to bother me. "You really can just call me Penny. Did James torture you all day?"

"Not at all, ma'am." He sounded slightly offended.

Ma'am? I wasn't seventy years old. If anything, I should have been the one that was offended. I stepped into the car and slid next to James in the back seat. The door closed behind me.

"Stop terrorizing him," James said with a smile.

"I'm trying to get to know him. How was class?"

"Good." He kissed my temple as he pulled me into his side. "Although, I was pretty tired all day."

"A sex marathon will do that to you."

He laughed and rested the back of his head against the seat.

"Are you okay?" He really did look exhausted.

"I've just been worried about this appointment all week."

"I'm sure the doctor will say there hasn't been any change." I rested my head on his shoulder. "How did the board meeting go this afternoon?" Rob had taken over as CEO of Hunter Tech. James still remained on the board, though. The company was still his baby, but he was happier teaching. Plus his blood pressure was back in the normal range now. His days of barking orders were over. And I was happier because of it too. He smiled more now. He was more relaxed grading papers and giving lectures. It helped that the university was crazy flexible with his hours. James was only teaching two classes this summer. He had even given a few lectures via video chat from bed. Those were my favorite mornings.

"The rollout is still on schedule. I think the board is still getting used to Rob's sense of humor, though."

"Why do you say that? Did Rob say something and hear crickets?"

"More like gasps. Today he said the launch was going to be as big as his dick."

I laughed. "Wait...you're not serious?"

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