Secrets in the Marriage Bed

"Red-hot memories," she whispered, face pink from her blush.

He knew exactly how difficult this was for her, how much it must have cost her to let go of all the things she'd been taught for so long. How scared she must be that she'd done something that would turn him away from her. He'd never expected her to take such a chance and expose herself to rejection so soon after she'd broken through that shell of hers. And yet she had. For him. For them. To balance out the happiness side of their ledger.

He put one hand on her stomach, near the soft triangle between her legs. "Sweetheart, this is beyond hot. You're burning me up."

Some of the tenseness evaporated from her expression. "Why are you…?" She waved a hand at his pants.

"Because I think my very brave wife deserves some pleasure and if these come off, I'm afraid I won't last." He slid his hand down and tugged gently at her curls.

Her breath caught. "It's so bright."

"It's perfect," he told her, glorying in his ability to see every inch of her body. "I want to watch you come for me." He'd never talked so erotically to her before, had never been confident that she could take it. Even now, he watched her eyes, ready to pull back if she looked even slightly uncomfortable.

She swallowed and then spread her thighs just the tiniest bit. The musky scent of her arousal washed over him. He moved until he was able to take one of her legs and place her foot on the floor in front of him. She watched him drink her in, her pulse a thudding beat against his body.

"Hook your other leg over the back of the sofa." He wondered if he was pushing her too far.

She bit her lip. "Why don't you turn off the lights?"

"I want to see you spread out for me, wet and ready. I want to see what I'm tasting. Men are very visual creatures," he teased, telling her that he'd treasure her response.

To his surprise, she gave a soft laugh. "It's not only men." Her eyes skimmed over his bare chest. "Can we do it in stages?"

He'd never dreamed they'd ever come this far, physically and emotionally. The trust that had forged between them over the past few days was affecting every corner of their life. Who knew where it would lead? "Step by slow step." Pushing gently at the leg on the floor, he spread her just a little bit more. On the sofa, she bent her other leg at the knee.

When his hand stroked the silky skin of her inner thigh, she gasped and he saw her fingers clench on the thick fabric that covered the sofa. With his free hand, he repeated the caress on her other leg. Her whimper meant everything to him. Slowly, she was starting to talk to him in bed, starting to give him more than her body alone.

"I'm going to kiss you," he warned her, looking up until she met his eyes. "I'm going to savor every sweet inch of you. And then I'm going to do it again."

She swallowed and lifted her foot off the sofa. He was so hard that he felt as if he would break. He slid one hand down to her calf and helped her get the leg over the back of the sofa. He was almost afraid to look at the beautiful sight of her lying open and ready for him, terrified of the hunger that had him in its grip.

He looked at her face to find that she'd closed her eyes, as if to watch him adoring her would be too much to bear. His own hands were shaking. Taking a deep breath, he allowed himself to look at what she was offering. Need overwhelmed him in a violent wave.

With a groan, he slipped one hand below her bottom and lifted her to his bent head, his free hand on the inner face of one thigh. She shuddered as he blew hot breath against her open lips and her entire body went taut with anticipation. Flicking out his tongue, he teased the nubbin hidden in her curls.

"Oh!"

The cry acted like lightning in his bloodstream. He bent to his task in earnest, treating her sweet flesh like the most exotic of delicacies, something to be enjoyed slowly and with the greatest attention to detail.

"Caleb!" It was a sobbing scream.

"Yes, honey," he said, against her. "Let go for me." He kissed her again, using his mouth to wring another scream from her before her body started to ripple in climax. Drawing back, he did as he'd said he would—he watched her shatter from his touch, watched her back arch, her breasts flush, the nipples standing out in sharp relief as she rode the waves of pleasure until there was no breath left in her.

Only when she was gasping in recovery did he stand and strip himself. Putting one knee on the sofa between her spread thighs, he took the leg she'd hooked around the back and urged her to wrap it around his hips. It put her in the perfect position for his ultimate enjoyment.

Her eyes fluttered open a second before he slid his hand beneath the thigh wrapped around his hips, held her tight and pushed. Slow and deep. The maleness in him was very aware of the precious life inside his wife's body and he took every care with her, pushing in and out with a deliberation that made her buck toward him. He did it again and again. And again.

Until Vicki screamed and he had no choice but to follow her over the edge.

* * *

Eleven

« ^ »

"I love this room," her husband whispered in her ear as he handed her his shirt.

She pulled it on, blushing. "Caleb, that was… I can't believe… Oh, just get the food."

Grinning, he kissed her once then went to pick up the fallen box, which was amazingly still in one piece. Her mouth dried up at the sight of his beautiful body laid bare for her perusal.

As he returned to her, he raised an eyebrow. "Don't look at me like that. You've finished me off completely, you insatiable woman." He put the box in her lap and looked around until he found his briefs and pants.

"Are you sure?" she teased, put at ease by his irreverence. She wanted to groan as she watched him zip the pants but leave the top button undone. Her husband was the most unbelievably sexy man she'd ever met and she craved him. Her body was sated but she continued to want to touch, to adore. Somehow she didn't think it was the fault of her misbehaving hormones—not when she'd wanted him like this forever.

He sat beside her. "Feed me, woman." The laughter in his eyes had her making a face at him.

"It's almost cold." She opened the box and lifted out a container of fried rice.

"And you are hot." Leaning over, he bit her earlobe.

She giggled and handed him the container. "Behave." But she didn't really mean it. The last thing she wanted was for her husband to behave, to go back to the cool formality with which he'd once treated her. This was what they'd been like in the very beginning, before everything had gone wrong.

The difference was that now a deep vein of loyalty ran between them, a shockingly intense commitment Vicki wasn't quite ready to explore. But at least she was no longer hiding from his needs or her own.

As they ate, the talk turned gradually to Vicki's ideas for Heart. Caleb had every intention of being involved in this new part of her life. There would be no more walls between them, no matter how exposed that made him feel. Compared to the agony of isolation, naked vulnerability was almost easy. Almost.

"So," she said after finishing her sweet-and-sour chicken, "I thought if we could get a spot on that radio show, we might be able to lure in the people we need most."

"Sounds like you'll be busy."

The joy on her face faded. "You don't think it'll work? Me doing this and the baby? I mean, day one and I forget dinner—"

He halted her by the simple expedient of a kiss. "I didn't mean anything like that. It'll work. You aren't superwoman so we'll get a cook and cleaner, but it'll work."

"No nanny," she declared, mule-faced. "I'll raise our baby."

"No nanny," he agreed.

"Caleb," she took a deep breath, "I know how important it is to you that I be at home, so thank you for supporting me in this."

Surprised, he said, "I never expected you to be a housewife if that wasn't what you wanted."

"But you prefer it. Tell me the truth."

He took a moment to think about it, remembering the fantasies of the perfect wife and family he'd created as a teenager—sure enough, his dream wife had always been a homemaker. Somehow, Vicki had picked up on something he'd shoved to the back of his consciousness. "It is nice having you at home, but only if you're content to be here. I want you to be happy, whatever that takes."

"Really?"

"Really. See? No big problem." He was trying very hard to be encouraging, though he worried that the more involved she grew with her new job, the less time she'd have for him and their child. The voice of the boy inside him, the one who'd been pushed to the periphery of everyone's life, wasn't quite as easy to silence as he'd believed.

"You know, for the first time in a long, long while, I'm starting to feel good about myself, like I'm worth something," Vicki said, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees.