“Jealous, doll?”
My mouth fell open. “What? No! I shouldn’t have said… I mean it was… let me up.”
“I am not keeping you in bed.”
“Yes, but I need more than Luke’s shirt.”
“I’d rather you didn’t cover yourself at all, for you are quite lovely. Ah, the blush again.” He smiled softly and I refused to look down at my chest where I knew it was turning as pink as my cheeks. “I was no virgin coming into this marriage, and neither were you. We have both been married before. I have vowed to be true to you and I will, but we can’t make the past go away. What I did before you is of no consequence.”
I sighed and studied him. He was not apologizing for any women he’d been with before, for he had no reason to do so. He was correct. What he did before my arrival was of no consequence. He was also correct in that my shrewish questioning was out of jealousy.
“I’m sorry.” It was simple, but enough, for he nodded.
“To answer your question, I am at ease because I am happy. I find I am enjoying being married again very much.”
“But we haven’t… I mean—”
“Fucked?” he asked. “You had no problem with the word last night, doll.” He tugged gently on the tail of Luke’s shirt, but not hard enough to pull it from my grasp. It was enough for me to know he could easily strip me bare, and more than with words. “Say it.”
“Fucked,” I murmured.
“Good girl. We will fuck soon enough,” he vowed. “And I enjoyed sleeping with you in my arms. Did Luke not please you?”
I pursed my lips. “You have forced my hand. How can I deny that he did? How can I deny that I didn’t enjoy it?”
His grin returned. “And yet you are afraid that I will find you… what?”
“A whore,” I whispered, looking away.
His eyes narrowed. “I do not like that term, or the way you are thinking of yourself. If you speak of yourself thusly again, I will take you over my knee.”
I was taken aback by his vehemence and didn’t know what to say.
“Doll, enjoying what your husbands do with you in bed—or out—does not make you a whore.”
I bit my lip. “But I’ve never liked it before now.”
I was mortified by our conversation. John and I never spoke of such things. Perhaps that was one of our problems. If he’d known I’d been dissatisfied, would he have changed his ways? I thought of his strict routine and casual view on our marriage. Most likely, he wouldn’t have done a thing differently. It probably would have driven him into the arms of another woman even sooner.
Walker reached out and tugged me back down beneath him, breaking me from my thoughts about John. His dark gaze searched my face once again. I couldn’t help the tear that escaped. With his thumb, Walker wiped it away.
“You give us quite the compliment,” he said. “Your husband couldn’t please you and that’s a sad thing. You came hard last night for Luke.” I turned my head away but Walker tilted my cheek back so I couldn’t look away. “You came because he gave you what you needed. You can’t compare, doll. I promise you, Luke and I will not just fuck you beneath the covers in the dark. We’re going to do things with you that will surprise you, make you question everything you used to know.”
I heard a door open, close, then heavy footfalls.
“Luke’s returned.”
Within seconds, he filled the open bedroom doorway.
I saw that my shirt had fallen open and my breasts were exposed, the soft hairs of Walker’s chest tickling my belly. Luke’s gaze raked over both of us as he shrugged out of his coat and I could only imagine what he was thinking.
He tossed it on the back of a settee, sat down and tugged off his boots.
“Was your outing successful, brother?” Walker asked, not moving off of me.
“It was.” Luke stood to his formidable height and reached into his coat pocket. With his back to us, I couldn’t see what he’d retrieved.
“While we were sleeping, doll, Luke went and collected a few items that we couldn’t get in Slate Springs.” Walker moved so that he was sitting up in bed, leaning against the pillows, as casual and relaxed as ever.
The sheet rode low on his waist and I took in his torso. While I’d woken in his arms and felt his chest, this was the first time I’d actually seen it.
He was so much bigger and heavier than John, with corded muscles beneath dark skin. A smattering of hair was on his chest between flat, dark nipples. He was leaner even than Luke, but no less appealing.