For a moment she lay where she was, full length on top of him, her cheek against his bare chest. How many years had it been since she’d been held by another human being? For a few months after she and her husband had been married, he’d made a pretense of loving her and wanting her, but the pretense had not lasted long. Within four months of their marriage they might as well have been roommates for all the physical contact between them.
Now, she might have been content to lie on top of Mike forever if his hand hadn’t strayed from her back down to her buttocks. He obviously wasn’t that thoroughly asleep.
Putting her sharp elbows into his ribs, she gouged as hard as she could.
Mike came awake with a grunt and a frown, but when he saw her on top of him, his face changed to delight. “Oh, Sammy,” he said, putting his hand on the back of her head to move her to kiss him.
Samantha moved her head to one side so his lips wouldn’t touch hers as she pushed her elbows into his ribs again. When he yelped with pain, she scrambled off of him just as Mike made a lunge for her, missed, then fell to the floor with a thud that made the house shake.
He blinked up at her in drug-glazed bewilderment.
“Michael,” she said softly, trying not to allow her voice to betray what she was feeling, that she wanted to stay with him, wanted to continue touching him. “I think you should go to bed. The couch is too small for you to sleep on.”
Lying back on the carpet, he closed his eyes.
“Michael,” she said again. “You have to get up.” When he didn’t move, she started to walk away, but he caught her ankle.
“Help me get up,” he said, sounding weak and neglected.
She knew as well as she knew anything in life that he didn’t need her assistance to get up, but at the same time she couldn’t allow him to spend the night on the floor. Maybe he had been spying on her today, but maybe he had a reason to do so. Maybe he thought his cousin might harm her. As Mike had said a million times, he was supposed to take care of her, and perhaps in his mind, following her to the park was taking care of her.
Kneeling, she pulled his arm around her shoulders, then tried to help him stand up. It took quite some time to get him to his feet and even longer to get him all the way up the stairs and into his bedroom.
Once in the bedroom, she turned away as he unzipped his trousers and removed his socks then slipped under the covers. But there was a mirror, and she did just happen to see that he wore blue cotton underwear, the kind that were low cut on his hips. She also just happened to notice the way his thighs curved into his buttocks, the way there was no hair at the very tops of his legs.
When he closed his eyes as soon as his head touched the pillow, Samantha couldn’t help herself as she tucked the cover about him.
“Don’t go,” he whispered as she started to leave the room.
“You need to sleep. Those pills are killers.”
He smiled but didn’t open his eyes. “Did you enjoy your date?” He sounded as though he were merely asking after her welfare and was interested in her afternoon, but he didn’t fool her.
“We had a marvelous time. Raine is the most charming, the most ha
ndsome man I have ever met. I have agreed to bear his child.”
Mike’s eyes flew open, then after a momentary look of horror, he lay back on the pillow. “You are a cruel woman. Come over here and sit by me and tell me a story.”
She knew she should stay away from him. After all, she was leaving in what was now a matter of hours and it was no good to get more attached to him than she already was. On the other hand, he had no doubt cracked his head open because of his misplaced sense of chivalry.
Primly, she sat on the edge of the bed, as far away from his warm, sleepy, nearly nude body as possible. “What story would you like to hear? About Peeping Tom?”
He didn’t open his eyes. “Tell me one of your I-hate-men-and-I-especially-hate-marriage stories.”
Blinking a few times, she laughed, but it didn’t take her but a second to think of such a story. “I read a book that put forth the theory that the major cause of divorce in America is housework. The wives have to work at a job all day then come home and do all the housework too with no help from their husbands. After years of study, the author said she thought that modern women were marrying men, having two or three children, then getting a divorce. The husbands had served their purpose and were no longer needed, so the women got rid of them. Like the drones in the bee family, I guess.”
“I hate to bring up matters that seem distasteful to you, but what about sex? Are the women willing to do without sex for the rest of their lives?”
“I didn’t say the women were celibate, and besides, what does married sex mean anyway? He tosses your nightgown over your head and makes noise for four minutes.”
At that Mike opened his eyes, looked at her, then began to laugh. He laughed so much and so hard that Samantha got off the bed, but he caught her hand and pulled her back to sit by him. She sat there, but stiffly.
“I am pleased that I amuse you so much.” Her voice dripped sarcasm.
“You do,” he said. “You amuse me a great deal, but I am also beginning to understand you.”
She tried to snatch her hand away, but he held her fast. “You need to sleep and I need to pack.”