Page 109 of This Woman Forever
“Right.”
Is John tired of The Manor and all the drama it brings too? “Do you want to start the process?”
“Sure, I’ll start the process.”
“Thanks.”
“Are you here tomorrow?”
“Yeah. See you then.” I hang up and sink down into the couch. “We’re just talking,” I say to the empty room.
“Who is?”
I look up and see Ava at the top of the stairs in her knickers and a T-shirt. “Nothing. No one.” I get up and go to her, collecting her and attaching her to my front.
“I can walk, you know.”
“I know,” I reply, carrying her into the kitchen. I place her on the counter and dip, getting up close to her tummy. “Time to feed you.”
“What about me?” she pipes up, injured.
“I suppose I ought to feed you too.”
I get a smack on my bicep for my trouble, and I laugh, seizing her and kissing her hard. “Unravel your knickers, lady.”
She holds my face and kisses me everywhere she can. “It’s you who tangles them in the first place.”
My phone chimes, and I reach for it, my eyebrows raising as I read John’s message. Tomorrow at ten. Fuck, they’re keen. My heart turns in my chest, and I try to push the feeling of guilt away. Just talking. It doesn’t hurt to talk.
“What is it?” Ava asks.
Her concern snaps me back into line. “Nothing. Just John about a meeting tomorrow.”
“So you’re at work tomorrow?” she asks.
“Might be.”
She smiles knowingly. “Do you know something, My Lord?”
“What?” I ask, my face bunched as she puts her lips all over it.
“I feel very lucky.”
I open my eyes, surprised. This is interesting. I wait for her to elaborate, my curiosity raging. Her palms stroke across my chest, her head tilting in admiration from time to time, appearing in no rush to feed my interest. “Go on,” I prompt, impatient.
“Sometimes you drive me crazy,” she says quietly.
Ditto.
“Sometimes you make me want to scream.”
Ditto.
“You’re irrational, unreasonable, demanding.”
Ditto, ditto, ditto.
“But more than that,” she says, watching her fingertip draw a light line down the middle of my chest to the waistband of my boxer shorts. I inhale my anticipation as she peeks up at me. “You’re passionate, adoring, protective, and possibly the sexiest man to ever walk the planet.” Possibly? The cheek. Her hand slips past the material of my boxers and takes me in her grasp, and I blow out my cheeks, buzzing for friction. Buzzing for her. “And you’re my husband.”