Page 67 of Marcel
“She mightbelieve she needs the distraction, darling.”
“What she needsis to start feeling. After that awful day of finding out about hermother, she has not shed a single tear.” Taking up his drink,he swallowed. “They were very close, at least; that was what Ibelieved.”
“I think she isdealing with it the only way she knows how to. If she needs to talk,we are here.”
“Thanks,Mother.” Hanging up, he went to stand at the mantle, bracing anarm on the sculpted marble. Twirling the glass in his hand, he staredinto the empty fireplace, a frown on his brow.
She was not behavinglike a grieving person. His wife was jaunty and upbeat. When the manexpressed his sincerity at the loss of a very good woman, Nikki madethe careless comment that she was in a better place. “She iswith the man she loved more than anything else. I am sure she isfine.”
The man looked ather with a strange expression and then moved on to other matters.
On the drive to thenursing home, she chatted about a case she was working on, and whenhe tried to bring up the topic of the house, she waved it aside. Heeven jokingly remarked that it should be left as a legacy for theirchildren: “They won’t need that legacy.”
Tossing back hisdrink, he put away the glass and went upstairs. To find her naked.
Stopping in thecenter of the room, he felt every ounce of his blood rushing throughhis body to settle in his crotch.
The swift andpowerful punch of lust staggered him, and he could not move, couldonly stare at the lithe figure stretched out on the Egyptian cottonsheets. Her hair was loose and spread out on the pillows, and she hada soft, seductive smile on her lush lips.
“Are you goingjust to stand there?” She asked huskily.
“I might. Whatare you doing?”
“What does itlook like? I need my husband inside me. I have been waiting for thepast ten minutes.”
“Darling, areyou sure?”
Her tapered eyebrowslifted. “Are you going to stand there wondering if I am up tomaking love? I am naked and wet-”
His swift intake ofbreath had her smiling smugly. “And horny, very horny. Joinme?”
She did not have tosay anything else. He almost killed himself by getting rid of hisclothes. Finally, he joined her and covered her body with his,driving into her forcefully. “You witch,” he whisperedagainst her mouth, his heart hammering inside his chest.
“It’s myway of thanking you for being there for me.” She wrapped herhands around his neck and brought his mouth down to hers.
*****
His eyes flew openwhen he did not feel the warm body against his. A smile touched hislips as he recalled the events of last night. His wife had beenparticularly frisky during the lovemaking.
They had been rough.He could still feel the marks she had scorched on his back and chest.He had left a few bite marks on her flawless skin himself. Turninghis head, he felt a jolt as he stared at the clock.
“Good God!”He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and swore loudly as herealized that he had left it on vibrate and had slept through hisalarm.
Jumping out of bed,he rushed into the bathroom and saw from the wet towel on the floorthat his wife had already taken her bath. No doubt she was alreadydownstairs. Taking a quick shower, he grabbed the phone and calledhis brother.
“I am runninglate-”
“Understandably.I thought Nikki was staying home today.”
“What doyou mean?” He grabbed an ash gray suit from the hanger andselected a lime green shirt and a herringbone tie.
“She is here ina meeting with a client. And she looks jazzed.”
“She issupposed to be staying home.” Swearing beneath his breath, hedragged on his pants and put the phone on speaker. “She sneakedout of the damn house because she knew I would not agree to her goingin. I will be there shortly.”
“I think she ishanging on by a thread, brother.”
“What do youmean?”