Page 48 of The Redemption of Remy St. Claire

“But you expect me to have sex with you.” Her tone was flat, inflection missing.

How was he supposed to answer that? “I’m hoping we’ll make love, Remy. That’s how babies are made.”

She scrabbled up, moving so quickly, she hit the headboard with her shoulder.

What the hell…?

“Babies?” She screeched. “Babies? What the hell are you talking about?”

He closed his eyes, rubbing his face with his hand. Maybe they should’ve talked about things before getting married.

That and everything else.

“I want more kids. Didn’t I tell you that? I grew up in a big family, and I want Mira—and Calleigh—to have the same experience. They’d love to have a little brother or sister.”

“They have each other. We have each other.” Her voice rose higher and higher. “That should be enough.”

“And maybe it will be. Maybe we won’t be blessed with more kids, but I’d still like to try. The trying part can be fun, you know.”

His moment of levity was completely lost on its recipient.

“Rusty…we should end this. What was I thinking? I guess I was only looking at it from the children’s perspective. We could give them so much as a team. I wasn’t looking at this like an adult. I thought I could do this, but I can’t. I can’t have babies with you. I can’t have sex with you.”

What the hell?Proceed with caution.“Can’t or won’t?”

“What difference does that make? It all comes out to the same thing.”

“Do you plan to go elsewhere?”

“What?”

Good.He had her full attention.

“Do you plan to go elsewhere? Do you plan to have sex with someone else?”

“Of course not.”

Clearly, she’d concluded he was crazy. “Well, I don’t plan to get it anywhere else either, so that leaves us together in this boat. Is it me or is it all men?”

“Rusty, please…”

Her whispered plea almost undid him. He could live without sex. Had lived without it for the past three and a half years. Had been willing to accept a life of celibacy if that was what it took to hold on to his marriage. But that hadn’t been in the cards. In the end, sex had been a non-issue. Broken trust and drugs had turned his marriage to dust.

“Admittedly, we should’ve talked about this. It’s my mistake, because I assumed we’d have a normal marriage. Even though the courtship was quick, I hoped this could develop into something beautiful.” He strove to make his tone as light as he could. “Tell me what’s wrong. Perhaps I can fix it.”

“I want to go home.”

“I know you do, sweetheart, but we can’t do that. Jake and Marnie will be sleeping in your bed tonight and Olivia will be sleeping in mine—most likely with Bianca. We can’t go home. What we can do is find a second room. I’ll place a call to the desk, and we can solve this.”

He reached for the phone.

“Don’t.” There was hesitancy, but there was also strength behind the words.

“Tell me how to fix this.”

She sighed. “Have sex with me.”

He nearly choked on his own tongue. “Okay, two minutes ago you tell me you can’t and won’t have sex with me, and now you want to have sex with me?” He was in an alternate universe where up was down.

---