Page 23 of The Bride's Desire

“Tell me what’s going on,” she said as she sat.

He ran a hand through his hair. “Hell, I don’t know. Or I should say I don’t know everything going on in Naomi’s head, but I think it’s the farthest thing from the truth.”

Amazingly, he could feel a blush covering his face. “I guess it started the night we had…”

“Sex?” his mother said with a raised brow. “Honey, I do know what that is. How do you think you got born?”

He pressed his hands to his ears. “God, please stop.”

She rolled her eyes. “Go on.”

“It was a spur-of-the-moment thing … I didn’t plan it, it just happened. I mean, I wanted her but…”

“Spit it out,” she said.

“I made love to her on the kitchen floor.” He turned away, waiting for her to blast him for taking her like an animal. When a minute of silence happened and nothing, he turned back to see his mother smiling. His brows snapped together. “Did you hear me? I took her on the floor like an animal.”

Carolyn snorted. “Honey, what you did was not wrong. I love the fact that you both wanted each other that much. Passion in marriage is very important. Why, when your father was alive…”

He raised a hand. “Stop. Don’t go there.”

She chuckled. “Fine. What happened after that?”

“I apologized several times.”

“You apologized?” she barked.

“Well, yeah. I thought I had disrespected her.”

“And what did she do?”

He thought back to that moment. “She became quiet.”

“What else did you say?”

“I just told her I wouldn’t touch her again before I apologized.”

His mother put her face in her hand and shook her head. “Where did I go so wrong?”

“Wait. What did I do?” he asked in confusion.

“Honey, you turned a beautiful moment into something dirty.”

“Beautiful? I had her on a cold floor.”

“It doesn’t matter to a woman. As long as she sees you’re passionate about her, she won’t care where she is. It being the first time makes it even harder.”

“How?”

“Because she doesn’t know how you’re feeling. I’m guessing she took your apology and comment about touching her to mean you didn’t want her.”

“What!” he yelled. “That’s so not true.”

“Honey, think of it from her side. What if she had gotten off the floor and apologized before saying she wouldn’t touch you again? How would you take that?”

He thought about it for another moment and then cursed. “I screwed up.”

“Yes, you did.”

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