Page 75 of The Husband Diet
This time I didn’t use my key but rang his doorbell once. A quick buzz. If he didn’t answer, it was a sign that I shouldn’t even be here, but he opened the door after a few moments, his chest bare and his hair mussed. He was wearing jeans and smelled of clean warm bed and man. I looked up at him, his image blurred by my tears.
‘Erica…? What happened?’ he whispered as he took me in his arms.
‘I’m sorry for not calling,’ I croaked. ‘Can I crash here?’
‘Of course. Are you OK? Where are the kids?’
‘They’re having a sleepover at Paul’s.’
He put a hand on my chin, lifting my eyes to his, but I couldn’t look at him.
‘Please tell me what happened, sweetheart.’
I shut my eyes tight and shook my head. ‘Bed,’ I whispered. ‘With you. Please.’
There was a long silence. I’d die if he’d changed his mind.
Instead, he took my hand and led me upstairs, my eyes hungrily watching his exquisite Levi’s butt.
He stopped on the threshold and looked back at me, as if to give me time to retreat if I still wanted. His bed was unmade and in the light of the nightstand, it looked like a sea of warmth.
As he watched me, still unsure, I reached for his unbuckled belt and pulled him toward me, kissing him on the lips. He responded immediately, wrapping his arms around me and lifting me up against his hard body. I heard his breath catch in his throat, could feel the banging of his heart under my lips as I ran my mouth over his pecs.
He traced my cheekbones with his thumbs and looked into my eyes, his own hooded. I unbuttoned his jeans and pulled them off his thighs and then he lifted me onto his bed. I closed my eyes and hung onto him as he pulled my dress over my head, raining kisses all over me, washing away the pain and replacing it with pleasure. Deep, uncontrollable pleasure.
I remember the thump-thumping of my heart and the way my skin tingled all over like a live wire when he lowered his lips to my neck, my weak spot. In twelve years of marriage, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to tell Ira I wanted him to kiss me there, and Julian instantly hit the nail on the head. And now I clutched at him, his kisses hot and amazingly sexy as he nibbled at my throat, caressing it with his tongue, searing it with his mouth.
‘Erica…’ he groaned as I pulled him to me.
The moonlight shone silvery through the window and seemed to bounce off his abs. He looked like a ripped silver god floating on a silver sea. And he was all mine. For now, at least.
I swallowed, reached out a tentative hand, and in the silence of his unfamiliar bedroom, my fingers traveled over his chest that seemed ready for the most intense exertion.
As my fingers fell below his waist, a low growl escaped his lips and his hand came up my thigh, closing around the wide stretch of my hip.
I lowered myself and kissed the area around his belly button, and he groaned. Not in annoyance, like Ira, but with want. God, he was so gorgeous, lying there just for me.
‘Erica…’
‘Shh…’ I whispered, getting bolder, and he took me in his arms and kissed me. Deeply. Like no one ever. The fireworks had begun.
I watched his beautiful jaw clench over and over as he brought us together. Had I been wrong! When there was chemistry between a couple, lightsdidgo off in your brain, and you did soar through the universe at light speed, and, believe it or not, I did clutch at him – not for fear of falling off the edge of the Earth this time, but of literally passing out. The preliminaries went on and on, topped by such a strong orgasm I almost thought I’d die.
Four hours and two sets of multiple orgasms later, he reached out and wrapped an arm around my waist, his other hand playing with my hair. We both watched in the sunlit room as he unraveled a lock of my hair and let it snap like a spring. Then back again, curling it round his fingers. I never knew my curls could be so bouncy if I just let them be.
‘How’s my girl?’ he whispered, nuzzling my neck.
‘Great. Can I ask you a question?’
‘Shoot.’
‘Why don’t you play anymore?’ I blurted.
At that, he stiffened slightly, and then finally sighed. ‘Many things have changed since then, Erica.’
I propped myself up on my elbow. ‘Meaning?’
He shrugged, caressing my thigh. ‘I’m not a champion anymore. Who cares what I do?’
