Page 33 of Her Fantasy Husband

“Sex between us would complicate matters.”

“You should have thought of that last night.” She sniffed. “And for your information, if you had wanted sex now, I would have said no.” She sounded almost like her grandmother, haughty and upper class, and he had a really stupid urge to prove her wrong. He’d seen the way she looked at him earlier. She was aware of him as a man, and she wanted him. He could change her mind within minutes. He could have her flat on her back on that sofa. Or bent over his desk, her ass in the air. He hadn’t seen her ass yet. This time he’d strip her totally. He wanted to see her breasts as well. His dick twitched at the thought.

Down boy.

Not a good idea on so many levels.

“Good,” he said. “Then we’re on the same wavelength.” Of course they were. Only his dick was not quite in agreement.

Her brows drew together, her nose wrinkling. She was cute. “So you want sex. I’m not stopping you. I presume being married hasn’t stopped you over the last few years. What’s changed?”

He was silent for a minute, suddenly almost embarrassed that he’d been celibate. And he hadn’t even had a vibrator or whatever the male equivalent was. It was nothing to be ashamed of. Lots of men were celibate for lots of reasons. But in some ways, it made the marriage seem more real.

Finally, he spoke, “I don’t cheat.”

Her frown deepened. “It’s not cheating if we’re not really married.”

“I know,” he said. “But all the same, that doesn’t work for me. Call me old fashioned, but even if it’s nottechnicallycheating, it’d still feel like it to me.”

She sucked on her lower lip as she thought through his statement. “So let me get this straight. You haven’t had sex since we got married?”

He gave a curt nod.

“Not at all?”

“Except for last night.”

A faint wash of color tinted her face. “Five years?”

“Likeyousaid, it’s no big deal. I was busy building up the business. There was no time for anything else.” In some ways, he hadn’t wanted a woman, had been in a bad place back then. He’d left the army, which had been his home for many years, and then he’d in effect lost Evie for the second time. He’d just wanted to be alone. He’d used the whole marriage thing as an excuse if anyone came on too strong. And really as an excuse to himself. Though he was telling the truth; he didn’t cheat—even if it was a technicality. His mother had never been faithful to any man, and no way was he going to be like his mother.

Lexi was still staring at him, disbelief clear in her eyes. It wasn’t that big a deal. Or maybe it was. “Well, neither have you.”

“But I didn’t know what I was missing.”

And now she did. Would she miss it now? “And you had your vibrator.” Why the hell had he brought that up?

She ignored the comment. “Well, if you’ve managed for five years, surely you can manage for another six months.”

He really didn’t think that was an option. He’d awoken the ravenous beast and there was no putting it back to sleep. All he could think about was sex. Right now, sex with Lexi, but that would change once he got away from her and severed the ties between them. It was only proximity that had him thinking about her naked. That’d had her playing the starring role in his fantasy while he’d jerked off in the shower that morning. She’d been giving him a blow job, her sweet rosebud mouth wrapped around him, her hands—

“Josh?”

He came out of his fantasy to find her watching him a perplexed expression on her face.

“I made a vow,” he said. God, that sounded pompous.

She shook her head, rubbing at the spot between her brows. “You made a vow to have sex?”

“Yeah.” Now he sounded belligerent. He took a deep breath, then came and sat down beside her, noticing the way she inched away from him as if he were some dangerous madman. He needed to make this sound plausible. “I told you. A few weeks ago, I was on this ship that went down. It was touch and go for a while whether I’d make it. I broke my leg, and we were cut off by fire. Anyway, I did make it and…well, that sort of thing has a way of changing your life.”

“And so you decided to have sex. Very deep and meaningful.”

He shrugged. “In a way.” God, how did he explain this when he didn’t really understand it himself? But she deserved an explanation. “I’ve been a little restless lately. The business is doing great, there’s no reason for me to work all hours, but when I stopped working all the time, I started thinking again. And I realized I’d put my life on hold.”

“Because of the marriage to me?”

It would be easy to give that as the reason, but it wasn’t true. “No. Marrying you was a symptom. Not the reason.”

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