He blinked at her challenge.
“I’ll take a wild guess and say you might want my relationship with you to last at least as long as your relationship with Prentice,” she said.
He took a deep breath as he pulled into the driveway. “Of course I want our marriage to last,” he muttered. He parked in the garage and turned to her. “What are you trying to say?”
“It’s easy,” she said. “If we both want our relationship to work, we both need to put in the time.”
“We spend every night together,” he said.
“Asleep,” she said.
“We don’t sleep for the first two hours.”
She let out a quick breath. “We need to be about more than sex,” she whispered, her eyes dark and tumultuous.
“Are you saying I don’t satisfy you?” he demanded.
She bit her lip. “I’m not saying that, but maybe we should put the emphasis in our relationship on something else,” she said. “For a while.”
“You want to date,” he concluded, incredulous. But when he gave it some thought, it made sense.
She licked her lips and he felt himself grow hard. He had felt that mouth against his, sliding down his throat and chest, down lower, taking him to insane heights….
“We never did that, Brock,” she said. “We never just…dated.”
“Okay,” he said slowly. “Does that mean we sleep together or not?”
“That’s up to you,” she said. “If we waited for a little while to—” She broke off. “Do you still want to sleep together while we figure this out?”
Brock decided to leave the ball in her court, since this was her idea. “I’ll let you decide,” he said, rising from the car and crossing over to open the passenger door. “Dinner tomorrow night?”
“I’d rather hike on Sunday,” she said.
Brock swallowed.
“Is that okay?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said. He could last. He’d suffered far worse than unmet sexual need in his life.
Less than an hour later, Brock slid into bed and Elle curled against him. “Thank you,” she whispered, her lips against the back of his neck. He felt her breasts against him, her hand over his abdomen. He wondered if he would be able to stand this all night long.
Brock took a deep breath. He’d grown accustomed to making love to Elle every night. After all, she was his wife. She stirred his passions and was incredibly responsive. Why should he deny himself? Or her?
He knew, however, that she wanted him to use some restraint. It would take every bit of his determination, but he would damn well do it. Elle was worth it. And so was their marriage.
Sunday afternoon, Elle climbed up a trail behind Brock. She inhaled deeply, disgusted with her lack of physical fitness.
“You okay?” Brock asked, looking over his shoulder.
“Sure,” she said breathlessly.
He turned around and came to a stop. “You don’t sound okay,” he said, searching her face.
She put her hands on her hips as she tried to catch her breath. “It’s the altitude,” she said.
He grinned. “Not the exertion?”
She scowled at him. “The climb has been straight up.”
“I thought you could handle it,” he said.
“I can,” she replied and took a deep breath.
His blue eyes flickered over her. “Let’s take a break and drink some water.”
“You’re just saying that because I’m pregnant,” she said.
“I’m thirsty,” he said, sitting down as he pulled out his bottle of water. “Aren’t you?”
Elle sank onto a rock and also pulled out her water. She drank down the cool liquid quickly.
“You should make sure to keep hydrated,” Brock said.
“I will,” she said, downing almost all of the bottle.
“Want mine?” he asked.
“No, I’m good,” she said.
He pulled an extra bottle from his backpack and offered it to her. “I want to make sure my wife and baby have plenty of water.”
She finished hers and accepted his. “Thanks from both of us.”
He enclosed her hand in his. “Let’s go back down,” he said.
“I feel a little like a wimp. I didn’t expect to get this tired this soon.”
“You’re pregnant,” Brock said. “You’re feeding and breathing and doing everything for two.”
Elle couldn’t resist smiling. “Thanks,” she said, drawing strength from the clasp of his hand. “Let’s go back down.”
“Good. Now tell me, when you were a little girl, what did you want for Christmas?”
Elle did a double take. “For Christmas? A father,” she said, unable to keep the words from escaping her mouth.