In Pursuit of His Wife(19)

She crooked her finger at him. "Come here, devil."

They came together in another blast of heat, of that passion they'd  known from the beginning. She scraped her nails down his back, while he  attacked her neck with kisses and brought her legs up around his waist.  It would be so easy to take her here, take her now, yet the nagging  concerns over pregnancy prevented him from doing so. He should have  brought the blasted condoms with him.

"Do it," she whispered with desperation as she reached beneath the water, took his erection in hand, and guided it inside her.

Driven by pure lust and need, he thrust into her, twice, before he  gathered every ounce of strength and pulled out. "The bedroom," he  managed around his labored respiration.                       
       
           



       

She looked at him and blinked twice. "Why?"

"More privacy." A lame excuse but the only one he could provide without completely destroying the mood.

"All right," she said as she lowered to her feet. "But hurry."

That request he could categorically fulfill, and he did as he took her  by the hand and led her to the chaise on the pool deck. They wrapped up  in the towels he'd brought, periodically kissing and intimately touching  as they headed into the house. Once they reached the corridor leading  to the guest suite, he paused and backed her against the wall  immediately outside the door to his quarters.

He wanted her to remember this, to know how badly he wanted her, to  make her want him as much. He parted the towel and suckled her breasts,  first one, then the other, before sliding his lips down her torso.

Then he went to his knees, nudged her legs apart and sent his mouth on a  mission between her thighs. He used his tongue to divide her warm  flesh, tracing circles around and around that intimate spot, intent on  driving her wild.

She bowed over him, running her hands over his scalp, her breaths  coming in short pants. She dug her nails into his back so deeply, he  thought she might have drawn blood. He didn't care. Giving her pleasure  was well worth the pain.

"Sebastian." His name came out of her mouth in a harsh whisper as he  stroked her with his tongue softly, then harder as he covered her  completely with his mouth and suckled that sweet spot.

Her legs began to tremble and a low, sexual sound filtered out of her  as she began to orgasm. He didn't let up until he had ridden out every  pulse of the climax, then he kissed his way back up her beautiful body.

She reached for him again and demanded, "Now."

"Not yet," he said as he clasped her wrist to still her hand. Otherwise the act would be over in short order.

Without protesting, Nasira followed him into his bedroom. While she  turned down the comforter, he opened the nightstand drawer and retrieved  the silver packets. He turned and found her stretched out on her back  on the bed, her damp hair a sexy, tangled mess, her knees bent in  preparation for him. Yet when she spied the condoms in his grasp, she  suddenly sat up on the edge of the mattress and lowered her eyes.

After laying the packets on the side table, he claimed the space beside  her and rested a hand on her bare leg. "I realize this isn't what you  want, but under the circumstance, it's a necessity."

Her gaze snapped to his, the haze of desire completely gone. "Is it?"

"We still have much to discuss in regard to that issue, by your own admission."

She pushed her hair back from her face. "Yes, you're right, but the  reminder of our impasse took me aback for a moment. I suppose I simply  wanted to forget our dilemma this evening. I wish you could have held  off with the condoms a bit longer."

Frustration brought him to his feet to face her. "This wouldn't have  been a bloody issue if you'd started taking the pill again."

"As I've said, I had no reason to do that when you were so bent on  ignoring me." She pinched the bridge of her nose and momentarily closed  her eyes. "I am so angry."

"At me?"

"At myself. I have walked into the same trap, succumbing to your charisma and allowing you to lead me away from our problems."

Now he was angry. "I did nothing of the sort. We are husband and wife  and we should thank our lucky stars we still want each other so fiercely  after ten years of marriage."

She let loose with a cynical laugh. "Of course you would see it that  way. But sex is not a cure-all for serious marital problems."

If she only realized that was the only way he knew how to communicate  his true feelings for her. The right words had never come easily for  him. Neither had acknowledging his emotions. "Why can you not be happy  with what we have? Why do you see the need to change everything?"

She pulled the sheet up to cover herself. "Because we cannot be truly  happy unless we fix what is broken. Only until you open up to me  completely can we move past our problems."

He knew where she was going, and he didn't want to bloody go there.  "I've told you more about my mother's death than I've ever told another  soul."                       
       
           



       

"Yet you have not told me everything, Sebastian. Aside from your  father's careless disregard and your guilt over your last moments with  your mother, there is something else keeping you from committing to  fatherhood."

He clenched his jaw against the litany of curses threatening to spill out. "You have no idea what I went through."

She stood and leveled her gaze on him. "Then tell me all of it. Make me understand."

He didn't dare. "I am going to take a shower."

He turned to retire to the bath, only to have her call him back. "When  will you stop running away, Sebastian?" she asked. "When it is too late  for us?"

The words impaled him like a knife to his heart. "You're asking too  much of me tonight, Sira. If it's too difficult for you to be intimate  with me, then by all means, retire to your blessed bed and I'll stay in  mine alone. If you happen to change your mind, then it will be up to you  to come to me. In the meantime, I'll not bother you again."

And this time, he vowed to stay true to his word.

* * *

He had not spoken to her for two days. In fact, Nasira had barely seen  her husband except in passing. He had spent much of his time in his  quarters, sequestered away with his laptop.

Today that would come to an end, if she had any say in the matter. She  had given him a wide berth to think about what she had said, but they  had come to a crossroads. His time was up.

She opened the door to his bedroom without knocking, only to find him  packing. A blinding fear overcame her, then resignation that perhaps she  had pushed him too hard.

He afforded her only a glance while he placed a suit in the garment bag without speaking.

"Are you returning to London?" she asked, expecting an affirmative answer.

"No. I'm going to Dallas," he said, shattering her expectations, and filling her with relief.

She moved closer to the bed, but not too close. "Why Dallas?"

He dropped a few toiletries into a small carry-on bag. "I've managed to secure an invitation to an importers conference."

She folded her arms around her middle. "How long do you intend to be gone?"

He zipped the case and placed it on a bench at the end of the footboard. "I'll return tomorrow afternoon."

"Did it occur to you to invite me along?"

He sent her a sideways glance. "You'd be bored."

"I have attended these functions with you before."

He zipped the garment bag and turned. "Yes, you have, but that was  before I knew you considered me a closed-off bastard who runs at the  first sign of trouble."

"You ran from me the other night. You ran after I lost the baby."

He dropped onto the edge of the mattress and forked his hands through his hair. "Perhaps you're right."

It was an admission she thought she would never hear. She sat down  beside him on the bed. "I am not willing to give up on us yet,  Sebastian. I would like to accompany you on this trip and we will go  from there."

"Well, I've always enjoyed having a beautiful wife at my side."

That ruffled her feminine feathers. "I do not want to go as your arm  ornament. I want to be there as your equal. You have never viewed me as  that."

He appeared extremely confused. "Where is this coming from?"

"Well, if we want to sincerely work on our marriage, then I think it's  best to be honest. Many times I have asked about the company, and you  brushed me off."

"I never thought you were interested in that part of my life."

"It should be part of my life as well. After all, my father was just as  immersed in the shipping world. I might not have finished my degree,  but I observed all aspects of the operation. I possibly know as much  about it as you do."