Serenity (Inevitable #5)(44)

"Shh." She placed a finger over his lips. "Silly man. Don't ever thank me for something like that. Especially when you were enough of a gentleman to take care of me first."

He grinned. "Yeah, but that was really for me, too. You've got such a beautiful body, Sasha. I just couldn't help myself."

She laughed softly before snuggling up against his body, pulling his arm a little tighter around her shoulders. "I'm not sure anyone has ever had that sort of instant reaction around me before. But thank you, Matthew. Both for the compliment and the orgasm." Her voice turned sober as she asked him quietly, "How long had it been for you?"

"Since I had sex?" he asked, with a half-smile. "Or since I had a blow job? The answer to the first part is several months, certainly awhile before I filed for divorce. As for the latter - well, years is the answer. I'd have to do some real thinking before I could remember exactly how many."

Sasha frowned, interlacing her fingers with his. "Didn't your wife like oral sex? I mean, I know it's not for everyone."

Matthew gave a short, sardonic laugh. "Oh, I'm sure she likes it well enough. Just not necessarily with me. In fact, the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of my filing for divorce was when I wandered in on her with another guy."

She gasped in dismay. "Oh, God, Matthew. I'm so sorry. I had no idea. You've never talked about what specifically broke the two of you up. It must have been so upsetting for you to discover she was having an affair."



       
         
       
        

He shook his head. "Not by that point, no. Lindsey - well, she's been having a series of little flings for some time now, going back more than a couple of years. When I first figured it out, I was upset, wanted nothing more than to confront her and demand it stop. But I blamed myself, you see. Because I was working so many hours, was away from home so often, I rationalized it away as her being lonely and feeling neglected."

"No." Sasha was emphatic in her denial. "That's not an excuse, not even a little. She should have talked to you, worked things out, instead of setting out to hurt you."

Matthew cupped her cheek tenderly. "I should have expected a reaction like that from you. But not everyone is as kind as you are, Sasha. Or as considerate of someone's feelings. And that turned out to be just the beginning of Lindsey's serial cheating. I put a private detective on her, pretty much knew every move she made for over a year. But I never confronted her about it, never let on that I so much as suspected. Part of that was because I didn't want a showdown, didn't want to have my kids hurt by the fallout. But over time I came to realize that it was also because I'd stopped caring about her. Or about our marriage. I just lacked the motivation to do anything about it. Until I walked inside this very room and literally caught her in the act."

"Here? It was in this room that you saw her?" asked Sasha, not bothering to hide her revolt.

"Yup. But don't worry. One of the first things I did after kicking her out and calling my lawyer was to replace the bed, and every piece of bedding. The only person who's ever slept on this mattress or these sheets has been me. At least until now."

"That was a smart move on your part," she agreed. "Though I'm guessing getting rid of the bed was a lot easier than wiping out the bad memories you must have associated with this room."

Matthew startled her anew by swiftly rolling her under his body, his leanly muscled thighs straddling her hips. "Well, if you're willing, I can think of at least one way to wipe out the bad memories. And replace them with some very, very good ones."

"Mmm."

Sasha wound her arms around his neck as he claimed her lips in a deep, searching kiss, their tongues tangling almost frantically. His hands roamed over her nude body, touching her everywhere - squeezing her breasts, skimming over her hips, cupping her ass. He drew a long, low moan from her lips as he thrust two long fingers deep inside her vagina, where she was still wet from her previous climax.

"I want you again," he rasped against her ear.

She reached down between their bodies and grasped his fully erect cock, stroking him persuasively. "Yes," she whispered. "Make love to me, Matthew." 

He was almost comically uncoordinated as he fumbled inside a nightstand drawer for a condom, and then cursed vividly when he had trouble tearing it open. Calmly, Sasha extracted the packet from his fingers and opened it easily, then just as smoothly rolled the latex over his penis.