“I don’t hate you, Alexa, and I never did.”
She let out a relieved breath. “But you want to punish me.”
“I did,” Leonardo admitted. “I was angry at you. You left with little explanation, except a short voice mail that didn’t really tell me anything I needed to know. So yes, I wanted to punish you at one time, but that’s no longer of interest to me.” He glanced at her again. “I don’t want you to be concerned about what’s going to happen tonight. I do want to make love to you, but you have to want this, too. I would never force myself on you. Do you want this, Alexa? Or do you see it as a punishment—something you have to suffer through?”
There was no need to define what “this” was. “This” was almost a tangible life force between them. “This” was propelling them forward with the promise of bliss, yet they were entering the unknown because of the amount of time that had passed since they were last together.
“No, it’s not a punishment, Leo. I want this. I want you. I want to make love to you.” Her voice trembled with need. “I can’t wait.”
He reached for her, then squeezed her slender fingers in his hand. His hold was tight, too tight, but she didn’t protest. She understood his reaction, because the same strong, almost violent feelings gnawed at her insides.
He held on to her all the way back to the house. Once inside the gates, the car slowed to a stop in front of the large front door of their home.
He brought her hand to his mouth and pressed his lips against her knuckles. The warmth of anticipation spread across her abdomen. “Go upstairs. I’ll be right in to join you.”
Leonardo watched as Alexa exited the vehicle. The clinging green dress was the perfect complement to her honey-colored skin and left little to the imagination. It had tantalized him all night, and he’d been in a tortured semierect state since they left the house.
Once the door was closed behind her, he faced forward and intended to drive around the side to place the car in the multi-vehicle garage. Instead, he didn’t move and turned off the ignition. All he could think about was that he had his wife back. It was finally sinking in.
It had been the longest four months of his life. He should have chased after her, put himself out of his misery. Instead, he allowed his pride to keep him away, and he’d suffered the consequences of his stubbornness. He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since she left. He walked around like an automaton because, even when he was exhausted, he only managed to get in a few hours of fitful rest at a time.
Having his marriage crumble around him had been difficult to endure, and Leonardo was still hard pressed to fully understand what had really gone wrong. Yes, he and Alexa had some differences, but how they’d managed to morph into an insurmountable roadblock on their journey through married life had taken him by surprise.
In hindsight, he realized the signs had been there for several months, but he’d ignored them and continued working on the plans for the Latin American expansion that were consuming his every waking moment. Then one day he returned home, and before he even listened to the message, the eerie emptiness of their bedroom suite had portended her absence.
Leonardo unfolded his tall frame from the car and slammed the door. As always, he forced himself into the present, refusing to languish in the regrets of the past. He made a decision then. It was a decision he hadn’t expected would come forth when he originally hatched his plan to get Alexa back.
Originally, all he thought he wanted was to get revenge for the heartless way she had abandoned their marriage. He relished the thought of bending her to his will, and he couldn’t wait to have what he’d lost, enjoy what he’d been denied for four long months. His breathing was ragged as he recollected the pleasure of her full lips pliant against his. Or better yet, having her sucking and pulling on him until he lost his sanity and exploded into her soft, sweet mouth.
The keys Leonardo held scored across his palm as he squeezed them in his hand. He was getting harder by the second.
The truth was, he’d fooled himself into thinking he wanted revenge. He had been angry when she left, but that wasn’t why he’d ultimately made his indecent proposal to her. It was because he’d missed her. She’d made his house into a home. Just knowing she was there, night after night, no matter how late he worked, brought him peace. When he lowered his tired body into bed next to her late at night, it comforted him to have the sound of her gentle breathing lull him to sleep.
Yes, he’d made his decision. It was very simple. Unlike his parents’