Waking Up Married(41)
“So aside from the fact that your fresh-from-the-chapel wife finds you totally resistible, how’s the rest of married life treating you?”
“Good. No surprises.” Not really, anyway. “Megan’s more reserved than she came across our first night. And she’s somewhat preoccupied with making sure I know what I’m getting into. You know, listing faults in the name of full disclosure because she doesn’t want to risk me stumbling over some deal breaker once she’s committed.”
After a few seconds’ pause, the joking tone was gone. “Deal breakers?”
“Relax,” Connor assured. “Minor stuff. Quirks mostly.”
After all, he couldn’t care less if she wasn’t a stellar cook or had a tendency to go overboard when she picked up a new hobby. But he sure as hell cared whether the woman he married was going to be straight with him. And every time they were together, she showed him she was.
Even so, he wanted her confidence back. The faith she’d put in herself and him when she’d spoken her vows. But every time she revealed some other fault, waiting a beat to see how he’d handle the news, whether it would shake him, he was reminded how that faith had been wrung out of her like a bar rag.
Didn’t matter. She’d see soon enough. And until then...well, he really couldn’t complain. She was strong. Smart. She knew how to protect herself.
“She makes me laugh. And she’s exceptionally easy to be with. Easy to talk to.” Easy to look at and easy to think about. Maybe even a little too easy on that last count.
But it was to be expected.
Megan was a challenge. And though he’d gotten her to give their marriage a chance, he knew she wasn’t sold. Which meant she was an unfinished project. A deal hovering on the brink of closure. Damn it, she was an itch yet to be scratched. He wanted her, and until he knew she was securely his, she’d be occupying more of his mind than he would typically allot to a relationship.
“Man, I’m glad you found a woman you can talk to. I know you’d always figured on a marriage that was more of a merger. And after Caro—”
“Look, I’m about home.” Connor slowed at the driveway, waiting for the security gate and garage to open. “Time to wear down the wife.”
“Got it.” Jeff laughed, not taking the abrupt end to the conversation personally. If he had something to say, he’d make sure he got another chance to say it. “And good luck... Sounds like you’re going to need it.”
Connor cut the call and jumped out of the car, a slow grin spreading to his lips as his mind latched on to the last sight he’d had of his wife before he left for work. He knew she wouldn’t look like the sexy kitten she’d been that morning, purring under the kiss he’d pressed against her lips before she’d been quite awake. Sleep mussed and warm. The silky pajamas she’d been wearing shaping over her nipples and riding high toward her ribs.
Small wonder she’d been on his mind the past eleven hours.
She’d be dressed by now. Probably all neat and tidy. Still, he couldn’t quite kick the salacious happenings taking place in the not-so-far-back of his mind. Silky, sleep-mussed happenings wrapped up in a welcome-home, I’ve-been-aching-for-you-all-day kind of kiss.
Yeah, fat chance.
Closing the door behind him, he called down the hall with a facetious “Honey, I’m home.”
The silence echoed back to him as he dropped his keys on the glass-topped table and kept walking toward the stairs. The second floor was dark and empty, with only a single dim bulb illuminated at the top of the flight. The third floor too. His brow furrowed as he checked his phone for messages. None.
It wasn’t as if returning to an empty house was a new experience for him, but with Megan living there, he’d expected...something different.
Not that he was disappointed. He’d wanted an independent woman who wouldn’t make him feel guilty about the schedule he kept or as if her life was tied to his.