and checks on everything. Trust me.”
“Hmm. Okay.”
She continued to poke at her pasta. With a sigh, he twirled strands of spaghetti around his fork, and then held it out to her. “Trust me,” he repeated softly.
She smiled, her eyes brightening with that look he’d come to crave, loving and full of trust. The fact that this woman depended on him and entrusted him with her heart both panicked and humbled him. She leaned forward and accepted the bite of pasta into her mouth. Those fuck-me lips closed over the tines of the fork, and he couldn’t tear his eyes away. Unable to help himself, he continued to feed her from his own plate, no longer hungry, simply enjoying fulfilling his ma—
He stiffened. His wife. His wife’s needs.
She stopped him by placing her hand on his wrist. “I’m stuffed. Here.” She held up her uneaten garlic bread and brought it to his mouth. He took a bite from it, then another, until the small piece was gone. Her laughter pealed out when he continued to playfully lick and lap at her fingers. The laughter subsided when he not-so-playfully caught her finger between his lips and sucked it hard.
Her chest rose and fell as he changed fingers, being careful to clean them of butter and garlic. As he released her pinky, he glanced up to meet her gaze. The lights flickered in the inky darkness of her eyes as she watched him without blinking. Hectic color had flooded her cheeks, and her breathing was definitely faster.
“Are you finished?” he murmured.
“Yes.”
“Ready to turn in?”
A small smile curled her lips. “It’s early.”
Not so early, since turning in will mean I have you under me. “Mmmm.”
“How about we watch TV for a while?” She stood up gracefully and began collecting their plates with economical motions.
If by watch TV, you mean fuck my brains out then … “Sounds great,” he said loudly, and then stood and stopped her from picking up his plate. “Why don’t you go put something on? I think there’s a bunch of DVDs under the cabinet. Just pick a movie or something. I’ll clean up.”
Her eyes brightened. “Perfect.”
It didn’t take him long to clean up the kitchen now that his personal catnip had left the room. Though he wasn’t a very talented cook, he was great at tidying things. He put the dishes into the washer, made sure the counters were clean and even dried out the sink with a paper towel.
As he finished wiping down the kitchen table, the cut apron caught his eye. Unable to resist, he picked it up and brought it to his nose. He could swear the slightest hint of vanilla clung to its folds.
Ana, greeting him as he came home from the office, wearing The Apron and a string of pearls. Dropping to her knees, unbuttoning his slacks…
He tried to shake the images away. If fabric could burn, this pink thing was singeing his fingers. Holding it between his thumb and forefinger, he threw it into the garbage can and closed the lid. Wishing, as he did so, that he could shut his imagination down just as decisively.
Chapter Three
Ana hadn’t planned on stumbling across a stash of porn that would probably make even a connoisseur blush, but what was she supposed to do now that she had?
Not look?
Please.
The DVDs on the bookshelf were all fine, mainstream flicks that were in any person’s home. Curious as to what was in the cupboard below them, she’d opened it up and been bombarded with boobs and ass.
She was a guest in someone’s home, so she knew it wasn’t proper to go snooping into obviously private property.
But…porn! Lots of it! She’d never seen so much!
Grabbing a handful of the cases, she settled cross-legged on the ground to sort through them. Bondage, bondage, bondage, spanking, dominatrix, ménage—she paused at that one and set it aside—more bondage, more spanking…there was a definite theme going on here. Holy crap, Eli.
I wonder if there’s a spank-and-tie light here for beginners…
Okay, so she wasn’t a