“A present, for me? You've given me so much already, baby.”
“I am quite nervous that you'll hate it,” she admitted, but continued, “it's not really a gift I can physically give you, or take back—oh bugger.” She suddenly realised for the first time that it was something she was stuck with forever. “You just need to find it, discover it, on me while I hope and pray you like it,” Tasha rambled.
“Discover it?” Jim sounded and looked confused.
“Maybe if you finish undressing me,” she suggested with a blush again.
“With pleasure.” He grinned, spun her around and began unhooking the hooks and eyes of her bra. Pausing at the halfway point Jim ran his hands down the length of her body until he found the clips holding her stockings up and with a deft movement flicked them free of the fabric and returned his attention to the bra. Kissing across her shoulders he triumphantly cast the bra aside before spinning his wife back to face him then sat her down on the edge of the bed where he settled at her feet to pull off her shoes. That preceded the rolling off of the stockings from her legs then leaned in again to kiss her lips, jaw, neck, chest, abdomen, hips, inner thighs, all the way down her body to her toes and back up again.
“I haven't found my present yet,” he said from beneath hooded eyes.
“Look harder,” she replied with a squeal as she found herself flipped over onto her front allowing Jim to stroke and caress her behind until he undid the hooks of the suspender belt, allowing it to fall away. Finally, he hooked his thumbs into the tiny string sides of her thong and with a gentle lift of her hips he was stripping her completely bare.
“I really do not deserve you, Mrs Maybury,” Jim groaned, returning to lie along the length of her legs and back, obviously naked and aroused as he carefully held his own weight on one arm while the hand of his other arm stroked down to her hip before sliding between Tasha and the bed. “Ah,” he whispered with confusion as his fingers stroked across her mound that seemed to be covered with something still. “What do we have here?” Rolling from her, allowing Tasha the space and freedom to move onto her back, Jim's eyes were immediately drawn to the covering he had felt making him smile.
“I think I may have discovered my present, baby.” He stared at what could only be described as a square of gauze taped to her mound, gauze decorated with a bow, as if gift wrapped. “You’ve gift wrapped your pussy for me?” he asked with a grin and a shake of his head.
“Not really, remove the gift wrap,” she encouraged, although she felt sick with nervous excitement in case Jim hated it or even in case he didn’t.
He was clearly still confused as he reached forward while Tasha sat herself up, resting her elbows and forearms against the bed.
Jim's finger and thumb found the edge of the tape and pulled it back along with the dressing to reveal his wedding present. With eyes as big as saucers he stared for long, tense seconds before the biggest of smiles spread across his face and then he was back on the bed between his wife's thighs covering her, preparing to make love to her for the first time.
****
The sound of Jim's phone ringing woke Tasha from the brief nap she'd been enjoying. Jim was already scrambling in his trousers that were on the far side of the bedroom where they’d been tossed when he'd undressed. Sitting up she looked across at him crouching over the phone that had now stopped. She stared at him shamelessly, wondering how she'd got this lucky, to find herself a loving, caring man who absolutely adored her, of that she had no doubt and he really was beautiful with a physique that at forty would be more than a match for any man, even twenty years younger, especially his well-toned, rounded, muscular behind that her eyes were glued to.
“You're staring,” he said without turning around making her frown in confusion. “And a frown, Natasha.” He pointed towards their reflections in the windows that were still free of drapes.
“Ah, I see, literally.” She laughed. “Who was calling?” she asked as he turned to face her before striding back towards her in all his firm, muscular, handsome glory.
“Lizzie,” he exclaimed climbing back up the bed towards her.
Lying against the mattress she giggled and then thought of Lizzie and all she’d been through making her wonder what she’d wanted.
“You should call her back.” Tasha worried there could be something wrong.
“I should have left her in L.A.” Jim frowned, leaning in to kiss her lips gently.
“Ah, poor Lizzie,” cried Tasha as she reached up to pull Jim's face towards her own.
“You are too nice, honey,” he told her as he allowed her to bring his lips to hers.
“And you are—my husband, my handsome husband,” she told him, making him smile. Briefly she thought of Mickie saying something similar about her beingthat niceand whilst Mickie had meant it in the most negative of contexts Tasha chose to see her niceness and consideration for others as a positive. “But the last few weeks have been hard on Lizzie, on us all, but she is so young and the stuff with Mickie,” Tasha began but drew a sharp breath in, feeling a little overwhelmed as she remembered her time in Philip’s kitchen with Juan and Lizzie.
“Hey, it’s over,” Jim reassured her as he pulled her closer.
“I know, but it’s still in our heads, all of our heads.” She knew theallextended to Jim who had been resolute in his desire to avoid discussing how he’d felt, how he still felt on the back of it.
“I am sorry, baby, for allowing it to happen, for endangering you—” He got no further before Tasha interrupted.
“You were trying to protect me. I wish you’d told me but I in no way hold you responsible. What happened was not your fault, not even the fault of the police, not really. It was all down to Mickie, just Mickie.”
“I should never have exposed you to her,” Jim said with a sad and guilty expression.
“James, she was unhinged, she was mad about you,” she replied with a short laugh as she tried to lighten the moment. “She hated every woman you ever met, loved and married but never tried to kill any of them so how were you to know? You couldn’t.”
“I don’t deserve you.” Jim repeated his earlier words.
