Page 105 of Theirs to Tempt: The Marriage Claim

“How is your terrible extravagance?”

Her eyes close again. “Horrible.”

“I can tell.”

“I may never leave.” Her voice has a dreamy quality.

I move my thumb lazily along her spine. I tell myself I came down here because I wanted to make certain she was enjoying herself.

That’s a lie.

I came because an hour without seeing my wife was intolerable.

That realization should bother me considerably more than it does.

“Is everything okay?” she asks.

There are dozens of answers available. Most of them would preserve my dignity.

Instead, the truth comes out.

“I wanted to see you.”

Both of her eyes open.

For a moment, neither of us speaks.

I bend and press my mouth to the nape of her neck.

“Enjoy the rest of your day, wife.” Fuck. That word is the most beautiful one on the planet.

So that I don’t fuck her ragged, I return to the suite.

“How is she?” Caleb asks.

The image of Sophie stretched beneath that sheet returns immediately. “Oiled.”

His mouth curves.

“Yeah.”

Several hours later, Basil interrupts the silence.

“Mrs. Hawthorne-Pierce is arriving, gentlemen.”

“Thank you, Basil.”

“I live to serve.”

“You don’t live.”

There is a tiny pause.

“An unnecessarily philosophical distinction, Mr. Pierce.”

Sophie steps into the suite before Caleb can answer.

The spa has done exactly what it was supposed to do. Her skin glows. Her hair falls loose around her shoulders. Her nails are polished in some subtle shade I cannot name and do not care about. More importantly, the tension that usually lives between her shoulder blades is gone.