“Control,” he told her, his hands digging into her hips, before filling her again, so completely that she nearly saw stars. “This should teach you to denigrate my advanced age.”
“Berab,” she gasped.
“Roger,” he corrected, his voice stern.
“Roger,” she repeated, throwing her head back.
“Yes, say my name again,” he told her, pulling out and thrusting once more, this time increasing the speed as he reached a long finger up, circling her hard, aching nipple before pinching it between his fingers, flooding her body again with a new wave of heat.
“Roger,” she repeated between pants.
“Who makes you feel this good?” He thrusted up another time, hot and intense.
“You,” she moaned. “Roger,” she added as he swatted her behind.
“Who do you want?” he asked, his voice hard and demanding but with an odd thread of need beneath it, as if her response truly mattered. As if he needed it, almost the way he seemed to need her body.
“I want you,” she told him. “I want you, Roger,” she repeated.“Only you.” Not only because he demanded it, but because, she realized in that moment, it was true. It had been since that first night.
“Damned straight,” he finally said with a growl, flipping her onto her back and pounding into her with near abandon, each stroke going deeper, as if he was trying to embed himself in her.
“Roger,” she whispered, reaching up with her good hand to stroke his cheek.
“I have you,” he told her, slipping a hand between them and rubbing his thumb, first in soft and then firm circles around her clitoris, winding her up once more. And suddenly, she was at the verge of another precipice. She cried out as he gave another long thrust while pressing down with that thumb, sending her hurtling over the edge once more.
She threw her head back, reveling in the shudders, somehow trusting his hold as he released, his body pumping from below.
Before she knew it, he’d eased her down next to him, wrapping his arms around her, holding her to his body. His chin on her shoulder.
It was too much.
And not necessary. Not in the slightest. After all, it was getting quite late. She glanced toward the clock on the mantel.
“Just stay a few more minutes,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ll let you go soon, I promise, but for now, just let me do this.”
“All right,” she acquiesced. “Just for a few minutes.” She yawned. “Just remember, it’s Big Red, no matter what you say,” she continued, closing her eyes. “And don’t you forget it.”
Nor would she forget. Nor who she was or that this was temporary.
Not even for a moment.
He should have stayed in bed. That was what Roger determined by a quarter past eight the next morning. With Miss Adler, preferably. But she had crept out some time before sunrise without a word.
A logical, prudent, and necessary course of action, but for some unknown reason, it had left him in a foul humor.
From there, well, despite his best intentions, his day just grew worse.
Not only had he tripped on a patch of ice on his way to attending his first weekday morning minyan in god only knew how long—this was why he should never listen to Sol—resulting in a tear in the knee of his favorite pair of trousers, but he’d jostled Ricardo upon entry, who most certainly did not accept his apology.
No, the man had instead proceeded to glare at him the entire time. At least when he wasn’t suspiciously whispering to everyone and anyone who neared his seat.
Ugh. He had no luck. Ricardo was like him and rarely attended daily prayers, but he’d chosen the anniversary of the man’s mother’s death to make his return and now was stuck with the consequences.
Worse, his bathwater was cold upon his return, and he accidentally splashed some on his copy of Isaac Aboab da Fonseca’s translation ofBeit Elohim, which he’d swiped earlier from the library justto test out his Hebrew skills. Thus, not only had he confirmed his abilities had atrophied to an embarrassing extent, but the volume his family had acquired back in Amsterdam was now, if not ruined, badly damaged.
Not an auspicious start to the day at all. Truly, if he could go back to bed, he would do so. But he could not, as he lacked both a governess and a nurse. There was no one to supervise his children’s meals but him until he found at least one replacement.
Thus, wearing new trousers, he made his way into the dining room for breakfast, only to be halted by Miss Adler.
