"And you think that I'm such an animal and so out of control that I'm not prepared to wait until my wife is able to accommodate me making love to her. What do you take me for?" He asked coolly.
"You're upset."
"What gave it away?"
"Samuel--"
"No. Bloody enough! I know you've been suffering from insecurities ever since you started getting bigger while carrying my children. I've assured and reassured you enough for you to understand that I love you, only you. It doesn't matter to me if you gained ten or even fifty pounds during the pregnancy. I will always love you. What you did to bring these babies into the world made me love you even more.
"Do you think I'm that stupid to throw everything away? To do what? Be with someone else who means little or nothing to me? I would like to think that I've proven myself to you since we decided to give our marriage a boost. Am I wrong?"
She shook her head, suddenly feeling miserable.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, Eliza, just drop this nonsense. I have a family and this is it for me. It's time you start acting like you believe me."
She stretched out a hand for his and after a slight hesitation, he took it.
"Can you take off your clothes, please?"
"What? No. You don't have to try and--"
"Do what?" She asked musingly, drawing him towards her. "Lose myself in your arms? You haven't kissed me since I've been in the hospital. I know there was a lot going on there with my health and the babies, but we're here and yes, her problems are far from over, but tonight I want to feel you against me, inside me. I've missed you."
His eyes flared in response to the passion in hers, and he felt his body tightening. It was true that he was longing to feel her wrapped around him, but he had deliberately shoved it from his mind. He knew she had been through a lot and reining in his desire to be with her was a small sacrifice to pay. He could wait until she was well enough.
"Eliza, we can't--"
"I'm fully healed." Her eyes searched his face. "Unless you no longer find me attractive and were just saying that speech to make me feel better about myself."
"Don't be ridiculous!"
"Then prove it. Make love to me, Samuel. Make me feel like a woman again. Like your woman. I look at myself in the mirrorand see all this weight that I'm still carrying and the creases on my abdomen and I want to scream. I keep wondering if my husband sees them too and is turned off."
"Never." He vowed.
"Then show me. Touch me like you used to before I started getting fat and ungainly. Make me feel whole again."
"I don't want to hurt you." His voice was thick with rising need.
"You won't. Make love to me, darling." She whispered.
Shrugging off the uncertainty, he rose a little unsteadily and took off his sweater. With his eyes holding hers, he kicked off his shoes and then unhooked his belt. "You'll always be the most beautiful woman in the world to me." He told her hoarsely. He took off his trousers and kicked them away and then removed his underwear. He was already throbbing. "Is this proof enough?"
"Absolutely." She whispered huskily. "Come here, darling."
He lowered himself onto the bed, his hands reaching for her. "Let me." He unhooked the front clasp of her maternity bra, eyesflaring as her breasts sprang free. "Is it awful that I watched my sons suckling and felt like I've been replaced?" His hands cupped the flesh as his eyes lifted to hers.
"No." She shook her head, her breath coming fast between her lips. "And there's no reason you cannot share. There's more than enough." She arched her back as he used his thumbs to flick over the nipples.
"I've been wondering about the taste."
"Now you don't have to wonder." Her breath caught in her throat as he lowered his head to the nipple. The minute his mouth touched her flesh, she felt the heat arrowing straight to the core of her. Her hands lifted to grasp his hair, digging into the dense strands and holding on tight.
His lips were tentative at first, as if testing the taste and texture as well as the sensitivity. Then he increased the pace, suckling hungrily. It had been too long, he thought drunkenly. He told himself over the past weeks that he was all right, that he could wait for as long as possible. But touching her, tasting her like this reminded him that he needed her.
He suckled long and hard, hands racing up and down her back, fingers digging into her flesh. When he finally lifted his head, his eyes were glazed with passion, his body pulsating with it.
