Page 45 of The Work Husband

‘Like I said, I missed you.’

‘Same.’

I lay still for a moment, relishing the steadiness and security I felt with him there next to me, the steady rise and fall of his breathing in synch with my own. Then I felt something else too – first a flicker and then a flame, beginning somewhere deep inside of me and spreading.

I looked into Sam’s eyes, then drew closer to him until they were too near to focus on properly.

Then I kissed him. His lips were soft against mine, and he tasted of toothpaste. I knew I didn’t, but I didn’t care. His tongue gently parted my own lips, and the heat inside me increased, melting me the way his kiss always had.

My hand slipped underneath his T-shirt, and I stroked the familiar curves and planes of his skin – soft but also hard, smooth in some places and ridged with muscle in others. His fingers smoothed my hair back from my face then tangled into it as he pulled me closer still.

Desire was pulsing strongly in me now, waves of it overcoming any remaining sleepiness, washing away my uncertainty. I broke away from our kiss for just long enough to pull my T-shirt off over my head, then kissed him again as my fingers fumbled with the button of his jeans.

As my hand found his cock, I felt him harden and heard him gasp. His hands moved to my breasts, and I knew he’d find my nipples were hard too. He lifted his hips, and between us we scrunched his jeans down over his thighs.

I straddled him, guiding him inside me, knowing I was ready without even being touched. I needed him now – I didn’t want to wait. I needed him to know how much I wanted him, how fierce and urgent my desire was.

His finger found my clit, gently circling and stroking it just the way he knew I liked as he moved inside me, softly at first and then more urgently. My hands pressed into his shoulders as I moved my body, angling him to pull him deeper and deeper with each thrust.

As our bodies moved faster, I looked down at him, waiting to see on his face when he was close to orgasm – the moment when his eyes would close, his lips would part, his breathing would become ragged.

Seeing that was enough to push me over the edge, and our bodies pulsed together, our breath coming in gasps, the sweat on our skin mingling as we gradually returned to stillness.

I felt his chest move under mine as he laughed breathlessly. ‘I wasn’t expecting that.’

‘Me neither.’ I could taste his sweat as my lips moved against his skin. ‘I just – I saw you and I was…’

‘I know. Guess that’s one way to make up after a row, right?’

‘The best way.’ He slid out of me, and I flopped down next to him, my head on his shoulder.

‘Let’s not ever do that again,’ he said.

‘What? Shag? Not sure I’m down with that.’

He laughed. ‘You know what I mean.’

‘Yeah. Let’s not.’

‘Georgia?’ I felt his chest rise as he inhaled, but he didn’t let the breath out.

‘What?’

‘About Ava. Please, just – please know. There’s nothing to worry about. Nothing going on between us. If there had been, I wouldn’t have done this.’

‘I know,’ I said.

And I did know. I knew I’d behaved horribly, knew I should trust Sam, knew that what had just happened between us was right and true and loving.

But also – I knew that even then, in that moment when we were together as intimately as two people can be, Ava had been there. As soon as we’d finished, his thoughts had turned to her.

I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been thinking of her the whole time and not just afterwards.

TWENTY-TWO

The rest of the day passed peacefully – until it didn’t.

Sam and I went out for brunch, strolling hand in hand out into the sunshine and bypassing the place that specialised in smoothies and the one that did avocado and poached eggs on sourdough toast in favour of the revamped greasy spoon that fried everything in loads of butter and did a killer Bloody Mary.