Page 89 of The Work Husband

‘It’s a gorgeous day,’ I told Sam.

‘It’s Sunday, right?’ He smiled sleepily.

‘Yup.’

‘What shall we do?’ he asked.

I said, ‘You know perfectly well what we’re doing. But first…’

‘What? I don’t need to put the bins out, do I? It being Sunday.’

‘Not that.’

‘Iron a shirt for later?’

‘No, doofus!’ I swatted him lightly with a pillow.

He grabbed my arms, flipped me over and smiled down at me, his hands on my shoulders, his knees straddling my thighs. We were both gasping with laughter and something else that the laughter was about to turn into.

‘What, then?’ he asked. ‘What do we need to do first?’

‘I think you can guess…’

‘Hmmm.’ He lowered his face and kissed my collarbone lightly, his lips gliding downwards over my skin. ‘Maybe this?’

His breath was warm against my shoulder, but his touch still made me shiver.

‘Yes.’ My voice came out slightly hoarse. ‘That.’

His mouth was on my breast now, his lips finding my nipple before moving to the other. ‘And then this?’

My arms were still trapped by his hands, but my calves wrapped around his hips, pulling him close to me. His hands left my arms and moved to my legs, parting my thighs as his mouth moved lower and lower.

‘And this?’ he asked, but his words were muffled, and I wasn’t capable of answering him any more.

Afterwards, we lay in each other’s arms, laughing again, satiated. Just a few months before, this would have felt awkward and tentative – risky, almost. But it didn’t any more. It felt like the most natural thing in the world, which is what it was.

‘Now what shall we do?’ I asked.

‘Someone wants his breakfast.’ While we had sex, Milton had turned his back in disgust, but now he was back, his furry face accusatory.

‘And I want a coffee.’

‘On it.’ Sam jumped out of bed, pulling on his discarded boxer shorts and padding through to the bathroom and then the kitchen.

As I listened to the familiar domestic sounds – Sam’s electric toothbrush, Milton’s enthusiastic meows as breakfast approached, the hum of the coffee machine – contentment washed over me.

Pushing myself up on the pillows, putting off the moment when I would need to get out of bed, I reached for my phone. Zahra and Okan hardly ever contacted me on weekends, but when they did, I liked to respond as soon as I could because they were so easy-going the rest of the time.

Today, though, there was no email from either of them. I checked my WhatsApp and there were no updates there either – the arrangements for later that day were unchanged, and we had plenty of time before we needed to leave.

Snuggling into the pillows more comfortably, I flicked to Gossip Guru. I rarely checked that any more either, but it had become a bit of a guilty pleasure when I had time on my hands.

And today, I was rewarded with some juicy scandal from my old life – a video story that linked to an article in a tabloid newspaper. Curious, I clicked it.

Trent Wallis arrested after bar brawl, I read.

‘Coffee.’ Sam put the cup down next to me and dropped a kiss on my forehead.