Page 83 of Marriage and the Midlife Crisis

I’d immediately let go of her hips and tried to control my racing heart and heavy breathing. There hadn’t been a damned thing I could do about the fact that my hard dick was pressing against my zipper, a fact she would have seen if she glanced down.

“I think I should go to bed, now. Goodnight,” she’d whispered.

“Goodnight, sweetness. I love you, and I hope you have sweet dreams.”

She had flashed me a quick smile before walking into the guest bedroom and quietly closing the door behind her.

Sleep was elusive, even after I’d jacked off in the shower to relieve the ache in my balls. I finally drifted off a little after one, hugging Melanie’s pillow close to my chest.

I’d worried that things would be awkward between us Friday morning, but both of us made an effort to keep things light and easy. After breakfast – I made the pancakes while Mel made the bacon – we pulled out our old Scrabble game. My Dad had loved to play, as did my father-in-law, so both Mel and I had grown up playing it. She was a fierce competitor and easily beat me by playing the word “quixotic” using the “t” from the word “notice” that I’d just played a few turns earlier.

“Let’s see, that twenty-six points, and it’s on a triple word score, so that’s seventy-eight, plus fifty bonus points for using all of my letters.” Melanie couldn’t hide her satisfied grin as she wrote one hundred twenty eight on the scorepad under her name.

“Shit, there’s no way I’ll be able to catch up,” I said, looking at her total of two hundred seventy one points to my measly one hundred thirty seven.

She wagged her finger at me. “Don’t give up hope. There are still a few tiles to play.”

I eyed the letters on the wooden tray in front of me. “I have all vowels, Mel.”

She giggled then, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d heard that sound. “Oh, my,” she murmured.

“Yeah, I think that calls for something a little stronger than ‘oh, my.” I’m thinking more along the lines of ‘Holy shit, I’m fucked.”

Melanie threw her head back and laughed so hard that she had trouble catching her breath, and there were tears glistening in the corners of her eyes that she delicately wiped away.

“I’m so glad I could amuse you,” I groused playfully, and she wrinkled her nose at me.

“Just be glad we aren’t playing Strip Scrabble. You’d be down to your boxer briefs by now.”

“Is that an option for the next game?”

We had played Strip Scrabble on occasion over the years the boys weren’t home. The rules were simple. If a player scored over thirty points in one turn, the other player had to take off an item of clothing. No matter who actually scored more points, we both ended up winning because it had always led to hot, sweaty, spectacular sex.

Melanie raise a brow and pinned me with a look. “Not the next game, no, but maybe the game after that.”

I was quietly hopeful when we finished the next game, but Melanie stood and started putting the board away, giving me a sassy wink.

“I think that’s all the Scrabble for today,” she teased, then shrieked and swatted at me when I reached across the table to pinch her delectable ass.

After a lunch of leftover lasagna, I turned on a movie about a bank heist gone wrong while Melanie grabbed her Kindle and curled up in the fluffy chair in the corner. She tucked her legs under her and settled in to read, and I spent more time staring at her than I did watching the movie.

When she drifted off to sleep about forty minutes later, I grabbed one of the fleece throws that Mel kept in a basket next to the chair and carefully draped it over her. The Kindle was resting on her lap, and I didn’t try to move it for fear of waking her.

Since it was unlike her to nap during the day, I had wondered if she’d slept as poorly as I did.

She woke up almost an hour later and looked at the blanket in bemusement.

“I didn’t want you to get cold,” I shrugged. She stood up and stretched before folding the blanket and putting it back in the basket. She paused as she walked by my chair, then leaned down and gave me a kiss on the top of my head.

“Thank you,” she said quietly, before going into the kitchen for a glass of water.

We decide on a light dinner of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, and afterward, snuggled on the couch again while we watched a movie. Melanie picked one of the rom-coms she loved, and I swore the plot was the same as every other one she watched. She loved them though, and I loved her, so I pulled her into my side and watched her as she watched the TV screen.

We ended our night with another passionate kiss outside the door of the guest bedroom, this one ending when I pulled back this time.

“I only stopped because I don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret in the morning,” I whispered as I rested my forehead against hers. We stood there like that for several long moments until our breathing returned to normal.

She took a step back and nodded decisively. “You’re right. I’m not ready for anything more just yet.”