AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I wasn’t sure if you’d want to go—I didn’t want to make the decision for you.”
“That’s a cop-out and you know it,” she said. “All you had to do was sayI’ll talk about it with your mother.But no, you just put the whole decision on me. YouknowI don’t want to go sit and watch your ex sing a bunch of songs about how much she cares about you.” Disgusted, she pushed past him.
“Then don’t go.”
Heather couldn’t believe those words came out of her husband’s mouth. “Don’t go? You think I’m really going to let you go without me?”
“Let me go?” Danny said. “You say it like I need supervision. Not like I’d be alone. Maggie and Cole will be there. My dad.Our children.What do you think’s going to happen? She’s going to conk me over the head and carry me off?”
Heather didn’t answer. She turned back to her work in the kitchen. She could feel Danny fuming behind her, but she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. A minute later, he went back to the living room to watch TV. She knew, logically, there was no reason to be jealous of Danny’s ex. They hadn’t seen each other in years.
But Lauren was a glamorous, famous rock star. And Heather? Well, she was just Heather. And rightly or wrongly, the rock star trumped the soccer mom each and every time.
By the time they were ready for bed, Heather had been stewing about things long enough to have something to prove to herself. In the bathroom she fluffed her hair and slipped on one of Danny’s work shirts, making sure the top few buttons were undone. Danny was getting into bed when she came in.
The floor squeaked, and he looked towards her, his face still shuttered from their argument. But she saw his eyes run up and down, lingering on where her legs disappeared under the cotton material.
“I don’t like fighting with you,” she said.
“I don’t either.”
She slid under the covers and reached for him. Lately it seemed the only sex they had was make-up sex, but she needed to know that her husband still wanted her. Danny put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, and she could feel him pressed up against her.
As he kissed her, Danny undid the remaining buttons, kissing her throat. His hands felt cool as they massaged her breasts, and she pulled her knees up a little as he moved to cover her, settling between her thighs. A small sigh escaped her as he pushed inside. Heather tightened her fingers on his arms as he paused. Then Danny’s hips moved harder, more deliberately. A louder moan gathered in the back of his throat.
“Shhh! Quiet! You’ll wake the boys.”
Her rebuke made him pause. But he started again, driving in and out until he buried his face in her neck to muffle the sounds he made when he finally came. He rolled off her and they lay side by side.
“Good night.” She turned on her side, away from her husband. It had been fast, faster than Heather had wanted, and she felt dissatisfied.At least snuggle with me,she thought, hoping Danny would slide in behind her and hold her against him.
“Night.” Danny turned the other way.
Wrapped in the covers, Heather found she wasn’t ready to sleep. She’d wanted more—needed more—from their lovemaking. To feel sexy. Desired. He’d obviously been happy to oblige, but there hadn’t been much foreplay—and she certainly hadn’t had an orgasm. But that was par for the course: sex between them was rarely spontaneous anymore, and it was more tepid than hot. Danny seemed to just close his eyes and take care of business.
Half the time she didn’t even look up at him, not wanting to see him with his eyes closed and wonder what he was thinking about. Because she was pretty sure it wasn’t her. She wanted to be angry about that, but she couldn’t. If she was being honest with herself, she occasionally fantasized about her favorite movie star—but it wasn’t the same. There was no way on earth she was ever getting the chance to be with George Clooney.
But when do we have time to fix it? We barely have time for sex anyway. Is this as good as it gets?
It hadn’t always been like this. When they were dating, and first married—even after Lucas was born—Danny could hardly keep his hands off her, and Heather was the same. They’d been late for dinner with friends more than once because one of them had gotten frisky. She wondered if her husband ever thought about how they used to be, in the early days, until a darker thought crossed her mind.
Does he even think about me at all? Or does he think about… about… her?
Heather told herself to stop, that she was being ridiculous. But once the idea wormed its way into her head, it sat there and festered. Her eyes burned with unwelcome and unshed tears. Her jaw ached from being clenched, but she was not going to explain why she was crying in the middle of the night—she’d sound like a damn fool.
On his side of the bed, Danny also lay awake. In the dark, he felt his wife shift under the sheets. Heather initiating sex had been a nice surprise. They didn’t have sex much anymore, and most of the time, he was the one who dropped the obvious hints—and over the past year, even that was rare. And while he was physically sated, his mind was restless. Something seemed missing, and this wasn’t the first time he’d felt this way.
I should be happy my wife wants to have sex. But even when it’s spontaneous, it seems rehearsed.Just another checkbox on the to-do list. Hell, I worry more about being quiet than enjoying it.They hadn’t always been so boring. He and Heather had been in love once, or at least he thought so.
He wasn’t so sure anymore.
ChapterNine
The day of the Sandoval show, Lauren lounged in one of the chairs in her suite at the Somerset, staring out the window. She’d become quite fond of this particular chair and its soft, buttery gray leather. Her cell phone chimed.
“Hey, Augie. What’s up? What’s that noise?” She could hear an odd crinkling noise in the background.
“Groceries. I’m at my parents’.”
