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I’m so lost in my bubbling paradise that for a moment, I forget all of my woes. This… this is just what I needed. Suddenly all of my problems don’t seem so bad and the aches in my body vanish, helping to melt the tension in my muscles.
I remain prone in the bath until the water turns cold. When I exit, I wrap my hair in a towel and pat my body dry before heading into the bedroom and checking the time. Nathan will be home in about an hour. I have time to just lounge naked and read until he gets back, or maybe I should start the jigsaw puzzle he got me for Christmas. I do love doing jigsaw puzzles.
There’s nothing worse than having a small portion of time to waste and not being able to know what to waste it on. You spend the majority of it trying to choose because later on, when you look back on this blissful moment, you don’t want any regrets.
I chose the jigsaw.
“I’m back,” Nathan calls unnecessarily as he ascends the stairs. I’d heard his car when it turned onto the street and heard the door unlock, open and then close. My hearing is just that good.
He steps into the room and blinks at the sight of me, sitting naked on the ground, jigsaw pieces scattered around me and an almost finished jigsaw edge in front. “I’m not sure if I should be aroused or not.”
I grin at him over my shoulder and the towel falls from my head, dropping onto the puzzle box beside me. “You should always be aroused at the sight of me.”
“Good.” He holds out his hand, so I take it and stand and sigh with contentment as he threads his fingers through my hair, pushing it into the right places.
“You wanted to talk,” I state softly, my eyes closed as he continues to tease my hair.
“Yes.” When he clears his throat, my eyes ping open and my skin feels the chill in the air. My bliss has ended; it’s time to be an adult. “So did you.”
“Yeah.”
We both pause, the silence between us wrought with sexual tension. His breathing is shallow; mine is heavy. I feel as though I’ve just run a marathon.
“Maybe I should get dressed,” I whisper and reach onto the bed where my gown rests.
“It won’t erase the mental image of you sitting gloriously naked on our bedroom floor. Or standing, looking and smelling so clean and fresh in the middle of the room.” His hand curves around my hip and my lips tremble with a ragged breath that pushes through them. I want so badly to concede and let him take me in a way that I know will plunge me back into the state of bliss I just vacated, but I can’t.
“No.” I step away and pull the robe around my shoulders. My arms are trembling so badly, I struggle to get them through the arm holes. “We really need to talk.”
“We do.” He sits on the bed and gnaws on his lip, his eyes casting a mournful glow on the ground as I tie the rope around my middle. “I’m leaving on the twelfth of August.”
I can’t breathe. I grip hold of the edge of my chest of drawers for support. “Leaving?”
“It’s full steam ahead with the store. I have to go.” His eyes hit mine, sparkling with guilt and sorrow. “It’s the only time Kendrick can fit me in.”
Kendrick is the man who helped him hire staff and get all of his other stores up and running.
“Otherwise it’ll be another six months.”
“And you can’t do it yourself?” I choke, wondering why now, of all times. “How long will you be gone for?”
“A few weeks, but it’s only Essex. I’ll be able to commute back.”
My eyes fill with tears and my heart thuds to the bottom of my stomach with a heavy beat. “And the kids?”
“We’ll have to figure it out,” he admits, wincing. “I won’t need to be there every day and the days that I am, I’ll take the kids if I can.”
“And if you can’t?”
He shrugs. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.”
“We should hire a nanny or put them in nursery.”
“No!” He snaps, standing suddenly.
“Nathan.”
“I said no. I can’t…”
My fingers slide around his wrist and squeeze gently. “I understand your reservations. I know it must be so hard for you to trust after all you’ve been through, but…”
“I said no.”
“Nath…”
“NO!” He shouts, startling me so badly I take a step away. My hand goes to my chest instinctively and his eyes soften almost immediately. “I can’t put them in the hands of somebody we don’t know or trust.”
“Then I should quit now,” I snarl petulantly. “Because how the hell am I going to cope if I can’t find a sitter?”
