Page 38 of One More Time

When he reached her, she held out her hand. ‘Give me the car keys.’

Her expression wasn’t hard to read but he knew he was in dangerous waters. Retrieving the keys from his pocket, he gingerly passed them over to her. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘I don’t want to hear it. Just get in, Charlie.’ She climbed behind the wheel and slammed her door shut. ‘And don’t say a word for the entire drive home.’ She revved the Valiant to life, the tyres skidding as she pulled out of the parking space.

Twenty uncomfortable minutes later, Charlie was following her through their front door. ‘Please Grace, say something.’

She flew up the staircase like a bullet fired and he anxiously trailed her. How was he going to make this right? God damn it… He slumped on the edge of their bed, struggling to find words.

Wrestling the clips from her hair, she threw them at him from across the room then kicked off her shoes. ‘How dare you embarrassed me like that, Charlie Wilson.’ She thundered past him and into their ensuite. ‘Everyone at that nightclub will now think you’re a brute.’

‘I don’t care what people think.’ He shrugged. ‘I only care what you think.’ He went to the doorway, leaving a little distance between them as she stripped off and tugged her robe on.

Turning away from the mirror, her hands now on her hips, Grace shook her head. ‘Well, maybe you should care what other people think, Charlie, because it might have stopped you making a complete and utter fool of yourself, and of me.’

‘You’re right. I’m sorry I made a scene.’ Watching her brush her teeth into oblivion, he went back to the bed and sank down to the edge, his gaze to his tightly clasped hands. ‘I’m such a jerk.’

‘Yes, you were.’ With a resounding sigh, she padded over and dropped to her knees in front of him, taking his hand in hers. ‘Listen to me, and listen good.’ Her touch was reassuring and her eyes were now filled with concern. ‘You have to open up and tell me what’s going on inside that head of yours. Because if you don’t, we’re doomed, and I mean it this time.’

He blinked back tears – men weren’t meant to cry. ‘You don’t want to know.’

‘I have to know, or it’s going to be the death of us.’ Her expression filling with pain and misery, she rose and sat down beside him. ‘You’ve been increasingly distant. Do you regret marrying me?’

He desperately wanted to reassure her. ‘No, Grace, please believe me, I’m not regretting anything with you.’ He dug deep, beneath the layers of guilt and regret to the profound love he harboured for her. ‘I’m actually happier than I’ve ever been in my life.’ A white lie, but there was truth behind it – he was happy being her husband, and Hope’s father. He just wasn’t happy within himself. And he wasn’t sure that he’d ever been, or would ever be.

‘Is that so?’ She gave a sarcastic laugh. ‘You could have fooled me.’

‘Seriously, you and Hope are my absolute world,’ he said with absolute conviction.

Her gaze darted over his face before she turned to the starry view out the window and sighed sadly. ‘What am I supposed to think, Charlie? Year after year, I’m helplessly watching my husband shrink into himself.’ She brought her tear-filled gaze back to his and stared at him, as if trying to see within his soul.

‘What can I do, Grace? I want to make us right again.’

‘Once and for all, you have to be honest with me.’ She cleared her throat and sat up straighter. ‘I want to know everything. After six years of marriage, and some of them quite testing, believe you me, I think you owe me that much.’

‘Yes, you’re right, I do.’ He drew in a deep breath. ‘No matter how much I try and move past it, I keep reliving that sickening moment, Grace. The bomb goes off, and my men …’ He tried to choke back a sob, but was helpless to stop it. ‘I’ve tried to let the horror of it go, but I still feel like I should be back there with my battalion, making them bastards pay for what they did.’

She didn’t say anything for a few heartbeats. Then, tipping her head to the side, she asked, ‘Making who pay, exactly?’

He didn’t have a straightforward answer for her. ‘I don’t know, Grace, them.’

‘Them who?’ Her tone was curt.

‘The sick bastards who detonated the bomb that killed some of my men.’ His tone bristled with fury that had nothing to do with Grace’s line of inquiry, and everything to do with the haunting memories.

Grace shot to her feet and paced over to the window. ‘You promised me you were done with the war, Charlie,’ she said to the view outside.

‘I can’t help how much it has scarred me.’ He heaved an almighty sigh. ‘I’m not sure I’ll ever be done with it.’

Her reply was soft. ‘I see. Thank you for being honest with me.’

Charlie stood and, going out on a limb, came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. ‘You know I’m no good with words.’ He indicated with the slightest of pressure on her hips for her to turn and face him, and it gave him all the hope that he needed when she did. ‘How about you let me show you just how much I love you?’

* * *

Even after their turbulent night, Grace found herself wanting nothing more as she tumbled into that baby-blue gaze. As hard as their marriage could too often be, and as much as she sometimes contemplated a life without him by her side, Charlie owned her heart. And right this minute, she wanted to show him that. The hunger behind his kiss rendered her speechless, and her robe dropped from her shoulders as she instinctively melted into the hard planes of him.

Charlie’s mouth was hot and insistent as he trailed kisses all the way from her collarbone down to her navel and hips, between her thighs then finally, as Charlie went to his knees, to the very place she longed for him to savour. His sensual touch unleashed her wild side, and she bit her lip to stop from crying out in pleasure.