AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Emery joins me, though she's still sprawled over me.
Is this joy? I don't think I've ever felt anything like it before.
She stops laughing, her expression turning softer, and she catches my face in her hands to kiss me.
I roll us over with my body covering hers, but even that can't interrupt our kiss.
Emery hooks her legs around mine, looping her arms around my neck.
Something happens then, as if a switch inside me has been flipped. I abruptly realize what I'm doing—lying on the lawn, in the daytime, kissing my wife with enough passion that we both know we'll be shagging right here on the grass in a minute or two at most. I pull away and spring to my knees, then sit back on my heels while straddling her feet.
She gazes at me with…adoration.
And I regard her without expression. What have I done? She'll think I can give her things I can't. I should never have let my loss of control last night and this morning affect her expectations. Shinty on her belly? Spinning on the lawn? I've lost my mind.
I cough. "That was interesting, but I have—things to do."
She lies there on the grass, studying me, but I can't decipher her expression.
Rising, I help her up. "I'll see you at dinner."
Then I rush back into the house.
My wife does not waltz into my office to tease me or call me Rory baby.
In the evening, I find Emery asleep on the sofa in the sitting room with an empty glass on her lap and an open bottle of Ben Nevis on the coffee table. Now I've driven her to drink. Christ, I should never have let things go this far, but I can't take back what I've done. I let her believe I might love her, though I've never spoken any such words. I rouse Emery to inform her dinner is ready and usher her into the dining room. Our idle conversation during the meal feels rather forced, but neither of us mentions the incident on the lawn.
Emery seems even more melancholy now, though she tries to hide it with tight smiles and breezy comments.
When we retire to the bedroom, we simply go to sleep. I hold her in my arms as we both drift off, and I wonder whether I have any idea what I'm doing. No, I don't. Not anymore. Emery tempts me to do things I never would've done on my own, or with anyone else. Why she has this power over me, I don't understand.
But it scares the fuck out of me.
