With this reasonable amount of coverage, I felt ashamed at my harsh words to Maura. She hadn't earned my sharp tongue. I would have to apologize when I saw her next.
In the kitchen, I found a covered plate of eggs, bacon and biscuits still warm on the top of the range, and I ate with relish. Cole's seed had filled me up, but I was still quite hungry. With nothing else to do, I wandered his – our - large house until he returned.
Cole returned within the hour to find me reading a book. His large frame filled the doorway and I was once again amazed at how handsome my husband was. I remembered the feel of his hot skin, the callouses on his large palms, what he could do with his nimble fingers.
"I see you've dressed," he murmured, his gaze raking over my body.
I glanced down. "Oh, there's something wrong with this blouse. There aren't any buttons."
He held out a hand and I took it, placing my book on the arm of the chair. Gently, he turned me around to face away from him. His large hands came around my body and grabbed the long panels that dangled down. He wrapped one, then the other, about my waist and I felt him fumbling with them at my back, securing them.
"There. It buttons in the back."
Turning me back around, he took in my blouse. So did I.
"I'm sticking out!" What kind of garment was this?
"Yes, I can see that and I'm enjoying it immensely. If I wasn't so hungry I'd fuck you again."
I pursed my lips. "That's neither here nor there. I need a blouse!"
He nodded toward me. "You're wearing your blouse. As you have clearly observed, your blouses will keep your breasts exposed. It's what married women wear."
"My mother doesn't wear something like this."
"Yes, she does."
I froze, thinking. She'd always worn a white or colored blouse with a scarf of the same fabric about her neck, criss-crossed and buttoned behind her. "She's always modestly dressed. I've never seen her breasts exposed before."
"You wouldn't. You were a child, then an unmarried woman."
I placed a hand on his arm, the large muscles of his biceps clenching beneath. "You...you want everyone to see me like this?" Is this what he desired? To share my breasts with others?
"Not everyone will see you, but here on the ranch, yes."
I bit my lip. "But why?"
"Besides it being what a wife wears, it allows me to see your beautiful breasts at all times. I don't want anything in the way if I want to touch them. Pull on your nipples. Suck on them."
I gasped. I couldn't help it. The mental image he wrought was very appealing.
"Can't you do that here, in the house, in private?"
Cole lifted my chin with his thumb, forcing me to look at him. "What's the matter, darlin'? The real issue, please, because you know you'll be exposed to others. Sam's already seen you."
"I don't like my breasts," I whispered. There. I'd said it. I felt tears well in my eyes.
"Oh, darlin'. They're sheer perfection. Why wouldn't you like them?" He ran a knuckle over my exposed flesh.
"My...my sister says they are obscene. Too large for a woman of my stature, that a man will find me grotesque and will only wish to copulate with me in the dark."
He barked out a laugh. "Grotesque? Copulate in the dark?" His eyebrows went up.
He was mocking me. "How dare you laugh at me!" I couldn't help the tears that slipped down my cheeks.
"I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at what your sister said. Did we copulate in the dark when I took your maidenhead?"
"Well, no."