When she was so close to a second orgasm but frustratingly not able to attain it, he moved his thumb between her legs to find her clitoris, his slick rubs across the tiny peak making her whimper.
She moaned her approval, squeezing her eyes shut as he methodically took her apart. The clench of her body around his ripped an oath from his throat as he throbbed inside her, then joined her, spilling his mark of ownership deep within her.
It was so different, so vastly intimate to have a piece of him inside her like this; it sent a sated, liquid warmth through her entire body. She snuggled into him when he turned off the light and curved her against his side. But her glow faded when he dropped off to sleep almost immediately. No low murmurs of love as he’d once whispered in her ear to put her to sleep, just the furnace-like warmth of his body to comfort her.
It was a vivid reminder they were together only because of this baby. That this was what living with only half of him would be like. She’d had a taste of it now, and it was even worse than she’d thought it would be.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ONCE, A COUPLE of years ago, Coburn had run a race in the Sahara desert, where the only goal was to emerge alive. It was the equivalent of completing five and a half marathons in five days in one-hundred-degree heat. You slept in a tent only long enough to give your body the rest it needed, then you got the hell out before some creature ate you alive.
He’d mused, upon finishing the race, that he’d likely never feel that particular sense of impending doom again in his life. He hadn’t until now. It figured sleeping with his wife would do it.
Waking up with her long limbs curled around him, the sparkling Caribbean sunshine slanting over them through shutters he’d forgotten to close, it felt as if he’d come face-to-face with one of the deadly reptiles he’d been so careful to avoid in the desert.
Instead of amazing sex to cure his frustration, last night had been an emotionally complex coming together that had burrowed her under his skin that much deeper. She was getting to him exactly how she used to, and that couldn’t happen. Not when she’d taken his world apart piece by piece once before. Not when he’d never allow her to do it again.
His chest getting tighter with every moment, he slid out from under his sexy wife, threw on running clothes and headed for the door. A hard, pounding run in the sand helped until he stopped, an hour later, and his head was still in the same place. Confused. Muddy as hell.
Maybe part of the problem was that his wife had been a goddamned comic book hero last night, throwing herself onto a ledge above the ocean and saving a little boy’s life. It had hit him square in the face how much he’d underplayed the importance of her career. He couldn’t have saved that boy. He’d been standing there frozen like a useless idiot until she’d prompted him into action.
She had blown him away. But then again he’d always known his wife was exceptional. He’d loved Diana’s brain as much as he loved the rest of her. No one challenged him like her. No one.
He swiped his T-shirt across his dripping face and pulled in deep breaths as he walked it out to cool off. He needed to draw some lines. Needed to ensure he was in control of this marriage and not the other way around. Too much was riding on his performance as Grant CEO over the next six months to let himself fall back under Diana’s spell. He had exactly what he wanted—her agreement to make this a proper marriage for the sake of their child. Now he had to make it work for both of them. Which meant no false illusions on either of their parts. The all-consuming love they’d once shared had destroyed them. This iteration would involve common sense. Reality.
His mobile buzzed in his pocket. He fished it out, glanced at the display and held it to his ear. “David.”
“Sorry to intrude,” his chief operating officer apologized. “I have Reg on the line, too.”
His heart sank. Having his legal counsel on the line meant the recall had shifted from early rumblings into reality.
“How bad is it?”
“Bad,” Reg responded. “The amount of vehicles affected is in the tens of thousands. The class action suit involving those injured is in the hundreds. We are currently trying to qualify how many of those claims are substantial and what percentage are being motivated by the large sums of money being thrown around by the lawyers. Suffice it to say, this will be the largest recall we’ve ever been involved in.”
He closed his eyes against the nightmare unfolding on the phone. “How likely is it our parts were directly involved in the brake failures?”