Caroline rubbed the two rings against one another, sliding the platinum-and-diamond pieces back and forth between two fingers.
“You can’t imagine how badly I want answers.” Her brown eyes reflected the glow of the fire as she glanced up at him. “I need to know what happened, so yes, of course I’ll meet a new doctor.”
In this much, at least, they were on the same page.
More than that, he recognized the vibrant energy and determination in that statement. It was a flicker from the past; for a moment, he spied the woman he’d fallen in love with inside this stranger who’d returned to him.
“Good.” He closed his hand around hers where she toyed with the rings, stilling the movement long enough to take the jewelry from her. “Then, with your permission, I’d like to return these to where they belong.”
Wordlessly, she watched him line up the bands and hold them over her left hand. The swing swayed gently beneath them, lulling them to forget some of the angst of their hellish day. Still, a furrow wrinkled her brow just above her nose, as if she couldn’t quite decide.
He tipped her chin up with his free hand, needing to see that fire in her eyes again.
“All I’m asking for is the chance to start over.” He spoke gently, knowing this had been tough on her, too. He didn’t know how much he could trust her, but he damned well needed to try to move past her betrayal. “To try and be a couple again.” He nudged the phone beside her, the video feed from the nursery brightening for a moment to show their sleeping child. “For Lucas’s sake.”
He knew it was the final words that persuaded her. She gave the slightest nod before returning her gaze to her bare finger as he slid the wedding band set back into place.
Memories of the vows they’d spoken hit him hard. He could hear her voice from the past promising to love him forever and always. For the rest of her days.
He’d believed her absolutely.
Disillusionment left a chill the roaring fire couldn’t touch. Having accomplished his goal for the night, he celebrated the victory by placing a cool kiss on the back of her hand just above the rings. He was ready to finish his drink and retire for the night, to figure out his next move once they got to New York.
And yes, to take his time staring at his child and wrapping his brain around this massive change in his life.
Straightening, he was surprised to see the soft glow of heat in Caroline’s eyes, the relaxed parting of her lips. He watched in stunned fascination as she canted forward. Toward him.
All around them, the night sounds intensified. A few brave birds called out and the logs crackled and shifted, casting sparks on the stone patio deck nearby. Caroline’s breath puffed against his lips for one sexy exhale before her hands clamped his shoulders.
He had a moment to breathe in the strawberry scent of her lip balm. Then her mouth landed on his with a delicate and wholly unexpected kiss.
* * *
Caroline didn’t know what came over her.
Simple attraction to her husband? Or was it a memory of true love inspired by the wedding rings he’d carefully slid into place on her left hand?
She didn’t know. But the compulsion to get closer, to test the swirl of complicated feelings sending pleasure to every atom of her being, was too strong to ignore.
How long had it been since she’d experienced something so…delicious?
Her tentative exploration of Damon’s lips didn’t last long. A breath. An instant. Then his hands came around her waist, drawing her whole body toward him, as if he could encompass all of her with one squeeze of his powerful arms.
The pleasure she’d been feeling multiplied ten times. A hundred times. Being pressed up against her husband’s muscular warmth sent tingly sensations everywhere from her breasts to her thighs, with the most potent concentration deep inside her. Being in his arms, kissing him, felt more like coming home than crossing the threshold of this colorless mansion ever had.
This, she recognized.
This, she remembered in her body more than her brain.
How else could she account for the sudden, reflexive need? Her hands tunneled into his dark hair, and she craved more. More of the kiss and the man.
He accommodated her instantly, pulling her fully across his lap. Her thighs draped over his, her hip pressed intimately to his arousal. The chilly night air blew lightly on her back, but it didn’t cool the heat their bodies generated where they touched. Damon kissed her with a slow thoroughness that undid her. She dropped her hands to his chest, wanting to feel the thrum of his heartbeat, to see if the rhythm was as unsteady as hers. Or maybe just to reassure herself this was no fevered dream or wishful memory.
Damon McNeill in her arms was the real thing.