Husbandry (11 page)

Now I knew he wasn’t at his best. Any other morning, he
would have teased me about something else being stiff.

“You should have left me and Chad on wake-up duty. After
such a long day, you didn’t need more work.” I grabbed the bar of soap off the
shelf. “Here. Turn around.”

He rallied enough to quirk one eyebrow at me before he
complied.

I lathered him from head to toe and began kneading his
muscles. This way I could get him clean and work out the kinks in his neck and
back at the same time. Charles released a soft groan of appreciation and stood
still for me. The sound made me smile, and I enjoyed the feel of his body
beneath my fingers. His muscles were lean and tough—loosening by the minute—and
his skin was hotter than the water beating down on him. I took my time.

When I was done, he rotated his neck and rolled his
shoulders. He turned, revealing the return of his energy in his devilish grin.

“I’m tempted to return the favor, but there isn’t time.” He
lifted his hand to cup the side of my head and used his thumb to stroke my
cheek. “You’ll have to settle for a thank-you and a rain check.”

His kiss, when it came, disarmed me with its unexpected
gentleness. There was no doubt who was in control of the embrace, but there was
no aggression behind it. He molded his lips to mine and danced the tip of his
tongue between them. I opened to him without hesitation, and he stole my
breath.

A full minute passed before he stepped back. The loss of
contact left me feeling bereft, and I swayed toward him. Heat of a different
sort burst under my skin when he raked me with his hungry gaze, proving it was
really him in here with me and not one of the others. Then he got out to dry
off and get ready for work.

Chad wasn’t in the bedroom when I came out, and I didn’t
find him down in the kitchen, either. I’d assumed he wasn’t avoiding me
anymore, but maybe I’d relaxed too quickly. The sooner we sat down and talked,
the better. There wasn’t time for that sort of discussion this morning, though.
There were more immediate issues we needed to tackle before I left.

I finished breakfast and marched back upstairs, where I
caught Chad coming out of the spare bedroom. He looked like he was ready to
sprint off to work.

“Do you think one of us should stay home with Chuck?” Since
Chad was the one who’d spoken to the doctor, I asked him this important
question.

He adjusted the shoulder strap of his workbag. “Chuck should
be fine now. There are plenty of ice packs in the freezer, and if he needs us,
he can always call. I was just on my way to check on him.”

We looked in on my sleeping husband together. I hated to
wake him, but I wanted to make sure he was all right with being left home
alone.

Chuck’s answer was predictable. “Go. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

He grumbled a yes, so I leaned down to give him a quick kiss
good-bye.

Outside the bedroom, I turned to Chad. “That leaves the
question of who gets the second car today.”

“You take it.” Chad moved ahead of me down the stairs.
“You’re the first one to get off work, and you can come home to him sooner if
you have the car.”

That sounded reasonable to me. I was about to say as much
when he joined my other husband at the front door.

“Charles can give me a ride to work,” Chad assured me.
“We’ll see you later.”

He slipped out the door without another word.

Charles hung back long enough to give me a kiss. “Don’t hold
dinner for me. I may be late tonight.”

“But—”

He gave me another quick peck to cut me off and walked out.

My men were driving me crazy.

“Uh-oh,” Liz said when she saw me that afternoon. “You don’t
seem as upset as you were yesterday, but you have that look. I take it you’re
still fighting with Chad?”

I was feeling stressed, though not just about that. “At
least he’s speaking to me again. We have some things to work out, but we’ll be
okay. Charles is working himself to death as usual, so he’s hardly home
anymore. And Chuck took years off my life by falling off the ladder doing some
roof repairs yesterday.”

“Is he all right?” She sounded genuinely concerned.

“He will be. My nurse neighbor saw it happen and responded
right away, thank goodness.” I took a breath, reliving my race to the hospital.
“Chuck was taken to the emergency room. Fortunately, he didn’t stay there long.
I then spent the rest of the afternoon handing him ice packs and waking him
every hour because of the concussion.”

“He’s lucky he didn’t break his neck.”

“That’s what I told him.” I threw up my hands. “But do you
know what he said when I called to check on him at lunchtime? Here he took a
spill like that just yesterday, and today he tells me he can’t talk because
he’s ‘in the middle of something.’ If I find out he’s working on the house…” I
let the threat trail off, mostly because I wasn’t sure what I’d do.

He should have been in bed. The fact that he wasn’t had me
tapping my pen against the desk until the noise even irritated me.

Liz gave me a sympathetic look. “Men can be so stubborn. If
you think he’s overdoing it, maybe you should duck out early today.”

“Can’t.” That was another reason for my increased stress
level. “The boss wants the monthly reports redone with additional graphs and
charts. I’ll be lucky to get out of here on time. Even if I could push this off
a day, I wouldn’t dare. My parents are coming to visit tomorrow evening. This
will be the first time they’ve met Chuck, Charles, and Chad.”

“They weren’t at your wedding?”

I sniffed. “Shriek that at a more grating pitch, and you’d
capture my mother’s sentiments exactly. She’s still not happy with me about
that, though she claims she’s over it. Of course, now I’ve given her a new
reason to go ballistic. Yesterday I finally told her I have three husbands, not
one. The confession may have been good for my soul like you said, but it’s been
hell on my nerves.”

Liz’s mouth formed a little
O
. “Did she scream? If she’s like my mom, she probably went silent
right before she blew up. The calm before the storm.”

“I hope there’s no storm coming.” That was my number one
concern. “My mom is usually very vocal right away. This time she did go silent,
though. Right before she announced she and my dad would be here tomorrow and
hung up.”

“That’s not good.” Liz’s tone turned portentous.

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to make me feel better? You should
be telling me it will turn out all right in the end or something wise like
that.”

“It will. Eventually.” Liz eased away from my desk. “But
just in case, it was nice knowing you, Fila.”

So much for the pep talk.

She walked away, and I was left with the tedious task of
redoing a bunch of reports for the higher-ups. The work took every bit as long
as I’d dreaded, and I was over half an hour late getting out of the office. I
hurried home, unsure of what I’d find when I got there.

I shouted hello when I walked through the front door and was
relieved when Chuck answered. A minute later, he came out to greet me. One look
at him and I knew my fears had been well-founded. His clothes were specked with
paint, and I could smell the fresh, chemical odor of it when he came closer to
give me a kiss.

I could feel my blood pressure climbing. “Chuck! What are
you doing painting? You should be in bed.”

He shrugged and then winced when the movement must have
hurt. “There’s too much to do. Besides, I got sick of lying around.”

“Well, you should still be sitting down, not tackling a
project.” This was what happened when a woman wasn’t around to supervise. The dolt
could have been in a full body cast, and he still would have insisted he didn’t
need rest. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing strenuous,” he insisted. “Just a little interior
painting. I finally got the upstairs done, and I only have the hallway and
closets left to do down here. Oh, and the trim, but I’ll handle that another
day.”

I gave him a stern look. “Aren’t you in pain? I’d think it
would hurt too much to do all that.”

“A little.” He wouldn’t admit to more. “I’ve been moving
slowly, taking my time. I’ll wait and heal up a couple of days before I get to
the harder projects.”

“You’ll give me gray hair,” I told him. “Go change and lie
down, and I’ll get you the ice packs.”

“I just finished icing an hour ago.”

“Well, at least go sit and rest. We can watch a movie
together if you want. Your pick.” If reason wouldn’t work, I figured a bribe
might.

His response was a boyish smile so brilliant it scrambled my
brain. “You and I haven’t done that for a while. I’d love to. Just let me
finish the hall and closets, and I’ll be all yours.”

I almost growled in frustration. How could someone I loved
so much be so aggravating? Here I was, concerned for his health, and he was
worried about painting a hallway. He was hardheaded enough to stand firm
against my objections, which meant I had no choice but to play dirty.

“If you’re feeling that good, maybe you should put your
energy to good use.” With one finger, I traced a hardened drip of paint down
his chest.

His eyes popped wide before they filled with heat. “What did
you have in mind?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe something like this.” I answered
him with a kiss.

This was my real homecoming. His lips were a perfect fit for
mine, so giving and soft and firm. Our breath mingled, and my whole body filled
with a languorous, smoky sensation that made me moan into his open mouth. It
was a good thing I had something to hold on to—his broad shoulder under one
hand and those unruly curls threaded between the fingers of my other. The
rascal must have treated himself to a beer because I could taste a hint of malt
where our tongues met and tangled.

Was he supposed to be drinking alcohol after a concussion? I
wasn’t sure, but I was more determined than ever to get him off his feet.
Without breaking the kiss, I reached down to pop the button of his jeans. He
pulled back, offering me the chance I needed to grasp the metal tab of his
zipper and slide open his fly.

“Nothing wrong with your circulation,” I teased.

His erection was as long and strong as usual. He hissed when
I slipped my fingers around the fat head of his cock and gave it a testing
squeeze. A tiny drop of precum oozed out. I took a firmer hold on his shaft and
used it to lead him to the couch in the family room. As soon as we reached it,
I dropped his pants and pulled off his shoes and socks so I could bare him from
the waist down. Removing his shirt was a trickier proposition since raising his
arms was painful. Between the two of us, we took it off very slowly.

Once he was fully naked, he reached for my blouse. “You’re
overdressed.”

“And you’re overeager.” I slapped his hands away and pushed
my body into him so he was forced to take a seat. “Why don’t you just sit there
and enjoy the show?”

He looked surprised, though definitely interested.

I’d never done a striptease before, but it was worth a try
if it kept him in place. Working from the top down, I unclipped my hair and let
it fall in messy waves. Although I wasn’t very graceful, I swayed my hips in
what I hoped was an erotic movement.

My blouse came next. This one didn’t have any buttons, so I
had to slip it off over my head. I teased him by fanning the hem up and down a
few times before I tugged it off, though for now I left my bra on. The zipper
to my slacks ran along my left hip. I slid it down and let it gape open while I
caressed my body all the way up to my hair.

“You’re killing me here.” I could see Chuck was a captive
audience.

I feigned a pout. “You mean you’re not enjoying this?”

“I’m enjoying it too much,” he admitted.

The compliment made me bold. After kicking off my shoes, I
bent over and gave him a clear view of my butt. It was meant to be a
provocative pose, but I lost my balance when I pushed my slacks down. I landed
in a heap on the floor and rolled around wrestling with myself to get my pants
the rest of the way off.

My cheeks were burning. When I looked up, though, I
discovered Chuck didn’t look the least bit turned off. His chest pumped in and
out with shallow breaths, and his gaze drank me in. The greatest barometer was
his flushed cock standing at full attention in his lap.

I attempted a quick recovery by rolling onto my hands and
knees. Then I came toward him in a slow, sex-kitten crawl. Once I reached him,
I sprinkled kisses from the inside of his ankle to his knee, letting the hair
on his leg tickle my lips and tongue. He widened his stance.

I now had a perfect view of my effect on him as I rose
between his legs to kneel. Reaching back, I unhooked my bra with a tiny
snick
of release, exposing my breasts to
the air. My nipples pulled tight and hardened beneath his gaze. I shot my
husband a sultry look from between my lashes and sent my bra soaring over his
left shoulder to land on the floor.

My panties were harder to get off, especially since I’d
heated up while doing this dance. The crotch was saturated from my excitement.
I had to stand to push my underwear down my legs, and he gripped my hips to
keep me balanced.

Once I was completely naked, I grabbed his wrists and pushed
them toward the back of the sofa to either side of him. “Keep your hands right
there. Don’t move them no matter what.”

Charles had taught me a thing or two.

“You expect me not to touch you?” Chuck looked incredulous.

As well he might. Sex with Chuck was usually
straightforward—very different from my games with Charles or lovemaking with
Chad. I had never teased him quite like this.

“I expect you to obey,” I told him. “You did promise to
love, honor, and obey me.”