The Imperfect Marriage novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Question

Ross closed his hand around my mother's locket.

He came around the table slowly and put it in the pocket over his heart.

"I'll never lose it," he said.

"I know."

He cupped my face in both hands, and his thumbs were not quite steady.

Then he kissed me, and it was nothing like the kisses in the judge's room or the hall.

It was slow, and deep, and it took its time.

I gripped his sweater and kissed him back.

"Upstairs," he said against my mouth.

"Pru's here?"

"Pru took the boy to the zoo. She left me a note that said, 'Do not mess this up.'"

"Did she underline it?"

"Three times."

He picked me up, and I laughed, and he carried me up the stairs with my boots knocking against the banister.

He laid me on the bed where I'd once built a wall of pillows, and stood looking down at me.

"Take your clothes off," Ross said.

It was not a request.

I felt the order go through me, hot and low.

I peeled off my sweater and my jeans while he watched, and he did not look away for one second.

He undressed slowly, with his eyes on my body.

When he knelt on the bed, I reached for him.

He caught my wrists in one hand and pressed them into the pillow above my head.

"Not yet," he said. "Last time you set the pace. This time I do."

He kissed my throat, my collarbone, the swell of my breast.

He took my nipple in his mouth and sucked until my back left the mattress.

"Ross."

"Say it again."

"Ross, please."

He went down my body with his mouth.

He put my thighs over his shoulders and licked me, long and slow and merciless, from my entrance to my clit and back again.

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