A Marriage Left Behind novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Door Closes

Thane read the text, put the phone face down on the dash, and looked at me for a long moment.

"Say it out loud," he said.

"I'm asking."

"Ask me what."

"To take me inside your house and not stop this time."

He started the truck without another word.

We were in his driveway in under a minute, and he left the box of my things on the seat and came around to open my door.

His hands shook a little on the handle.

I noticed, and I did not explain it away.

Inside, the finished bookshelf stood against the wall, smelling of fresh oil.

He shut the door and put his back against it, and I stood in the middle of his kitchen with my coat still on.

"I thought about it every day," he said. "I told you I would."

"What did you think?"

"That I'd start with your mouth."

I crossed the room.

He caught my face in both hands before I reached him, and he kissed me.

It was nothing like the kitchen the first time, careful and listening.

This was slow and deep and certain, and his thumbs stroked along my jaw, and he was in no hurry at all.

I got my hands under his jacket and pushed it off his shoulders, and it dropped on the floor behind him.

He lifted me against the door, easily, and my legs went around his waist.

"Maura," he said into my neck. "Tell me what you want."

I had spent seven years being asked what I would pay.

"I want your hands on my skin," I said. "I want your mouth where it was last time and lower. I want you to stop being careful."

He made a sound I felt in my ribs.

He carried me down the hall, and I kissed his throat the whole way, his beard rough under my lips, his pulse hammering against my mouth.

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