fallout firsthand as a child when her
parents’ marriage fell apart.
Blinking back tears, Cassidy gathered up
the bedding. If he wouldn’t sleep in another room, then she would. She marched
out and went to the linen closet in the hall to exchange the regular
pillowcases for the satin ones she preferred to sleep on. The spare bedroom was
sparsely furnished because they were still working on the house. This
particular room contained only a bed and a bureau.
She shut the door, made the bed, and
then climbed in. Bone tired from the busy day and the angry tension she’d been
carrying around because of Antonio, her eyes almost immediately drooped shut.
At some point during the night, she dreamed she
was weightless and floated above the bed. She shifted and turned in her sleep,
and that’s when she realized it wasn’t a dream. Antonio had lifted her in his
arms and was moving through the dark house with long strides.
Her eyes fluttered open. “What are you doing?”
she mumbled against his bare chest.
“I’m not sleeping in a different room, and
neither are you,” he replied in a grim tone. “We do not sleep apart in this house.”
He smelled so good—fresh and clean from his
shower. She looped an arm around his neck as he carried her back to their room
as if she weighed next to nothing.
When he placed her in the bed, she remembered
she was supposed to be mad at him and rolled over, offering him her back.
“Don’t touch me.”
He didn’t respond, offering his back, too. Then
he shifted, pounded the pillow, and shifted again. He kept that up for almost a
minute before he finally settled down.
When he hadn’t moved in a while, she thought
about sneaking out. This time she’d lock the door in the other bedroom. She
lifted her head.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Dammit. He wasn’t asleep yet.
Cassidy dropped her head back to the pillow and
pouted. With a sigh, she determined to settle in for the night.
A long time afterward, she was still wide
awake, but his even breathing suggested he’d fallen asleep.
Of course, she couldn’t sleep, because
the scent of him still clung to her skin. She was horny, and it was all his
fault. Withholding sex was supposed to be a punishment for him, but she had managed
to torture herself in the process.
She rolled onto her back and froze when she let
out an involuntary moan. Biting her lip, she glanced sideways to see if he’d
react to the sound or the movement.
No stirring and no acknowledgement came from
his side of the bed. She curled her fingers into her palm and rolled back onto
her side.
Damn him , she thought. She couldn’t
help thinking of all that tempting, half-naked, masculine perfection lying
there.
She reached up and touched one of her aching
breasts, so sensitive, a tingle rippled across her skin. She closed her eyes
and let out a low groan, twisting restlessly in the bed.
Cupping her breast, she squeezed the soft flesh
and flicked the taut nipple with her thumb, causing heat to flare across the
lower region of her body. She bit her lip and let out an exasperated breath.
Even though she could easily turn over and get what she wanted because Antonio
never refused her, she decided to take care of herself. Besides, she didn’t
want to give him the satisfaction.
She closed her eyes and imagined him touching
her. It wasn’t like she hadn’t done it before when he wasn’t around. She’d just
pretend he wasn’t here. She had to be careful, though, because she risked
waking him up.
Cassidy slid one hand down her belly to between
her legs and squeezed her breast tight with the other hand, amplifying the pulsing
ache in her body.
She’d just started to get going good when
movement on the other side of the bed made her hold her breath and freeze like
a burglar caught in the act of a robbery, her hand still between her legs.
Antonio’s quiet voice came from across the bed.
“What are you doing over there?”
Chapter