The Contract by Marsh, Nicola (read aloud books .txt) 📕

of his tux, he laid the suit jacket on a chair and loosened his tie, then set the mood by turning off the lights and dimming the bedside lamps. No use appearing too eager. He wouldn’t want to give his wife the wrong idea; that he could barely function these days without wanting her.

He turned as he heard the soft click of the latch opening and struggled not to gape. Amber stood in the doorway, framed by a background of light that shone directly through the sheer material draped over her body.

“Hell,” he said, knowing this fantasy come to life couldn’t be his. He didn’t deserve her, didn’t want to admit she scared the living daylights out of him with the power she held over him. He’d never wanted any woman this much and she happened to be his.

“You like?” She flicked off the bathroom light and sashayed across the room, the transparent fabric swishing around her thighs.

He nodded in approval, knowing his words would be totally inadequate. “You could say that.”

She stopped in front of him and started undoing his buttons, one at a time. “Don’t you ever lose control?”

His breath hitched as she reached the bottom of the shirt and tugged it free of his pants, her fingertips skimming the bare skin above his belt. “Rarely. I like coming out on top.”

He couldn’t believe his luck as she undid the belt, slowly. The women he’d bedded in the past had been cool as ice, wanting him to do all the work. He’d never had a woman undress him and he liked it; he liked it a lot. The thought she might want him as much as he wanted her turned him on, big time.

“In all scenarios?” Her fingertips played around the waistband of his pants, driving him crazy.

He stilled her hand as it reached for his zipper. “There are times when I like it the other way round. Like now.” He braced his knees against the bed and fell back, pulling her with him.

“Now this is more like it.” She straddled him, running her hands up and down his torso as she squirmed against his lap. “Exactly where a woman should be. In total charge of the situation.”

“I’ve never met anyone like you,” he said, capturing her hands before they drove him to the brink.

“The feeling’s mutual...” She bent down and kissed him, playfully nipping at his bottom lip and sucking lightly, an invitation of lips and tongue that urged him to take their sensual game to the next level.

Never one to back down from a challenge, he flipped her onto her back in one, fluid motion. There was only so much passivity he could take and it was time to show his enchanting wife exactly who was boss.

Amber stared up at Steve, marvelling that the sexiest man to walk into her life was now her husband. And better yet, was about to make passionate love to her.

“Not having second thoughts?” He nuzzled her neck, his wandering lips driving all logic from her brain.

“Not a chance.” She shivered with pleasure as he pushed the strap of her nightie off one shoulder, his mouth covering the skin he bared.

“What is this thing you’re almost wearing?” His hands tangled in the folds of the material, scorching her through its thinness.

She sucked in a breath and lifted her hips off the bed as he tugged it downwards in one, smooth movement.

“Something designed to entice.” She almost arched off the bed as he shimmied down the length of her body, grasped her foot and started rubbing, imagining his firm, attuned hands sliding up her legs...and higher.

“Well, it’s sure done that, sweetheart, though personally, I prefer what’s underneath.” His gaze travelled her body, leaving little to the imagination. “Did you imagine me taking it off you?” His hand slid up her calf with infinite slowness to the back of her knee, one of her ticklish spots.

She giggled. “Yes. I wanted you to want me.” She didn’t add ‘as much as I want you’.

“Well, it worked. Now let me show you how much.”

And he did, by brushing lingering kisses across her body, touching her until she burned for him and driving her to the brink of ecstasy and beyond.

“Wow,” she whispered, as he lay beside her and she reached and removed the foil packet from his hand and tossed it on the carpet. “You won’t be needing this. I’m on the pill. Health-wise, everything’s okay?”

He quelled her momentary doubts with a searing kiss. “I’m clean. I’d never put you at risk, Amber. You’re my wife.”

She smiled, revelling in her newfound power. “Then start performing your husbandly duties.”

“Anything you want, sweetheart.”

Amber knew the endearment didn’t mean anything but she lapped it up anyway. With her new husband making love to her, she wanted to capture every detail and relive it at will, like turning the pages of a cherished album to experience the magic again.

Much later, dazed and sated, she stretched beneath him, relishing the slight ache of rarely used muscles. “I thought that sort of thing only happened in books.”

He shifted his weight off her and cradled her in his arms. “With us, anything’s possible.”

Amber desperately wanted to believe him. She just hoped he remembered it when the lights came back on.

Six

Amber had always been a daydreamer. She would build scenarios in her head, elaborate make-believe scenes that sustained her through the boredom of school and later, the loneliness once her mum died. One of her favourites involved a rich, handsome husband who whisked her away to live in a mansion and who bestowed her with love.

As Steve dropped a brief peck on her cheek and left for the day, she sighed. So much for that particular