“You can’t ignore me forever, Maggie.”
She stopped in the middle of the living room, breathing in deeply before turning to face him.
“I’m not trying to ignore you, Joe.”
His eyes were brilliant with lust, the same look that had the power to bring her to her knees during their relationship. Literally.
He tucked his hands into the pockets of his slacks and stared back at her silently, as her gaze flickered to the action. The heavy bulge between his thighs sent heat burning through her body. Her vagina ached, echoed with emptiness, as her nipples pressed hard against the material of her bra.
She swallowed tightly as she felt the need for oxygen increase.
“Did he please you in bed?”
The question took her by surprise.
“Excuse me?”
“Grant.” He frowned back at her. “Did he please you in bed? Did he make you scream and beg for more, even when you were too exhausted to take more?”
Her eyes widened at the flicker of anger in his eyes.
“That’s none of your business—”
“The hell it’s not,” he snapped. “I went crazy for two and a half years wondering if he pleased you, knowing he shared your bed …”
“Stop it, Joe. This isn’t going to get us anywhere.”
“I’ll know.” He kept his voice low, even, a sure indication that he wasn’t going to let the subject go.
“No, you won’t.” She lifted her chin as she stared back at him, her fists clenched at her side as she fought to maintain her control. “Because I’m not answering you.”
Shame filled her at the thought of revealing the truth. She had known on her wedding night that the mistake she had made in her marriage was more severe than she had expected. Grant’s lust had sickened her, his spoken perversions filling her with disgust and fear.
“His journal was pretty in-depth concerning your sex life,” he informed her then. “He was quite descriptive.”
Maggie felt herself pale. “We weren’t having sex then. I hadn’t shared his bed since the first months of our marriage, I told you that.”
“Why?” He moved closer, stalking her like a predator.
“That’s none of your business, Joe. Let it go.” She watched him closely, wary, uncertain as to how he would react.
“You’re a very passionate woman, Maggie. I can’t imagine you denying yourself, or cheating on your husband to attain satisfaction.”
“I like sex, so automatically I had to be fucking someone?” she snapped out furiously. God save her from hardheaded men.
“That wasn’t what I said.”
“Yes, Joe, that was what you were saying.” She waved her hand back at him in a gesture of frustration. “What did you do for the last two and a half years? We both know you weren’t a virgin when you came to my bed. How many women have you had since me?”
“No one.”
The answer had her flailing for a response; instead, she could only stare back at him in shock.
She stared back at him silently as he came closer, his expression dark, intent as he watched her.
“You tormented me, Maggie.”
She shook her head desperately. “Don’t play with me like this, Joe. Please.” She was willing to beg. She had left him, believing he didn’t hold her heart. Now, two and a half years later, she admitted the truth she hadn’t wanted to face then. She had loved him then, and that love had never died.
“I’m not playing with you, Maggie.” His hand covered her cheek as she lost her breath. The sound of her tremulous gasp would have been humiliating if his touch weren’t so warm, so needed. “I’m trying to save us both this time.”
She was panting for air, certain her shaky knees would give out before she found the strength to move away from him.
“Do you remember what it was like?” he asked her gently.
Maggie stared back at him, dazed, uncertain, as his lips lowered to breathe a kiss against hers.
“All night long,” he whispered over her lips. “I would fall asleep, still buried in your body, still hungry for you. Do you remember that?”
“I remember seeing you with another woman.” She forced the words past her lips. “I remember you staring at me across the room, your expression as cold as ice. That’s what I remember, Joe.”
His jaw clenched. “You can forget that.”
“No, I can’t forget that.” She pushed away from him slowly, fighting back the regret as she did so.
“I didn’t sleep with her, Maggie.”
The tension tightening his body had her stepping back further. She could feel the certainty that he was at the edge of his control. Once he slipped past the veneer of civility, denying him wouldn’t be an option. The hunger in him called to her too fiercely, pulled at her too desperately. When Joe began coming after her in earnest, she would be lost, and she knew it.
“It doesn’t matter that you didn’t sleep with her,” she told him softly as she moved to the couch. There was no way in hell she was heading to the bedroom. “It’s not about the woman, Joe, it’s the fact that you did it. You weren’t as invested in me as I was in you, otherwise, you would have told me about the party. You would have told me about your date.”
She curled into the corner of the overstuffed couch, drawing her legs up until they bent to her side and gave her a measure of protection against the throbbing heat between her thighs.
He hadn’t moved from where he stood, other than to turn and follow her progress across the room with his eyes. She knew what he was doing, what he had been doing all day. Trying to push her buttons. From the first words out of his mouth that morning, when he accused her of pouting, to now, he was trying to work her, to get what he wanted without giving any of himself in return.
That wasn’t enough for her now. She wanted as much in return as she had to give, or she wanted nothing at all. And giving all of himself wasn’t something she thought Joe would do easily. He faced her, his jaw flexing with tension, his brown eyes raging with frustration and arousal.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Joe?” She tilted her head when he said nothing. “What would you have done if you’d seen me on another man’s arm that night?”
“I would have torn him apart,” he snapped.