Chaste (McCullough Mountain) (53 page)

Kelly
broke into rolling laughter. “You have a mistress!”

“She’s
not married.”

Getting
his laughter under control, he grinned at Bray. “Not that kind of mistress,
man. I mean, like, you’re her bitch.”

Bray
scowled. “No, I’m not. It isn’t like that. We both know what the other needs
and we manage to provide it, no strings attached.”

“How
old is she?”

“Thirty-nine.”

“Holy
shit! She’s twelve years older than you.”

“Well,
she doesn’t look it. Miranda’s beautiful.”

Kelly
spent the next hour learning all about Miranda Robinson and suspected Braydon
was being strung along whether he realized it or not. When he got home it was
late. He’d barely fallen asleep when Ashlynn started to stir.

She
turned and sighed as she cozied up to his flank. He was awake, but for some
reason he pretended he was asleep. After a few attempts to wake him sweetly,
she gave up and got out of bed.

He
wasn’t sure why he faked sleep, but he did it again that following night and
for the rest of the week. By Thursday Ashlynn had obviously had enough.

“Kelly,
I know you’re awake,” she said as he pressed his eyes closed.

Giving
up on the stupid charade, he glanced at her. “Good morning, love.”

She
was standing by the bed, hair wet, and completely naked. Damn she looked good.

Her
lips pursed. “Are you mad at me?”

He
frowned. “What? Of course not.”

Her
little rosebud mouth tightened some more. She reached for her glasses and
slipped them on then went to the dresser and pulled out panties. “Then why
haven’t we…”

…fucked?
“Why haven’t we what,
love?”

She
waved her hand in a circular motion. “You know…made love.”

“We
make love all the time.”

“Tomorrow
it will be a full week. We haven’t gone that long since before we were
married.”

Yeah,
and it was killing him. He sat up and gave her a smoldering smile. “Aw, is my
wife horny?”

She
fit her arms through the straps of her bra and rolled her eyes. “I hate that
word.”

As
she shoved her legs into her overalls he grabbed the strap and tugged her to
the bed. She fell onto the covers with a very stern yet playful expression.
“Does my wife need some extra attention this morning?”

“Kelly,
I have to get to work.”

He
silenced her with a kiss and she yielded. “Mmm…you smell nice.”

His
body moved over hers and he slowly peeled away the clothes she’d managed to put
on. Carefully, he climbed down the bed and lowered her panties. His mouth found
her sweet little clit and teased until she was stretching languidly beneath him
and sighing softly.

He
brought her to climax three times and when he was finished, her hair was a
tumbled mess and her jaw was slack with contentment. He climbed back to the
pillows and collapsed beside her.

“Feel
better now?”

“Yes,”
she sighed. “But now I have no energy to work.”

He
chuckled.

They
lay in bed for several minutes and eventually Ashlynn dragged herself to the
gardens and he fell asleep with bluer balls than a smurf.

Three
weeks passed much the same way. It was May and Ashlynn was busy, which was a
blessing. Kelly on the other hand was horny, paranoid, and fucking miserable.
 

Pure
male pride prevented him from calling the doctor and setting up an appointment,
but beyond that was fear. Never had he imagined something so finite could be
the end all be all of disappointing his wife. He simply couldn’t accept it.

A
man was his dick, plain and simple. Throughout their entire relationship he’d
feared not being the man she deserved, but this… this was no fucking joke. He
wasn’t even man enough to face the
possibility
of the issues haunting him. Being sterile was not an acceptable outcome and
his denial was driving an even bigger wedge between them.

He’d
developed a habit of long showers with Jill. Who was Jill? Jill was what his five
fingers spelled every morning when he held up his hand. J.I.L.L.

Jill
was his date, his companion, his keeper of secrets, the holder of his shame.
And every morning as he distracted his wife and made her cry out in pleasure
with his mouth, fingers, or his hand, he stumbled his unsatisfied self into the
shower and jerked off with Jill. Pathetic.

While
he and Jill palled around every morning after Ashlynn went to work, he worried
that he might develop carpel tunnel. A man could only give so many orgasms
manually.

Still,
Kelly prided himself on creativity. Ashlynn was well satisfied and didn’t seem
to notice they hadn’t had actual sex in over a month. Occasionally she gave him
a blowjob, which was phenomenal, but for the most part he made it about her. He
could handle himself.

Smart
phones were a blessing to the perverted world. Without leaving his bed he could
pull up some nice, sloppy, good old porn and have himself a date with Jill
right there in his bed. Sure, it wasn’t as good as fucking his beautiful wife,
but with Jill there was no expectation, no disappointment, no need for anything
more than a tissue.

He
was having an affair with his hand. He was fucking pitiful.

By
June, he could barely meet Ashlynn’s eyes. She suspected something was up. He
saw it in the way her brow creased as she watched him avoid close contact
whenever they passed in the house like ships in the night. That glint of
yearning in her whiskey brown eyes filled him with incredible guilt every time
he gently rebuffed her advances. He was suffocating from the pressure, and
unfortunately, he’d done that to himself.

Something
had to give. They couldn’t go on like this forever. But every time he was
tempted to make love to his wife he remembered the sound of her crying in the
bathroom each month when her period arrived and understood he’d failed her
again.

* * * *

“Can
I ask you something?”

Mallory
looked up from the store catalogue she was perusing as they took a break from
shopping at the Baby Depot. It worked out well that the store had a line up of
gliders pregnant moms could rest on when their feet got tired.

“Sure,”
Mallory said, fishing an apple out of her purse and resting the catalogue on
her protruding belly. She was due any day now.

Ashlynn
fidgeted and plucked at the price tag of the rocker. “Did you and Finn have to
do anything special for you to get pregnant?”

Mallory
smirked. “He had to get me naked first. That was pretty special.”

Ashlynn
smiled. Mallory was a beautiful woman, but she wasn’t petite, especially now
that she was pregnant. When she first moved to Center County she was a lot
heavier than she was now, not counting the child in her belly, but she was
always beautiful. Even after losing some weight and reaching a place she was
satisfied, she was still a woman with curves.

“But…did
it take time?”

Mallory
laughed. “I was pregnant before we had time to work on it. Sammy was the same
way. Why? You and Kelly thinking about having a baby?”

Ashlynn
sighed. “I don’t think there was a time we haven’t thought about it.”

“So
what’s holding you up? You guys would have such adorable babies.”

“Well…”
She could do this. Mallory and Samantha were her only friends that weren’t
related by blood to Kelly. They could discuss sex. “Everything’s good on my
end…”

Mallory
frowned and then her brows shot up. “You mean…Kelly?”

Ashlynn
shrugged. “I don’t know. He won’t see a doctor and lately…well, I’m not sure if
there even is a problem. We sort of stopped…doing it.”

Mallory
laughed. “Yeah right. Kelly is a sex addict. Everyone knows that. He can’t go
more than a minute without getting some according to what his brothers say.”
Her friend looked contrite the minute the words left her mouth. “I’m sorry. I
know he’s changed. It’s not fair for me to toss his past in your face.”

And
there was the sharp ache she’d been ignoring for the past month. “I know.” Her
voice turned low and she looked away. “Kelly loves sex. I know who I’m married
to. But I know for a fact he isn’t sleeping with
me
.”

Mallory
sat up a little straighter. Her fingers gently pressed into Ashlynn’s arm.
“Hey, Ash, Kelly
loves
you. He wouldn’t cheat on you if that’s what
you’re worried about.”

She
sniffled and dug in her bag for a tissue. God, she was a mess. “I don’t think
so either, but it’s been a while since we’ve been intimate.”

“Like…nothing?”

“No.
He always makes sure that I’m…satisfied, but we haven’t actually made love in
months.”

Mallory
frowned. “Maybe he’s going through something personal, stressed about work,
or…”

“Having
an affair.” She couldn’t stem off the tears. They fell like rain from a pierced
cloud. Mallory awkwardly hugged her and Ashlynn tried to get her emotions under
control. They were in the middle of a store for crying out loud.

“I
think you’re getting ahead of yourself. Before you jump to any conclusions you
need to really be sure. Why don’t we go over to that boutique, get you
something sexy, and tonight you can seduce the balls off your husband. Then
you’ll see this is just a dry spell.”

“I
don’t know how to seduce a man.”

“Not
a man. Your husband. Trust me. Some sexy lace, a pair of fuck me pumps, and
some red lipstick, and he’ll be tackling your ass before you even get out a
hello.”

Or he won’t.
That was what she was afraid of.

Later
that night, Ashlynn waited by the window in the living room, completely
paranoid that Father Mark or Roy might suddenly decide to drop by. When she saw
Kelly’s lights pulling into the drive, she darted away from the window and went
to the couch. She quickly slipped the ridiculously tall heels on her feet that
Mallory insisted she buy, and sat down.

The
tight bodice of her corset pressed her breasts high. It was pretty, sort of
Victorian looking, ivory satin with black lace stitching to match her long
black gloves. Her hair was messy and she’d put on blood red lipstick to match
her shoes. A thin black ribbon tied around her throat.

She
nervously posed herself, crossing one leg over the other and waited, heart
pounding. The sound of the front door opening gave her a jolt of nausea, her
chance to abort this stupid ploy gone.

“Ash?”

She
cleared her throat. “I’m in the den.”

The
sound of Kelly’s boots hitting the carpet in the hall where he plucked them off
every night was the only reply. She took a deep breath and waited.

“I
brought us home some Chinese—” He stopped mid-stride, a bag of greasy take out
in his hand.

“Did
you have a nice day?”

“Fuck.”

That
wasn’t the reply she was expecting, but she could work with that. Steadying her
voice, she purred, “I had the same plan. Why don’t you come in and get
comfortable.”

His
eyes searched the room. She wasn’t sure what he was looking for. His hand went
to his lower back and rubbed. “You know what, love, I think I hurt my back
carrying up a few tanks at the bar.”

She
frowned. “Are you okay?”

He
placed the take out on the coffee table and sort of limped a few steps back.
“Um…yeah. God, you look incredible. Why don’t I jump in the shower, let the hot
water loosen up my back while you eat and then we can, uh, do this right?”

He
wanted to take a shower? She frowned and before she could figure out what to
say to that, before she could truly face the horrible sense of rejection, he
turned and bolted out of the room. For a guy with a sore back he sure didn’t
have a problem hurtling up the stairs.

* * * *

Fuck.
Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck. Fuck!

Kelly
stripped off his clothes and turned on the water. What the fuck? His wife was
sexy in flannel. Her in a pair of do me pumps and that lace get up, gloves and
all, was a crime against men. It should be illegal to look that fucking hot.

He
jumped in the shower and grabbed his cock. He was never going to make it
through the night without fucking her.

Three
pumps in and about to spill all over poor, abused Jill and the door opened.
Fuck.
He quickly released his flesh and the shower curtain jerked open. Kelly
smiled, “Hey, beautiful. Just working out some kinks. Did you eat?”

She
looked really pissed. Fuck, what was on her lips? They were all red and glossy
and he wanted that color smeared all over his cock.

“What’s
going on, Kelly?”

“What
do you mean?”