Authors: Ann Mayburn
Summer's Need (6 page)
He cupped her cheek with a wet hand. “I need to know why. I
need to hear you say the words.”
She took a deep breath, surprised at how hard it was to say.
“Because I love you, I love our family and I never want you guys to feel like
you’re my second choice.”
He nodded and stroked his thumb over her cheek. “Thank you.”
Her throat closed up but she forced the words out in a rush.
“What you said is right. I’ve been unconsciously trying to impress my father,
the man who never made it home for any of my school plays, the man who often
missed my birthday, the man who I knew less of than I did our housekeeper.” She
laid her head down on his chest, the water line lapping at her chin. “The only
time I ever got any positive feedback from him was when I won some award at
school or moved up in the company. Even then it was like he was happier about
the fact he could brag about something his daughter did rather than being happy
for me. God that’s so fucked up.”
He made a comforting sound low in his chest and stroked her
back. “You have no idea how much I disliked that man for his abuse to you and
your mother.”
She tried to pull away from him but he tugged her back into
his arms. “He never hit me.”
“No, but that might have been easier. Instead he dangled his
affection, his attention to you like a carrot. His love was never given, it had
to be earned. And God forbid if you caused a fuss, he’d freeze you out of his
life in an instant.” He hugged her so hard her breath wheezed out in protest.
“I never told you this, but before I asked you to marry me I asked for your
father’s permission.”
“I never knew that.”
“I know. I wasn’t going to let him ruin it.”
His arms gentled and she drew in a deep breath. “What did he
say?”
“He said no, that getting married would destroy any chances
of you ever making something of yourself. That he hadn’t sent you to all those
expensive schools to end up someone’s fat housewife or meal ticket.”
Her heart ached and she swallowed back her tears. “Why would
he say that? He knew how happy I was with you.” She took a deep breath and said
what she really thought, even though a small part of her mind screamed at her
for even daring to think such a thing. “What an asshole.”
“I think he knew he was losing his control over you, that
you had found someone who loved you in a way that threatened his power. He was
all geared up for a fight. I could see it in the way he looked at me, the rage
in his eyes. He wanted to push me into getting into a confrontation with him,
to have something to use against me. What he didn’t expect was my sympathy.”
His laughter held no mirth. “I told him I felt sorry for him and he was still
invited to the wedding.”
Her first instinct was to defend her father, to make up some
excuse for him like she and her mother always did. Then anger surged into her
and she splashed her hands into the bubbles with a loud smack. “I can’t believe
he did that! Why couldn’t he be happy for me? He loved me, I know he did, and
he knew I wanted to marry you.” She grew still as memories of her engagement
day came back to her. “Why didn’t you say anything to me about it? Right after
we got engaged the first thing I wanted to do was go to my parents to show my
ring off.” She turned in his arms and stroked the strands of silver in his dark
hair. “My father shook your hand and welcomed you to the family. How did you
keep from punching him in the face?”
His smile held an edge of sadness in the fading light.
“Because if I had decked that conniving bas—er, if I had hit him like I wanted
to, and believe me, I did, I would have lost you. Nothing matters more to me
than you and our family’s happiness, Summer. I love you.”
She burst out in tears and he quickly sat up, pulling her
into his arms. “Hey now, don’t cry.” He kissed the top of her head. “This isn’t
how I pictured tonight. You’re supposed to be swept off your feet, not sad.”
Words were beyond her as the stress and fear of the past
year poured out of her. “Dave, I’m so scared of losing you.” She had to clear
her throat a couple times before the next words would come out in anything but
an incoherent mumble. “I didn’t know how to fix things, I didn’t know what to
do in order to make it better.”
“This… This makes us better, stronger, Summer.” He pinched
her butt and startled a giggle out of her. “I’m not just talking about the sex,
though that was awesome, I’m talking about holding you and talking. We need to
do this more, take some time out of the day to talk when we’re both not
exhausted.”
She sniffled and scooted back from him to the other side of
the tub before twining her legs around his. “Have you met our children? When
are we not exhausted?” She wiped her cheek and her fingertips came away smeared
with mascara. “Sheesh, I’m a mess. Can you hand me that washcloth?”
He grinned and took a washcloth from the edge of the tub and
tossed it to her. “You’re beautiful, and we’ll make time. You said you have the
next six weeks off, right?”
The reminder perked her up and she stopped scrubbing her
cheeks for a moment. “That’s right, I do!”
“Well, I thought maybe we could bring the grandmothers with
us on vacation. They’d love to go to Disney World with the boys and maybe if we
bribe them they’ll even watch them so we can have an evening or two to
ourselves.”
The thought of her reserved mother ridding on Space Mountain
sent a wave of amusement washing through her, brushing aside the lingering
sadness and leaving her feeling strangely peaceful…and hungry. “Well, I don’t
know about you but good sex always works up my appetite. Want to go down to the
beach where they’re doing a clambake?”
At the mention of good sex his chest puffed out and he got a
rather satisfied look on his face. “I aim to please, ma’am.” He tipped his
imaginary hat at her before rising from the tub, the suds running trails down
the curve of his hip to his semierect cock.
The smile she gave him also felt a bit smug as she tapped
her lips and studied his steadily hardening dick. “Though if you want to stay
here I’m sure we could think of something to do.”
He stepped out of the tub and grabbed a towel, wrapping it
around his waist while scowling at the tent his erection made beneath the
fabric. “Oh no, I came here to romance you and romance you I will. You won’t
distract me with your hedonistic ways.”
She giggled as she stepped out of the tub and grabbed a
towel, slowly drying herself. “Are you sure?”
He audibly swallowed as his gaze followed the trail of the
towel on her body. “Yes. We’re going to go down and hang out long enough to be
polite and eat all their food, then we’re going for a moonlight walk on the
beach. Only this time it will be my hands touching you for real, not some
computer program.”
She grabbed another towel and stood on tiptoe to gently dry
his hair. “I guess that doesn’t sound too bad.” She stole a kiss before putting
an extra sway in her hips as she strolled, naked, out of the bathroom. “Maybe
we can grab a couple beers to take with us. It has been a long time since we’ve
had messy, drunk sex.”
He swatted her butt and she yelped, spinning around to
return the favor. As he pulled her into his arms for a kiss she said a silent
prayer of thanks for this second chance with her husband and enjoyed these
precious moments of being alive and in love.
About Ann Mayburn
Ann is Queen of the Castle to her wonderful husband and three
sons in the mountains of West Virginia. In her past lives, she's been an Import
Broker, a Communications Specialist, a U.S. Navy Civilian Contractor, a
Bartender/Waitress and an actor at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. She also
spent a summer touring with the Grateful Dead—though she will deny to her children
that it ever happened.
From a young age she’s been fascinated by myths and
fairytales, and the romances that often were the center of the stories. As Ann
grew older and her hormones kicked in, she discovered trashy romance novels.
Great at first, but she soon grew tired of the endless stories with big,
wonderful, emotional buildups to really short and crappy sex. Never a big fan
of purple prose (throbbing spears of fleshy pleasure and wet honey pots make
her giggle), she sought out books that gave the sex scenes in the story just as
much detail and plot as everything else—without using cringe-worthy euphemisms.
This led her to the wonderful world of Erotic Romance, and she’s never looked
back.
Now Ann spends her days trying to tune out cartoons playing
in the background to get into her “sexy space” and has learned to type one-handed
while soothing a cranky baby.
Ann welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website
and email address on her
author bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
.
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Also by
Ann Mayburn
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Summer’s Need
ISBN 9781419941597
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Summer’s Need Copyright © 2012 Ann Mayburn
Edited by Grace Bradley
Cover design by Irene Adler
Photos: Ivan Montero Martinez
Electronic book publication September 2012
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