Page 70 of My Husband Problem

“It was?—”

“Don’t lie to me,” he says, interrupting me. Firmly.

I press my lips together. When I should be arguing, or sassing back, or telling him to fuck off and not talk to me like that and then stomping up my front steps and into my house, I press my lips together and stop talking.

He cups my cheek.

My nipples tighten, my pussy tightens, my chest tightens.

From him touching mycheek.

This is really bad.

Or maybe it’s really good. I haven’t been touched sexually by another person insolong. And I wantthis manto touch me more than I’ve wanted anyone else to. Ever.

It can’t go anywhere. You’d be leading him on. That’s not fair.

“Don’t lie to yourself either,” he says, interrupting my thoughts. “If I’ve been doing this all wrong, if leaving you alone has been wrong, tell me.”

It’s a firm command.

And from his tone and the look in his eyes, he already knows the truth.

He just wants to hear me say it.

Oh…fuck. I’m in trouble.

I somehow unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth and say, “I haven’t been lying to myself.”

He frowns. “You seem happy here, I’ll admit that. But if you?—”

“I admitted to myself a long time ago that I wish you hadn’t just left me alone.”

There.

That was the worst thing I could have said, and I just said it.

“Well, about a month after I moved to Louisiana,” I say softer. “So, I’m not lying to myself.”

The way he’s looking at me is intense. And it reminds me of that day in Cara. The day he said we were getting married no matter what.

He looks like he’s barely holding himself back.

“But I don’t blame you for letting me go. For not knowing how I felt. I didn’t tell you that because you coming after me would have made things complicated. Us being apart has been easier.”

“The fuck it has,” he says gruffly.

My whole body responds to that, heating and feeling like I’m melting. “It has, though,” I insist. “Believe me.”

“I wanted you to be happy.” His voice is ragged. “So…I let you go. But?—”

“I appreciate that,” I interrupt.

He frowns. “Do you?”

“Mostly. Because it was hard being there, close to you.”

“Did I scare you? Upset you?” He looks positively pained at the thought.