Hopefully they could resolve all of the issues they’d put aside for so long…tonight.
Kara entered the kitchen nervously, knowing that what she was wearing now hugged her curvier body tighter than it had before she’d given birth. Her little black dress seemed even smaller than before, the skirt flirting with her knees and the silky material clinging to her fuller hips and breasts. Leaving her hair down, she’d done her makeup carefully, feeling more feminine than she’d felt for a long time. Digging into the drawer, she’d donned her sexiest lingerie set, another item of clothing she hadn’t bothered with for a while. She’d slipped on her three inch stiletto heels with no worries. They might make her taller than some men, but Simon would still tower above her. Her husband was so muscular and tall that he’d been the first man to actually make her feel petite.
Her jacket on her arm and her small clutch purse in hand, she looked around the large room, spotting Simon leaning against the counter, his back to her, talking on his cell phone.
Kara moved into the kitchen, the clicking of her heels on the tile floor causing Simon to turn around.
“I’ll call you later, Mom.” Simon switched the phone off and dropped it into the pocket of his suit, his gaze never leaving her as it roamed over her body possessively.
“Is everything okay at your Mom’s?”
“Everyone’s fine,” Simon answered distractedly, his covetous stare never wavering.
Kara sighed, eyeing her gorgeous husband in a dark gray suit and burgundy tie. “You’re looking very handsome, Mr. Hudson,” she teased, trying to get her racing heart under control. Even after two years of marriage, Simon got to her, especially when he was looking at her like he wanted to devour her whole.
He stalked toward her like a predator, his eyes flaring with hunger. “You look beautiful, but I’m not sure I like that dress,” he growled.
Kara’s heart sank. “It looks too tight?”
“It makes you look like every man’s goddamn fantasy, and I don’t want you to be any man’s fantasy except mine,” he grumbled unhappily as he stopped in front of her.
Kara let out a startled laugh. “You’re the only one crazy enough to think I look good.” She was letting her own insecurities get to her. Simon had never, ever criticized the way she looked. In fact, he’d always made her feel like the most desirable woman in the world. Even when she’d been at her frumpiest since she’d given birth, he’d told her she was beautiful. She just hadn’t believed it.
“You don’t just look good. You look hot and too damn sexy.” He speared a hand through her hair and tilted her head up.
Her breath hitched as she heard a possessive, feral tone in his voice that she hadn’t heard in a long time, the sound of a man who was about to lose control. She exhaled into his mouth as he gave her a warm, gentle, tender kiss on the lips before releasing her to help her put on her jacket.
Did I really think he was going to tear my clothes off right here in the kitchen and take me?
Kara loved the tender side of Simon, but she missed her out-of-control husband who had to have her, needed to possess her and know that she was his.
He guided her out the door and to the private elevator for the penthouse without saying another word. Breaking the silence as they stood by the doors, she asked curiously, “Where are we going?”
Letting her into the elevator first before following her, he answered, “I made a reservation at your favorite Italian restaurant.”
“Oh, God,” she moaned. “The pasta will go right to my hips. I’m trying to lose weight.”
“Why?” Simon asked, sounding perplexed as he pushed the button for them to go down to the ground floor.
Her head snapped up and she gaped at the confused look on his face. “You know I’ve gained weight since I had Ginny. I haven’t lost my baby weight. I don’t feel…sexy anymore,” she confessed, knowing she never had felt sexy until she met Simon.
It’s time to step up to the plate and tell him about my insecurities. I don’t want to hide my emotions from him anymore.
Simon’s face grew stormy and he reached out and punched the emergency stop button with an angry grunt. “Is that the reason why you were nearly killing yourself on the treadmill? And why you’re barely eating?”
“I’m eating,” she argued.
“Not enough,” he grumbled, crowding her against the wall of the elevator. “You think you’re not sexy?” He pinned her to the wall of the plush elevator with his muscular body, a hand on both sides of her head, his body an impenetrable wall against her.
“We don’t have sex the way we used to, and I know I’m carrying extra weight,” she blurted out without censoring herself, letting Simon know exactly how she was feeling.
“Jesus Christ,” Simon hissed irritably. “You’re the mother of my child now. I can’t be the same selfish bastard that I used to be. You’re exhausted taking care of our child.”
“I’m also a woman,” she reminded him hesitantly. “I need you.”
“You are my woman,” his forceful voice informed her. “My wife. But you never seemed to want me. I knew you were tired, and you fucking shied away from being naked in front of me all the time. I thought you were sending me signals that you were either too tired or not in the mood, and I didn’t blame you. I tried to help as much as I could with Ginny, but it wasn’t enough.”
Kara froze as she gazed up at his face. She hadn’t wanted to be naked in front of him, and she’d breastfed Ginny until she was a year old. The first months had been rough, her daughter waking during the night wanting feeding. Then came the colic, and lastly the teething. Kara’s priority had been taking care of her daughter, and she probably hadn’t been in the mood. “I was tired until Ginny got past the colic and teething,” she admitted. “After that, the exhaustion got better. But I didn’t want you to see my body because of the extra weight and my stretch marks. I feel…unattractive, Simon.” She wondered if this was how all women felt after having a baby. She hadn’t been herself, barely taking time to shower in those early months when Ginny needed her constantly.
Simon pinned her hands over her head with a husky, tortured groan. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, and you’re even more beautiful because you’ve borne a child, our daughter. I was trying to be respectful of what you needed. I felt like a selfish bastard every time I had to have you, but I tried to be quick and gentle with you.”