Still dazed, Kara smiled as she realized she finally felt like a woman again. Simon’s woman. She wished the transition back to herself hadn’t taken so long, that she and Simon had talked about this before. But maybe she hadn’t been ready. Maybe being a mommy had needed to come first before she could find her way back to being a woman again.
“I missed you,” she whispered. “I missed you so much.”
Simon stroked a hand over her back comfortingly. “I’ve always been here, baby. And I always will be.” He paused before adding, “I missed you, too. But Ginny needed you first. I just wish I could have been there for you more, helped more. I knew you were exhausted, and I felt so fucking helpless sometimes.” His voice was filled with remorse and frustration.
Kara’s mind flashed back to nighttime feedings, being up with Ginny when she was fussy with colic and teething, diaper changes, and all of the other responsibilities and worries of new parents. Maybe there were some things that Simon couldn’t do, but he’d always been there, right beside her. “You’re a very good daddy,” she told him gently.
“I love you more every day that we’re together, sweetheart. I don’t ever want you to forget that,” Simon’s words were a vow. “And you can always talk to me. I’m always ready and willing to show you exactly how beautiful you are to me.”
Kara sighed, knowing her insecurities and lack of feeling sexy were probably just part of the process of being a new mom. “I know. It wasn’t you. I guess it was just a part of being a new mother that I needed to go through. But we should have talked more instead of guessing about how the other was thinking. Thank you for helping me get my sexy back,” she told him with a smile.
“Baby, you never lost it in my eyes,” he answered, his tone protective and fierce. “But I’d be happy to help you keep finding it.”
Kara sighed, realizing that he’d been constant, his love and his desire always there. It had been she who had had doubts and insecurities. “I’m ready.” Her heart swelled with happiness. “Are we done with the condoms now?”
“Hell, yes. Having anything between us drove me fucking crazy. But I was so worried about you getting pregnant again that I used them for extra protection. It was my own paranoia, and I’m over it. You’re on birth control, and I’d rather be as close to you as I can possibly be. I’m ruined. I just reminded myself of how good you felt,” he said, disgruntled.
“I’d be happy to reinforce the reminder,” Kara teased.
“I’m taking you out for dinner first,” he demanded. “I want some time with my wife. And you’re going to eat. Your body is perfect.”
“I’m starving,” she admitted, her stomach grumbling. She knew her post-pregnancy body was far from perfect, but she had no doubt that Simon believed it was.
Simon rose and helped her to her feet. He tucked himself back into his pants, watching her as she slipped her dress over her head. “I guess I need to start buying you more lingerie,” he noted with a naughty grin, scooping up her ruined panties and bra and shoving them into his pocket.
“I do have an underwear problem. If we don’t go back upstairs, I’ll be sitting through dinner with no bra and no panties.” Kara smiled. It wasn’t the first time they’d had that dilemma.
Simon seemed to consider that problem for a moment before he finally slapped the buttons on the elevator to release it from the emergency stop to move upward again. “It’s a tempting idea, but I can’t stand the thought of any other man getting a look at what’s mine,” he told her possessively.
Leaning forward, she grasped his tie and pulled him close to her. “You can rip the new ones off later.”
His eyes flared with dark desire. “Count on it.”
Kara’s core clenched tightly. She could hardly wait.
“Simon, you have to stop buying Christmas gifts for me and Ginny. We still have three weeks until Christmas and all of the space under the tree is full,” Kara told her husband gently, taking a sip of her wine while she watched Simon demolish his tiramisu.
Dinner had been delicious, but she was stuffed full of pasta and rich cream sauce. While Simon ate his dessert, she carefully broached the subject of his habit of going way over the top when it came to gifts. Every single day, he brought home more presents for Ginny and her. At his current rate of adding to the collection under the tree, their enormous living room would be full to the ceiling by Christmas. It certainly wasn’t like he couldn’t afford it, but she’d tried unsuccessfully to make him realize that she and Ginny didn’t need any more gifts. Their greatest gift was Simon.
Simon shrugged. “I love you. I want to give you everything you need.”
A tremulous sigh left Kara’s mouth, and she looked at her husband adoringly. “We have everything we need. We have you. Ginny and I want for absolutely nothing already.” It wasn’t only on holidays that Simon gave. Kara had a collection of jewelry that could probably rival the Crown Jewels.
Simon had grown up with nothing, and he was trying to make sure the ones he loved never wanted for anything. Ginny was already growing up with a golden spoon in her mouth. Literally. Simon had bought his daughter a solid gold feeding spoon, for God’s sake. Kara didn’t want her daughter spoiled rotten. She and Simon had both grown up poor and knew the value of money. She wanted to spoil Ginny, but she also wanted her to understand the value of money.
“My wife and child deserve to be taken care of.” The words were obstinate.
Kara rolled her eyes with exasperation. He was so damn adorable when he was trying to defend his right to give them things. “We are taken care of. We’re both spoiled rotten.”
Simon nodded his head sharply as he dropped his fork and napkin on his empty dessert plate. “Good. That’s the way I like it.”
Damn. It’s so hard to argue with him. I never win.
“Your daughter is going to end up being a spoiled brat,” she warned him ominously, but she was biting back a smile.
His dark eyes met hers, and his words were adamant, “No, she won’t. She’s going to be as sweet as her mother. She’s your daughter, and she’ll grow up to be just like you.”
Oh, hell. How can I argue when he says things like that?
“Can you slow it down a little so we can get into the living room on Christmas morning?” Truthfully, she didn’t want to change Simon, she just wanted him to realize that they loved him and not the things he gave them.