Secrets in the Marriage Bed by Nalini Singh Page A

what it was that she was so scared to face…and what those buried truths were doing to her already-bruised psyche.

    They were hyper-aware of each other as they got ready for bed that night. Vicki felt like a virgin again, flustered and lost, with no idea what to do. In the end she washed up and waited until Caleb went into the bathroom to brush his teeth before slipping into her pj’s. They were hardly the sexiest of garments, but she wasn’t sure she could live up to the promise implied by slinky lingerie.
    Sliding under the thick blanket, she turned off all the lights except the one on Caleb’s side of the bed. The door to the bathroom opened a second later and Caleb walked back in.
    “Sweetheart, that blanket has to go.”
    Surprised out of her mini panic, she sat straight up. “What?”
    He was already pulling it off. “We’ll roast to death.”
    She clutched at her end. “Caleb! It’s cold. I need it.”
    His eyes met hers, the clear hazel almost silver in the muted light of the room. “You needed it. We won’t.”
    Heart somewhere in her throat, she released her grip on the blanket. Caleb bunched it up in his hands and walked out. A couple of minutes later, he returned with a much thinner one. Getting in beside her, he flipped it open over them and switched off the light. Then he turned to take her in his arms. She felt his body heat seep into her bones, the most intimate of caresses. He wore only his boxers and the hairs of his bare arm tantalized the skin of her abdomen where the top of her pj’s had ridden up.
    “Caleb?”
    “Yes?”
    “I’m scared.”
    Vicki’s confession ripped the heart right out of him. Because the truth was, he was terrified. Part of him still couldn’t accept that she wanted him. It was hard to believe the words she said when he’d spent years listening to her body and hearing the opposite.
    “There’s nothing to be scared about. All you have to do is let your body tell the truth.” What he didn’t want to face was the prospect that he’d hear the same unwelcoming message.
    He didn’t think he had it in him to go back to the way things had been before Vicki had shaken up their world. Now that he’d glimpsed the fire within her, he wanted to plunge his hand into the flames and burn in the heat of her passion.
    Turning in his arms, Vicki tipped her head up. He could barely see the outline of her face. “I want you so much, Caleb. Please don’t give up on me.”
    “I don’t think I have it in me to give up on you.” Sliding the hand on her hip up into her hair, he moved his body slightly over hers and placed a kiss on her lips.
    Fire and spice, ecstasy and exquisite pleasure, her kiss was everything he could have asked for. She said everything with her lips, her tongue, her breathless gasps. But this time he couldn’t get past the fact that her arms remained by her sides.
    Breaking the kiss, his initial reaction was to move away, to save himself another knife in the heart.
    You have to help me.
    Her plea from the night before filled his mind as he reached down, lifted one arm and put it over his shoulder. She gave a soft “Ohh,” and did the same with her other. “Sorry,” she whispered against his lips. “I forget everything when you kiss me.”
    Caleb thought a man could hear worse things in bed. Leaning down, he kissed her again but let her take the lead. Every particle of his being was concentrated on her body, on the way she moved, on the slightest pressure of her fingertips.
    “This isn’t working,” she said, pulling away from the kiss. “You’re so tense I can feel your muscles vibrating and I’m even worse.”
    It was in his nature to argue but he knew she was right. Swearing under his breath, he rolled onto his back. Both of them stared at the ceiling. Now what?
    “P-perhaps we should talk first before we rush into…We never talked, Caleb.” The words were hesitant, but in her tone he heard a thread of strength that told him that maybe,