Love Her or Lose Her (Hot & Hammered #2)(26)

There was a change in the nearness of his breathing, as if he’d moved the phone away. He came back almost as fast. “I wasn’t sure I did it right.”

“What were you hoping to do? With the letter.”

“Truthfully? I wanted it to make you come home.”

The raw quality of his voice made her throat temporarily close up. “Don’t you agree there are things we have to straighten out way before that happens?”

He cleared his throat and fell silent for a moment. “You couldn’t even look me in the eye for ten goddamn seconds, Rosie. I know we’ve got a big problem now.”

Their marriage might have gone radio silent, but she knew this man better than anyone. Enough to know he’d been holding on to this one thing, possibly even obsessing over it. Should she have been more sensitive to that? “I’m sorry. I’m still not sure what happened.”

“I hate this.” She heard him swallow. “I want my wife home. We can work out what’s wrong right here. We don’t need to separate.”

“Do you want me back because I’m your wife and I’m supposed to be there? Or do you miss Rosie?” Her chest lifted and fell. “Can you imagine how hard it is to believe you want me home when . . . you barely seemed to register I was there before?”

His laugh held no humor. “Jesus Christ. If you only knew.”

“Tell me. How am I supposed to know anything unless you talk to me?” She closed her eyes and evened out her breathing. “We can start easy. Even you telling me about your day would mean so much to me. Actual details. Not just it was good.”

A floorboard creaked on the other end of the line and she knew exactly which part of the house he was in. The hallway. Right in front of the pictures of them together. High school graduation, the day of his first deployment, on the steps of the courthouse on their wedding day, Dominic looking serious with an arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her into his side. She’d stood in that same spot thousands of times, listening to the echoes of the past, wishing they’d carried into the future.

“Stephen hired a new guy. Wes from Texas. He wears a cowboy hat.”

“Get out of here.”

“It’s true. Bethany didn’t mention him?”

“No, but she’s wearing her heavy-duty eye mask. It only comes out of the freezer when she’s mega-stressed.”

“Trust me, he’s the cause.” She heard the scrape of a picture frame being adjusted. “Count on him being the topic of discussion at an upcoming Just Us League meeting.”

That same sensation she’d experienced in the mall parking lot was back. That sense of fullness, being grounded. Talking to Dominic, hearing his words, reminded her who she’d been when talking to him hadn’t been such a rare event, but a constant. It brought back that optimistic, anything-is-possible state of mind. Made her loose, light, and woke up every section of her body from the tips of her breasts down to the softening flesh between her thighs. Before she knew her own intentions, Rosie slipped her fingers into the waistband of her panties, running her middle finger through the slickness Dominic had created with his voice. His words.

“Um.” She shuddered as her fingertip grazed her clit. “A-anything else?”

Dominic’s breathing cut out. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” she said too quickly.

“Where are you?”

“Bethany’s house.”

“Where are you in the house?”

“Lying on the bed,” she rasped.

“Fuck, Rosie. I knew it.”

Her breath caught at the sound of his fist hitting their hallway wall.

“I knew it. You think I’m not well aware when that pussy is wet?”

This had been a mistake. They weren’t on solid-enough ground yet. For all she knew, the therapist would consider phone sex a violation of his rules and . . . and she didn’t want to mess this up. Walking into Armie’s office, she’d been prepared to plow through all four sessions just to say she’d tried. Now, though? Trying seemed like a real option. Dominic was in this. And it seemed like every day they were apart, she was discovering new things about him. Things that made her wonder if the old Dominic was there, right under the surface. So yeah. She didn’t want to do something to jeopardize what little progress they’d made. “I’ll go—”

“You hang up this phone, honey girl, and I’ll kick Bethany’s door down to get to you,” Dominic growled, that dominant side she knew so well coming out to play. “When you’re being a hot little tease like this, I find a way to make you come. Don’t I?”

“Yes,” she whimpered, adding a second fingertip and rubbing her clit in slow, unhurried circles. “You do.”

“You want to talk, Rosie? Let’s talk about Tuesday nights.”

She heard his belt hit the floor, the buckle clacking off the wood, and moisture rushed between her thighs.

“With the exception of last week, you usually come home those nights and go straight to the bedroom. Strip down to your thong and pretend like you left the door cracked by accident. But you know. You know I’m watching you and getting hard. Christ.”

He grunted a curse and Rosie knew he’d wrapped a fist around his erection, could picture his tattooed knuckles stroking up and down that thick column of flesh.