Chapter 1
I slipped the straps of my nightdress down and went barefoot back into the bedroom. Ryan Wood stood at the wardrobe with his back to me. I came up behind him, pressing my body to his and dragging my hand along the front of his shirt. I found the buckle of his belt and slid my hand inside. His body went rigid.
"The twins are asleep." I pressed my face into his back. "It's been three months, Ryan. Just tonight, alright?"
He spun around and shoved me off. "Can you stop being disgusting?"
Ryan took a couple of steps back and brushed the spot I had touched like I had dirtied him. "You're so loose it's like a worn-out sack—and you expect me to get hard?"
"I carried and gave birth to your sons." I looked at him as tears burned down my face. "They're twins. The doctor said I needed at least six months to heal."
"Then go heal!" He grabbed a pillow and flung it at me. "I told you to let my dad examine you, didn't I? You refused. You're still parading around like that in front of me and think you're the same as before marriage?"
The door slammed. I sank onto the carpet, crying uncontrollably. I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. From the next room came sounds from my in-laws' bedroom.
It began with the bed frame creaking, slow at first, then building faster and faster. Then came the voice of Margaret Stone, my mother-in-law, breathless and broken.
"Brian! Slow down, oh!"
Through the wall, I could hear my father-in-law, Brian Wood, breathing hard.
Margaret's voice suddenly broke into a desperate plea. "I can't take it! Stop, Brian!"
The sound stopped.
"I'm not finished yet." It was Brian's voice.
"I can't deal with this!" Margaret snapped. "You're already 50, but every time, it goes on for over an hour. If you can't hold back, go buy s*x outside!"
The next room fell silent. I lay in the dark, my heart pounding.
Brian was the chief of obstetrics and gynecology, the top surgeon in the hospital. A man like that, pushing his own wife to the point of begging, still refusing to stop.
I turned over. Ryan said I was loose and wouldn't sleep with me. He called me disgusting. And next door, the man who could overwhelm his own wife was desired by no one.
I slipped my hand under the blanket, feeling how damp my thighs had become. A thought slipped into my mind. Ryan had been insisting I let his father examine me.
What if I actually did?