Page 44 of Inferno

Chapter 11

When Stan and Manning returned from dropping Taylor off at home, Prissy had already tucked the boys into bed. After saying good night to Manning—who was visibly exhausted from a long day of doing chores—Stan headed to his bedroom hoping to pick up where he and Prissy had left off earlier.

When he reached the darkened room, he found his bathrobe lying on his side of the empty bed. On the nightstand, a candle glowed softly beside a folded note.

With mounting curiosity and excitement, he crossed to the nightstand and picked up the piece of paper.

Strip down to the bare essentials, Prissy had written,and meet me outside for the main course.

Stan grinned, anticipation and desire heating his blood.

He quickly undressed and donned his bathrobe, then opened the French doors that led outside to the private deck.

He found his wife in the Jacuzzi surrounded by flickering votive candles. Her black hair clung wetly to her face and bare shoulders.

Languidly sipping from a glass of wine, she watched as Stan approached. “Took you long enough,” she purred.

“Believe me,” Stan drawled, “I hurried back as fast as I could.”

“Mmm,” Prissy murmured, admiring his naked body as he removed his robe and laid it over hers on the edge of the Jacuzzi.

As the chilly night air hit his bare skin, Stan shivered and exclaimed, “Woman, you must be trying to freeze my balls off.”

Prissy laughed. “Now why would I wanna do that? I happen to be very fond of your, ahem, balls.”

Stan grinned, climbing inside the Jacuzzi. As the heated water enveloped his body, he groaned with appreciation. When he sat down beside Prissy and lay back, she handed him a glass of wine.

“I thought we could have a late-night rendezvous before I leave for my trip tomorrow,” she explained.

“Sounds good to me.”Stan sipped his wine as he looked down at her round, voluptuous breasts, enjoying the way her dark nipples played peek-a-boo with the steamy water. The longer he stared, the more aroused he became.

Observing his riveted gaze, Prissy chuckled softly. “Like what you see?”

He lifted his eyes to her face, which was certainly no hardship. Even without a stitch of makeup on, his wife was beautiful. And now, with her eyes sparkling and soft candlelight dancing across her features, she was downright radiant.

Unable to resist, Stan reached over and tenderly cupped her smooth cheek in his hand. As they gazed into each other’s eyes, he felt his chest swell with all the love he had for her. It killed him to think of how much pain he’d been causing her lately.

Then tell her the truth, his conscience urged.

I can’t, he silently insisted.Not yet.

Watching the play of emotions across his face, Prissy whispered, “Penny for your thoughts?”

Stan hesitated,thenmustered a small smile. “I was just remembering the very first time we were in a Jacuzzi together. Do you remember?”

“Of course.”Prissy’s eyes glimmered. “It was on our honeymoon in Ocho Rios. We had a Jacuzzi in our hotel room.”

Stan grinned wickedly.“Which we took full advantage of.”

She laughed demurely. “We sure did.”

Even though they’d barely had two pennies to rub together, they’d enjoyed a simple yet beautiful church wedding followed by an all-expenses-paid trip to Jamaica, courtesy of Mama Wolf.

“That was the most unbelievably romantic week of my life,” Prissy reminisced with a dreamy sigh. “It’s a miracle that Manny wasn’t conceived the first night we were there.”

Stan chuckled. “That’s true, considering how many times we made love that night alone.”

Sharing an intimate smile, husband and wife intertwined their arms and leisurely sipped from each other’s glasses. When they’d enjoyed their fill, Prissy took their drinks and set them down. As she snuggled against Stan, he affectionately kissed her forehead and draped an arm around her shoulders.