An Act of Persuasion - By Stephanie Doyle Page 0,68

body while some other woman who looked like her had sex with him. Frankly, she’d been impressed. After that many years of going without, she fell right into a rhythm with him.

She’d remembered that it actually hurt. That first full thrust of him inside her had burned a little. But she’d been so over-the-moon happy that he was finally inside her that the pain seemed trivial.

The next time it happened would be normal couple sex—what almost every couple who dated and liked each other enough to take their relationship to that next step did. She and Ben had gotten the kissing part down pat. He kissed her every time he saw her now. He kissed her when he picked her up for lunch and kissed her when he dropped her off after a date. He kissed her in the car before he started the engine.

Sometimes he would kiss her after he paid the check for their dinner.

It was strange, too, because she didn’t see Ben as a kissing kind of guy. Sure, when he was going to make love to a woman he would engage in earth-shattering, mind-blowing kisses. That seemed totally his style. He wanted to overwhelm the enemy, er, the woman with sex appeal and pleasure.

But kisses for the sake of affection, or a quick peck just because he could, seemed slightly out of character for him. Especially in public.

Maybe it’s because it’s all you’ll let him have.

Anna dismissed the voice in her head. She didn’t need an inner monologue to know she’d kept Ben at arm’s length solely out of fear on her part. But the fear and the panic of what they as a couple might look like was starting to recede. She and Ben had only four more months to work out the details of what that image would be before they became parents. Then it would change again. So they needed to get this right.

One thing was for sure, in four more months there wouldn’t be enough room inside of her body for the baby and Ben’s penis, so if they were going to do this, now was the time.

Putting on the bra that fit, Anna picked a loose green cotton maxi dress. It cut in right under her breasts and actually highlighted the bump. She looked like a mildly chubby woman with a belly or a newly pregnant woman just starting to show.

Either way it wasn’t horrible.

The doorbell rang and, looking at the clock, she knew without a doubt it was Ben. He was exactly on time. There were days she wondered if he arrived early and simply stood outside doors waiting for the second hand on his watch to clear the twelve before hitting the doorbell.

Today they were going non-baby furniture shopping. Like any couple did who was furnishing a house they might one day live in together. Taking a deep breath, she made her way into the living room and opened the door.

He was wearing a pair of jeans and black T-shirt that clung to his chest, which was filled out now thanks to him eating more and working out regularly. In another month or two he would probably have put on all the weight he’d shed and no one would know that the world had almost lost this man.

She would know, though. She would never forget, either.

In a way, it was odd seeing him in jeans. It was yet one more thing to get used to in this new Anna/Ben 2.0 version. They kissed, they took naps together and he wore something other than business attire—or his robe and pajamas—when they were together. They definitely were no longer that working couple they used to be. They had turned into something else, and she found she really liked it.

“Will you humor me at least and ask who’s at the door, even when you know it’s me?”

“Who is it?”

“Excellent. You’re in funny mode today. I love it when Anna aspires to wittiness.”

She flashed him a smile and waited for his corresponding growl, which he granted her. It occurred to her that no matter how different things were, there was still some element of the old Anna/Ben 1.0 left in them and that was nice, too.

This was how it used to be between them. It felt as though they were finally getting their pre-cancer groove on and it made her happy. Yes, they still needed to find a way for the old and the new to fit together in harmony. But she was