me.” Dominic took several steps in her direction, gratified when that familiar awareness smoked in her eyes. “Things haven’t been great for you at home. I get that, all right?”
Bewilderment transformed her features. “Have they honestly been great for you?”
Dominic was too embarrassed to say yes. The privilege of caring for this woman was his reason for getting out of bed in the morning. If he’d sensed occasionally that she wanted more, he’d worked harder. Looked for other things that were making her unhappy and fixed them, because it was his job. The alternative was to acknowledge her unhappiness and his own shortcomings as a husband. That he was human. Inadequate. To admit he wasn’t doing enough—that maybe someone else could have done better by Rosie. He didn’t want to know if their marriage was leaving her unsatisfied; he just wanted to throw another dart and pray like hell it hit the target. “What do I have to do?”
She started at the vehemence in his voice. “I don’t know if there’s anything. Not now.”
The hollow husk of his stomach filled with acid. “Think about it,” he said firmly, stepping close enough that Rosie was forced to tip her head back. Fuck, he would have killed to kiss her in that moment, with the sun setting on the golden highlights in her eyes, her lips parted and plump from having him close. “While you’re figuring out whether to give me a second chance, Rosie, I need to know you’re not enjoying the interest of other men.” He wet his upper lip and watched her eyelids flutter. “It won’t be long before this whole damn town knows you’re not sleeping in my bed, and trust me, a lot of men would like to take my place.”
“Fine,” she whispered, her attention flicking to his mouth. “Same goes for you. Until we figure out if this marriage is really—”
“Don’t say it. Don’t say ‘over,’” he growled, lifting a hand to cup her face. When she flinched, he curled the fingers into his palm and let the hand drop away. “I’ve never had another woman and I’ll never want another woman. Bet the fucking bank on it.”
Her chest shuddered up and down. “You should go.”
“Why, honey?” Ever so slowly, he allowed his fingertips to brush the curve of Rosie’s hip and his cock reacted to the shape, the feel of her. “You starting to wish we’d gotten in one more Tuesday night?”
“No,” she breathed, swaying a little on her feet.
Dominic hummed deep in his throat, pretty sure they had an audience watching from the front window, and not caring. “You have a good hard think about letting me try this again. Us again. In the meantime, if you come knocking in the middle of the night—any night—I’ll scratch that itch, Rosie. It can be our little secret.”
Fire kindled in her eyes. “Don’t count on it.”
“We’ll see. I’ll leave the porch light on.”
Dominic had to physically restrain himself from carrying his wife to the truck. Taking her home and making her moan so loud, they heard it at the ridiculous club meeting. Instead, he catalogued her features one final time and left, his restlessness increasing with every step he took away from Rosie.
Chapter Six
Rosie passed a rinsed dish to Bethany, watching in a daze as her friend tucked it neatly into her stainless steel dishwasher. The meeting had ended twenty minutes ago and Georgie had stayed behind to help clean, leaving the three Just Us League founders to tidy up the mess. Now if Rosie could only tidy up her scattered thoughts, that would be awesome. She’d been in a trance since Dominic left.
Scratch that. She’d been in a trance since he arrived.
She’d married a stubborn son of a bitch, and she’d never imagined him showing up unannounced to ask for another chance. It just wasn’t like him. Was it?
Once upon a time, Rosie would have one hundred percent expected Dominic to fight for their relationship. When they were younger, he’d claimed the role of her protector, lover . . . all of the roles, really. They’d been consumed with each other. It wasn’t like that now, though. There was still a sexual attraction between them—a wild, pulse-pounding, feverish attraction—but that couldn’t sustain their marriage on its own. The fact that their sex life was mind-blowing had probably kept their relationship intact far past the point it had stopped being emotionally fulfilling. And that wasn’t okay with her anymore.
Come back to me.
Rosie could still hear the