Sweet as Honey (The Seven Sisters) - By Caitlyn Robertson Page 0,4
you know?”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me. You don’t have to talk about that fucking arsehole ever again.” The fierceness in his voice belied the gentleness in his gaze.
She swallowed. “I know, but it’s just… All the things he used to say… I’ve spent months telling myself they were all lies, but the things he used to tell me in bed, about being frigid and boring… I keep worrying you’ll think the same.” Her cheeks grew warm and her eyes filled with tears again. She’d lied—this was more to do with her mother than she’d thought. Emotion simmered too near the surface for it to be a normal reaction to the closeness of her wedding.
Dex raised her chin with a hand until her eyes met his. She caught her breath. He really had the most amazing blue eyes.
He kissed her. “Honey, forget him. You’re mine now. And all I know is that I find you the sexiest, most gorgeous woman on the planet, and I can’t wait until I get you into bed.” He caught the tear that spilled out with his thumb, but didn’t scold her. “The key to good sex isn’t technique, knowing secret moves and a hundred different positions. It’s about being with someone you love. When you make love with someone you’re crazy about, it’s fantastic just being together.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. Was that how he’d felt about Cathryn? She wasn’t stupid—she knew he had a list of conquests as long as her arm and was pretty experienced in the bedroom. And it was idiotic to think he still had feelings for Cathryn when the woman had treated him so badly. But the thought of him saying these lovely things to anyone else made her shrivel inside.
She just hoped their joint decision to wait to sleep together didn’t mean they’d built up the first time in their heads to be some cataclysmic coming together when in fact it would probably be the usual bumping of noses and awkward manoeuvring to get into position, possibly with her worrying about achieving orgasm and hurting his feelings, causing her to fake it.
It had seemed like the perfect decision at the time. Ian had damaged her to such an extent that she knew it had influenced her parents’ move to New Zealand, although obviously her mother’s wish to return to the place of her birth before she died had also played a part. But Marama’s death on top of Honey’s escape from the destructive relationship had almost destroyed her, and for the six months before she met Dex, she’d been plagued with depression and thoughts of Why bother? Why carry on?
Meeting Dex had felt a little like meeting an archangel. From the beginning he’d been gentle, caring and affectionate, and she was conscious of being dazzled, and also afraid of what would happen when the glare wore off. Not that it had yet—she was still waiting for that to happen. But she was aware that if anybody showed her kindness, she warmed to them instinctively, and she knew she had to be careful not to fall for Dex just because he wasn’t the complete bastard her ex had been.
She’d tried to keep their relationship light, to have fun and keep her worries to herself, but things had turned serious rapidly in spite of her attempts to cool it, and within the first two weeks she’d told him everything, including all her fears and worries. To be fair he’d done the same, not holding back, and explaining everything about his past, from his miscreant youth to the disaster with Cathryn. It had been his suggestion they hold back from sleeping together until they were married as a way for each of them to prove to the other how serious they were, and she’d agreed with relief, thankful that even though she wanted him desperately, she wouldn’t have that side of things to worry about for a while. They could concentrate on being with each other, on getting to know one another, and by the time they were married, sex would be a way to share their love rather than a power struggle to control each other as had happened in the past for both of them.
She closed her eyes and slid her arms around him again. She didn’t want to think about Ian—she’d fled to the other side of the world to get away from him, and Dex was right—the only power he had over her now