Carolyn paid for the lavender silk nightgown, a bit guilty to waste money but also with a head full of daydreams of how Daniel would react when he saw her in it. It was floor length, two straps, simply cut and comfortable while somehow a bit old fashioned- just the thing to wear for him. Despite his poem, she knew he could touch, had even felt the heat of his leg when he sat close to her, just a breath from sitting thigh to thigh. That heat could almost melt her. A simple look from those piercing blue eyes touched her more profoundly than years of marriage to Robert had.
Robert had been a good man, a good father, mostly a good husband, and she had loved him almost like a brother. She had had two lovers before she married him, and had just assumed that sex and marriage went hand in hand. Robert had believed she was a virgin when she married him, and she didn't tell him otherwise. If she had been a virgin, Robert's love making probably would have left her thinking sex was highly overrated. She still felt gratitude and fondness for Blair, the man who had introduced her to sensuality and steamy sessions in bed or a sleeping bag. Granted he had been an unreliable ladies' man, but after she married Robert remembering Blair helped her get through not so steamy episodes with Robert.
Robert's foreplay consisted of brushing his teeth and shaving so as not to leave stubble burn on her face. What followed was always the same: lights out, a few kisses, and the missionary position under covers. It reminded her of an old childhood saying: 'Ready or not, here I come.' Any suggestions or attempts to do things differently led to him leaving and sleeping on the couch. Talking to him at other times led to worse consequences: him shutting down and the silent treatment for awhile. Once she had playfully grabbed his thigh and he slapped her hand away. He had an uncle who was not allowed to even see Candy or Jonathon. Thinking over things Robert had said, Carolyn believed the uncle may have given Robert unwanted attention when he was a child. She also decided that in the scheme of things, sex wasn't that important. She kept it all inside her as a secret, proof she loved and respected him.
Now here she was living with another nearly untouchable who had merely to give her a meaningful smile for her body to respond in ways it hadn't the whole time she had been married.
