It wasn't the flirting that set Katie off. Not completely, anyway.
She'd grown somewhat resigned to the fact that women would flirt with her husband. Ned had always been handsome but it seemed the older he got, the hotter he became.
In his mid-thirties, he had lost that youthful sweetness of his teens and early twenties. That, together with his few scars and broad, fit police officer shoulders and chest, gave him an irresistible, rugged appearance.
His character, however, had not changed. He was still gregarious and easy to get along with. That combination of centerfold-worthy manliness and humorous, witty intelligence was enough to melt the panties off of even the most uptight woman.
But it really wasn't flirting at all that put Katie into the state she was in now.
In fact, truth be told, had the young Stephanie Olsen noticed she hovering behind her in the entrance of the police precinct, she probably would have never dared to do what she had done. The lovely, blonde-haired twenty-year-old was like every other woman in Grandview.
They were simply too intimidated by her to be anything more than cordial around her or her very desirable husband.
It was when Katie wasn't around that was when all the foolishness took place.
No, it was the surreptitious swipe of that foul, pale young girl's hand on the curve of her husband's delectable ass that had sent her into a paroxysm of murderous jealousy. Ned had been talking to said girl appropriately as he guided her toward his desk, even stepping out of the way of her wandering hand.
But Stephanie had no idea Katie had decided to come in to bring her husband coffee that weekend morning. She watched as Stephanie leaned close enough into Ned again to touch his ass, the slight stiffening of his frame indicating his discomfort, she had dropped the coffee on the floor, startling everyone in the precinct.
She was of a mind to grab the little hussy and drag her bodily from the shop but for Scott's arrival to clean up the mess rather comically, she didn't.
Which had further given her husband a motive to step away from her again and toward her. "Katie, I-"
"I was going to bring you coffee, but I should probably get going now. You know how my mom likes punctuality." She sighed, shaking her head.
"You know I love you," he smirked, his eyes flitting over her.
"I know," she smiled and leaned up to kiss him. "I love you too. We'll talk about this later."
A few hours later, Katie stood drying herself in the bathroom of their master bedroom. She rinsed her face and looked in the mirror, studying her reflection. When she put herself against Stephanie, she felt as if she came up short.
The young woman was almost ten years younger than her with a short, slender red-haired girl with green eyes and skin that glowed like marble. She was considered quite the beauty and was unfortunately far too aware of the fact herself.
Katie was almost the complete opposite of her in every possible way and, while she also possessed a truly luminous, albeit olive complexion, it had since been marred by the reminders of being pregnant with her two children. She'd resented the scar on her stomach for a long time, not because of their effect on her appearance but because they'd reminded her of the day her and Ned's first son died.
She padded into the bedroom, now warmed by the heat that she felt kick in. That could only mean one thing. Her husband was home.
She stood before the full-length mirror, tracing the scar that sat on the skin of her lower belly. Her fingers skimmed over the scar before further over her hip, just touching her legs where the stretch marks seemed to wane and flicker out over her thighs.
She thought about the girl's firm, high breasts, not much smaller than her own but surely different than hers, just by virtue of her coloring. Is that what men wanted? Was it a variety they sought? And wasn't Ned just as much of a man as any other?
The idea that he could have even been mildly curious about another woman filled her with such dread, she could almost feel her knees buckle under the weight of it. As if she'd invoked him, he suddenly appeared behind her shoulder. She was shocked at his entrance, so engrossed had she been in her own scrutiny.
"What are you doing?" he asked, studying her as she'd studied herself, but with an expression far different from the one she wore.
"Are the kids still asleep?" she asked as he took in her nakedness.
He'd seen her without clothes a thousand times – and though it never ceased to embarrass her, there was also something in the way that women looked at him that made her want to straighten her back and not shrink down before anything – not even her own insecurities.
"Yeah, fast asleep." He said, closing their bedroom door.
There was a moment of silence as she watched him walk up behind her.
"Do you ever get curious?" She asked, her eyes meeting his in the reflection of the mirror.
"About what, honey?" she watched in the mirror as his hand came to rest over her hip before drifting up to her side, causing a shiver to race over her skin.
"Curious. You know. About what another woman look like?" she asked, mesmerized by the feather-light feel of his fingers on her skin.
"I know what other women look like. I saw plenty of naked girls before you," he said quietly, his eyes still locked on the reflection of his fingers on her.
"I know that," she shook her head, laughing at him. "I mean, after more than 10 years of the same person. You're not…bored?" she probed.
Ned turned her away from the mirror to face him and peered into her eyes. "What is this all about?"
She didn't want him to perceive her jealous possessiveness, the way she had been reduced to rage and anguish by that Stephanie girl's invasion of what she considered her space. She felt her blood boil again at the mere thought of it. She'd had no right, no right at all, touching him that way.
Suddenly, Katie stood up on her tip-toes and pressed her lips firmly against his, her tongue pressing, demanding to be let into his mouth. When he gave way, she kissed him without temerity, taking what belonged to her for longer than that idiotic child had been a woman. She kissed him this way for several long moments, one hand threaded in his hair, the other grasping his hip and gripping him to her.
"Katie, I…" He moaned softly against her, gasping for air when she finally released him.
"I know," she whispered, licking her lips as she stood back on the flat of her feet. "You love me."
"I do," he turned her slowly, cupping her cheeks. "Only you."
Katie moved him backward, her eyes so intense, and he was taken completely by surprise by the look in them. Methodically, she removed his work uniform, one piece at a time, dropping them in a neat pile to her right, her eyes never leaving his.
He didn't dare speak – she'd woven a spell over him where the only sound in the room was the swishing of his clothes as they were taken off of his body. When he was finally naked, Katie studied him like a cat studied her prey, wondering where would be the weakest point to strike before taking down her victim.
But it wasn't flesh and bone that she would conquer. What she wanted was to strike out the fantasy of every woman that would ever cross his path.
She ran her hands over his chest and shoulders before she reached down to very deliberately fondle him, watching his face as he hissed. There was a thrill to being new to each other and in love but on the other hand, there was also the advantage of knowing a body the way she knew his.
She didn't fumble or make mistakes in pleasing him. Her mouth kissed each of his scars from working as a police officer – the raised, rough flesh over his ribs and stomach from being stabbed, and the scars from being shot in his thigh and arm.
Her kisses covered the expanse of his skin as she sank down to her knees, kissing his belly and inner thighs. It was then she took him into her mouth and sucked on him, gently at first, with teasing strokes of her tongue before she began moving her head with determination.
When he seemed close, she released him to move up to kiss his neck and run her hands over him again. His head fell back and he stroked himself as she sucked and laved his skin.
When she moved to kneel again, he pulled her suddenly to his mouth and kissed her hard. With the practiced dexterity of a man used to chasing and taking down, he lifted her and laid her onto their bed and was inside her before she could grasp his intent.
"Katie, what's gotten into you?" he asked in awe, holding her hands over her head as he plunged into her.
She lifted her hips in encouragement and felt his every stroke land in the deepest part of her belly. He shifted forward, because he knew her body also, and swirled his hips, eliciting a long, low moan from her.
He released her hands to capture her breasts, pausing the ramming of his hips against hers to suck on them hard, pinching the skin and biting the tender swells. When he'd showered her shoulders and neck with kisses and bites, she grasped his buttocks and pulled him into her.
"Ung, Ned, make me come…" she pleaded. "Please... oh please, baby."
She wanted it to be him to give that to her and she shifted her hips so that he would strike her where she would feel the most pleasure. Leaning forward, he rocked into her again with long, quick strokes. She felt it – the tell-tale, coiling rise of heat and tension snaking its way through her belly.
"This is the best part – watching you come apart," he whispered breathlessly as he sped up, staying a step behind her so that when she rose, he would rise with her.
It was in that way - forehead to forehead, hips aligned instinctively, heaving chests and groans of hunger and desire - that Katie crested and fell, everything she knew up to that moment falling away from her while Ned raced to his end just after her. His face crumbled as their bodies offered up shudder after shudder of release until all that remained was a quivering suspension of movement and then silence.
He dropped his head onto her shoulder. She ran her fingers through his damp curls, the smell of sweat mingling with the various aromas of him– his cinnamon and spice cologne along with his old spice body wash.
Squeezing him close, she savored the feel of his heavy, moist body against hers, even if eventually, he would have to move to keep from crushing her. But as long as she could endure it, she would continue to embrace him.
Just as his weight became unbearable, he lifted himself on his forearms and gazed down at her. His light green eyes swept over her features as if seeing her for the first time.
"Talk to me," he urged.
She shook her head. "I just…I love you."
"And I love you." He shifted onto his side and continued watching her, running a finger down her cheek to rest on her chin. "It's always been you – and it will always be you."
She looked at herself and looked at him. "But I'll change. I won't ever look what I did when I was younger."
He laughed at her. "Well, if that's the measure of things, my nose is crooked from it being broken one too many times and I won't always be able to keep my shape up."
She laughed because between them they could laugh at such things. "Even with your crooked nose and if you gained twenty pounds, you are one of the most handsome, most desirable men in Grandview." Her eyes flitted away. "I'm not the only one who thinks so."
Ned pulled his head back to look at her. "Katie, honestly, do you think that a little, empty-headed girl like Stephanie could ever possibly hold a candle to you?" His incredulity spread over his face and only grew as she considered his words.
"She's young, blonde, has a body that hasn't had children, and probably doesn't have terrible seasonal depression," she muttered matter-of-factly.
"And she also has no courage, no character, and wouldn't be able to make her own dinner if it were boxed and left on her doorstep. You are singular, in every way, and not because of what we've gone through together." He explained, shaking his head. "And do you think our kids would love anyone I married as much as you if we got a divorce?"
Katie chuckled at this. "I supposed not, but I don't want to think about you marrying someone else."
"I will never love anyone like I love you," he spoke. "It gives me a pain in my chest just thinking of even trying to love someone else." He dipped his head to kiss her, a far gentler kiss than the one she'd given him, but full of the same, persistent heat, the slow-burning flame that always flared when they were together. "If you don't know me by now…"
"I do know you, Ned," she said quietly, smiling. "And you know that I love you also, so very much."
"Well, then, you're stuck with me, Mrs. Banks." He clasped her hand, rolling the engagement ring he'd given her so many years ago when he'd first proposed between his thumb and forefinger. "And be careful. Because I love you more, not less, each day."
She nodded, capturing the fingers that toyed with her ring and kissed each and every one.