Her eyes raked his chest, his nipples, the stunning hard stomach wall she loved so much, and the thin hairline that disappeared into his trousers. She turned away and dragged in air.
“I need a massage, Alero. Would you be kind enough to relieve the ache in my muscles?” His question was so provocative, heat suffused her neck.
“Kyle, don’t do this. Put on your shirt and leave me alone. Just get lost!”
“Do you still find me attractive, Alero? I’m asking because I need to know. I’m going out of my mind. I’m so sorry I pushed you away into the arms of another.”
Was he deaf? She clamped her mouth shut and swallowed. Her heart jumped, and she leaned against the windowsill. She did not expect Kyle to forgive her indiscretion so easily. He was a proud lover, and she knew what she did was the worst revenge she could have taken to get back at him.
“You’re a gorgeous man, Kyle and you know it. That doesn’t make everything okay between us.” Did you just admit the man who emotionally abused you was gorgeous? You need your head examined. Not your head, your honey pot, her insides honked.
“That’s not the answer to my question. Is there any part of you that fell in love with me years ago that still feels anything for me?”
Goaded by his words, Alero shrieked, “Yes!” With tears pouring down her face, she murmured, “I don’t want you, Kyle. You’ll only hurt me, and I can’t take much more. It is Zane I need.”
Her husband covered the gap and stood in front of her. Tears welled up in his eyes and splashed over his handsome features.
“Can I touch you, babe?”
She shook her head and recoiled. “You plan to confuse me. I want a divorce, Kyle.” Her voice sounded muffled in her ears but she got the words out.
His throat muscles moved up and down with great speed. “I want to comfort you, please. Let me hold you. My heart is as broken as yours. But I honestly believe we can work things out. I don’t want to divorce you, babe, because I love you.”
She swiped away the tears and pressed her back against the window. Her heart dived down and launched up again. “You can’t love me. I have been screwing someone else.”
Kyle shut his eyes, and placed the back of his right hand over his forehead.
“And I don’t regret it,” she added for good measure.
Kyle picked up the flower pot behind her, stared hard at it and dropped it without touching her. She could tell he worked hard to keep his anger in check. “I know, babe. I regret the secret affairs I had. I turned to them out of boredom, not love.”
She shut her ears. “When you speak about the other women, it still hurts me, Kyle. That’s why I can’t come back to you. I can’t understand how you can say you love me and screw other women.”
He ran his tongue over his top lip. “You did the same thing,” he murmured as if it wounded him to say it.
She nodded and brushed her hair from her face. “Only because I believed I was completely over you. And I am over you,” she quickly added.
His fingers rubbed his nose. There was still a red blotch at the base of his nose from the nose bleed.
“If you’re over me, can I at least touch you? I want to prove to you we can still find our way back to where we started.”
Alero tried to squeeze past him, but he put out his arm, and she stepped back. “You’re harassing me, Kyle. If I come to you, I want it to be of my own free will. And that’s not going to happen.”
He grinned. It was a crafty grin. “I’ll let you out of here if you give me a straight answer.”
She blinked a few times and chewed her bottom lip. For the love of life, she had not seen this sexually aggressive side to her husband in three years. On one hand, it felt good to be pursued by Kyle, on the other hand, his arrival in Casablanca threatened to wreck the peace she had found with Zane.
“What was your question again?” she hedged.
His grin broadened. “I’ll repeat it as many times as you wish. It’s a yes or no reply I’m after. Do you still find me attractive?”
She sighed. “I already answered it, Kyle. What game are you playing?” This was not right. Zane was the one who cleaned her up when she hit rock bottom. Now, Kyle intended to ruin her joy. But her heart was not in sync with her good sense.
“Remind me again. I don’t recall your response.” Alero knew he was being stubborn, but how could she get rid of him?
“You can take as long as you need to give me the answer I’m after. We have the whole time in the world.”
She shifted from one foot to the other. If she brushed past him, he would pounce on her.
“How long are you here for this time? We both know Mr. Sexy Film Director can’t stay away from LA for more than a week.”
Kyle frowned and his jaw tensed briefly. “I deserved that. I’m a changed person, babe. Since you left me, I haven’t been to LA.”
Alero covered her mouth with both hands to contain her gasp. “I don’t believe you.” His work was his first love, and she had struggled to compete, but failed miserably.
“Dickson has been running Thomson Productions for the past six months. If you doubt me, I can put a call through to him.”
She slid to the floor. In her mind, she assumed Kyle had got on jolly well without sparing a thought for her. “Why did you stay in London? I never got you to stay for more than a week. I felt like a loser wife.”
He sat on the floor and spread out his legs on both sides of her body to keep her locked in. “When you left me, my world fell apart. The idea of going back to work filled me with disgust. I instructed Dickson to run the business.”
A bright spark lit in her heart. “So what have you been doing? Partying in London?”
He groaned. “I searched for you in every place I could think of. I recruited investigators to find you in Nigeria and in London. Little did I know we were looking in the wrong cities.” There was a glow in his eyes. “I haven’t had time to think about parties in the past six months. I flew to see your parents in Warri, two months ago.”
Alero bent down her head. “Gosh!” While she thought Kyle had forgotten he was ever married to her, he had found his way back to her parents. They would be so disappointed in her behaviour.
‘A married woman must remain faithful to her husband, even if he marries more wives’, her mother often said when she was in her teens.
“What did you say to my mum?” Alero held her breath. She had avoided her parents’ phone calls in the past few months because she didn’t want an earful. She was sure Kyle had bad-mouthed her in the worst way possible.
He shrugged. “Only that you sent them your love and gifts. I bought them some items. Your dad’s the proud owner of a new Mercedes-Benz CL-Class.”
“Thank you, Kyle.” She scrambled to her feet and fled from her husband. Alero’s throat burned with tears. He followed her up the stairs to her bedroom. When she attempted to secure the door, he slipped in.
“What do you want from me, Kyle Thomson?” Oh, so her parents called to thank her for Kyle’s gifts but guilt stopped her from picking their calls. Who would have known Kyle could borrow a new heart from nowhere?
“I came to Casablanca with only one demand in mind. One demand, Alero.” He stood with his hands folded over his chest.
Thank God, his nipples were out of sight.
“What is it?” To her ears, her voice sounded weary and high-strung. It was all too much to take in.
“Alero, I want you back.”
She slid down onto the chaise lounge by the window. Air flew out of her throat.
“I’m too far gone in my new life to turn back.” She bit her top lip. Regret slowly eased into her conscience.
“Says who? Give us a chance? God forgives us. It took me a couple of months to shed the guilt I carried around, and to forgive myself for all I had done to you.”
“I’m not the same woman who left London.”
Kyle knelt before her. “Hey, I know you’re not the same woman I married. I un
derstand that. Neither am I the same man who asked you marry him. We have faltered, but we can move on together, because we can find the love hiding in our hearts through God’s grace. I want to be the man you can be proud of.”
Still, her heart toughened and wavered. “Since when did you start waxing religious? I thought you said Christianity was something bored people get involved in to keep busy.”
He moved to squatting position with both elbows on his knees. “It was said out of foolishness and ignorance.” Then, he straightened up and pushed both hands into his trouser pockets. “I met an elderly man on the flight back from LA. For no apparent reason, I poured out my heart to him. He turned out to be a priest and he led me to Christ.”
Alero curled her knees under her chin. What irony! “I was raised as a Christian, but you hurt me so bad, I strayed out of my faith. I don’t blame you. I went into my affair with my eyes open. You, on the other hand was raised with little or no faith, now you have found your way to Christ. Is that why you came back, Kyle? Because you have a duty before God to take me back?” She needed to know what was in his heart.
Kyle joined her on the seat. Alero shifted out of reach. He smiled and gave her a sideways glance.
“When I returned to London, and I met an empty house, it hit me in the chest. Babe, I always expected you be there waiting for me. The silence, and isolation were like poison to my soul. I began to understand why you were so full of questions when I returned. After a month, I moved out.”
She jerked her head his way. “You moved where?” How could he abandon his cherished home?
“To a smaller apartment in Chelsea and Kensington overlooking the Thames. I realized you were the real reason I loved our home. Once you left, there was nothing there for me.”
Her husband was full of surprises. “Tell me about me the priest.”
A twinkle entered his eyes. “Ah, Rev. Jones gave me a bible on the flight. I read it. And I took him up on his offer to give him a call if I needed to talk.”
She was dumbfounded. Her self-confident, and self-sufficient husband suddenly needed a priest to help him find his way to the God he had ignored in the past.
“We’ve had twelve counselling sessions so far. His wife, Aileen is an angel. They both are phenomenal. Once a week, I had dinner with them after each session. My time with them and their son who is a non-practicing medical doctor turned around my life. All I need to make me complete is you.”
She nodded. “You make it sound so simple.” It was unbelievable to accept the reality that her husband wanted her back. What if this was all a poker game to him?
“Back to where we were earlier. Do you still fancy me?” He was back to his squatting position in front of her, and he rested both hands on her thighs.
Her thigh muscles tensed. And her eyes bulged. A shiver ran up to the spot between her legs and she shook her head. After a long fight with her emotions, she leaned forward and kissed her husband. Oh, her breasts felt instantly full and her nipples rubbed against her lacy bra beneath the thin layer of her red silk dress. Kyle’s lips brought back memories of the fiery passion they once shared. Alero shut her eyes to wash away the memories, but heat surged to her thighs, and she shuddered in his hands.
Thirteen
Kyle held his wife’s face and dipped his tongue into her warm mouth. Joy surged through his chest and he picked her up in his arms. Her breasts pressed against his nipples, and blood pumped round his body. Roaring fire raged across his stomach and groin. He knelt on the bed, and dropped her gently on the white sheet. How he managed to handle her with care beat his imagination. Kyle wanted to devour her whole.
She wrapped her arms round his neck to keep his lips locked to hers. He bit the soft flesh of her bottom lip, until she whimpered. His fingers grazed her nipples through her dress. The material clung to her skin. Small noises escaped from her puckered lips. She wriggled and locked her legs over his hips.
With one tug, he pulled off her dress and unsnapped her lacy black bra.
He gasped. “I love your breasts, babe.” The sight of his wife’s breast hardened his erection. He slid down her panties and she kicked off the piece of lacy black thong.
He clasped his palm over her mound and her hips flew off the bed accompanied with a loud moan. He loved the sounds she made. He had denied himself of this pleasure for too long.
“Kyle, please don’t hold back.”
He caught one nipple in between his teeth and wrapped his tongue round the dark hard flesh. Alero whimpered and pushed her nipple into his mouth. He sucked and caressed with his tongue, while his free hand squeezed her butt.
“Kyle–Kyle,” she moaned.
He moved to her second nipple, and swept his tongue over the sweetness. Kyle replaced his palm with his knee in between her thighs. She pressed her mound against his flesh. The heat seared his knee, and he palmed one breast with his free hand.
His wife cried out with pleasure. It was the most beautiful sound on the planet. “Please Kyle, come inside me.”
“Not yet babe,” he soothed as he dipped two fingers inside her heat. She moaned as loud as her lungs allowed, and clenched her honey pot muscles around his fingers.
His whole body tensed. The softness of her pulsating heat almost pushed him over the edge. He ground his teeth.
She writhed and begged and wailed.
“Do you love me, babe?”
“Yes, yes, please, Kyle.”
He dipped his fingers in and out faster and faster, and she thrust her hips forward and back to match his pace. Just as she almost fell off the edge, he withdrew his fingers.
Her eyes opened wide.
“I love you, babe,” he said as he eased off his trousers, and plunged his erection inside her.
Intense emotion swallowed him and he jerked in and out with mindless force. His wife was hot and wet, sweet and luscious. His own growl ate up her loud moan. She opened her legs so wide, he dived in deeper. Then she clenched and unclenched her muscles and their breathing became fast and shallow.
“I love you babe,” he screamed as he held her thighs steady. He charged in and out so hard, their sexual eruption was swift, sudden and ecstatic. He collapsed on his wife, but rolled to his side and took her with him.
The following morning, he made sweet love to Alero. In fact, she took the lead, and he was more than pleased to follow. The sexual pleasure was indescribable, and he wondered how on earth he chose to avoid making love to his wife in the past.
After satisfying his wife’s sexual appetite, he insisted on getting a paid massage treatment at her beauty salon.
Every half-hearted excuse she dredged up to dissuade him, fell on deaf ears.
≈≈≈
At the salon, two attendants fawned over Kyle, after they recovered from the shock of meeting their boss’s never-mentioned-husband.
Alero could perceive their brains try to figure out where Zane fitted in to the scenario. Zane had been a regular feature at her nail studio. He helped her set up the place and recruited two of the workers.
Kyle parried jokes with the male beautician who attended to him but he kept the chat short. When Kyle’s beauty treatment was done, they had lunch at the Le Royal Mansour Meridien where Kyle lodged before he found her.
It was a pretty impressive hotel. Well, her husband’s money could buy him many luxuries in life. They returned to her beauty salon until close of business.
The drive to her house was long. Throughout the journey, Kyle teased her about her scary driving tactics, until Alero parked her red jaguar in the front garage.
He hurried out of the car and held her door open. “I’m glad to still be in one piece,” he snickered.
Desire soared in her chest. “So it seems. And did you enjoy working with me today?” She handed over her car keys.
Her husband locked the car and strode behind her as they approached the front door. “It was great to see you at work. You were very professional. Reminded me of your modelling days. I was ver
y impressed. Your workers respect you and I like that.”
A wide smile appeared on her lips, and in her heart. “It feels amazing to hear you say that, Kyle. Thank you.”
He winked. Her heart galloped. Zane always winked at her, but Kyle did his with a curl to his lips. Alero fled to the kitchen. “I need a drink. Do you want a drink, Kyle?”
Her husband stood beside her, his hand clamped her fingers on the door of the refrigerator. She stuck her head inside the cool space, and slowly took out a bottle of red wine. Yesterday, Kyle insisted they needed wine in the house. As much as she tried to shake Kyle off, he seemed to stick to her like glue.
“What’s on your mind, babe?” He retrieved the drink and opened it with a corkscrew.
She swallowed, searching for something to say. Kyle had made honeyed love to her the way they did when they first got married. He knew every button, every sensitive spot in her body and, she pleasured him until he screamed in ecstasy. In her head, her marriage was over, but her body wanted Kyle so bad, she was screwed.
“It is hard to take in the fact you’re here in flesh and body. You’ve been so affectionate and attentive, I’m wondering if I have the wrong man.”
Kyle filled two wine glasses, carried them to the living area and set them on one of the nest of tables by the two-cushion sofa.
“Come here, babe.”
Her chest pounded. There was so much she wanted to say, but her wayward body wanted only one thing – sex with Kyle.
He patted the space next to him on the sofa. “Sit down. I’m not going to eat you just yet. Let us talk. I know you have things to say to me.”
She flopped on the seat. “When did you become so intuitive?” The reference to eating her up, fanned the ball of flame lingering all day between her thighs. When Kyle laid almost nude on that massage bed in her salon, she toyed with the idea of having sex with him right there. But they’d had an audience, so she behaved.
“I’m going to make up for lost time, babe. I promise. It means I’m going to learn to give you all the love and attention you deserve.”
Alero grumbled beneath her breath. Oh Kyle, why didn’t you come to this realization before Zane found me? God, help me.
Forbidden Dance: Will She Forgo Her Marriage for a Lifetime of Happiness? Page 7
