“No, thank you. Water for me.”
“You know, I never understand these menus. I want a good meal. Are you hungry?”
She nodded her head. She was starving. Ever since he’d mentioned going out to a restaurant she’d been so nervous that trying to keep food down was the hardest thing.
“So, you don’t like wine. What else don’t you like?” he asked, gazing at her over the menu.
Opal didn’t know what he meant. She said the first thing that came to her mind. “Peas. I don’t like peas. Or celery.”
He threw his head back and started laughing, attracting the attention of several of the diners. “You amaze me some days, Petal.”
“I’m glad I entertain you.” She twirled her thumbs.
“We don’t have to be like this,” he said.
“Be like what?”
“Awkward around each other. You’re my wife, Opal. You don’t need to be skittish around me.”
She heard everything he said with a heavy heart. On her wedding day he’d told her to not expect anything from him. He leaned over the table and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She stared at him. His action made her tighten all over her body with his touch, the brush of his finger against her cheek, moving over to her ear.
“I can’t stop thinking about that kiss. Your lips were made for kissing.” Tony ran his thumb over her lips before pulling away.
Opal licked her lips wondering if she would be able to taste him on her tongue.
“You drive me crazy when you do that. I see your tongue, and I imagine so many things.” He’d never been like this with her. She could only imagine that this was his way of seducing her. The touches and the way he spoke. She knew she was way out of her league.
“What things do you imagine?” The whole restaurant faded away to her, Tony being the only man who existed to her. When she looked at any other person from the opposite sex she didn’t react the way she did with Tony. Except with him, her heart didn’t pound in her chest or make her ache all over to simply be near. She was a married woman who cared deeply for a husband she barely knew.
“Do you really want to know?” he asked. He took hold of her hand, caressing her knuckles.
“Yes.”
“I see you na**d on my bed, begging me to come to you. Have you ever been with a man, Opal?”
She shook her head.
“I’m a f**king monster for the things I want to do to you.”
“What kind of things?” Her body was humming for him to tell her. She wanted to know if he wanted what she wanted.
He opened his lips to say something. A loud crash interrupted the moment. Their attention was diverted by the sound, the moment lost. When Tony looked back at her, he was back in control.
She pulled her hand away and stared at the menu. Her pulse pounded in her throat, and she was sure her panties were soaking wet. Arousal. She’d read about it many times. Never had she thought to be so deeply affected by it. At twenty-two years old her only experience with sex was the stuff she’d read in dirty books. She wondered if Tony had seen the kind of stuff she’d been reading.
“I think pasta will be our safest bet.”
The moment was truly lost.
****
Tony moved on his spot to try to ease his aching cock. Fucking hell, every time he got close to her his body responded with his dick getting hard. When had he stopped thinking of her as Richard’s younger sister and as the woman she truly was? He wished he could look at her and see the pig-tails and the dungarees she use to wear.
No matter how many times he looked, Opal didn’t change. Her figure was that of a woman. She was a little chunkier than most women in their circles. He’d known about her weight issues from Richard. She had larger h*ps with a small waist. When he looked at her, he saw his hands on her hips, guiding himself inside her body. Tony closed his eyes to try to rid the image of her from his mind. Her tits were huge, and he knew they’d spill out of his hands with the weight. Her legs were short, and he hadn’t seen anything above the knee. She kept every part of her covered. He wanted to see what she had underneath. Her blonde hair pulled him in every time. The length made him think about holding her in his fist.
He’d dated and f**ked skinny women. Opal wasn’t thin. She was all woman, and he wanted her with a desperation that shocked him.
Her gaze kept slipping to his hands. Glancing down at hers, he saw the small diamond wedding ring he’d given her. At the time she’d thought it was a trinket he’d picked up on the way to the church. He made her believe he hadn’t spent the time picking something out. In truth, he’d spent close to six hours shopping for the right ring to go on her finger. A big jewel would look vulgar. Opal didn’t need garish. She needed something with class, stylish but also a band of ownership. With that ring on her finger, he announced to the world she was his.
The waiter came, and Tony ordered two pasta dishes. He was more for Chinese food than Italian.
Tony stared at her. She glanced around the room rather than look at him.
“How have you been?” he asked.
“Fine.” He didn’t want this. To be estranged from her. He wanted to get to know her and to prove to her that he did want her. What he’d said on her wedding night had been the biggest f**king mistake of his life. At the time he’d been afraid. There was a seventeen year age gap between them.
“How are you?” she asked.
“Don’t, Opal. What are we doing?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“We use to be better than this. I don’t know why we’ve decided to change who we are.”
“I was thinking about starting work,” she said.
Tony stopped. Frozen solid. “Why?”
“I don’t like being alone anymore. I’m trapped in that house, which I know is beautiful, but I’d like to get out a little more. Maybe learn how to drive or at least do something. I’m being driven insane every day.”
He sat back in his chair. “I don’t want you working.”
“I don’t think it’s your place to tell me what I can and can’t do.”
“You’re my wife.”
“For how much longer?” she asked.
Tony turned his gaze away from her. The one thing he had done well in all of their two years of marriage was to provide for her. Make sure she had no worries. Allow her to find her independence.
“Are you saying you want to divorce me?”