Love of a Lifetime by Emma Delaney Read Free Book Online Page A

rumors.  I want to make sure that nothing like this happens again.”
    “I don’t know who she was.  She came into Claire’s restaurant with Tay this evening.  She said she was Patricia Wilson’s assistant and that she had overheard Patricia mention an affair with you during a private conversation with the PA.”
    Bill growled deep in his throat and wiped his hands down his face.  “God, that’s just what I need.” 
    Carla startled when he suddenly barked out a laugh.  “What is so funny?”
    Shaking his head, he chuckled.  “Have you ever seen Patricia Wilson?”
    When she shook her head no he smiled.  “She is about twenty years older than me.”  He cocked his head to side in thought.  “Picture Mrs. Titus, only without the hunch back and standing a foot taller.”
    She laughed.  Mrs. Titus was there economics professor in college.  The woman was ancient.  She was hunched over from age and had wrinkles to rival a Shar Pei.  Billy once teased that she always worn her hair back in a severe bun in order to give herself a face lift.
    “I guess I don’t have anything to worry about then.”
    Bill sobered.  “You wouldn’t have anything to worry about even if she was young and beautiful.  I mean it when I say that you are the only woman for me and I’m sorry I have given you reason to doubt me.”
     
    This man.   This wonderful man.   He always made her feel special.  Even when they were angry and bickering he always let her know that he wouldn’t trade her for the world.  It is why she wouldn’t allow herself to believe the worst, even when it was thrown in her face.
    Their separation was meant to be an eye opener.  A way to get him to realize his mistakes.   It wasn’t until she was gone that she started to really wonder if he even wanted her there.  Because of his prior absence in her life, being away from her home had been the only change she had to adjust to.
    It had been an eye opener for her as well.  Not seeing him was already so routine that she doubted he even noticed her absence in his life.  It was a major hit to her self-esteem.  She began questioning her desirability as woman, her capability of pleasing her husband.
    “Why?” she whispered.
    Lifting his hand, he toyed with a lock of hair that had slipped from her ponytail. 
    “Why what, sweetheart?”
    “Why did you distance yourself from me for so long?”
    Bill sighed.  How to answer this question?
    “Honestly?  It was purely lack of attention for anything other than my career.  It knew that if I just worked hard enough now then I could be a little more selective on my cases later.  I was so focused on winning that I lost my wife.  The worst part about the whole thing is that I didn’t realize I had lost you until you were already gone.”
    He kissed her cheek, the corner of her mouth.
    “I went crazy.  I couldn’t sleep so I poured myself into my cases, but I couldn’t even do that right either.  If it weren’t for Atayla keeping me straight I would have lost a lot of clients.  All because I was selfish and didn’t take your feelings into account.”
    He brushed his lips up the side of her jaw and when he reached her ear he tugged the tender lobe with his teeth.
    “I won’t make that mistake again, Carla.  I promise.”
    Seduction, pure and simple, and she was of a mind to be seduced.  Tilting her head to the side, she gave him room to nibble his way down her neck.  He knew all her sensitive areas and used them to his advantage.
    Nipping at her collar bone, the fingers of one hand deftly unbuttoned her blouse.  His mouth lowered with each button unbuttoned until he reached the front closure of her bra.  With a quick flick, the two halves parted revealing her breasts.
    “ Mmm , so pretty.”
    His lips traveled a delicious curve, his nose brushing against her nipple.  Teasingly he rubbed his nose back and forth against the sensitive bud before engulfing it in the wet heat of his mouth.