Love In The Afternoon

Ben & Liana

Stopping at the door to the bedroom, Liana Wade couldn't help but smile. Ben was lying on his back on their bed, one hand holding up some kind of paperwork that he was reading. With the other hand, he was gently patting the back of the tiny baby girl, sound asleep on his broad chest.

Sensing her presence, he said quietly, "Come on in, darlin'."

Liana walked softly over to the bed and sat down as gently as she could. "How long has she been asleep?" she whispered.

"Just a coupla minutes." Ben glanced down at the sleeping Livvy and back up at his wife. "I'll put her in her crib."

He took several minutes, putting his daughter on her stomach and gently rubbing her back as she settled down. He marveled at just how much she looked like her mama. And how both of them had him wrapped around their fingers.

As he stepped back into the bedroom from Livvy's nursery, he saw Liana sitting on the edge of their bed. She was wearing a blue silk nightgown that he'd never seen before, and her soft brown hair was brushed down over her shoulders. Grinning, Ben pulled the door to the nursery closed behind him, then leaned against the frame to smile at Liana.

She walked over to him, her brown eyes never wavering from his gaze. Reaching him, she lifted one slender finger and moved it slowly down the column of his throat to the top of his shirt. Then she busied herself undoing his buttons.

His breathing coming faster, Ben whispered into her hair. "It's broad daylight out, Mrs. Wade. What'll people think?"

"They'll think I'm ready to make love to my husband again," Liana whispered back. Having finished with his buttons, she was pushing the shirt off his shoulders.

He picked her up and carried her to the bed, laying her down gently. He was more than ready to make love to her again too. The weeks since Olivia's birth and everything that had happened to Liana had been long. Liana had needed time to recover, both physically and emotionally.

Ben was a patient man, but he had never been used to going without his physical needs being met. Now, even as his hands moved hungrily over his wife's body, these last weeks went through his mind. There'd been a couple of brief overnight business trips to Sydney when he'd picked up a woman in the bar of the hotel and used her to satisfy himself.

The women had been sexy enough and his needs were met--but not all of them. No matter how beautiful or sexy, they weren't Liana. While his body's needs were taken care of, the needs of his heart were left unsatisfied.

He missed holding her in his arms, talking softly to her about anything and everything. With others, he had to watch his every word, but she knew him. Knew him and accepted him and he could say anything to her without worrying about consequences.

He missed her soft touch and the even softer look in her eyes. That look that told him she loved him, regardless of the kind of man he'd been. For the first time in his life, he had someone he could trust. Not because he paid for it, but simply because she gave it.

In the aftermath of their first lovemaking in weeks, he held her, content. But dreading that he had to tell her he was getting ready for another "business" trip.