sprawled across the sofa, a large text book propped up as she slowly flipped through the pages.
Instead of the conservatively dressed woman he’d seen last night, today his wife of less than a week wore a tank top and shorts. Her feet were bare, her hair piled up on top of her head in a ponytail and she was chewing gum. She was, he acknowledged wryly, a teenage boy’s dream. Which meant he had no excuse for what he was feeling—he was old enough to know better.
Still, the information didn’t seem to have any impact on the sudden rush of blood south or the desire to cross the room, pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless. He imagined her yielding and aroused, straining to get closer, reaching for him as they—
He forced the erotic images out of his mind. This was a marriage of practicality, he reminded himself. Nothing more. Besides, he’d been enough of an ass last night. He should take a break from that kind of behavior.
Pushing her to talk about Jimmy had been out of line and now that she’d admitted she didn’t think she and his brother had been in love, he, Dev, felt even more like a jerk. He’d only done it to find out if she was in mourning or not. Knowing she wasn’t overwhelmed by the loss of his brother meant, in a twisted way, that she was more available to him. Maybe he was the one who needed professional help.
He crossed to the CD player and turned down the volume. Noelle jumped. She sprang to her feet and the textbook hit the floor.
“Dev!” she said, obviously startled. “You’re home early.” She touched her hair, then fingered the hem of her tank top. “I’m not ready.”
“You live here,” he reminded her. “There’s nothing to get ready for.”
“Dinner,” she said as she folded her arms over her chest. “I was going to get changed.”
“You don’t have to for me. I think you look charming.”
She tried to smile, then failed. She reached up and pulled a band from her hair so that it tumbled loose around her shoulders.
The instant disarray was too sexy by far. Despite the steady hum of the air conditioner, he had the sudden need to unfasten his collar button and pull off his tie.
Instead he walked over to the large wrapped package he’d left by the entrance to the family room and held it out to her. “I brought you something.”
Her gaze locked on the box and a her mouth curved into a wide grin. “Really? For me.”
She tucked her hands behind her back, as if to keep herself from lunging toward the present.
“I felt badly about missing your birthday,” he admitted. He started to apologize for the previous night, then stopped, not wanting to get into all that right now.
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” she said politely, even as she practically quivered in anticipation.
“You’re not very good at this,” he said, then set the package down on the coffee table. “You’re saying all the right things, but I can tell you want to jump on the box and rip it open.”
She looked at him and smiled. “I love surprises. I was always the first one up on Christmas morning. Even now, my parents have to set a time limit so I won’t be downstairs, shaking boxes at five in the morning.”
“No one is making you wait but you.”
“If you’re sure,” she said even as she dropped to her knees in front of the coffee table and tugged at the wrappings. In a matter of seconds, she had the box open and was staring down at the sleek, silver laptop computer he’d bought her.
Dev perched on the edge of the overstuffed chair. “It’s lightweight, so you can take it to classes, and wireless. We have wireless high-speed in the house, so you can be online just about anywhere. Even out by the pool.”
She opened the top and ran her fingers over the keyboard. “Right. Because everyone wants to do e-mail poolside.” She turned to him. “Dev, this is really, really nice. I don’t know what to say.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t think you had one already.”
“I don’t. It’s terrific. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I thought later we could go online and register somewhere. You know, for gifts.”
Her eyes widened slightly and her lips parted, even though she didn’t speak.
“I know you were disappointed last night,” he admitted, feeling uncomfortable. “You surprised me. I hadn’t thought about things like showers and parties. I shouldn’t have left it all up to you.”
A warm, happy smile blossomed on her face. She left the laptop and shifted to him, crossing the few feet of area rug still on her knees. Then she put her hands on his thighs, leaned in and kissed him on the mouth.
“Thank you,” she said again. “In case no one has told you recently, you’re a pretty great guy.”
The soft pressure of her mouth lingered long after she’d pulled away. Desire exploded and he instinctively pulled away to help keep himself under control.
“Oh,” she breathed as she stood and took a step back. “Sorry. I was just saying thank you. I didn’t mean anything by…” She waved her hand vaguely in his direction.
Guilt ground into him. He swore silently. “Don’t apologize,” he told her gently. “We’re married. Kissing is allowed.”
“But you said you didn’t want that for us. It wasn’t part of the deal.”
Sex. She was talking about sex. Something he wasn’t going to experience again for a very long two years.
“I said I wasn’t marrying you to pressure you into sleeping with me,” he reminded her. “I didn’t want you to feel obligated. We’re living in the same house. We’re going to run into each other. We need to get comfortable with that, and with kissing. As far as the world’s concerned, we’re newlyweds. We have to act like it.”
“So my thank-you kiss was practice?” she asked.
There was something in her tone that made him wonder if she were holding in laughter. “If you want.”
She sighed. “There are very complicated rules here. It would help me a lot if we could get them in writing.”
He saw the humor in her gaze. “I’ll see what I can do,” he told her. “Maybe someone could stitch them in a pillow for us.”
“That would give our company something to talk about.”
He could only imagine.
Determined to make things right between them, he crossed to her, put his hands on her shoulders, then bent down and lightly brushed his mouth against her.
“You’re welcome,” he said. “Happy birthday a little late.”
This close he could see all the various colors of blue that made up her irises. Her lashes were surprisingly long and dark and there was a tiny freckle by the
