Free 9781631051500RekindlingtheFlameLeFoy by Eva LeFoy Page A

call from a client. An important one. Pulled away from the stove once more, she took the phone into the office with her.
    A few minutes later, the front door slammed. Marcy glanced up from her computer screen and saw Paul’s form shoot down the hallway to their bedroom. “Shit. I better finish dinner.” She got up from the job she’d become entangled in, went into the kitchen and played catch-up with the cooking. A peek in the oven confirmed her worse fears. The once succulent fish was now overdone and likely dry. Paul would eat it and not complain, but she knew in her heart he deserved better. She sighed. Nothing ever seemed to go as planned and everything she did always ended up going horribly wrong. She heard two thumps and spun toward the doorway.
    Paul stood in the foyer with two suitcases at his feet. Her heart skipped a beat. He was leaving? Again? He hadn’t even told her this time.
    Anger simmered. Anger and regret. She felt the loss of his presence already and wanted to tell him it wasn’t fair. She hated living like this. But she had no idea how to make it stop. Blinking back a tear, she stirred the potatoes.
    Paul’s dark hand reached by her and snapped off the stove. He shut off the oven too. Then he walked around her, locked the back door and unplugged the coffee maker.
    “Paul? What are you…?”
    He fixed her with a no-nonsense stare. “Where’s your cell phone?”
    “Right here.”
    “Let me see it.”
    She reluctantly dug it out of her pocket and handed it to him.
    He pressed the on/off button to shut it off. He shut his off too, and shoved them both in the kitchen towel drawer.
    She almost had a panic attack. “Paul, what are you doing?”
    He moved toward her, scooped her into his arms as he passed and dragged her along with him. “Come on. Get in the car.”
    She bit her lip. Was he mad about the meal? She didn’t want to have another fight. Not tonight. She had too much work to do. “What about dinner?”
    “We’ll have it on the road.”
    The road? Her jaw dropped. They were both leaving? For where? A million questions flooded her as he picked up the two small suitcases. Where were they going? What had he packed? Who’d feed the cat? This was…impossible. They couldn’t just pick up and leave. Plus, he’d shut off her cell phone. “Paul, we can’t just go. What about the food on the stove? The cat?”
    “I’ve already called Alice. She’s got a key. Now get your sexy tush in the car, woman.”
    Marcy blushed at his words, but felt anything but sexy. Dressed in jeans and a worn T-shirt, her hair pulled back in a simple, messy ponytail, she didn’t look the picture of hotness. Plus, she knew she’d gained forty pounds since Paul had taken the pharmaceutical company job—the one that kept him on the road and away from home. She didn’t feel sexy in her own body anymore. Still, his words made her pussy tingle.
    Paul shoved the baggage in the trunk and clicked it shut. He came around the car to where she stood, mouth hanging open in shock, and gave her a solid slap on the butt. “Get in. We’re going.”
    She knew she shouldn’t but still she hesitated, resisting letting go of her normal routine. This plan of his was unexpected and flat-out crazy. It would never work. “But…my phone. My clients.”
    Paul towered over her, his warm breath fanning her lips. “No clients. No calls. Just us this weekend. I need this, Marcy.” He slanted his mouth over hers, planting a searing kiss on her lips right there in the driveway where all the neighbors could see. When his strong arm came around her back and pressed her body to his, she moaned at the delicious erection pressing into her thigh. Paul chuckled softly. “Come on. Let’s go.”
    Marcy had no idea where Paul was taking her, but she got in the car anyway. The promise of sex with Paul pulling her along for the ride. She needed him too badly to say no.
     
    * * * *
     
    Saturday Morning
    Neah Bay, Washington
     
    After