Chapter Three
The weekend went by in a blur. She planted some flowers in her small garden and read a book in between wondering what Tony wanted to talk to her about. Usually, he made the arrangements, sent the dress over to her and then picked her up at the appropriate time. When Monday lunch-time came, she caught a taxi to the restaurant.
As soon as she entered the maitre d’ escorted her to a table in the back. Tony hadn’t arrived, but he’d left instructions for her. She sat down, picked up the menu. Most of the dishes were spelt in Italian which she’d never taken the time to learn.
Tony walked in fifteen minutes later. Her heart hammered in her chest. Whenever he was around she felt like a school girl with her first crush. Technically speaking, Tony was the first man she’d had a crush on.
He didn’t wait to be taken to his seat. He walked straight over to her, signalled a waiter and picked up a menu.
“Hello,” he said.
“Hi.”
She’d never known it to be so awkward between them. They usually conversed easily, the banter coming naturally. They’d gotten married, and now everything was different. How did she approach him?
“Do you want some wine, Petal?” he asked, using the nickname he used to call her.
“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 naked on my bed, begging me to come to you. Have you ever been with a man, Opal?”
She shook her head.
“I’m a fucking 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 hips 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 fucked 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 fucking 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?”
“No.”
“Then what are you trying to say?”
“We don’t have to get a divorce. We haven’t had sex or anything. A simple annulment would be fine.”
The blood pounded in his head.
“Then you’d be free to go and do whatever you want.”
“I don’t want to be free,” he told her.
“You’re not making this easy for me.”
“What’s to make it easy? I don’t want a divorce, and I’ll fuck you before I allow you to go for an annulment.” Tony heard her gasp, and he cursed. Shit. He was losing control of his monster. The need to be in control. To claim what was his. This is what he feared most when he was around her – the lack of control to the point he could scare her away. Turning back to her, he saw the blush spreading up into her cheeks.
“I’m sorry.”
“I was trying to help you. You don’t wear a wedding ring, and you helped me back then. I’d hate to keep you in a marriage you didn’t want to be part of.”
“I don’t wear a ring because you didn’t give me one.”
Out of everything that happened that day, he refused to buy his own wedding band.
“Oh. I didn’t know I had to get you one.”
“Speaking of wedding bands. Our engagement wasn’t a conventional one, but I felt you deserved to have a ring to show off to your girlfriends.” He pulled the small blue box out of his pocket and handed it to her.
He noted the trembling in her hands and hated himself for being the one responsible for putting it there.
“It’s beautiful,” she said as soon as she opened it. “I know this is going to sound corny, but would you put it on my finger?”
Tony nodded. He took the box back and pulled out the small band. Her fingers were so delicate. Taking off her wedding ring, he placed the engagement ring on first, followed by the main one.
He kissed her fingers, grateful she was his.
“You didn’t have to get me this. I know our marriage isn’t a conventional one.”
It soon will be.
Sitting up in his chair, he glanced around the room. Where had that thought come from?
The waiter brought their food. He enjoyed watching her eat.
“I don’t want you to get a job,” he said.
“What am I expected to do with my day?”
“Whatever you want. You’re my wife, and like I said, I don’t want you working.”
“Can we at least talk about it?” she asked.
“We’re talking about it now. The answer is no.”
He saw the clenching of her jaw and couldn’t help but laugh. “You really want to skin me alive, don’t you?”
“I think you’re being unfair.”
“Think what you want to, baby. Eat up because then we’re going shopping.”
“Shopping?”
Tony signalled the waiter to fill their glasses. “Yes. I’ve got a charity ball this Friday to go to, and you’re coming with me.”
“I can pick out my own clothes.”
“I know, but this time I want to be there with you.”
Actually, he hadn’t planned to take her shopping. Sitting with her had made him open his eyes. He wanted to spend more time with her. He didn’t want the moment to end.
When she went to the ladies’ room, he phoned his assistant and told him to cancel all of his afternoon meetings.
Looking at her empty plate a deep sense of happiness overcame him. Opal wasn’t like any of the women he’d known in his life. She ate food and was kind. He wanted to be with her.
You’ll ruin her. What you want will destroy every part of who she is.
She walked out, and he ignored the warning within him. Opal brought out the good in him.