While he watched, she lifted and squeezed and played with herself. One hand slipped between her thighs, dipped into her wetness, an erotic display that failed to entice him. The stench of ale and sweat was thick and heavy in the room. It clung to the bedding, to the walls, to the very air. Bile rose in his throat.What was he doing in this rancid, rat-infested sewer when he could be home with his wife, the only breath of fresh air in his stinking, miserable life?Leah ... just the thought of her name sent the heat of longing through his veins. But it wasn't a mere physical desire, though, of course, there was always that, the burning need, the desperate, hungry ache to possess her. But this was different. Something he had never experienced before. The sheer desire to cradle her against his chest, to breathe the scent of her hair and skin as she lay in his arms, her soothing voice relating the mundane details of her day, which children at the foundling home needed what articles of clothing, which charity was soliciting her support, what meals she had planned for the week.
