Chapter Three
After picking up the children from her mother’s and managing to avoid the older woman’s questions about why Peyton hadn’t been able to contact her earlier on, Haley fed and bathed them before finally putting them to bed.
As she had done so, one thought had constantly been on her mind and was the reason for her decision to end her weekly liaisons with him. What if there had been an accident involving one or all of the children and Peyton or whoever was caring for them that day weren’t able to contact her or Nathan? She would never be able to live with the guilt.
Hearing the key turn in the front door had her pause from her pacing and running over to him, she threw her arms around her husband’s neck and held on tightly, her body shaking.
“Hales? What’s wrong?” Nathan asked, the concern clearly evident in his voice.
“N-Nothing. I’m just--”
“Are you okay? The kids?”
Drawing back from him, she rested her forehead against his and gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “I’m fine… We’re fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“’Cos you ran out of the hotel room like a bat out of hell earlier on.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at his description. “I know and I’m sorry. I don’t know why I didn’t tell you what Peyton said on the voicemail… I guess I just panicked and--”
“It’s okay, baby. I checked my phone after you’d left and I had a couple of messages from her on there, too.” Nathan rubbed his hand soothingly up and down her back as he rubbed his cheek against hers. “Were you, uh, serious about us not meeting up at the hotel anymore?”
Playing with the short hairs at the nape of his neck, she replied, “Yes. Since I listened to Peyton’s message, all I could think about was what if something happened to the kids and she or my mom couldn’t get hold of either one of us. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself and I know you wouldn’t either.”
“C’mere,” he whispered, wrapping her in his embrace and trying to stop her body from trembling. “We could just make sure we leave our phones on from now on or maybe we could even tell them where we are so--”
“Tell them we play this game where we meet up once a week at a hotel purely so we can have sex? I don’t think so. They’ll think we’re weird.”
He laughed. “No, they won’t. C’mon, we have three kids under the age of five plus I work full-time and you work part-time, I think they’d understand our need for a little privacy once in a while.”
“Once in a while maybe, once a week and they’ll think we’re…”
“Oversexed?” He smirked and was relieved to see her smile. Even more so when she giggled.
“Nathan!”
“What? C’mon, you know they think that about us already, especially given the three kids we’ve already got.”
“Maybe so, but I’d rather not have my parents or our best friends knowing all the details of our sex life, thank you very much.”
Taking her hand in his, he led her over to the couch and dropping down onto it, he pulled her onto his lap and threaded his fingers through her honey blonde hair. “So, what do you suggest we do in future, apart from putting a strong bolt on our bedroom door?” he teased.
“Very funny.”
“Who said I was kidding?”
Leaning into him, Haley covered his mouth with hers and kissed him, effectively shutting him up. Running her fingers through his hair, she rubbed her nose against his. “I’m sorry I ran out of there so fast before. If it hadn’t been for Peyton’s call, I think we’d probably still be at the hotel right now since you exhausted me so much.”
“It was pretty damn amazing, wasn’t it?”
“God, yes. I think my body’s still tingling with aftershocks,” she confessed quietly into his ear.
Nathan felt a certain part of his anatomy react to hearing her say that. “Are you sure you want to give up our weekly visit to the hotel?”
“No… Yes… Dammit! I don’t know. I just feel so guilty when we’re together without the kids and--”
“I do as well, especially with us both working now. But, Hales, we need time for us, too.”
“I know but it’s not like those weekly sessions are the only time we make love.”
“True but when we’re together here, we have to be so careful not to wake them up or we have to rush in case they interrupt us.”
She nodded her head in understanding. “Okay, Mr Scott, what suggestions do you have?”
“Well, we could either continue with what we’re doing which I know you’re not totally comfortable with or we could maybe ask your parents to babysit once a week at their place so we’ve got the house to ourselves. I’m sure they’ll understand if we tell them we just want to have some time to hang out together without the kids. If they think it’s just about sex, then that’s their problem.”
Haley smiled at her husband, stroking over his cheekbone with her thumb. “You know, you’re not just a pretty face.”
“Thanks,” he quipped sarcastically. “So, you’re happy with that suggestion?”
“Very. This way, we’ll be at home and there won’t be any excuses for us not being reachable. If they can’t get hold of us by phone, not that that should happen, they can come by and pound on the door.”
“We can still screen our calls though, right? I mean, we could put the answering machine in our bedroom on those nights so we can hear who’s calling.”
“Hmm, who says we’ll be in our bedroom?”
“You’ve turned into a kinky little thing over the years, haven’t you?”
Winking at him saucily, Haley answered, “Well, if I have, then you’re to blame.”
Nathan laughed. “Oh, that’s one thing I’m more than happy to take the blame for.” Gently easing her off of his lap, he got up from the couch and making sure the house was secure for the night, he again took his wife’s hand in his and this time led her towards the stairs. “I don’t know about you, Hales, but I’m feeling an early night is in order. You pretty much wiped me out earlier on.”
“Moan, moan, moan,” she teased. Pushing him in front of her, she swatted his ass playfully as she followed him upstairs. “C’mon, old man, I’ll run you a bath to help soothe those tired, aching muscles of yours.”
Reaching the top of the stairs, he kissed her lips. “Only if you’ll join me in there.”
“Just try stopping me, honey.”
He laughed and then abruptly stopped, not wanting to wake up the children. “You go start running the bath and I’ll just kiss the kids goodnight.”
“Okay, but don’t go waking them up, Nathan.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be extra careful not to.”
With one more kiss, they parted ways and as Haley entered their spacious en suite bathroom and began running their bath, she smiled at how their weekly arrangement had turned into something even better and more importantly, she could enjoy things even more now that the element of guilt she had often felt was going to be eliminated. Even better was the fact that earlier on when she had collected the children from her mother’s, she had offered to keep them overnight to give her daughter and son-in-law a much needed break.
As she watched her husband enter the bathroom and begin stripping off his clothes, she couldn’t wait to tell him the good news. Roll on next week.
Fin