“Meaning?”

“I’m done playing games, Marybeth.”

“Does that mean that you’re going to give me a divorce?” she asked weakly as her stomach turned with dread.

“No, that means that we stop playing these games and start being honest with each other,” he said softly as he ran his fingers through her hair.

“I’m not playing any games with you,” she stubbornly argued as she tried to climb off his lap and away from this conversation, but he used his hold on her ass to keep her right where she was.

“You’re not running away from this anymore, sweetheart.”

“I’m not trying to run away,” she lied, trying to do just that, because it was one thing to know that this day was coming, it was quite another to actually face it and deal with the aftermath.

Oh God, she wasn’t ready to do this…

“Why don’t we settle something before we start?” he suggested as he reached over and took her trembling hand in his. “We’re not getting a divorce, Marybeth, so stop trying to push me away. It’s not going to work. I’ve loved you since the moment that I saw you balling up your little fist and took a swing at your brother and I know that you love me too.”

“Darrin, I…,” she started to lie, but she just couldn’t do it. Not anymore. “It doesn’t matter.”

He trailed his fingers down her spine, smoothing down the tee shirt that she’d helped herself to from his bag and asked, “Do you really think that I could ever be happy with anyone else but you?”

“And do you really think that you could be happy with a woman who can’t give you children?” she asked, deciding that he was right. It was time for them to stop playing this game and get to the point. She pushed herself up and climbed off his lap. “I can’t do that to you, Darrin. I’m sorry…I just can’t.”

Chapter 27

“Oh my God! What the hell are you doing?”

“Taking matters into my own hands,” he explained as he dragged the squirming woman back where he wanted her and flipped her over onto her back.

“Wait, what? No! Darrin, don’t do it!” she cried out as she struggled to escape, but he wasn’t letting her go.

Not this time.

“Please don’t do this!” she cried, trying to shove his hands away as she used her feet to push away from him, but he simply ignored her struggles, grabbed onto her hips and pulled her back where he wanted her.

“I’m sorry, but you’ve left me no other choice,” he said gravely even as he licked his lips in anticipation while his hungry gaze locked on the patch of golden skin that the rucked up tee shirt had exposed.

He hated himself for what he was about to do, but she’d given him no other choice. The pigheaded woman wouldn’t listen to reason, he told himself as an excuse to finally give in and do what he’d been dreaming about for the last month. He pulled her closer, ignoring her demands that he release her and her sad little attempts to escape as he reminded himself that he had no other choice.

He had to do this and he had to do it now.

“Please don’t do this, Darrin!”

“I’m sorry, Marybeth,” he said with a long-suffering sigh as he leaned over her and did what he had to do.

*-*-*-*

“You..,” uncontrollable giggle, “son of,” another giggle, “a bitch!”

“You can make this stop anytime you want,” the large bastard tickling her calmly explained as he moved onto an especially sensitive spot below her ribs.

“S-stop!”

“Are you going to drop this bullshit about getting a divorce?” he asked, pausing in his tickling attack to give her a chance to catch her breath and answer him.

Panting, she shook her head. “It’s for the-bastard!” she finished on a gasp as he commenced with his tickling attack, causing her to giggle uncontrollably as she struggled to get away, but he refused to grant her quarter.

“This is how I see this working out,” he easily continued as she giggled and gasped, desperate for escape and making promises to herself that this time she was definitely going for his balls, “you’re going to agree to stay married to me, you’re going to stop trying to turn yourself into a martyr, and you’re going to stop this bullshit about children.”

“It’s not bull-eeeh!” she started to argue, not appreciating the martyr comment one bit, only to end up screeching a bit there at the end as the bastard reached down and focused his attention on the bottom of her foot.

“So, this is what’s going to happen,” he calmly explained as she giggled so hard that she could hardly breathe, “you’re going to promise never to even mention the word divorce again.”

“Dar-” she ended on a gasp as he suddenly shifted his attention away from her foot, grabbed her by her hips and flipped her over onto her back. Before she could take her next breath he was sitting on legs, pinning her down on the bed and tickling the shit out of her.

“We’re staying married, right, sweetheart?” he asked offhandedly as he went for all the weak spots that he’d mapped out over the years.

She opened her mouth only to giggle uncontrollably as he doubled his efforts. “All you have to do is promise that we’re going to stay married and I’ll stop,” he promised, going for that ticklish spot on her side that he’d learned about when they were fifteen and his hand accidentally brushed against her side when he went to reach for something next to her.