Book three in the Husbands and Wives Series

After seven years of marriage and the birth of their first son, Lance and Samantha Phillips find themselves facing the real possibility that their marriage may be over. Immersed in her role as a working mother, Samantha is tired, frustrated and resentful that Lance can’t understand how she feels and cut her some slack.

Lance has never had a problem taking second place to his baby boy, but being treated as though he doesn’t exist is more than he’s willing to tolerate. He’s stood by and watched Samantha fall into a depression and spiral out of control for too long. The last thing he wants is to walk away from the one woman he loves above all others, but he’s left with few options when she refuses to admit there’s anything wrong.

In a last ditch effort to save their marriage Lance books a weekend at an Intimacy retreat. At first, Sam is combative and resentful of his ultimatum — do the retreat with him or their marriage is over. Once there, she slowly discovers the person she’d lost and realizes that being a mom doesn’t mean she can’t still be a sexy vixen who likes to stir things up in the bedroom. A little voyeurism combined with toys, bondage and suggestion of a ménage and before long, it becomes clear that good or bad their actions at the retreat might just change both their lives forever.

Excerpt:

After dinner, they walked along the winding path, enjoying the warm breeze blowing softly through the garden. “So, do you still think coming here was a stupid waste of money?” Lance asked

She gave him a smile. “I’ll reserve my final comment on that question until later, but I will say I’m enjoying myself so far.”
Lance allowed an internal smile and gave her hand a squeeze. “I love you so much. I miss having this kind of time with you. I mean, I don’t mind sharing you with Adam. I know he needs you a lot more than I do, but once in a while, it would be nice to know that there’s still room in your heart for me too.”

“You are always in my heart.”

As much as he wanted to believe what she said, her past actions spoke of something different. He’d merely been a passenger on her runaway train-ride of emotions over the last year.

He tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t come off sounding condescending. The last thing he wanted at this stage was another argument, especially when they’d seemed to have made progress today. Even with her admission, he was smart enough to know that they were a long way from being the happy couple they were when they were first married. Before he could reply, she turned her attention back down the path and a wrinkle formed in her brow.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, glancing in the direction she looked.

“I thought I heard something.” She took a few steps and stopped, her mouth agape. She raised a hand and pointed toward a white gazebo nestled in the back of the garden, outlined in white twinkle lights.

Lance quickly joined her, only to realize they’d stumbled across another couple having sex.

“I thought public displays were off limits.” Sam said, her voice barely a whisper. Lance quickly scanned their surroundings before pulling her behind a row of shrubs, concealing them from the couple’s view.

“They are, but are you willing to turn them in? Because I’m sure as hell not.”

Lance shifted his gaze back to where the woman lay on the bench inside the gazebo, with her unbuttoned blouse hanging wide open and her skirt pushed up around her waist. The man, with his trousers puddled around his ankles, pumped into her. Lance could see the sweat glistening off the man’s bare back as he grunted with each thrust. Almost immediately, Lance’s cock sprang to attention. Not because he saw the woman cupping her own breasts, tweaking her nipples, but because he could easily picture Sam in that position.

Lance reached down to adjust the growing bulge in his pants, and realized he wasn’t the only one transfixed by the couple.
Judging by Sam’s short rapid breaths and the mesmerized look on her face, he was pretty sure she liked what she saw, too.

The right thing would have been to turn and walk away; after all, they were intruding on the couple’s private moment. Then again, if the couple hadn’t wanted to get caught, they should have taken it back to their bungalow.

He carefully sidled up behind Sam and wrapped a strong arm around her waist, her wonderful aroma of jasmine wrapping around him like a blanket. “Like what you see?” he whispered against her ear.

She shuddered beneath his touch before she turned her head slightly to look at him, her eyes dark with desire. “I’d be lying if I said no.”

Her attention drifted back to the couple as Lance rested against a tree and pulled her to him. “It’s different, isn’t it?”

“What’s different?” she asked, her voice husky with want as she wiggled her ass against his growing erection.

He swallowed hard. It had been so long since he’d seen her wound up, he’d forgotten just how damn sexy she was when
aroused. “Watching the real thing versus a tape.”

“Oh, yeah,” she replied as she continued to rub up and down against him.

“The sounds are much more authentic than that overdubbed stuff in the movies,” he said while his hand burrowed beneath her top and trailed over heated skin on his way to her breast. “If you really listen, you can almost hear the way his balls slap against her ass and the soft whimpers escaping from her as he pounds into her.” Lance tweaked her nipple through the lacy bra she wore and felt it tighten and grow beneath his touch. “She’s really enjoying what he’s doing to her.”

“Mmmm…hmmm,” Sam replied as she dropped her head back against his shoulder. He continued to pull and pluck at the nub until it
felt like a tiny rock beneath his fingers.

“Put yourself in her place, Sam. Can you feel me filling you while the breeze kisses your skin? Adrenaline pumping through your veins as the thought of getting caught doing something so private out in public sets your insides on fire.”

She whimpered and ground against him, and he knew her desire was slowly engulfing her. Just a little more and she’d be completely consumed by need. “There’s nothing more erotic than watching two people who are truly in love have sex. Notice how she’s looking up at him. What you do you see?”

Sam lifted her head from his shoulder and studied the couple, her breathing growing more ragged with each breath, with each stroke the pair completed. “She loves him,” Sam whispered. “She trusts him implicitly, and she knows no one could ever make her feel the way he does.”

“If I stripped you naked and took you right here, right now, would you look at me like that, Sam?”

She turned her head slightly and planted a soft, open-mouthed kiss on his neck. “Yes.”

“Do you want me to do that? Do you want me to take you right here?”

“God, yes.” She gasped as she shoved her ass harder against him.

Lance shifted her slightly, allowing his leg to slip between hers, parting them. “Let’s just see about that,” he practically growled in her ear as his other hand snaked around her waist and dipped beneath her dress. He tucked his fingers under what he could only assume were matching lace panties and immediately felt her wet heat drench his digits. His cock twitched and tightened, growing impossibly hard inside his Dockers. Damned if this wasn’t the most erotic situation he’d ever encountered. “Fuck, you’re so wet, baby,” he growled in her ear as he stroked along her folds, pulling her juices up and over her clit. “I bet it wouldn’t take much to make you come, would it?” He punctuated his sentence by rubbing a tiny circle over her quivering bud.

She gasped and lurched forward, but Lance held her tight against him with his other hand.

“If I make you come right here, would you be able to contain your scream?”

REVIEWS:

Joyfully Reviewed
Reviewer: Vivian
Michelle Cary has made this a hot story, very well written, with plenty of sizzling sex scenes. Some funny role-playing, some light bondage, a little voyeurism and an interesting ménage are all featured, even in the context of “ therapy ” . For Better, For Worse is a touching love story about how falling in love is the easy part, staying
love is sometimes a lot of work. For Better, For Worse is definitely an enjoyable read.

Sensual Erotic Romance 24/7
4.5stars
Reviewer: Amy Wynn
I’ve never read anything by Michelle Cary before, but after reading For Better, For Worse that will change. Sam and Lance seem like couples I know and throughout the story, I was rooting for them to dig deep, work it out – stay together! Ms. Cary did a great job of bringing provocative desires to the forefront while she avoided making them the solution to the couple’s marital strife. I especially love the ending of this book and think you will too.