***
Kit awakened all warm and cuddly and feeling more protected than she'd ever felt in her life with Grey's arm around her. Last night had been...
There were no words for it. After the first time, they'd used protection. She'd brought some and so had Grey. They'd had the same thing on their mind, but Trent Higgins had almost gotten in the way of what they both wanted.
Or Grey's fierce protective streak had. And she still had to deal with that this morning. But after last night, after such soul-close moments, wouldn't he understand what she had to do?
She was curved against Grey's side and suddenly she realized his arm didn't feel protective as much as seductive. His hand moved closer to her breast. Lifting her head, she saw he was awake, too.
"Hi, there."
His hair was mussed, his beard dark, and he looked even more sexy this morning than he had last night. "Hi, yourself."
"How do you feel?"
She wasn't sure exactly what he was asking, but it didn't matter. "I feel wonderful. How about you?"
"Like I'm ready to begin last night all over again. Slower, in the light, taking our time, not racing as if we'd never hold each other again."
"Grey, everything about last night was terrific. I wouldn't change a thing."
His smile was crooked. "We don't have to change anything. But we could add to it." Abruptly he frowned. "There is something we might want to change. The first time. I should have been more prepared. If you get pregnant..."
"I won't. This is my safe time."
"Still, if you are pregnant, you know I'll support you. In fact..."
She pressed her fingers to his lips. "Let's just take this one step at a time. Neither of us are ready for promises or more than today."
The expression on his face said he might not agree. But before he could argue, she stroked her hand down his thigh. "Besides, we have much better things to do than talk."
Grey apparently agreed because his hand slipped to her breast and teased it into high awareness of his intent. She waited and waited while he circled her nipple, coming close but never touching it. Restlessly, she stroked his thigh higher, trying to tell him with her touch that she wanted much more.
"Slowly, Kit. This morning, we go slow."
He chuckled when she gave a soft moan. If he wanted slow, she'd give him slow. Sensuous torture that would definitely speed up the process.
Propping on her elbow, she said in a sultry voice, "All right. How about I start with you?"
"Be my guest."
With entirely wicked intent, she arranged herself by his side, her breast teasing his chest, her foot caressing his calf. She saw his eyes darken and she knew she was getting to him. When her fingertips tauntingly teased the outer circle of his dark nipple, his arousal became complete and beads of sweat dotted his forehead.
"Is this slow enough?" she asked ingenuously.
"Just right," he managed.
She brought her lips to his nipple.
When her tongue slipped out to taste it, he ran his hand through her hair and tugged. "Kit..."
"I've just begun," she said coyly, licking, tickling, and finally gently biting. He drew in a breath and when she glanced up at his face, she saw he didn't know whether to stop her or urge her on.
She removed her tongue from the nipple and replaced it with her teasing fingers. Then she kissed down his chest, skimming her hand through his chest hair, moving lower and lower. His muscles tightened and she knew she had power over him. It excited her as much as she was exciting him.
Down, down, down, she kissed until Grey gripped her shoulder. "No."
She lifted her head, stroked him gently and defied him. "Yes."
Before he could move a muscle, before he'd want to move a muscle, she loved him in the most intimate way possible with her tongue, with her lips, with everything she was.
Grey only permitted her loving for a short time, then he rolled her over. "You're a witch. And now I'm going to do to you what you've been doing to me."
He kissed her at the same time he kneaded her breast. His tongue left her stroking against him, meeting his hunger with hers. When he moved to her breast, her breathing became shallow and she bit her lower lip to keep from crying out. As he moved lower, she knew he wouldn't stop at her navel. When his lips touched her as intimately as she'd touched him, her body glistened with desire, her muscles tensing, growing tighter and tighter, until suddenly she felt herself burst apart into sparks and tingles and breathlessness.
Tears came to her eyes and she knew she'd never experienced anything so wonderful. Grey prepared himself, rose on his elbows, joined his body with hers, and brought her to the top of the mountain again. Her second orgasm hit at the same time as his, and she clung to him, clung to the closeness they'd shared.
A few minutes later, Grey shifted to his side and nestled her beside him. She could feel his breathing slow as hers did the same. His voice was gruff when he asked, "Did you ever do that to any other man?"
His question shocked her, yet brought all of her love for him to the surface. "No. Have you ever loved another woman that way?"
"No."
She sighed, wondering what he was thinking, afraid she knew. "You're thinking about Trent, aren't you?"
"You bet I am," he said curtly.
"Why now?"
"Because you loved him. Because in a little while you'll be seeing him."
"Grey, you've got to understand my feelings for him are over."
He lifted her chin so her gaze met his. "Then, don't go."
"I have to. And I have to go alone."
"Dammit, Kit
—
"
She'd explained over and over again. If he didn't understand, explaining once more wouldn't help. She disentangled herself from him and slid out of bed. "I have to get a shower. And then I'm leaving for the prison. You're welcome to stay...you could shower with me," she tacked on hopefully.
Avoiding her gaze, he dropped his legs over the side of the bed. "I'll get some breakfast then wait in the lobby." Reaching into his trouser pocket, he found his car keys and tossed them on the bed. "I'll be ready to leave when you are."
With that, he stood and quickly dressed in his clothes from the night before. He didn't kiss her. He didn't wish her good luck. He just walked out the door.
***
The guard locked Kit's pocketbook in a locker. Passing through the metal detector, she told herself this was no different than going through security at an airport. Looking around, she wondered if Trent Higgins had changed, being in this place. If he'd realized he couldn't use people and get away with it.
She saw him almost immediately, propped casually against the wall scanning the visitors entering the room. He looked as benevolent and charming as ever, if a man could look charming in prison garb. His sandy hair dipped over his brow and his blue eyes twinkled at Kit as she walked up to him.
Pushing away from the cement blocks, he stood quietly before her and said, "I got the message you were coming. Thank you."
Always the gentleman. She didn't feel much like a lady. Her nerves over this meeting had added to the tension with Grey. Of course other things had too–the idea of loving again, committing herself to a man which meant trusting him. She'd done tons of thinking on the drive over. It wasn't just a matter of her trusting Grey. She wasn't so sure Grey trusted her. If he did, he wouldn't have been so adamant about coming with her. What did he think she was going to do? Fall into Trent Higgins arms? A con man who'd betrayed her?
She was old enough to know that proverbial leopards didn't change their spots. And she wasn't naive enough to believe that Trent Higgins cared one whit about her. He cared about what she could do for him.
He motioned to two chairs. "We can stay in here or sit outside, if you'd like."
She nodded toward the chairs. This wasn't a social visit, it was an exercise in determination to give her peace of mind. Once seated, she gripped the arms of her chair.
"I'm glad you decided to see me. I truly did care for you Kit. I still do. I thought if you'd start visiting me every month or so, we could regain..."
"What do you want from me, Trent? Why the letter?"
He reached for her hand. "I remember the time we spent together, the plans that we made. Unfortunately I fell in love with you when I was in the process of a divorce. I needed money as much as freedom and I got sucked in to the wrong business deals."
"What about your first wife? You never divorced her to marry your second. Was I going to be number three?"
"I was trying to straighten it all out. I didn't expect you to come along. I didn't expect to fall in love again."
What had been wrong with her three years ago? Why hadn't she seen the insincerity? How could she have believed his lies?
"And the women you dated while we were engaged?" She hadn't found out about them until the trial. He'd done more than date them. Had she been so involved in her work she hadn't noticed the time they'd spent apart? Or had she just wanted to believe so badly that true love was possible? That a man could be flattering and agreeable and say all the right words when she needed to hear them?
"Give me the bottom line, Trent. Why did you write to me?"
"I just told you..." When her expression didn't soften and her determination to get to the truth didn't waver, he sighed heavily. "I have to get a new lawyer and that's hard to do from in here. I thought maybe you could check around and find someone who could get me paroled sooner."
She absolutely could not believe the arrogance of the man. "Certainly you can get access to names and addresses of lawyers and write to them yourself."
"They can toss letters aside." His gaze drifted over her with an appreciative glimmer. "You standing in their office would be another matter."
That was it. She'd held her temper as long as manageable. "I won't be standing in anyone's office on your behalf. I came here today for one reason
—
to tell you how much you hurt me. I trusted you. I depended on you to be the man you said you were."
"Look, Kit, everything just happened. I never meant..."
"I don't know what you did mean and what you didn't. I gave you my heart and believed in your promises. You trampled on me. You took my faith in men and shattered it."
"Don't get so melodramatic. Everyone gets taken. And it's not like I didn't care about you
—
"
"Care? You don't know what the word means. There's a man in my life now who I want to trust. But I'm scared to death he'll hurt me, too."
"Kit, I'll pay the money back."
Probably another promise that would never come to fruition. "You still don't get it. It wasn't the money. Yes, I had a tough two years paying off your debts, getting back credit, building another basis for financial security. But money comes and goes. Faith, trust, and loyalty don't. You stole more than my money. You stole the deepest part of me that believed in love."
She stood. "But I'm going to find that again, too. Just as I paid off your debts, just as I'm finally getting on my feet again, I'm learning to trust. I found someone who knows how to truly care, not because he'll benefit, but because that's the kind of man he is. He doesn't always say what I want to hear because he's honest. If you ever want a life again, Trent, you'd better figure out how to be honest, not only with others, but with yourself."
Suddenly she realized how much better she felt! The weight that had laid over her heart was gone. She felt free. And she wanted to see Grey. She wanted to give him her trust and hope he could give her his. Trent Higgins simply didn't matter anymore.
She left Trent Higgins in the prison where he belonged and went out into the sunlight, hoping trust in Grey would grow along with her love.
***
In the lobby of the hotel, Grey flipped through the pages of a magazine, not absorbing the glossy images. He shouldn't have walked out like that. He should
have told her he'd discovered.
But he hadn't. He'd thrown her the keys, still angry she wouldn't let him go with her. Couldn't she see that he wanted to...
The thought bit the dust as the lobby doors opened and Kit stepped inside. She looked like a sunbeam in her yellow slacks and top, her blond hair shining with reflected light beaming in the glass doors. Spotting him, she walked toward him, a tentative smile on her lips.
Standing, he shoved his hands into his shorts' pockets so he didn't yank her into his arms and kiss her until she forgot all about Higgins. "How did it go?" His voice came out more brusque than he intended.
She looked nervous for a moment, and that was so unlike her. Uncustomary fear wrapped around Grey's heart until she said, "He'll never stop trying to manipulate and con. I can't believe I didn't see it when we were together."
"You weren't looking for it," Grey said quietly. Then he asked the question uppermost in his mind. "Is it over?"
Kit stepped closer, so close her perfume became part of the air, and her heat mingled with his. "It's over. When I told him how he'd hurt me, what I'd felt, what I feel, it was like I was free again."
He tenderly traced his finger over her bottom lip and felt her tremble. "What does that mean for us?"
She kissed the tip of his finger, then took a deep breath. "It means I'm going to stop being afraid. But it also means you have to trust me as much as you want me to trust you."
"I do."
She shook her head. "If you trusted me, you wouldn't have been so anxious about this visit with Trent. You would have trusted the feelings between us."
Her conclusion stopped him cold. Could she be right? Was the jealousy simply a lack of trust?
"Grey, you can't protect me like you try to protect Deedee. You have to trust my ability to follow my instincts, to make my own judgments, to tell you the truth about how I feel. I'll feel smothered and trapped and devalued if you don't."
His gut told him she was right. His head told him that Kit could never be anything but an equal. "Old habits die hard. I'm used to protecting and safeguarding the people I care about." He couldn't quite say the word "love" yet. Maybe because it was such a serious word and carried a world of feelings and responsibility with it. When he said it, he needed to be sure they could have a future together.
Kit wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his chest.
Overwhelming need gripped Grey. Cupping her head in his palm, he bent his head and took her lips with the urgency of his pounding heart. He swept her mouth with his tongue, thankful he'd found a woman like her
—
strong, compassionate, loving. Soon...he could tell her what was in his heart. Soon...they'd trust each other as they needed to in order to forge a future together.