Legal documents, police reports, court filings, Polaroid’s … Shock fled and horror took its place. She hunched over, fingers trembling, stomach leaden. This was what her mother couldn’t tell her about her father? This was why he was never mentioned?
Shaking her head, Kate went through the papers again, calculating dates. She paused and held a hand to her increasingly sick stomach, then moved it to cover her mouth. Kate lurched out of the chair, dumped the papers from her lap and fell to her knees.
Diana grabbed the trashcan from behind the desk and put it in front of her.
When there was nothing left in her stomach, Kate sat weakly and stared at the floor.
“I’m so sorry, honey,” Diana whispered. “There is no easy way to tell you these things and your mom couldn’t.”
• • •
“Kate? Kate?” Emma gave her a strange look. “Sheesh. You were totally zoned out.” The cab had stopped. Kate fixed a smile firmly to her mouth before paying the cabbie. When Emma turned eighteen Kate had finally stopped looking over her shoulder. There was no way she would let Emma bring that man into their lives now. No way.
The hotel room phone rang, jolting Kate out of her reverie. How long had she been in the bathtub anyway? She had needed to soak the city grime off after a day of running around Manhattan with Emma. Exhausted and hungry, she eyed the corner of the bathroom that housed the toilet and a phone. This place was outrageous. Why was there a phone next to the toilet anyway? Gross. She wrapped herself in the luxurious white bath sheet and picked up the receiver with a wet hand.
“Kate?” a familiar male voice asked.
Her heart leapt in her chest, then accelerated. She heard his voice, her body responded. Not good. “Hey, Alec.”
“Did I wake you?”
“No, I was taking a bath.”
There was a long silence.
God
. Did that sound like a come on?
She changed the subject hastily. “Do you have a phone next to your toilet too?”
He laughed. “Yes, but I’m not calling from that phone.”
“Oh. Good.”
“Yeah.” Alec responded with another short laugh. “Are you interested in dinner?”
“I am pretty hungry. What time is our flight out in the morning?”
“Early. Eight, maybe? So, dinner out?”
“Sounds great,” she said, pulling the towel tightly across her body.
“Does your sister want to join us?” Alec asked.
“She went back to D.C. I dropped her at Grand Central.”
“Excellent,” Alec said.
Kate’s heart rate kicked up another notch.
They made arrangements to meet in a half-hour.
Kate hung up and attempted to quell the jitters.
Geez. Relax. It’s just dinner
.
She wasn’t quite ready when he knocked at her door, but she opened it. There he stood, so good-looking in navy pants and a white shirt, he made her mouth water.
What would he do if she grabbed his shirt and yanked him into her room? She thought about what it would be like to lose her virginity to him. It was probably akin to getting your learner’s permit, then climbing behind the wheel of a Porsche to cruise the Autobahn. She indulged the fantasy. She’d have to climb him like a tree, since he was almost a foot taller than her. She imagined trying to wrestle his mouth down to hers, licking his lips apart and meeting his tongue. Arousal burned through her, thickening her blood, bringing heat rolling through her body.
He still stood in the doorway, looking puzzled.
Crap
. How long had she been staring at him? He was probably accustomed to women lusting over him. Doubtless he had fought off overeager fans and groupies many times. She mumbled something about putting on her shoes and escaped into the bedroom.
• • •
Alec watched the graceful sway of her hips as she walked into the bedroom and shut the door. There was something disturbingly sexy and quietly innocent about Kate. And then there was that black number she was wearing. She had a hot body. And that dress clung to every curve. He wanted to grab her arms, hold them over her head and have her turn slowly in front of him so he could see the slopes, the dips, and valleys.
What was this odd combination of lust and tenderness she stirred in him? Was she even aware of his X-rated thoughts? She certainly kept him at arm’s length. Ever since that morning of the rescue she had played a starring role in most of his fantasies. Siren Kate, with her soulful, green eyes and masses of unruly, thick red wavy hair. What would she do if he pushed his way into the room, and kissed and stroked her until she let him deep into her warm, wet body? Arousal swept through him and he glanced down. He was rock hard. What the hell was that? She was not his type. She wasn’t, right? He felt the blood rush through him as he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed. He needed to get her out of this room before he did something he desperately wanted.
They walked to an exclusive restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. Two leisurely hours later, he pushed back from the table. Had she noticed he couldn’t keep his eyes off her over dinner? Her body, her looks, her quick wit, everything about her captivated him. She laughed through his anecdotes about traveling and playing overseas, and told a few uproariously funny stories about working as a nurse. Funny and hot. A pretty fantastic combination, if only she weren’t so young. Besides, she wasn’t his type. Not his type.
The evening air had turned brisk while they were in the restaurant so he helped her into her jacket on the street.
“It’s a nice night. Would you like to take the long way back?” he asked.
“Sure.”
They had only made it a few blocks but he was so attuned to her, he noticed the faint hitch in her stride. He’d been out with enough women to know the combination of high heels and city streets could be lethal.
“Let’s grab a drink somewhere,” he said, not ready for the evening to end.
Behind them was a bar advertising karaoke every night. She pointed to the sign hopefully and he shook his head.
No way
. She grabbed his hand, a sly smile on her face and dragged him into the bar. They sat at a table and a waiter with a bored air approached them.
“I’m a little fuzzy from the wine with dinner.” She smiled. “I’ll have a soda.”
“Two Cokes,” he said to the waiter.
“Is this okay? Are you comfortable in bars?” she asked, her face registering concern.
“Not a problem.” He leaned back in the chair. Bars didn’t bother him, not anymore. He took a lot of meetings in bars and restaurants. Being around a bunch of idiots using? That was a different story. He still went out of his way to avoid situations like that.
The drunken joker on stage tortured them with a rendition of ‘New York, New York’ — then finished the song and wobbled off stage.
Kate rose and held out her hand. “Sing with me.”
“Hell, no.”
“Suit yourself.” With a grin she backed away, moving toward the stage.
“Are you going to?”
Her grin widened. “This is my new leaf, Alec. Our little adventure knocked some sense into me. I’m going to do the things I’ve always wanted to do.”
“Don’t you think you’re kinda young for a bucket list, Kate?”
She laughed but backed up another step, arm extended again, fear mingling with hope in her eyes.
He pointed at the stage. “Does that scare you?”
She stopped, wide-eyed and nodding. “Of course it does. No sane person sings in public.”
He pretended to take offense, raising his eyebrows and ducking his chin.
“C’mon. Show me the ropes.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement.
He glanced around. There were no more than two-dozen people in the place, and only a handful in the back near the karaoke machine and stage.
“Really? I haven’t sung publicly in ten years and this is where I’m staging my comeback?” he grumbled, rising.
She waited, head cocked, hand extended.
He took her hand and helped her onto the tiny stage.
They flipped through the songs. He couldn’t help teasing her about her musical tastes. They were atrocious. She insulted his right back and settled on a Gloria Gaynor song. He picked a recent Spade song which nicely encapsulated the life of a rock star.
“Perfect,” she said when he pointed to it. “I programmed my cell to play that when you call,” she blurted out, smiling when his jaw dropped. He was ridiculously pleased to hear that. His own ringtone.
“Ladies first.”
“No! Please. Age before beauty.” Her eyes pleaded with him.
“You sure you want to follow this act?” he purred, gesturing to himself while he stripped off his jacket.
He couldn’t believe he had butterflies. In a karaoke bar. He shook his head then picked up the microphone. He didn’t need the words on the screen. By the second verse, he was transported back to that familiar place. Excitement and adrenaline surging through him. The sheer joy of belting out the song.
God, how he had missed this.
He was only performing for one person, but it could have been a stadium full of people and he would have felt the same way. He grinned at Kate as she danced, her arms linked above her head, swaying, lost in the music. Turning round, her hips teased him as her lithe body twisted sinuously and her lush mouth shaped the words. Others in the bar had joined in, shouting out the infectious chorus. Typical Spade song.
He put down the microphone, energized, excited and happy. More than that. It had always been this way. How could he have forgotten?
Kate’s expression reflected his mood. The shouts, cheers and catcalls from the other patrons finally sank in. One guy in the back held up the image of a lit lighter on his cell phone. Alec bowed, laughing.
Stepping down in front of Kate he gestured to the stage indicating her turn, grinning hugely. The noise in the bar had risen exponentially.
She pulled his head down and said, sobering, “There is no way I can follow that performance.”
She leaned back, wide-eyed.
“How ’bout I sing it with you?”
“You’d do that?” Her eyebrows arched. “Really?
That
song?”
They each picked up a microphone. Once the audience heard the opening bars, there was a collective groan from the patrons. Alec started singing. Kate followed his lead. This time, they were nearly booed off stage. Before they were halfway through the song she was bent in half, incapacitated by laughter. Since she was unable to get out most of the lyrics, he covered for her, maintaining his professional aplomb throughout. He grinned, watching her laugh herself silly.
“Your turn,” she said wheezing when the song finally ended. She wiped a hand over streaming eyes and put down her microphone. “I don’t think the rock star life is for me.”
To his surprise and her obvious pleasure, he agreed to sing another song, then another. People at the bar shouted requests at him.
• • •
Two hours later, Kate and Alec exited the bar. Kate ran a hand still shaking with exhaustion and excitement through her disheveled hair.
What a night
. She carried her shoes, toes too sore to put them back on, even for the short walk from the bar to the cab.
She stared at him as he tried to catch the attention of a taxi driver. He had been transformed up there into someone larger than life. Why on earth was this incredibly talented, sexy, guy practicing law?
He finally hailed a cab, opened the door and gestured for her to precede him into the rear seat.
She couldn’t take her eyes off him, mesmerized. “Alec, you were awesome.”
He grinned and shifted in the seat.
“No, seriously. You came alive back there. It was amazing.”
The cab stopped abruptly and threw them forward. The driver cursed at a car he had barely missed. Kate and Alec shared a glance and something moved between them. Kate turned toward him, somehow in motion, sliding across the imitation leather of the bench seat. Alec’s hands came up, met her torso and yanked her into his arms so quickly and efficiently the next thing she knew she straddled him, her dress hiked up to her hips. His hand reached up and gripped the back of her head. He leaned in, licking his way inside her mouth, devouring her.
He dragged his lips across hers, changing the angle, teasing one moment then hard, rough, and deep the next. He used his other hand to press her hips down tightly against his. It should have been uncomfortable, awkward, kissing in the back of a moving cab, instead it felt natural. She melted into him.
It wasn’t as though she had never been kissed. But this, this, was far beyond her experience. Beyond her comprehension. The feel of his big warm hands through her dress, the scrape of his jaw against her skin, her cheeks, her neck, increased her arousal until it was a hard, painful insistent ache. It was the most erotic thing she had ever experienced. The movement of the cab only added to the magic.
She moaned. Lust mingled with frustration, muffled by his mouth. His grip on her hips tightened and she became aware of his raging erection, as it pressed, almost painfully, against the thin, now damp barrier of her panties. Kate squirmed, pushed down with her hips, wild to get closer. She ran her hands down the front of his chest, over hot, hard muscles, the ridges of his abdomen, and lower until his hands met hers at his zipper. She pulled back, startled, then met his gaze and felt a momentary panic. His face was all hard planes and intensity, flushed with desire, his blue eyes ablaze with passion.
She might have said something, might have ended it, but he yanked her into him with a growl. Her whole body was swept away with sensation, pliant, aching, boneless. Her hands slid up and found their way into his thick, satiny, gloriously too long hair.
He moved her dress down, over her shoulders, his fingertips rough against her heated skin. She shuddered, barely aware of the downward path of the zipper in back, as he kissed, licked and sucked his way down her neck and collarbone.
Her hands tightened in his hair, urging him on, down further, to her breasts where he sucked and bit at them through the lace mesh of her black bra. She opened her eyes and watched his mouth and tongue against her bra-covered breasts and ground herself down against his erection, mindlessly trying to get closer, wanting more. The pleasure was shocking, dizzying.