She rubbed the water from her eyes to stare at him.
“What's wrong? Hasn't anyone ever washed you from head to toe?”
“It's been a while,” she admitted.
“How long?” he prodded.
“Awhile,” she said because he knew he was her first. His soapy hands slid down her belly to between her thighs. He stroked her where she was sensitive, still swollen, reminding her of that vague something she'd been headed for earlier. He lowered his lips to hers and she loved the feeling of his wet mouth and the warm shower. She felt his hands stroke her back and bottom, always returning to the place between her thighs.
Katie felt the restlessness inside her escalate. She moved against his hand, wanting more. He gave a murmur of approval and French-kissed her.
Dizzy, she felt him pull back, then skim his mouth down over her breasts. She arched into his mouth and the combination of his fingers inside her while he tugged at her nipple made her crazy.
A helpless, desperate, needy sound escaped her throat.
“I'll take care of you, baby,” he murmured, moving his mouth down her rib cage to her belly, and then he was between her legs. His tongue found her and stroked her with relentless, maddening precision.
The pleasure was so intense she felt herself flush with heat. She felt herself reaching, reaching, climbing, and then Michael sent her flying through the air. Her body rocked with spasms of pleasure. But it wasn't enough for him. He continued to take her so completely with his mouth until her knees buckled and he caught her.
Pulling her up with him, he held her under the shower until she began to breathe normally. Her heart, however, still hammered unevenly in her chest. She felt both full and devastated. Her brain was still chugging along like quicksand. She couldn't think of a thing to say.
The water turned cold and he quickly pulled her from the shower. He wrapped a towel around her and dried her with such gentleness that it almost hurt, but she was too wasted to protest. After he brushed some of the moisture off his own body, he carried her to bed and followed her under the covers.
He tucked her body against his.
“Don't talk,” he told her.
Good,
she thought.
Because I can't.
“Don't think.”
Her feelings were so big she was having a hard time thinking.
“Just sleep.”
Katie closed her eyes and followed orders.
Michael slept like the dead, but when he awakened in the darkened room, the tension was palpable. Katie sat at the edge of the bed, naked, her arms huddled around her knees. His heart twisted at the sight. This was more than regret. He knew it and it put a bitter taste in his mouth.
He rose and moved across the bed to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and she shot up from the bed, her arms over her breasts.
“We didn't use anything.”
Her voice was filled with fear and misery. Michael took a moment to digest what she'd said. Surprise, uneasiness, trickled through him. He hadn't been thinking last night. At least not with his brain. He'd acted purely on instinct, an instinct so forceful it had knocked practicality into outer space. They hadn't used protection. She obviously wasn't on the pill because she was a virgin and she hadn't expected him to nail her against the wall.
Michael swore under his breath and rubbed his forehead. “It was only once.”
She gave a husky chuckle edged with pure terror. “That's what parents say.”
“I don't know what to say. I should have been thinking, but I wasn't.”
“I can't believe I did this,” she said, her voice filled with self-loathing. “This is something my mother would have done.” She paused a moment. “This
is
something my mother did. Four times.” She dropped her head into her hands. “I can't believe I did this.”
Something inside him could hardly stand her despair. Ignoring the wall she was rebuilding around her, he moved toward her and put his arms around her. “It's not definite that you're pregnant. I may have rotten swimmers.”
She glanced up at him with disgust in her eyes. “I'm twenty-five, prime time for pregnancy and I suspect your swimmers are just fine.” She pushed away from him. “This isn't a joke.”
“
If
you're pregnant, and at this point it's a big
if,
the situation could be worse. You and I are both reasonably mature adults. I'll take care of you.”
Katie's sob rent the air, surprising the hell out of him, cutting at him. “You can't take care of me,” she wailed. “You can't afford me.”
Completely confused by her extreme reaction, he shook his head. “What in hell are you talking about?”
She turned back to him, grabbing his arms and shaking him. “I can't be pregnant,” she told him desperately. “I have to take care of Jeremy.”
“Jeremy? Who's Jere—” He broke off as the name rang a bell from an old newspaper article he'd read on the net. “Your mother's last child. I thought he died in the explosion.”
She shook her head solemnly and rubbed her wet cheeks with the back of her hand. “No. He survived, but his hearing didn't. He's deaf.”
“That's why you know sign language,” he said, his mind spinning. There were too many pieces still missing to this puzzle. “So where is he?”
“At a special residential school for the severely hearing impaired about thirty miles away from Philadelphia. I visit him every Sunday.” She hesitated, then looked down. “It's a very expensive school.”
“That's why you took Ivan up on his offer to find a husband for Wilhemina.”
She nodded. “It Would make a big difference in Jeremy's life. In my life. I might actually be able to fall asleep at night without worrying.” She bit her lip and gave the saddest smile he'd ever seen. “He is totally terrific and I can't let him down. I can't be pregnant.”
Michael put his hands on her shoulders. “Priss, one night of unprotected sex doesn't guarantee a pregnancy.”
“In my family it does,” she muttered.
“We'll see. But this is too early to tell. You still have options.”
“Oh, I can't even think about that. I can't think about having an—” She broke off as if she were unable to say the word.
“I wasn't talking about that,” he said, avoiding the word out of his own discomfort.
“And who gave you permission to call me Priss?” she asked him in that cold voice he hated.
“I don't need your permission to call you by your real name.”
“I'm not that person anymore. I left that girl behind a long time ago.”
“You are that person,” he corrected. “You’ re just not your mother.”
Her face turned pale. “I never wanted to be like her.”
“Well, that's a lie. You probably wanted to be just like her when you were little.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “No I didn't. I never ever—”
“Just like I wanted to be like my father,” he interjected quietly.
She opened her eyes and stared at him. She fought what he was saying, but he saw something click in her eyes. He didn't know when she would admit that he was right, but he saw the recognition of the truth in her eyes.
“Most of us start out wanting to be like our parents until we get a reason to change our minds.”
She looked away from him. “It doesn't matter. I just can't be pregnant.”
“Well, if the worst scenario happens and you are, then I'll take care of you and the baby. I can,” he told her. “And I will.”
She looked at him with a healthy dose of skepticism he wanted to wipe away.” That's the same thing they told my mother.”
Her disbelief enraged him. He ground his teeth so hard he thought he might break his jaw. “I'm not a coward. I don't walk away from my responsibilities.” He was so furious he wanted to punch a hole through the wall. “I'm going to my room. If you need anything, call me.”
“
There's nothing wrong with enjoying a man's attention. The only problem is if the attention results in contractions nine, months later.
”
—S
UNNY
C
OLLINS'S WISDOM
W
hen Michael knocked on her door early the following morning, he was all business. “A charge came through on one of Wilhemina's credit cards. It's a garage in a town a couple hours away from here. We need to leave as soon as possible.”
“I'm dressed. It won't take me but a few minutes to pack my stuff. Is fifteen minutes soon enough?”
He nodded and turned away.
Katie felt a gnawing sensation inside her at his cool attitude toward her after they'd, been so close. But she wasn't brave enough to close the gap. She'd been wrestling with her own demons since Michael had left her two and a half hours ago, nearly wearing out the carpet in the small hotel room pacing from one end to the other. Every once in a while in the midst of blaming herself for her foolishness and praying that she wouldn't get pregnant, Michael's face would slide into her brain. She could see the haunting pain in his eyes. If he actually followed through on his promise to take care of her, then she wouldn't be the only one impacted. His life would be changed too. His goals would be set back too.
If he followed through.
That was the big question. She had watched him follow through on all his other promises, but this was different.
The distance she'd felt between them made her feel alone. Again. She took a shallow breath at the odd pain just inside her rib cage. She had spent years learning not to rely on anyone but herself. There was no real reason to change that.
She studied herself in the mirror for a moment. There was no need to put on lipstick or wear clothes that flattered her figure and would draw Michael's eyes to her. She could put her hair in a bun and pull on glasses, she supposed, and do an un-makeover. She lifted her hair and twisted it into a bun. It felt too tight. And stupid. Who was she trying to hide from now? She brushed her hair and put gloss on her lips since they were chapped from his kisses. True to her word, she packed her belongings and joined Michael outside. It was still raining. He grabbed her bag and hustled her into the car.
He had done that from the beginning, she thought. Latent gentleman tendencies that always surprised her. He got in beside her and checked his GPS, then pulled out of the parking lot. The silence between them was thick with a dozen different emotions Katie didn't want to examine. When he turned on the radio, she closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. After an hour on the road, she felt the car stop.
“Damn.”
She glanced up and saw at least two feet of water streaming across the road in front of them. A barricade of patrol cars stretched across the road. “Flood,” she said more to herself than him.
“It's not supposed to flood in Texas. Texas is supposed to be in a perpetual drought. Aren't they always whining about water rights?”
Katie's lips twitched at his assessment of her native state.
“We're in the hill country. It rains in the hill country. If it hasn't rained for a long time and then it rains too much, there's often a flood because the dry land can't absorb the water quickly enough.”
He glanced at her and raised an eyebrow.
“Texas Geography 101.”
A policeman dressed in a long, gray rain slicker tapped on Michael's window. Michael pushed the button to open it. “The road's closed, sir. You'll have to turn around.”
“I need to get to Calvert County. Any other route?”
“At least two other ways,” the policeman said. “But they're flooded too. Only other way is flying and since it doesn't look like you have wings…” He shrugged and cracked a half grin.
Michael sighed, clearly not appreciating the officer's humor. “Any idea when I'll be able to get through?”
The policeman shrugged. “Tomorrow if you're lucky.”
“Tomorrow!”
“Listen, son, I can tell you're not from around here, but I'm gonna give you a little bit of advice. You can't fight mother nature. Go get yourself a room and a hot meal at Laralyn's bed & breakfast in Chadburn.” He nodded toward Katie and rain streamed off his hat. “That's a pretty lady in the car with you. You should be able to think of some way to pass a rainy afternoon.”
Katie felt her cheeks heat at the implication and glanced away. Michael muttered something unintelligible and turned the car around. It was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch, so Michael followed the officer's suggestion and got a room at the bed and breakfast.
“They only had one room left,” Michael told her as he returned to the car.
Katie's stomach tightened. How in the world was she going to sleep in the same bed with him without…She swallowed a scream of frustration. “Did Laralyn recommend a place to eat?”
“A diner in town. We can try it now,” he said, pulling out of the large driveway.
“Good. I'm starved.”
“I should have stopped earlier for breakfast, but I wanted to get to Wilhemina.”
“You and me both,” she said. The sooner they collected Wilhemina, the sooner Katie could get back on the road to finding a match for her. Plus, Jeremy's birthday was right around the corner and she had promised him she wouldn't miss it.
The diner was packed, and the waitress who served Michael and Katie was so harried she'd poked her pencil in and out of her teased red hair at least ten times when she'd taken their order.
As soon as she left, an uncomfortable silence descended on Katie and Michael. She cleared her throat. “Did you call the auto repair shop where Wilhemina placed her charge?”
He shook his head. “I didn't want to tip my hand. When I saw the size of the bill, I did call the local hospital.”
Katie's stomach clenched. “You think she was in an accident?”
“I wouldn't be surprised. That was a brand-new Cadillac. Nothing major should have gone wrong with it.”
Katie knitted her fingers together. “Oh, I hope nothing terrible has happened to her.”
“We'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out” he said grimly.
The redheaded waitress returned with burgers, fries, and sodas. “Hope that's right,” she said, ripping the ticket out of her book and putting it on the table. “Sorry I can't chat, but we're running short on help. Thank goodness they're setting up a shelter and spaghetti kitchen at the elementary school.”