Wait for Me (28 page)

“They were not,” she said playfully. “And it’s not that thick.”

A chuckle bubbled through him, one that vibrated in her own chest as he nuzzled her bare breast. “If you say this was a mistake I’m going to have to make love to you again until you stop thinking.”

“I wasn’t going to say that.”

“No, but you’re thinking it.”

“Well, of course I was thinking it. I’m a smart woman.”

With a smile, he skimmed his hand up her thigh and pressed his fingers into a pressure point in her hip. She giggled and tried to move away.

“Okay, you were warned.” His lips trailed across her chest, up to her neck. Warm hands slid up her body to caress her breasts. Arousal coursed through her again.

“You’re insatiable, you know that?” she whispered as his lips worked their way up to her ear.

“But in a good way.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. She hadn’t known she could feel this relaxed with him. Didn’t expect the warmth in her chest every time he kissed her.

He eased over onto his side, ran his hand up her shoulder, down her arm, his fingers intertwining with hers. He brought her hand back to his mouth and kissed her fingers one by one. Tiny threads of emotions coursed through her, the gesture so endearing, so tender.

She let her fingertips graze the scar on his chin. “How did you get this?”

“Mitch.”

“How?”

“We got into a fight.”

“About what?”

“You.”

She traced the curved line, feeling the worn ridge. “Why?”

“I’m not sure how to say this, but back in college, I was sort of…” He paused as if embarrassed. “Well, I dated a lot.”

She couldn’t help but smile. A player. “Like Mitch.”

He laughed. “Yeah. Probably why we got to be such good friends. Anyway, you and I had just started seeing each other, and you came to one of my games. Mitch and I played—”

“Baseball,” she finished for him. “And Mitch saw us together and got so mad he got ejected from the game.”

“How do you know?”

“Mitch told me the story. But not about the scar. He said he hit you when you came out of the clubhouse.”

One side of Ryan’s mouth curled. “He did. Man, he was pissed. And you…you were even more mad.”

“I was?”

“Yeah. Said we were acting like children. Actually, it wasn’t all that different from what you said to us after the press conference yesterday.”

She ran her fingers over the scar again. “How many stitches?”

“Four. I knew Mitch was right. He had every reason to be pissed at me. I went to break up with you that night. But I took one look at you standing on the porch of your sorority house, and saw how worried you were about me, and…”

“And what?”

“And I fell for you. Hard.”

Her heart thumped. She could imagine the scene. She just wished she could remember it. “You did?”

“Yeah. Plus, it didn’t hurt that you took me back to my apartment, doted on me, kissed all my wounds.”

She laughed, then glanced down at her hand in his. Her fingertips grazed the platinum band edged in gold. “Why do you wear this?”

“Because I’m married.”

“You were wearing it when we met. You didn’t know you were still married then.”

“I always wear it.” His fingers slid along hers.

“You’ve worn it all this time?”

“Yeah. Does that surprise you?”

She shook her head, fighting back emotions she couldn’t define. “Why? It’s been five years.”

“Because I got married, once, for better or worse. Forever. I found the woman I wanted to spend my life with. I have no intentions of getting married to anyone else.”

“You’d rather be alone? What if you’d met someone?”

“I’ve met lots of women. None of them ever came close to you.”

“Ryan.” Emotions flowed through her. Tears stung the backs of her eyes. Under that tender gaze, her heart was dangerously close to the edge.

His fingers tightened in hers, and he glanced down at her left hand. “I noticed you took yours off.”

She followed his gaze. “He wasn’t my husband. I couldn’t wear it once I knew the truth.”

He lifted her hand, kissed her naked fingers. “I wish I knew what happened to your ring. I need to get you a new one.”

She saw the determination in his eyes, and her stomach tensed in reaction. Loud warning bells went off in her head. She wasn’t ready for that. Wasn’t sure she ever would be. She tried to sit up. “Ryan—”

He leaned in and feathered his lips across hers with the most wicked of smiles. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t think. I don’t want you to worry about tomorrow or the day after. I don’t want you to overanalyze what I say. I just want you to feel.”

His mouth nibbled its way down her neck. She sank back into the pillows and closed her eyes. As his hands caressed her body, glided over curves and angles, she drew in a breath. Desire coursed through her all over again as his tantalizing fingers slipped between her thighs. Heat pooled in her core with each gentle stroke.

She couldn’t deny the tug she felt for him deep in her soul. It was more than physical, more than just blind attraction. It was so much deeper, so much more real than she’d ever expected or experienced.

And it scared her, more than she wanted to admit. The thought that it might be love, so soon after meeting him, made her palms sweaty, made her pulse beat faster. That couldn’t possibly be what she was feeling already.

He eased between her legs and kissed her as he slid deep inside. And her heart turned over as she pulled him close, as she opened her mouth and body and mind and soul to him.

“Are you thinking?” he whispered in her ear.

“No. Definitely not.” His slow, gentle strokes brought a sigh from her lips. She lifted her hips to meet him, ran her hands down his back, loving the texture of his skin, wanting to memorize every curve of muscle, each and every play of bone.

He smiled against her ear. “Good. I want your mind completely empty when I tell you that I love you.”

Her whole body tightened. “Ryan—”

“I do,” he said softly, drawing slowly out, pressing back in again until she gasped. “I can’t pretend that I don’t. What I love about you is deep inside. It’s there whether you call yourself Annie or Kate. It’s there whether you remember me or not.”

“This is crazy,” she whispered.

A smile twisted his mouth, and he kissed her again. Drew out and back. “No. Crazy would be denying what’s real. I don’t expect you to say it back, not yet, at least. I just want you to know it’s there. That it’s always right there.”

She trailed her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, pulled him close. Kissed him again and again as they made love. The words hovered on her lips, but fear held her back. Fear of what would happen in the light of day. Fear of how he’d feel about her when he got to know her better. If she allowed herself to fall all the way in love with him, and he woke up one day realizing she was different from the woman he remembered, she wasn’t sure her heart could survive the loss.

And she couldn’t give him all of her until she knew for sure she was what he really wanted.

Tonight, though, she could pretend like tomorrow didn’t exist. She might not be able to say the words, but she could show him what she felt instead.

Taking his face in her hands, she kissed him deeply, then rolled him to his back. “Let me love you, Ryan.”

Chapter Seventeen

“I don’t want you going up there alone.” Mitch stood in Simone’s bedroom, watching her toss clothes into a suitcase. “Did you hear me?” he asked when she didn’t respond.

She patted his cheek as she brushed by and headed into her bathroom. “Careful, sweetheart, you’re starting to sound a lot like your domineering brother-in-law.”

Her insult barely registered. He followed, stood in the doorway while she moved around gathering her things. “I talked to Ryan earlier. He doesn’t think you should go up there alone, either.”

She dropped cosmetics into her travel bag, grabbed her favorite shampoo from the shower. “Please. Like I’m going to listen to two men? Mitch, I’m going to Seattle on business. Besides, no one will know I’m even there. In fact, I’ll be safer there than I am here. Shannon’s staying with my parents. Everything’s fine. And I haven’t even decided if it’s worth it to go up to Vancouver yet. I’ll wait and see what my PI finds.”

Yet. He’d heard that little addendum loud and clear. She was too independent. Too stubborn. It was one of the reasons he’d never been attracted to successful women. She’d been dodging him ever since their night together, and he’d worked so late last night that he hadn’t been able to come by and see her until this morning. He was supposed to hop a flight up to Queen Charlotte Sound today to get the project back on track, but now that he’d gotten a whiff of what she had planned, he couldn’t leave until he knew she’d be safe.

“I’d go with you if I could but I can’t. Damn, this is shitty timing.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, grabbing hairspray from a basket on the counter.

She was avoiding his eyes. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on here.

“I know what you’re doing, Simone. You don’t have to go up to Vancouver because of what happened between us.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She slipped a hairbrush in her bag, zipped it closed.

Yes, she did. She knew exactly what he was getting at. He’d seen it eating away at her the second after they’d made love. Forget what was happening between them. She thought she’d let her client down. “Kate and Ryan are not going to be upset with you over this. You’re allowed to have a life. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

She closed her eyes, drew in a breath. Emotions played over her face, but when she opened her eyes again, they were gone. She grabbed her bag and pushed past him into the bedroom. “I’ll talk to Kate about it all when I get back.”

He caught her by the arm. “Stop and look at me.”

She turned dark eyes his way. Eyes that were haunted. Eyes that were guilt-ridden. Eyes that tightened his chest like a drum.

“Don’t throw what’s happening between us away because you’re worried what someone else is going to think,” he said.

“This was a bad idea. It never should have happened, and you know it. As for my going to Seattle, it’s not your call. I’ll be fine. Now, could you please let go of my arm so I can finish packing?”

He felt like she’d just stabbed him through the heart. As he released her, he tried to figure out what the hell was happening. When had he gotten so attached? He never worried about anyone besides family. When had Simone—a woman he barely knew—become as important, if not more, than the people he loved?

His chest stretched even tighter.

Heart thundering, he followed her back into her bedroom. She was zipping her garment bag, her chocolate hair falling across her cheeks. Rain drizzled outside the window, casting an eerie gray light through the room. In her snug skirt and fitted blouse, she couldn’t look more angelic if she tried.

Oh, man. He was so screwed here.

He ran a hand over his face, tried to settle his racing pulse. When she turned to set her bag on the floor, he grasped her arms and drew her close. “I don’t do long term. Casual. That’s as serious as I get. But you, Counselor… With you I don’t want casual.”

“
What?
” Fear slid into her eyes. The same damn fear he felt but was pushing down. “Are you…?” Her eyes narrowed. “Did that bat hit you in the head? I thought it got you in the stomach.”

He couldn’t help it. He smiled. “No,
you
hit me over the head. The first time I saw you. The other night—thank God for the other night—I realized I’ve been head over heels for you from the start. Since then I’ve been thinking about the whole deal—marriage, family, kids, a minivan.”

Simone jerked out of his arms and pressed a hand to her belly. “Oh, my God. A minivan? Are you sick? What the hell’s come over you?”

“I don’t know,” he said quietly, watching her stunned reaction. Feeling it himself. He sure the hell hadn’t expected to say that, but now that it was out there, he didn’t want to take it back. “Shocked?”

“Um, yeah. We slept together. Once.”

He dipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “As I recall, you enjoyed it. More than once. Many times more than once.”

“I…” she sputtered, waved her hands. “Mitch, we barely even know each other.”

“So let’s get to know each other. Stay here. Stay safe. As soon as I get back, we’ll focus on nothing but learning what irritates us most about each other.”

She dropped onto the end of the bed. “This is a joke, isn’t it? Please tell me it’s a joke.”

Not the reaction he’d hoped for. Hell, it wasn’t even the conversation he’d planned on having. “No joke. You hooked me, Simone. Basically knocked me on my ass. I’m as shocked as anyone.”

When she didn’t say anything, just stared at him with wide eyes, he scratched the back of his head, feeling like an idiot. “Okay, I can probably do without the minivan. We can negotiate that later.”

“You’re certifiable, you know that?”

He felt himself cracking, and he was a man who never cracked. “Look, I’ve avoided relationships for a long time. For a variety of reasons. And after I watched Ryan go through hell over my sister’s death, I told myself I’d been smart and that relationships weren’t worth it. But now…after everything that’s happened…I don’t know. I just realized life is precious. That you gotta go after the things you want, because they might not be there when you finally pull your head out of your ass and realize they’re important. I don’t want to miss that opportunity with you, Simone. I’m not asking you to marry me. I’m just asking you not to end what’s growing between us. And I don’t want you to go to Canada because you feel guilty over it. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you.”

He pulled her from the bed and gripped her hands. “Take a chance on me, Counselor. You might be surprised at what you find.”

“I might end up in a padded cell.”

A smile curled one side of his mouth. “Wouldn’t be so bad if we were there together, would it?”