radicalducati Chapter 12
Chapter 12
The longer they spent in the car, the more anxious she became and perhaps James could sense it but he stayed silent the entire trip. Even when he handed in his rental car and got a cab to the hotel.
The taxi swayed back and forth as it neared the airport and stretch of hotels, she felt the panic she’d been avoiding for days. This was the moment she’d been dreading, saying goodbye to him… Again. Her eyes wandered from the window to James beside her. His fingers tapped the nylon fabric they sat together on and he took a deep breath, looking over at her in the same moment.
She swallowed, hard. Goodbyes were something she feared and they always would be. This right in that moment, was w hy. Losing others hurt and this day would forever be ingrained as that, even losing herself.
The cab stopped under the entrance of the hotel, drawing them back in their seats.
She grabbed the door handle and punched the seatbelt at her hip. “I’ll come say goodbye.”
He gave her a nod and they both exited the cab as the driver got out to open the trunk and hand off his bag to him. James swung the black duffel bag over his shoulder and gave the cab driver some twenty-dollar bills. She didn’t see the exact amount and didn’t want to either.
Kara walked around the yellow Sedan, struggling in the heels from her nerves. She wasn’t just exhausted but also mental l y tapped. She figured once she got home, she’d say goodbye to her grandparents and find a way to get to Tom. “Just a second,” she said to the cab driver as James reached out and took her hand once it was within reach.
“I’ll miss you,” she whispered once he got close enough to hear her. He took her cheeks in an instant and pulled her in. Her toes inched along the ground until they stopped against his shining leather shoes. As much as she wanted to follow him to the ends of the earth, she knew she couldn’t and she struggled to not unveil the tears in her eyes because of it.
“James…” She breathed, just as he kissed her. Pulling her tightly against him, his lips parted hers and with an ease, the kiss broke as quick as it begun but it was the warmth and the butterflies that exploded in her core that made it even harder.
He drew back only inches, studying her euphoria caused with just the simple meeting of their mouths.
“You just made it so much harder.”
His thumbs cleared her cheeks of tears. “You don’t have to leave.”
“But you do.” She went on her tiptoes to kiss him one last time and he stopped her, cupping her cheeks in a hold that made her want to do whatever he asked her to.
Then he stepped back against the cab, letting her go and tapping the window. The driver rolled it down half way and James said, “she’s going to stay. Have a nice day.”
“You too, man!” He booked it away from them with the extra cash James had likely paid for her return home . Which left her standing with a definite awkwardness in front of him.
He held out his hand for her. “Was that alright? I’ll make sure you get home later.”
She had nothing else to lose in reality and nodded, taking his hand. “Y-yeah.”
“Good.” He lead her toward the entrance doors of the hotel and Kara tried her very best to keep up but the heels were digging into her toes in painful ways and leaving blisters. She limped behind him to the concierge.
“I need a room, please.” James’ demand made the woman behind the computer give them each an odd glance. Kara darted her eyes away to the marble statue of waves lapping the shore line. It had to be one of the nicest hotels in Virginia.
“One king or… Two queens?”
James paused. “One will do.”
She nodded and pulled out a brochure of me nu items and placed it in front of him on the check-in counter top. “Would you like a view?”
“Of what?” James asked.
“The ocean? This is Virginia Beach you’re in,” the woman said with slow obviousness. Kara began to regret not taking the cab as the air got even more awkward around them.
James didn’t look bothered though. “It doesn’t matter to me, but is there room service?”
Kara shifted her weight and glanced over her shoulder to the doors as they opened and let some of the beach’s refreshing air in. The coolness of the ocean-cleansed breeze hit her itching legs in the nylons and gave her a bit of relief. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in a dress, never mind nylons and heels.
“Yes. Check out is at eleven tomorrow morning.” The woman behind the desk passed him a swipe key and pamphlet. “Top floor.”
“Thank you.” James took the key and turned toward Kara. Their eyes met and Kara felt the heat in her cheeks as she followed him toward the elevators. She could still feel his kiss from outside, her bottom lip a tiny bit swollen from it. While he seemed calm, cool and collected—she defied all those things with her sweaty palms and red face. The doors opened and he led the way again. She took a place next to him and said nothing. It started to move when the doors shut.
“Do you want something to eat?” He studied the me nu of food he had opened up.
Her throat had parched. “Water.”
He glanced to her. “You can have all the water you’d like but maybe you’d like some actual food?” He held out the me nu and she looked down at it. Everything was priced between fifteen and thirty dollars, either way, out of her budget.
“Water is fine.” She never took the me nu into her own hands and he folded it in half before tucking it into the pocket of his suit.
“You got one bed.” She pointed out as they neared the top floor.
“Were you needing another bed?” He asked. “My flight is in six hours,
the bed isn’t needed. I thought we could just… Sit. Tal k. Whatever you like.”
“Oh… yeah… okay.” She couldn’t believe how stupid she’d sounded and then decided to shut her mouth further. The doors opened and he again led the way down the narrow hall to the reserved room. He swiped the card and let them into the bright, floral smelling area while chucking his duffel bag aside and shutting the door once she was inside.
Just down the small hall she passed the bathroom and mini fridge and bar, where James stopped to take his phone, keys and wallet from his pocket.
She walked toward the one couch facing the TV and opposite the large bed. He soon walked over to join her, taking off the tie around his neck. If watching him in the clean pressed clothes hadn’t been enough, she now thought he looked even hotter with his sleeves rolled and a button or so undone.
“It’s basic at best, isn’t it?” He glanced around.
“The bed looks nice.” She flopped into the couch by accident due to its worn cushions. He looked over to its white linen sheets and fluffy pillows before he sat next to her.
Her eyes took the freedom to scan herself and then she saw the obvious run in her pantyhose from her fall and cringed. She pulled the hem of the dress down her thighs but the attempt was in vain as he looked back over to
her.
“How’s your knee?”
“Okay,” she breathed. “I’ll be fine.”
“Right.” He paused. “I didn’t mean to make this awkward.”
“No, it’s not.” With subtle fingers, she tried to tug at her dress again. He noticed that time and she gave up.
“I just didn’t want to sit in the airport for another six hours when I could be with you.” He reached toward the coffee table in front of them and took the phone from the receiver, pressing only one button. He waited and then said, “If you could get me one of everything on the me nu that would be excellent.”
Kara stared at him and before she knew it, he was off the phone.
“You’re that hungry?”
He smiled. “I’m hoping something will appeal to your invisible hunger.”
Though the gesture was insanely nice—even perhaps romantic, it was entirely lavish and over the top.
She went to grab the phone but he stopped her. “Call them back quickly and tell them no. That’s gonna be really expensive. I saw the prices!”
“Enjoy something for once.”
She sighed from that statement. How could she enjoy anything on the day of her brother ’s funeral? She didn’t deserve that, even if he was paying. Once he trusted her enough to not dive-bomb the phone, he let her go.
“You’re nuts.” she muttered.
He leaned back into the couch. “I’m nuts?”
“Yeah, crazy.” She told him, keeping her eyes across the room and off his growing smile.
“Not nearly… Also, you didn’t eat this morning.”
“You know…” Her eyes flashed to his for a split second. “You’re sort of a stalker.”
“Thank you?” He put his arm on the back of the couch, while shifting his weight to turn more toward her.
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
His fingers on the back of the couch played momentarily with a lock of her hair but she pretended not to notice that. “I’m glad you came here with me.”
Her wince echoed her internal embarrassment. “Why?”
“Because I’m not ready to say goodbye, and I don’t think you are either.”
His words stabbed her heart and her eyes threatened to pool tears. She dropped her head against his hand on the back of the couch in search of comfort. He got the me mo and laced his fingers through her hair to touch her cheek.
She shivered as she shut her eyes from the simple reassurance. His Warmth helped with her cold. A numbness that had started to grow throughout her body because of the uncertainty of how the rest of her life would work
out after the sun went down that night.
She’d been without any drugs for almost three days and though it made her sweat, puke and weaken randomly, the light was almost at the end of the tunnel but she knew she would never see it. Being sober with Tom would be torture. Once he and drugs had her again, there would be no way out. Right then might have been her last moment to enjoy anything.
She felt the couch move and dip her closer to him as his hands guided her into his chest and she let her cheek fall against him. Listening to his heart beneath her ear and his steady breath.
The safety and sureness in his embrace became her. She had no idea how he did that but he just did. Ever since she’d met him, ever since he’d touched her hand in the airport for the first time, kissed her the year later, held her and undressed her the year after that. She warmed from the memories of their history together and enjoyed it. A boy she’d known for four long years had finally told her he loved her and it all just wouldn’t matter because fairy tales weren’t real for Hunters or if they were, they weren’t for her.
She whimpered from her thoughts.
“Are you warm?” He hushed her gently, his chest a hum of calming low noises in her ear.
She nodded, so warm now that his arms were around her. “I love you, Kara.”
She let out a sob. “I don’t know why though…”
His hands continued to rub her back in the most soothing of motions.
“I’m allowed to love you. You’re allowed to love me.”
Kara pushed herself closer to him. Until she had her legs over his lap, straddling him He was right though and there wasn’t a lick of sense to it. When she looked in his eyes, she felt something so deep and soul binding that it didn’t seem to matter how different they were. Her heart beat faster with him, her mind felt at ease with him, and her body responded to him in a way she’d never felt around anyone else. Ever.
On the day of her brother ’s funeral, she chased a blip of happiness she’d blame on her sudden selfishness and an invisible pull. There would never be an explanation for it either, just like her brother ’s death, it didn’t make any sense.
“I meant it earlier, you can come home with me. Right now. Today.” He drew soft lines up her legs as they shared the same air. She shut her eyes tight with a refusal to answer, letting her nose fall against his. Tom owned her. She just couldn’t get the words out of her mouth to tell James and she didn’t want to either. She’d made a deal and though Tom wasn’t the devil, he was close enough.
“I’ll take care of you.”
“I’m a Hunter.” The excuse was mediocre at best but true.
“Look at me.”
Her eyes fluttered open to meet his dark stare.
“If you believe I’ve ever cared about that, we have a serious problem.”
Kara crushed her mouth on his and it worked well enough to shut him up, especially when she rocked her hips against him. His hands took her waist and gripped, the dress hiking up her thighs from his touch.
“Mm.”
She kept kissing him. Now that it had started, she couldn’t stop it. Being that close to him made her want to feel him—j ust once—in a way she’d never before, never would again either. That might have seemed all sorts of wrong but her whole life had worked out wrong, being with him wouldn’t be close to the worst of those wrongs.
“I…” She pulled her mouth back from his gentle bites. “I’m sorta new at this.” She didn’t want to think the other night with Tom had counted but the sting was still there to remind her it had.
He opened his eyes wide enough to give her a soft reassurance as his fingers left her cheek and fell along her collar bone. “What are you talking about?”
“I just…” She struggled to speak and he waited. “Well, do you want to do that… with me?”
His expression became serious. “Are you asking me to make love to you?”
Her eyes widened with the suggestion. “Uh, yeah… Yes. That sounds a lot better than my way of putting it.”
His hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her close to him causing a sudden jolt to her system she loved. His lips met hers and he kissed her with the accompanied subtlety of his growl.
Her face burned with red hot emotion and she loved the way he pulled her in tight, the way his touch was rough yet so gentle. When she let him control the kiss, his lips created a mini mal distance between hers and the new sensation of the warm wetness of their tongues meeting made her breathe a bit heavier. She buckled under the
ay it all made her feel. Whole. Dizzy.
She chased more and he obliged. Lifting her from the couch with her legs wrapped around his waist, he carried her the ten feet over to the bed.
The ride there made her heart pound and their lips stayed locked until he placed her down in the fluffy, lush quilts. It was softer than anything she’d ever slept in and it all transported her to another world where being with James Dray seemed plausible—even possible.
He paused above as he looked down at her sprawled across the coverings, her knees hitched together to hide a bit of herself. She blushed when their eyes met and he said, “Is this what you want, Kara?”
She leaned up on one elbow and nodded. “Yeah… I do.”
“I don’t have a condom.”
Her eyes widened with the comment and reality returned. “Oh, it’s okay"
“ Mm.” He shook his head and walked away from the bed. “There was a drug store across the street, I think.”
Her heart leaped into her throat and she got off the bed in a panic—not sure if she had time for that. “What?”
He picked up his wallet from the bar top and turned to her. “I’ll go get some, if you still want to do this, that is?”
Her heart pounded and the nod came to her. His eyes studied her, like he was making sure she was telling the truth. “Right.” He walked for the hotel room door and when it shut, she heard it automatically lock.
She sat to the bed and waited and waited. The minutes were grueling. The wait in general, horrendous. Her core tingled until she swore she couldn’t feel it anymore and then the room door beeped with the card swipe.
She straightened on the bed when he walked in and put the deadbolt across the door. “How’d it go?”
He walked over, little white shopping bag in hand. “It went just fine.” He put the bag to the nightstand and her eyes strained to see through it and read the packaging but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t read the brand. Not that it mattered, it’d just been a failed distraction to him undressing. Which he did, not quite making eye contact with her either.
His hands lifted to his collar and he started to undo the buttons on his white dress shirt. One at a time and it drove her nuts with anticipation. He pulled the shirt from his shoulders and folded it to drape along the foot of the bed. His chest of lean muscle caught all the shadows and light in the room and she watched with a gulp as he undid his belt, pulling it free from the loops of his ironed black pants.
Her heart slammed and she wondered if she should take her clothing off too. She went to hike her dress and get her nylons down when he reached out to stop her.
“Oh.” She blinked at him as he gripped her knee and squeezed.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll do that.”
She bit her lip and let her shoulders fall back into the bed as her mind reeled with what else she could do. She had nothing.
He stopped removing clothing after he got to his black briefs and knelt on the bed, almost in between her legs.
She gulped when his hands touched her thighs and reached under her dress with a slowness that caused a moan to leave her lips. His fingers found the waist of her nylons and he paused.
“If you want to stop at any time, just say so.”
She nodded her head, understanding the more than fair rules, he was being kind—something Tom hadn’t come close to. This wasn’t a deal though,
this was something that slotted her heart back together and made all those horrible moments disappear. No matter how brief, it was what she wanted. His fingers dug into her hips before he pulled the nylons from her legs, taking her black underwear with it. She yelped as her toes left the confines of the hosiery and exposed her to him. The broken skin on her knee caught the air with a sting.
“Ow.”
He watched her wince through the pain and got off the bed. “We need to fix that.”
Her heart pounded from another interruption. He seemed less than concerned about that though. “James, I’m fine.”
Not listening to her, he walked away to the washroom and she lied back in embarrassment, covering half of her fire hot face with her palm. Of all the things she wanted in that moment, being doctored wasn’t one of them. When he returned with a damp cloth, he took her leg under her knee and held the warm towel to her cut. She opened her eyes as he studied the abrasive road-rash from earlier.
“It’s really not a big deal”
“Does it feel better?” He took the cloth away and blew gently on her knee.
She swallowed, not sure if the cut was feeling better or her body had masked it from her heightened excitement.
“Yes.”
“ Mm.” He dropped the cloth to the floor and came over the top of her.
Catching himself with one arm, and watching her squirm under him. “Do you have something in mind?”
Her eyes widened with panic. “What does that mean?”
He kissed her lips after what seemed like forever and she grabbed onto him, making him lose his balance. “Jesus.” His soft groan once he’d fallen on her made her blush.
“I’m sorry.”
He lifted his chest away. “Clearly, you’re a troublemaker in bed.”
She flushed all over her body. Her smile, no matter how hard she tried not to let it show, edged her lips and he returned that same expression.
His hands scoped her body in the most playful but tender way and it made her burst through a few flighted breaths.
“Let’s get this off now.” He helped arch her back so he could undo the zipper along her spine and shimmy the gar ment off. And then there she was, naked again in front of him but this time it just felt so much different. So right, even given the circumstances.
He pushed his briefs off as their mouths mashed together and he came between her legs, his w eight pinned her in place long enough to cause a bit of panic to arise. She pulled away when the family of Tom inside her flashed in her mind.
“Will it hurt? Are you… bigger?” Her nails dug into his bicep with her embarrassment.
He took a breath after loosening her death grip on him and reaching for the condom box. “I’d say average. I’ll go slow.” He ripped the box out of the bag and the white plastic floated to the floor. As he tore off the side with his index finger, the gold coloured writing along the black packaging caught the light. Those couldn’t be the cheapest brand they’d had.
He’d done this many times before, she could tell from the way he peeled back the foil at just an edge and that’s when she chose to look away. Then she felt him below, ready, all because of her. She gulped from the pressure and they both heard the awkward rock of shame go down her throat.
“Kara, we don’t have to do this.”
She looked up at him and sucked in a breath. “No, I want to,” she fought through the stammer in her words. “Do you?”
He took her cheek and kissed her, stopping her blubbering and anxious behaviour as he parted her thighs wide and eased himself inside her.
She gasped as her body opened and accepted him without protest. It didn’t surprise her but it did amaze her. The family of Tom inside of her was instantly replaced by the feeling of James and the way he stretched her.
When he stopped mi d-motion, she felt it, every inch of him and it made her ache in a great way.
“You feel more amazing than I imagined,” his words covered her lips in a kiss.
She stared at him in astonishment. “You imagined this?”
He smiled down at her. “Without sounding too pathetic, only since the day I met you.”
Her insides clenched, just like what often happened when he was near her and his eyes shut with it. He groaned before letting his next words slip, “I love you.”
Kara smiled as the tears came on fast. “No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I bloody well do.” His breath warmed her skin and he bit into her neck, making her eyes shut and enjoy all the unworldly new sensations raging through her. Nothing like her hunter blood, nothing worth cringing over, it just made her warm and whole.
Her name left his lips as he moved into her, gently at first and she winced to take it. The slowness worked up an even slower burn and she wasn’t used to that feeling. She tossed her cheek against the bedding when it built to an overw helming edge. His mouth pressed against her ear and he whispered, “do you like that?” She nodded and moaned something she didn’t quite believe was English but he seemed to understand.
“Good girl,” he muttered, biting into her neck again. Her eyes opened and she looked up at him and his nearness, making her lips part and wait for his kiss. Which he gave her once she leaned toward him. He shifted his w eight in between the meeting of their lips. She tried to follow him but when he got out of reach, she sl umped back into the bed and looked to him with a pout.
“What are you doing?” She went to pull him back to her.
He moved only a few inches closer before reaching between them, down her abdomen, where his fingers touched her in the most inconceivable way. Her embarrassment was pushed aside when the burn built to a level she really enjoyed.
Her knees squeezed his waist. Her toes grabbed the bedding. Her hands and nails gripped him and he let her. It was anything but what Tom had made her feel and she realized, the two men just weren’t comparable.
He braced an arm above her head and put his mouth to her ear as the low growl in his chest budded. “Yes?”
Her eyes tried not to shut but then she had no choice. The heat made her moan so loud she ripped at the blankets in desperation to mute herself.
“Yes!”
Like slow motion, she came undone, quivering through the burn and feeling it continue with each thrust, only growing more intense as the moments passed. He knew what he was doing, he knew how to make her feel
good and it amazed her.
“I could get used to this,” he admitted as she tried to catch her breath after the breaking of her nerves.
“Get used to what?”
“You. Us. This.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “How was it?”
“Are you joking?” She panted.
He waited, trailing his mouth to her cheek and whispering, “Tell me.”
“Really… Good. Duh.” She shimmied under him with impatience. With a smile, he came back over her and thrust just enough to make her more on fire. She grappled the duvet she’d already made a mess of.
Everything she felt became intoxicating, better than a high—much better, all because of him.
The longer he went, the more she wanted it again and she was surprised by his stamina and how genuinely he seemed to care about her the entire damn time.
That just seemed to be it with him, how he made all the awful things in her world fade away and gave her a chance at normal cy. It was something no one had ever been able to give her. It was so tempting to want to leave with him, be with him…
“I do love you,” she moaned louder than she meant to. And he nodded between the rhythm he’d kept them in. “I know. That is why we need to be together because I can’t live without you anymore.”
That same burn from before returned to her and he kept coaxing her along. Along to another world, another being, another chance at life. She just wanted to be with him and feel safe forever like she did with him.
He caught her mouth with his and kissed her, until he broke above her, squishing her a bit. However, she loved the way she had to take his weight, the way his muscles tensed all the way from his neck in a ripple down his back. It made her blood pump and her heart pound, know ing he’d enjoyed her that much. She watched his brow crease and relax with each heavy breath thereafter.
“Jesus… You’re just perfect,” he muttered and rolled off her not so gracefully.
She gulped and stayed staring at the ceiling, listening to him catch his breath. “I don’t want to stay here.”
He took her cheek and made her look at him. “You don’t have to.”
“No, I kind of do.”
His lungs collapsed with his exhale. “You’re killing me right now.”
There was a knock at the door.
“Who’s that?” Her heart thumped with the second knock. It was fair to say any unexpected invasion could be leading toward Tom and his lackeys on her collection. They’d been in the cemetery, it was only a matter of time before they found her at the hotel.
James let her go to get off the bed without a concern. “Room service. Cover up.” He found his pants and went to answer the door as he did up them up.
She grabbed the blankets when her eyes wandered to the condom box and she read the fine printing scrolled across, extra large. That explained why the feeling of Tom inside of her had been replaced so easy and why she now hurt down there in a whole new but better way.
She sucked in a sudden breath and got up, ducking into the washroom before he opened the room’s door. She locked the tiny button on the knob and sat to the edge of the pristine white bathtub. Processing what was next and she stayed there for more than a few minute s doing just that, listening to him move around and talk with the hotel staff.
Disaster never came knocking at his door, room service was as invasive as it got. It was the way James lived, she’d always known that, always imagined and dreamt of his life and there she stood in a glimpse of it.
She grabbed the housecoat from the back of the door and tied it off on her hip. The soft terry cloth and luxury bath mat under her feet set fire to the new vision of herself in the mirror.
Then she realized that maybe across an entire ocean, in a different life, Tom wouldn’t be able to find her. She could just disappear. Vanish. Never to be found again.
She studied the light pink glow on her cheeks and the subtle hickey on her neck from him. If that’s what being James’ looked like, she wanted to look like that every day.
No more bruises, no more blood, no more tattered clothing or lack of food. She wanted to be anything but a slave to her bloodline and this was her chance. As reckless and selfish as it may have been, she wanted it and she was going to take it.
She walked out of the bathroom and found James on the couch, haphazardly dressed with his shirt undone down his chest. All the food had been laid out across the coffee table and he had already started eating. She hoped her next sentence wouldn’t ruin it for him.
“Thank you for that.” She wrapped the robe closer. He looked to her between bites of something that looked really tasty.
“It’s decent food. Come have some.”
“No, that’s not what I meant…” She glanced to the bed and then back to him. “You don’t understand what that means to me.”
He got the point and his expression softened. “I do because it means the same to me.”
Her heart exploded in her chest and she let her next words just spill out of her. “Would I be in the way?”
“In the way?”
“With you, over there… In London?”
He dropped his fork, missing the white plate before standing up, and said, “No.”
“At all?” She bit her lip in apprehension as he approached.
“Absolutely not,” he assured her.
“Won’t your family think it’s weird? Or like…” She twisted her fingers around one another until he took her elbows to stop her.
“It won’t be weird.”
But it may. She got ants y. “What if… we don’t work out?”
He stepped into her so he could whisper in her ear, “do you believe that? After everything? After all these years? How it feels when were together, near one another, not to mention…” He stepped closer and lowered his voice to say, “the way it feels when we’re in bed together. I’ve never felt so… well, I want to be with you everyday now for the rest of my life.”
“James…” She shook her head to pull her negative thoughts away and looked up at him. He waited rather patiently for her next concern but she had none, because being with James Dray even if her success rate often failed her, was the first moment of relief in her entire life.
“I want to go with you.”
His lips touched hers and she grabbed the front of his open dress shirt, making a mess of the kiss. His gentle laugh broke her neediness into embarrassment.
“You’ve just made me so happy. Come eat. I’ll call the airline.”
She sat down with his help and the dizzy haze of what she was doing hit her. Real life had never felt as easy as this, saying yes. That had never existed for her.
He picked up his cell phone and put it to his ear.
She listened and decided to eat a piece of French bread with a thick golden crust. As he spoke to the airline she realized just how much she suddenly didn’t need to worry about, other than not screwing it all up.
He was on the phone for twenty minutes and then it was done and she’d ate a fair amount of food for the first time in months. Perhaps it was the relief, perhaps it was the lack of drugs. He sat down next to her. Perhaps it was him.
“You’ll need your birth certificate.”
“I have that.” She picked up a bottle of water and drank. “In my wallet in case the house ever went up from the shit electrical.”
“Any other ID?”
She thought on it. “A school ID.”
“What about your driver’s license?”
She swallowed, being honest, “I don’t actually have one.”
He blinked through that moment of awkwardness. “You drove the
bloody hire car.”
“Sorry,” she blushed.
He didn’t look too impressed. “I’ll figure out the rest.”
That didn’t make much sense to her but she didn’t care to question him on it.
“Do you need anything from your house?”
“I have no clothes but…” She gulped when she thought of Tom having prime stalking status there. They needed to avoid that house at all costs. In fact, she needed to high tail it out of Virginia as soon as possible. “But, I don’t really want to go back there or to my grandparents. I’ll get them to mail those clothes you bought—”
“Don’t, I didn’t spend much on them.”
She winced, calculating up her guilt as it piled toward the situation. “Are you sure about this? It seems like I’m costing you a lot already.”
“Well, you’ll just owe me.”
“What do you want?” She played along.
“You.” His voice became serious as his hand slipped beneath the robe to her bare thighs where he brushed her skin gently. Her eyes went to the touch and she loved how forward he was without any limitations between them. “Forever.”
She leaned into him from the warmth that statement made her feel. Something she’d never experienced before. Her cheek went to his shoulder and her arms looped his bicep.
He kissed the top of her head. “My love.”
She shut her eyes with her exhale. Never in her life had she felt so safe as she did just then with him. She didn’t understand it but she knew it felt all sorts of right.
He glanced down at his phone as it pinged from a new email. The things that device managed to do amazed her.
“I want you to know…” He put the phone down on the coffee table after reading over the email. “Whatever happens from now on, I’ll be there to help you through it. You’re not alone anymore.”
It felt so good to hear him say that, like he’d hit the reset button on her life and in a way, he had given her a second chance.
She grabbed his thigh and when he kissed her, she took the chance to crawl into his lap.
He let out a chuckle. “Is this how it’s going to be?”
“Do you have a problem with that?” she breathed.
“Not at all.” His mouth met hers again and she grabbed his neck to pull him closer. Hoping and praying running away with him and giving into what she desired was all the universe had ordered.