Rick grabbed the soap and spun her around, lathering up. He gently but quickly scrubbed her back, paying special attention to her delicious derriere. He finished the job on the rest of her body, giving her a sensual washing that left her nearly mewling. She slumped against the gray tile and watched as he made short work of washing himself. Her eyes were a caress and by the time he’d rinsed, he was as hard as a poker.
Kate reached out and grasped his erection. “You could put someone’s eye out with that.”
He laughed. “Oh, I’ll put something out all right.”
Her eyes glittered with humor and desire. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Yeah? You do that to me.” He pulled the door open and stepped onto the gray mat, grabbing a fluffy towel. Kate stepped out and he didn’t give her time to dry off. He did it for her. A brief rubbing before capturing her lips again.
Man, she tasted good. Sweet, sweet, with a hint of spice.
She wrapped her arms about his damp shoulders and met the stroke of his tongue with her own. “Please, Rick. The bed. Now.”
She didn’t tease him this time. Simply flew by him as she ran toward the bed.
He laughed and padded to his room. He found her in the center of his bed, sprawled, digging through his nightstand. She pulled out a strip of condoms and waved them in the air. “I thought you weren’t planning on having sex until you were committed.”
He climbed onto the high mattress and crawled toward her. “I was never a Boy Scout, but that doesn’t mean I don’t follow their motto.”
She fell back against his pillows, arching her back, thrusting her pink-tipped breasts into the air. “Watch out for bears?”
“You were a Boy Scout?” He tugged her knee so he could walk his fingers up her thigh toward the sweetest temptation he’d known in a while. She had a small tattoo of a butterfly on her hip. He tapped it with one finger.
Kate laughed, then sighed as his fingers found where she needed him most. “Nope. I just taught them real survival skills. Like how to get to second base or how to sneak bourbon from the family liquor cabinet.”
“My wicked Kate,” he whispered against her lips before tracing her bottom lip with his tongue. She widened her legs to give him better access. He didn’t waste time accommodating her. Soon she was writhing, sighing and reaching out to touch him, stroke his shoulder, glance his jaw, tug his hair.
“Please, no more,” she said, twisting away from him.
“I can’t wait anyway.” He grabbed the condoms from the hand she’d pressed to the quilt, ripped one open and quickly did the honors.
She raised on her elbows and watched as he sheathed himself with the condom. Her eyes were liquid pools, pulsing with desire. He knew he could get lost in them.
He rose onto his knees and moved toward her. She welcomed him, parting her thighs, and Rick knew it was a picture he would savor in the wee dark hours of the night when the taste of her skin had faded from his memory.
He entered her swiftly.
“Ahh.” She threw her head back and clasped his shoulders. “Rick. So good.”
He agreed, but couldn’t find the words. She was so hot and tight and it had been so damn long for him. He established the rhythm, capturing her head between his hands, holding her so he could cover her mouth with his. His tongue met hers as he plunged into her again and again. Soon he was lost in the magic of making love.
To his beautiful, wild Kate.
She slid her arms from his shoulders to wrap around his neck. Jerking him toward her, she twined her legs about his waist, locking him in place, causing his chest to brush the tips of her breasts. He could feel her tightening around him, could feel his release building.
“Oh,” she breathed against his mouth. Their bodies moved faster. He tilted her hips so she could take him deeper. He watched Kate as she caught her bottom lip between her teeth. Her eyes were closed, her face screwed up in concentration.
Her hands slid to his ass as she urged him to increase the tempo. He obliged, driving into her, moving her across the bed, bumping her head against the pine headboard.
He felt her tighten around him. Then her eyes flew open.
He caught her scream with his mouth as he tumbled over the edge to join her. Wave after wave of pleasure seized him, pounding into him. Until it finally subsided.
He fell to the side, pulling Kate on top of him.
She panted as if she’d run a race, and for a moment they lay utterly still.
“Wow,” she breathed against his chest. “That was fantastic.”
He chuckled as he smoothed her raven hair. “Yeah, pretty damned awesome.”
She lifted her head. “I mean it was fantastic. Like something I’d never felt before.”
He grinned. “You say that to all the fellows.”
She shook her head and he could see she was serious. “No, what I meant is that has never happened before.”
The realization smacked him in the head. “You mean you’ve never come before?”
Heat stole across her cheeks. His wild, cosmopolitan Kate had never had an orgasm? Something akin to self-satisfaction stole across him, swelled inside him.
“I’ve come before. Just not with a man.” She sounded defensive. And embarrassed.
He dropped a kiss on her upturned nose before capturing her sweet little bee-stung mouth with his. “Well, then. I’m assuming the other has been battery-operated?”
She smacked him on the arm before rolling off him. “Smug, aren’t you?”
He smiled. “No, honored.”
She ducked her head and rested it upon his outstretched arm.
“Hey,” he said, tugging a dark blade of her hair. She looked up and the honesty in her blue eyes rocked him. This was Kate naked, literally and emotionally. “Guess what?”
“What?” she whispered.
He lifted himself upon one elbow and tugged her to him, nipping her silken shoulder. “My batteries don’t ever run out.”
She laughed. “That’s an upside.”
“Better believe it.” And then he kissed her.
For once in her life, Kate enjoyed being someone’s—dare she say it?—girlfriend.
It was a title she’d never tolerated before. Oh, sure, she dated, even went out for second and third dates, but never had she wanted to feel like part of a couple with someone. Surprisingly, she liked it, so she indulged the little fantasy she’d created in her mind. The one where she was normal, like any other girl. The one where she didn’t go back to Vegas. Where she expected a happy ending. Where she planned for weekend getaways, a princess-cut ring and a white lace veil.
The whole thing was a sham.
But she went with it anyway, mostly because she didn’t want to think about this being a fling. She didn’t want to think about her and Rick being over in less than twenty-four hours. She only wanted to savor the time she had left with the man who made her feel comfortable in her own skin.
With him, she didn’t have to think. She simply was.
“Penny for your thoughts,” he said, jarring her from her musings as they drove down Interstate 20 in his Mustang for yet another visit with Justus. It would probably be her last—her flight left tomorrow afternoon.
“Not even worth a plug nickel,” she said. “What is a plug nickel, anyway?”
“Something people use to fool vending machines, I think.”
They’d spent so much time on this stretch of highway that the landmarks were familiar. She’d miss sitting beside him while he took the twists and bends of the road. She’d miss a lot of things.
But she wasn’t supposed to think about that.
“Nellie said she’d take me to the airport. I think it might be for the, um, best.” The words rushed from her mouth. Damn. She didn’t want to bring up leaving. Why had she?
“Why?” The word was spoken softly, shaded with hurt.
“I—I’m not sure I can—” She was afraid she’d say it—that she wouldn’t be able to get on the plane. That she wanted to stay with him and pretend to be something she wasn’t—a daughter, a sister, a girlfriend.
But she was none of those things. Not really. She was Kate Newman. And Kate Newman was a Vegas business owner. A hard-ass ballbuster with an attitude and towering stilettos. She was a good time party girl with no ties, no mortgage and no dependents on her tax form. She was an island and she didn’t need anyone.
His eyes met hers. “That’s fine. For the best.”
Silence fell, hard and bitter.
A lump formed in Kate’s throat, and she stared out the window at the scenery whizzing by. The past few days had been wonderful. Why had she ruined it by bringing up her flight tomorrow? She was a dumb-ass.
Just this morning she’d awakened to find him watching her sleep. She’d always thought that was something a character did in movies or words in a song by Aero-smith. Honestly, it had always seemed a bit hokey. But Rick’s soft brown eyes had caressed her, reflecting the morning light and something she couldn’t quite grasp. He’d given her a sheepish grin.
She’d stretched. “Are you watching me sleep?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?” She’d curled her toes into his somewhat scratchy new sheets.
“It sounds lame, but you’re always moving, always running that smart-assed mouth. It’s nice to watch you curled up, like a little girl. You look almost innocent.”
She smiled. “After last night, you know that’s not true.”
Rick wouldn’t let the tender moment go. “I thought I’d take a mental picture.”
Something sweet filled Kate at his words. And she’d taken a mental picture herself. Rick, bare-chested in a pair of striped pajama pants sitting in a rustic rocker framed against an awakening sky. His hair clipped short, his jaw whiskered with stubble, his feet crossed and propped on the end of the bed. The sun behind him cast shadows on his face, but she could see his eyes, see the way they moved over her and loved her.
She patted the still-warm spot next to her. “How about creating a mental video?”
He smiled and unwound his body, joining her. He pulled the quilt to their chins, tucking her close to him, spooning her. One hand curled round to rest securely on her ribs, and they lay together, each feeling the other’s heart beat.
Her invitation had been for pleasure, and he gave her that by holding her in the still morning light.
She’d never savored such feeling before, simply being held in the arms of a man, and it surprised her how much she loved being secured in his warm embrace. Such ease. Such comfort.
The exact opposite of what she felt now as they approached Longview, caught in that horrible moment of regret. A moment she’d prayed wouldn’t come.
“I didn’t mean I didn’t want you to take me. I just don’t know if it would be a good idea. I don’t think—”
He held up a hand. “Not a problem. I know the score, Kate.”
He sounded hurt. That big guy who had sent shivers down her spine the first time she’d seen him in the post office. He’d been almost threatening, and she remembered how she’d hurried to her car, thinking him dangerous. And now here he sat, vulnerable, because of her.
“Rick, I have to go back. I don’t have a future here.” She touched his shoulder and felt him stiffen.
“That’s nice. Remind me of why I should have said no to you. No future. Exactly.”
“I don’t mean with you, I mean here.” She waved her hand at the outskirts of Longview. A feed store with gleaming orange tractors lined up like toys on a shelf. A run-down gas station. A fast loan place. A nail salon. It was a far cry from the glitz of Vegas. “I have a business, friends, a life somewhere else. I can’t throw who I am away because I have a hunch.”
He whipped his head around. His eyes sparked. “That’s what we are? A hunch?”
Kate sighed. She wasn’t going to win. She’d hurt him, and for that, she was sorry. But she wasn’t staying in Oak Stand. She wouldn’t go back to being Katie Newman. She wouldn’t embrace a life she didn’t want. “No, we are what we agreed to that night on the way home from Longview. We’re a moment in time. I thought we said there would be no regrets.”
He didn’t say anything else. His face hardened as he stared at the traffic. Minutes later, the facade of Longview Regional peered gloomily at them as they entered the drive. Or maybe it wasn’t the hospital that was depressing, it was the rotten mood in the car. Un-spoken words. Fissures in the foundation of something fleeting.
“I’ll drop you, then park,” Rick said, swinging toward the entrance to the physical-therapy wing.
“No, just park. I’ll walk with you,” she said.
His foot hovered on the brake, slowing them, but then the car shot forward.
“Fine.” He narrowly missed a pickup truck as he turned into the parking lot.
“Rick.” She placed a hand on his arm.
He flinched. “What?”
“Let’s not ruin it.”
His dark eyes flashed as they met hers. He stopped the car in the middle of a row. “So we’re gonna pretend that everything’s okay? That you aren’t leaving? That you aren’t throwing us away?”
She drew back as if he’d slapped her. “What?”
“You know damn well what.” He ground the words out between gritted teeth. She could feel his anger burgeoning, crowding the interior of the vintage car.
A horn sounded behind them. Rick’s car blocked the row.
“Shit,” he said, stepping on the accelerator, jerking them forward. He rounded another row. There were no parking spots. Again, he spun the wheel and gave the car gas. It leaped to life, roaring down the next aisle.
“Please,” she said. “Calm down.”
“Ha. That’s funny coming from you,” he said in a not-so-friendly way.
So this is how it would end. Badly. Meanly. God, she hadn’t wanted it to be this way, but had known it would be hard to pretend parting didn’t hurt. That hearts hadn’t gotten knocked around and bruised. “Insult me if it makes you feel better. Maybe you can learn to hate me so it won’t be so bad.”
He finally found a spot and swung the car into it, braking hard, jerking her forward. “Maybe so.”
Kate pressed her hands over her face before dropping them in her lap. “Why are you doing this?”
He turned so his broad shoulders were squared with the door. They were wonderful shoulders, covered with looping ink, strong, capable of carrying burdens. How many times had Kate leaned on them over the past two weeks? How many times had she clung to them as he’d taken her to heights she’d never explored before? Now they tensed. “Because you are a coward.”
She could feel the color leave her face. “Bullshit. I’m not a coward.”
He shrugged. “I call ’em like I see ’em.”
He pulled the keys from the ignition, climbed out and walked away.
Kate felt blindsided by his anger. She’d always been straight with him. Never misled him. He knew she wasn’t going to stay. No way in hell did she want to go back to what she’d been, even if she had a better understanding of exactly who that was. She couldn’t take those steps backward, she’d worked too long and too hard. Fantabulous waited. Her clients waited. The IRS waited. It was time to return to the reality of her life.
How could he not understand?
She climbed from the car, wishing she could call Nellie and head to the airport right now. She even rooted around in her bag for her cell phone before realizing there was no way around saying goodbye to her father. No way of avoiding Rick’s uncomfortable anger.
And no way of ignoring the twangs of hurt vibrating in her heart. These past two weeks had taken a chisel to the flinty emotions once cemented inside her, chipping them away in big chunks. The problem with a heart that had been emptied of bad stuff was the space made for good stuff. Really good stuff. Hopes and dreams had found their way in, filling her up, making her think of possibilities instead of doom.
She’d been foolish to fall in love with Rick.
And that’s what she’d done. Allowed herself to fall head over heels. She’d never thought it possible. Almost didn’t believe in the shifty emotion, even though she’d seen people immerse themselves in it completely. And not only had she opened her heart to Rick, but she’d made room for Vera, Justus and Oak Stand. She was consumed with lots of tender, new emotions. And she wasn’t sure she could sort through them. Wasn’t sure if they could be enough to pull her from her past life. From all things she’d wanted for so long.
The hospital doors swooshed open and she stepped into the chilly interior. Hospitals always seemed to be cold and sterile, no matter how many prints of flowers lined their halls.
Rick wasn’t waiting.
Kate gave a mental shrug and headed to the bank of elevators that would take her to the Stroke Center on the second floor, where her father would be cranky and weary in a bed outfitted for his rehab.
She made it to her father’s room without seeing Rick. The door was half-open and she could hear Vera placating Justus.
She tapped on the door and pushed it open. The arguing stopped.
“Kate.” Vera smiled. “I wondered when you would be by. Is Rick with you?”
She shrugged. “He’s here somewhere. I don’t know where he went.”
Her father stilled and managed a lopsided smile. “Hello, Katie. Glad you came to see me before you left.”
She still didn’t feel exactly comfortable with the man she’d so recently forgiven, but she was trying to be nicer. More open. “Hello, Justus. How are you today?”
“Tired of them jerking me left and right, pulling me this way and that like I’m a piece of taffy.”
“In other words, you’re feeling normal?”
Vera laughed. “Didn’t take you long to figure him out, did it?”
“Not really,” Kate said, stepping into the room. Flowers covered every surface. She moved a planter from a guest chair and slid it next to Vera. “It looks like a flower shop in here.”
“Yes, Justus has many associates.” Vera looked around the room at the tulips, daisies, yellow roses and bluebonnets perfuming the air. Obviously, everyone thought the Texas state flower appropriate. “We should see if there are other patients who might be cheered by a few bouquets. Or a nursing home perhaps?”
“I’ll check on it,” Rick said, entering the room with a cardboard tray of coffees.
“There you are,” Vera said, taking the coffee from him. “Kate said she didn’t know where you were.”
Rick didn’t look at her. “She wouldn’t.”
His words were heavy with meaning. Vera’s brow crinkled, but she didn’t say anything, just shifted her gaze from Rick to Kate.
Kate tried to smile, but it felt pained. Shit.
Rick took a cup and positioned himself against the hospital wall.
“Thank you for the coffee,” Vera said, moving the cardboard tray from Justus’s reach. He’d inched his good hand toward the cup. “None for you, dear.”
“I’m sick of juice. Feel like a toddler with all the grape juice they push my way,” he grumbled, his blues eyes narrowing as he studied Kate and Rick. “What the devil is going on with you two?”
Kate stiffened and Rick shrugged.