Blurring the Lines (Men of the Zodiac) (13 page)

Chapter Sixteen

B
lake pressed open the door to his condo with one arm, standing to the side for her to enter. Kira sucked in the corner of her lip and stepped into the darkened room. Within a heartbeat, the light flicked on, and he locked the door behind them.

He snaked his arms around her waist and dragged her into him. Her warmth grounded him, and the way she sighed in his arms sounded like everything he ever wanted to hear.

Her gaze captured him, and he wanted to give her everything he had to give. He caught her in a kiss that stole his breath and fed his wanting her, and as his tongue danced along her lips and deeper into her mouth, she grabbed on to his biceps with a vise-grip. Then, she grabbed at his shirt front, bunching it in her fists.

When he dragged her closer to him, she fell into him and sighed. “Well, that was a very warm welcome.”

He kissed the side of her mouth, her cheek, her forehead. “I missed you.”

“It’s only Sunday, and I saw you Friday at the office.” She grinned up at him, then over at his TV. “What time’s the interview on the medical center and Morris Clinic trial? I can’t wait to watch you on the big screen.”

He stepped back. Her tone was playful, and he doubted she understood the intensity of his admission that he missed her. That they hadn’t seen each other all weekend bothered him, and he’d done everything in his power to clear his evening so he could be with her. Ever since their first date at the fundraiser last week, they’d reverted to the work-mode at work and the sex-mode after hours.

He’d had half a chance of staying detached when it was just sex, purely physical attraction, but when his need for her companionship matched his need for her body, well… This was the first time he’d actually rearranged a business meeting to be alone with her. So, even if she didn’t get the implications of him altering a busy schedule for her, he certainly did.

He trusted Kira. Totally. She was exactly what she portrayed—a woman with a big heart who loved dogs and wanted to donate as much of her time and energy to the community as she could. Although he’d watched her for weeks, he’d never found evidence of any ulterior motive for hiding her education from him. She wasn’t attempting to steal information or ladder climb, wasn’t a corporate spy from Layton Industries. Unlike the women from many of his previous relationships, Kira wanted Blake for himself. Not for what she could get from him or what he could do for her. Accepting that set him free to care about her. Deeply.

They’d connected on their date. Conversed. No more rushed evening encounters. He wanted to take her to dinner and afterward have her sleep over. He wanted a real chance for this to work, and he shook his head, astonished by what he was about to say, but he needed to prove to her the kind of man he could be. “I want to adopt Honeybear.”

As if on cue, from somewhere deep in the penthouse—the kitchen?—the Shar Pei gave a sleepy bark. He’d taken the dog for the weekend, after he heard all the cleaning she expected to do. He convinced her vacuums and cleaner wouldn’t be the best environment for Honeybear.

Kira looked as if he’d punched her in the gut. “You want to keep Honeybear? Why?”

Her gaze, seductive yet vulnerable, gripped his chest. If there was such a thing as heaven and hell combined, he was there, warring between his need to drag her into his bedroom and his need to continue this conversation. He kissed the top of her forehead and tried to explain as gently but as clearly as he could. “Because I’m not fickle. I don’t just care for a week or two and send her away. If I care, I care.” He wondered if she understood his double meaning.

She fidgeted with her slim hands under his stare and finally said, “But Honeybear is sick. She could die at any moment.”

He slipped his fingers through hers. Was that why she liked fostering? Did this beautiful, caring woman have attachment issues? He wanted to wrap his arms around her and offer her comfort, but her fear made no sense. Most families had pets. “That’s life. The things we love don’t come with guarantees. But that doesn’t mean we should stop caring.”

She squeezed his fingers and released his hand. “I care.”

Honeybear ambled up next to her, and she bent to run her hand along the dog’s head. But even with her dark hair falling forward, Blake saw her blink back signs of glistening tears.

He pulled her closer to him. “I know you care. I know you do.”

T
hey settled on the sofa, and Kira shh-ed him a bunch of times as the interview started. She watched as Blake inclined his head with a bashful smile in that charming way that caught her in the gut every damn time.

After discussing the need for a modernized medical facility and a quick rundown of the progress being made on Palm Street, the anchor shifted into personal questions and asked Blake what he considered his most valuable asset. The anchor had probably meant in terms of material items, but television Blake grinned at the same time in the flesh Blake wrapped an arm around Kira and kissed the top of her head.

“My time. A very wise and beautiful woman told me once that time was the one thing she’d never get more of, and that’s what made her time so valuable.” He looked directly into the camera, and her heart stalled. She’d said that to him in frustration when choosing which projects to champion. Not enough time to do everything she wanted to do.

“And you certainly give your time to admirable organizations.” The anchor leaned in. He chuckled, and his laughter rang through the living room. Kira collapsed back against his chest and tucked her legs to the side. Did he have any idea how much sex appeal he packed in a simple laugh? All she wanted to do was undress the man, especially when she felt the hard muscles under his shirt.

Blake clasped his hands together. “I’m floored by the community’s generosity in funding worthy causes, and I’m happy to take this opportunity to ask you, the viewers at home, to save the last Saturday in February for the Just Don’t DUI gala. It’s to raise awareness for the real cost of a DUI, and together we can help educate everyone on preventative measures to ensure fewer incidents and accidents.”

“Any final comments you’d like to share with the viewers? Maybe something fun?”

He pressed his lips together in a firm line, and then he grinned. “This might be too philosophical, but I’m feeling it today. I’m an Aquarius, and once upon a time I let a street artist in Key West henna my zodiac onto my upper bicep. I later had a permanent tattoo inked there, and it wasn’t because of a girl or a dare. It was to remind me that we all have a certain energy given to us based on when we’re born, but we don’t have to be labeled by anything other than how we choose to label ourselves.”

Kira pressed a hand to her heart. He’d said exactly what she felt about her own zodiac sign. When she’d first bumped into Blake, if someone had told her she’d have the best sex of her life with him, she probably would have believed them. But keep her foster dogs at work? Break his no-sex rule? Spend a couple hundred thousand of his hard
-
earned cash on charitable donations?

Connect with him on a deeper
,
emotional level? No way.

“Wow, that’s so not”—the anchor waved a hand up and down Blake’s suit—“this suited up CEO.”

Blake chuckled.

“Thank you, Blake Whitman, Aquarius man, for speaking to us about your organization. Contact information is on the bottom of your screen…”

Kira stared at the fading image of Blake and wondered when she’d fallen in love with him.

Chapter Seventeen

H
oneybear’s pained howls woke Blake, still dressed in his work attire after collapsing from another long day out of the office. He called the emergency vet’s office and as carefully and quickly as the Friday night traffic permitted, he sped the dog to the clinic.

As soon as the vet took the dog to the back, he called Kira. Her sleepy hello greeted him after the first ring.

“I’m at the vet with Honeybear.”

“I’ll be right there,” she said, sounding more alert
.

He was about to say that she didn’t need to bother, but he stopped himself. He wanted her there, and he liked her automatic insistence on being part of this. “Thank you.”

Twenty minutes later, she hurried through the doors wearing the most adorable tee shirt with an image of a Shar Pei, a pair of jeans, and flip-flops.

Her face was puffy—she’d been crying. She didn’t hesitate as she walked right into his hug. “What happened?”

It felt so right to hold her, and he smiled remembering the Lab and the last time she’d rushed to the clinic to be with him. “So we meet here again.”

She blinked up at him. “Are you trying to be funny?”

He’d missed her, both her body and her company. She’d left work hours before he had, and right before Honeybear had woken him, he’d been dreaming about her naked in his arms. “Just thinking how far we’ve come since we were here with Brutus.” Which was true, given how panicked he’d been when he hadn’t known where to take the injured Lab.

Kira scowled. “I remember. But how is Honeybear?”

“She’s going to be fine. But the vet has referred her to a larger veterinary surgical center.”

Both of her hands cupped over her mouth, and her eyes blinked back tears. “What? Honeybear needs surgery?”

“The larger clinic might be better able to assess her heart function and prescribe new heart medication that won’t wear down her kidneys.”

Her mouth curved into a frown and then straightened, not quite making it to a smile. “So that’s good, right?”

“That’s good, but they’re going to keep her overnight to monitor her.”

“Blake, I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

“Of course not. You’re coming home with me.”

A
s soon as the door clicked shut, Blake snagged Kira’s hand and pulled her into a tight hug. It was exactly what she needed, and she linked her fingers around the back of his neck and dragged his head closer to hers. The familiar heat rushed through her veins, and she pressed her lips to his in a fierce kiss meant to convey all the emotions she couldn’t express in words.

She ran her hands over his impossibly broad shoulders and down his back, pressing her hips into him and feeling his growing erection. His breath hitched when she wrapped a leg around him, and for several heartbeats they kissed. Then, the floor disappeared from under her feet, as Blake carried her toward his bedroom and straight into the bathroom.

She leaned back enough to look in his face. “What?”

The gleam in his eye told her he had a plan. “Shower.”

He placed her on the plush bathmat and turned on the water. She ripped off her clothes and stepped under the rain showerhead, closing her eyes and letting the hot water seep into her skin. When his mouth closed over hers, she let him devour her. He came at her with all the force and power of a Hummer, and she backed up until her ass hit the cool tile.

He didn’t even bother using soap, and she saw his intentions once he had her in the shower. As he went down on her, he lifted one of her legs over his shoulder. From the first moment his mouth closed over her clit, she moaned and it echoed against the bathroom tile.

“That’s right,” he mumbled into her skin. “Let me hear how much you like this.”

She groaned and rocked into him. He sucked, and she saw stars behind her closed eyes. His fingers spread her wide, allowing his tongue easy access to flick her sensitive flesh and lick her over the edge.

“I’m…oh,” she panted, her muscles contracting as wave after wave of sensation flooded from her body. “Oh.”

He caught her under the ass when her knees buckled. He gave her one final, forceful lick and then lifted her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.

Wet, still reeling from the orgasm, and wanting him inside her, she watched him rip open a condom.

He grinned. She wiggled and shot him a seductive smile. “Your turn.”

He leaned over her and sucked on first one nipple and then the other, sending dizzying waves of pleasure through her entire nervous system. She shivered and arched off the bed.

After taking his time to tease her breasts with his tongue, he slipped his cock inside her and grinned down into her face. “Both our turns.”

With each thrust, she felt her tender nerves spark to life, and when he grunted his release, she wrapped her legs around his waist and flew over the edge with him.

A
fter foraging in his kitchen for food and coming up with a bottle of wine, some crackers, and a jar of jam, they’d called for Chinese delivery and stood in Blake’s kitchen drinking wine while they waited.

A hundred emotions raced through Kira’s brain before she smiled with a sadness she didn’t want to feel. “What if something happens to Honeybear tonight?” A million different things could go wrong.

He pulled her into a hug and gave her shoulders a squeeze. “She’s strong. The vet is good. Trust the process.”

She blinked back her worry, reflecting on how easy it was to trust him. “Did you just turn philosophical on me?”

“I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s just better to trust the process.”

“Since when?” Every day she spent with him made her realize why she’d never fit in anywhere else. He got her. Knew exactly what to say to calm her—or excite her in bed.

“Since you. I threw out my rules for you, and—”

She leaned forward. “And?”

He held the glass to his lips but lowered it without taking a sip. “And I was chugging along quite nicely until you attacked me with that doggy leash, barged into my office, demanded I not demolish your building, offered you a job, and now this.” He gestured between them. “I trusted the process, and now look where we are. I think it’s working perfectly.”

She hadn’t realized how much had taken place since that fateful day. “You do?”

“Besides wanting more of you, yes, I do.”

“More? What are you talking about?” They saw each other every day. She saw him more than she’d seen anyone else lately.

He chuckled, and drew her deeper into his embrace. She lifted her face to his, her gaze flitting between his eyes and lips. “I want more time, Kira. More than scheduled meetings and breaks. I want you by my side. I don’t want to hide how I feel about you.”

“Because you care?”

“You know I do.”

She went up on her toes and kissed him gently. “I care
,
too.” And for the first time, she honestly believed they might have a future together.