Bound and Determined (34 page)

Then how the heck did she hear my name?
It was Kerry’s turn to pause. “Do you remember a woman calling you a few weeks ago to talk to Rafe about her brother in jail?”

“That was you?”

“It was. And Rafe helped, more than I believed possible. Your boss is free now and coming home this afternoon.”

“Actually, he’s leaving tomorrow. He called fifteen minutes ago and asked me to change his flight. If you wouldn’t mind, tell him it’s done and I’ll e-mail the particulars.”

“O—okay.”

“In the four years I’ve worked for Mr. Dawson, I’ve never changed a flight for him for any reason other than weather or shuffling of jobs. He keeps an impeccable schedule.”

Kerry had no idea why Regina would say such a thing or how to answer. “Well, he’s been wonderful about helping me with my brother’s case. You work for a great guy.”

“Indeed. Would you also tell Mr. Dawson that Alex Moza will contact him within a few hours?”

Her jaw dropped and her pulse began to stutter. “
The
Alex Moza? The very famous attorney Alex Moza?”

“Yes.”

“Why would Rafe need a high-priced lawyer?” she asked herself as much as Regina.

“Hang up the phone,” Rafe demanded from the doorway to the bathroom.

She whirled to face him. “I—I’m sorry. I just . . . It rang and I—”

“I don’t care.” He grabbed the phone. “Goodbye, Regina.”

Flipping the phone shut, he switched the ringer to silent mode, then tossed the little device on the nearest chair.

Then she realized. “You don’t need Alex Moza. You hired him to help Mark?”

“It’s no big deal.”

Kerry paled even as she exploded with tenderness. “Oh, Rafe.” She lifted a trembling hand to her mouth. “It’s a huge deal. Thousands of dollars’ worth of huge. I—I can’t accept. He’s so expensive, he makes Versace dresses seem like bargains.”

“I have the money.”

And he wanted to use it to help her, like he’d used his expertise and his brawn. Kerry didn’t think she could love the man more, but her heart was swelling faster than a hot air balloon. “But—I . . . That’s—”

“For once, don’t argue, okay?”

Afraid she’d simply blurt out the fact she loved him, Kerry merely nodded.

“Are you all right?” he asked, swallowing.

Her face softened. “Thanks to you, yes.”

“Seriously, you’re sure?”

Doing her best to smile bright, to hide the love she felt and the fact that her heart was breaking, Kerry whispered, “Seriously, yeah.”

“Thank God.” Rafe grabbed her, pulled her against him. “I don’t think I can wait another second to hold you.”

K
erry threw her arms around Rafe, and that was all the cue he needed to bring her into the circle of his arms. Her lush curves pressed against him, curls soft and damp as they twined around his fingers. A hint of her sugar vanilla scent teased the air around him, diluted by the lingering stench of charred wood and smoke.

She could have died. Someone, most likely Jason, had knocked her unconscious and set her house ablaze. He had
meant
for her to die.

Safe. Here. Mine
.

Not yours anymore
.

Ruthlessly, he tried to shove the last thought away. But he had given Kerry up, for her own good and his. He was too private, not the kind of man to share more than an evening or two, much less his personal thoughts, his hopes and fears, his very heart. Hell, did he even have one?

Rafe knew himself; it wouldn’t be long before the bite in his chest that appeared anytime a woman crowded his personal space gnawed on him and urged him to bolt. Kerry deserved someone who could freely give her all the love her heart could hold.

But while he was here, he could give her the security she needed.

Stroking his hand down her hair, he murmured, “It’s all right now. Nothing is going to happen to you. I swear it.”

Pulling back a few inches, Kerry stared at him, her shimmering green eyes drowning in a pool of unshed tears. “You can’t promise that. No one can. I guess . . . I never thought this person was truly dangerous until today. Devious and mean, yes. Now I’m worried. I may be in over my head, and I don’t know who to trust—”

“Me,” he growled. “Trust me.”

Cupping his face in her trembling hands, she smiled softly. Rafe’s heart turned over as she poured out all her trust and affection through that expression. “I always have, but you’re leaving tomorrow, going back to your life. I’ve involved you too much already. You’ve been nothing but wonderful. Thank you, for going out on a limb for my brother, for not hating me for my crazy scheme, for showing me such passion . . .”

Kerry threw her arms around his neck and clung tight. Her exhalation rasped the sensitive skin just beneath his ear. She shifted against him, sliding her thigh between his, shifting the damp towel wrapped around his hips.

Rafe sucked in a breath as blood stirred in a rising rush.
No, no, no
. He was here to comfort her, assure himself of her well-being, not mount her and reenact all the positions of the
Kama Sutra
.

Easier said than done, Rafe realized when Kerry pressed against him, nestling his stirring cock right between her legs. Oh damn, she felt hot and damp, too. Added to the usual lust was a lingering guilt he couldn’t shake that he was leaving Kerry alone to fight a life-or-death battle.

He could only pray it was over by tomorrow morning. Hell, if it wasn’t, he’d be in jail himself.

“Don’t thank me. I did exactly what I wanted to do, nothing less,” he muttered, unable to resist the temptation of her soft neck under his lips.

She groaned at the feel of his mouth on her, and more blood pooled in his cock, now eager to feel her around him, as if he could take her all in at once. As if he could capture the warm, zany, emotion-brimming essence of her.

“Maybe so,” her soft whisper contradicted. “But now it’s time for me to tend to my problems by myself. No more leaning on Jason or you or Mark.”

“Don’t you dare think that a little leaning now and then makes you weak. What you did, committing a felony to get your brother out of jail. A little backward in the rationale, but the courage it took to see your plan through makes you strong.”

Kerry rewarded him with another watery smile, this one complete with dimples. Would he ever know another woman who could turn him to mush and rev his blood up all with a single smile?

“You committed a crime to help me,” she pointed out.

He shrugged. “Illogic must be contagious.”

She sailed a mock punch into his shoulder.

A moment later, she murmured, “When you go back to New York, remember what you said to me, that leaning on people doesn’t make you weak. Reach out to friends. Tell your secrets. The rewards are rich, and they’ll learn what I’ve figured out: You’re good to know.”

Her whisper struck down into his heart. He’d never done any of those things. Since his mother’s death, when life with his father had become a sharp-tongued battle of wills, he’d shut everyone out. How could he just suddenly change? Sweet of her to think he was capable of more, but Rafe knew better. He was still the asshole who had told his father to get fucked the day he’d turned eighteen.

“You’re pretty good to know, too.”

Skimming a thumb over his bottom lip, Kerry gazed right up into his eyes. Rafe’s heart began to pound, and yet his chest curiously ached at once. His whole body was a chaos of confusion, wants, fear, hope—coming at him so fast he couldn’t process it. Kerry stirred him like this. Not knowing what to say or do, he kissed the tip of her thumb.

Her mossy eyes soft, her smile slightly crooked, she murmured, “Make love to me.”

Zoom!
Wow, four words to breath-stealing, full-blown erection. Kerry was potent.

“Ah, babe.” He sighed, trying so hard to resist. “Forty-eight hours is up. I can’t make you—”

Kerry placed her fingers over his lips. “You never once coerced me into sex. I volunteered because I
wanted
to. I want to now, bargains and bets be damned.”

He gritted his teeth. “I’m trying to do the right thing here. A mad midday romp might not be the best thing for you after such a traumatic morning. Your head—”

“Is fine. The best thing would be for you to make love to me.” She frowned, then bit her lip. “That is, if you want to. If you don’t, I—”

Rafe cut her off with a kiss.

Moving his mouth gently over Kerry’s, he savored the opportunity to taste her.

Her silky lips molded to his, willing, trusting, and he slid his mouth over hers once again before dipping inside to claim her with a soft stroke of his tongue. Against him, she sighed, shifted away, and dropped her hands to the towel around his waist.

An instant later, the damp terrycloth met the carpet, leaving him completely bare.

Then he felt her fingertips caressing a soft trail down his back, igniting his skin with an explosion of tingles. She cupped one palm around the cheek of his ass, slid back to his hip, drifted back up his side. She repeated the process with her other hand. He just about lost his mind.

Yet Rafe didn’t want to pounce and devour her. Well, he did. But a conflicting yearning to feast on her, savor her, burn every last touch into his memory, tormented him, too.

Kissing a path from her mouth to her neck, Rafe whispered in her ear, “Don’t ever think I don’t want you, babe.” Gently, he scraped her lobe with his teeth, then edged his over-large dress shirt off her shoulder with an unhurried caress. “I can honestly say I’ve never wanted any woman as much as I want you. You do something to me . . .”

Kerry caught her breath on a gasp. Then as he smoothed his lips across the silk of her skin to her shoulder, she filtered her fingers through his hair, holding him close.

Suddenly, he found his fingers on the first button of his dress shirt. He looked up at her. “You’re sure?”

The smile Kerry sent him was both saucy and sweet as she brushed his hands away.

Slowly, she unbuttoned the shirt herself, inch by inch revealing her rosy skin, the downy valley between lush breasts, the hard, pink-tipped nipples, the flat of her stomach, the enticing indention of her navel, the tops of her thighs . . . the haven behind her pale, damp curls.

Rafe sucked in a breath. He wanted to be strong and resist her. Why take from her again if he was only going away? Because he wasn’t that resolute. Life was short, and he’d never been good at self-deprivation. This moment would never come again, and he intended to enjoy every bit of her body she’d allow.

Smoothing his hands over her shoulders, Rafe caressed her and sent his shirt sliding to join his towel on the floor. Kerry stood before him gloriously naked, sunlight streaming over her unblemished skin, lending its rosy tones a golden glow.

The bed was only a few steps away. Lifting her against him, Rafe took those steps. With a jerk of one hand, the bedspread found its way to a heap on the floor. He lay Kerry across the sheets, covered her body with his own, and fused their mouths together.

The sense of connection leapt between them, powerful, undeniable. It was the damndest thing. He felt like an addict, and Kerry was his drug of choice. He couldn’t get her out of his system, couldn’t leave her alone.

Beneath him, Kerry banded her arms around him and kissed him back with an aching hunger, a silent plea.

She arched into him, breasts like brands on his chest, as she tore her mouth from his to whisper, “Fill me. Complete me.”

At her words, lust surged in his belly, coiling, primal. Something new and frantic unfurled in his chest. He swallowed. His insides felt jagged, nerves on the edge. Hunger and a need to do exactly as she asked pounded at him. Kerry was impossible to refuse. He wasn’t even going to try.

“All day,” he whispered, burying his hands in the riot of her sunshine curls. “All night.”

She fit her mouth to his, bottom lip lush, soft. Then she took the offensive, tongue sliding inside his mouth, seeking, destroying his control. Resisting her ranked up there with preventing the sun from rising. Not gonna happen.

He let her shatter him.

With suddenly shaking hands, Rafe urged her thighs apart. She opened to him willingly, planting hot, whispery kisses down his neck, his shoulder. A fresh surge of arousal detonated inside him as he reached to the ground for the pants he’d discarded earlier . . . and the last condom he possessed in his wallet.

He had to sit up to find the damn thing, and Kerry was behind him, wrapping her soft, fragrant body around him. She dragged her tongue across his shoulder blade, and he shivered. He nearly came when she seized his cock with a firm grip and tugged on him with unhurried strokes.

If the woman was trying to drive him insane, she was succeeding like a pro worthy of an MVP award.

Finally, he controlled his unusually clumsy fingers long enough to rip the foil packet open. Kerry rolled the latex down his cock. Once in place, he rounded on her with a growl and tumbled her onto her back. His mouth followed.

Fusing their lips together, he plundered, tasting her, trying to imprint himself on her. And his hands . . . he felt her everywhere. Palming her full breasts, rolling her tender nipples, sliding down the curve of her waist, over the flare of her hips. She writhed and opened to him with a moan. Never had he known any woman so artlessly responsive.

Beneath him, she parted her thighs and bent her knees in welcome. “I want to feel every inch of you.”

Her words sizzled down his spine. Rafe sank into her wet heat, plunging in to the hilt.
Damn!
She electrified him, boiled his blood.

Jesus, how was he going to last more than thirty seconds?

Drawing in a deep, desperate breath, he waited—for control, for focus, for something to help him stave off the power Kerry’s sweet sugar scent and soft flesh had on his senses.

If he could pull off that trick, he’d make David Copperfield look like an amateur.

Slow, slow,
he told himself. His mind somehow made his body obey.

He eased back, nearly to the point of withdrawing. With an unhurried stroke, Rafe tunneled his way back inside. The friction had him gritting his teeth against the mind-boggling pleasure, against the feel of her warmth. But he repeated the
process at the same deliberate pace, a lingering dance that had him gasping, his balls tightening, his chest aching with the knowledge this might well be the last time he touched Kerry.