When the panty thief business had been going on and Roman was the prime suspect, Charlotte had discovered Samson, the town eccentric, was responsible for the thefts. His reasons had been benign—the older man had some misguided notion that he was somehow helping Charlotte by drawing attention to her store. Charlotte had informed Rick, but refused to speak on the record and swore she’d deny any knowledge if Rick arrested the man. Rick had let the old man’s crimes go, marking the file unsolved. So Charlotte owed him and he now intended to call in the debt.
He held her gaze until she blinked first. Then she yawned, stretching her arms out beside her. “You’re right, Rick. I’m beat. Can we have breakfast tomorrow instead?”
Roman exhaled an exaggerated groan. “Fine. I’ll take my wife home for some R and R, and you two can get back to whatever you were doing before we arrived.” He gave a meaningful glance back at the ladies’ room from which they’d escaped.
Kendall sighed. “This doesn’t look good, but I swear to you . . . ”
“Please don’t explain,” Charlotte said. “Considering Raina’s in the other room, I’m certain you were just looking for privacy.”
Kendall laughed, but Rick wasn’t amused because he wanted to be alone with her
now.
He nodded at his brother and Charlotte. “We’re leaving.”
“How’s breakfast tomorrow?” Charlotte asked Kendall as Rick led her down the hall.
“Good for me.”
“Nine
A.M.
,” Charlotte called, her voice trailing off on a laugh, Roman chuckling along with her.
Rick didn’t look back, not stopping until they’d reached the street.
“You were rude to Roman and Charlotte,” Kendall scolded him as soon as the door to Norman’s closed behind them.
“They’re newlyweds. They’ll understand.” He squeezed her hand tighter.
His skin was as warm as her body was hot.
“I live upstairs.” He pointed toward an alley on the side of what was Charlotte’s Attic.
She glanced around the corner. “I knew you lived in town. Just not where.”
He nodded. “When Roman and Charlotte got married, I moved into her apartment and they bought a small house in the new subdivision.”
Though he made small talk, Kendall knew his intent was anything but trivial. He said no more, waiting for her to make the next move. He lived up those stairs and wanted to know if she’d go home with him. Sleep with him. Make love to him. A tremor started slow and worked through her body, a long, leisurely vibration that began as a low twisting in her belly and ended with a distinct throbbing between her legs.
His deep eyes met hers and she swallowed hard. She’d never been more aware of a man or his interest in her as a woman. She’d never enjoyed the attention quite so much or reciprocated the pulse-pounding need. Never wanted a man in her bed and inside her body the way she desired Rick now.
Kendall was impulsive, but this time she’d thought things through. She smiled at Rick. “Lead the way.”
Raina glanced around at the familiar birdhouse decor adorning the walls and the people she called friends talking among themselves. Meanwhile she remained in this chair. Alone. “Darnit,” she muttered.
She hated sitting still while life went on around her. Right under her nose, Rick dragged Kendall out of Norman’s, obviously anxious to be alone. Looks like they didn’t need Raina’s interference or matchmaking. So why was she faking a heart condition, a charade that left her unable to mingle and be in the center of things?
“Anything wrong?” Eric joined her, pulling up a chair. “It’s about time you worked your way back here,” Raina grumbled. Eric wasn’t just her beau, but the town doctor. To her frustration, he’d stopped to talk to each friend and patient, while Raina who waited in the back of the room had to come last. She’d wanted to run up to him and capture his attention, but she couldn’t, not without calling attention to herself and the vitality she was unable to express.
He let out a hearty laugh. “Feeling constrained by your antics? I told you no good could come out of pretending to be ill.”
“Spoken as my doctor or as . . .” her voice trailed off. She wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence.
“Spoken by someone who cares about you.”
His words warmed her heart, capturing the same thing she felt for him. Reaching out, she placed her hand over his and studied him, once again struck by his distinguished appearance. His salt and pepper hair and weathered features gave him a ruggedly handsome look and made him stand out among Yorkshire Falls’s single older men. For the first time in years, Raina’s heart beat faster at the sight of a man and she wanted the freedom to act on her feelings.
“Isn’t it time to end the charade?” he asked.
“I’ve been thinking that myself.” Because of all the emotions rioting through Raina, guilt was paramount. Guilt over deceiving her sons and allowing them to worry about her for no real reason. Although, she reminded herself, her supposed illness had brought Roman and Charlotte together.
Then there was her middle child. Rick’s prospects, which just last week had seemed hopeless, now blossomed with possibility. Raina had given every eligible female she could think of a nudge in her middle son’s direction, but no sparks had resulted. Until Kendall arrived in town.
Yet they’d hooked up without Raina’s matchmaking. “Maybe you’re right.” She sighed. “I could confess . . . ”
“And we could start more openly dating instead of sneaking around,” Eric said.
“You have no idea how wonderful that sounds.” “Then do something about it.” His words sounded like a dare.
“I’ll have to find the right time.” Would there ever be a right time to tell her sons she’d betrayed them?
“They love you. They’ll forgive you,” Eric said, reading her mind.
“I hope so.” But she wasn’t as sure.
“Would you come over later tonight? I rented some DVDs.”
She met his warm gaze, enjoying his interest. “I’d love to. Pick me up so my car isn’t seen parked outside your house?” She tapped her fingers restlessly against the table, unable to believe she was plotting like a teenager who’d been forbidden to go out with her boyfriend. But as a woman recently diagnosed with a weak heart, she had no business driving to Eric’s and remaining there for a good part of the night.
“I’ll pick you up anywhere.” He leaned over and brushed a soft kiss against her cheek. “But why don’t I just take you home from here and drive you back later?”
“Sounds like a good idea. I’ll just tell Chase he’s off duty.”
“And that puts me on call.” Eric grinned. “I like the idea.”
Raina smiled, the pleasure overwhelming. If Rick and Kendall were feeling as warm and fuzzy as she felt, Eric was right. It was time to confess because they didn’t need her help at all.
Rick held Kendall’s hand in a heated caress. She stepped into his apartment and immediately felt surrounded by his essence. With every inhale, she took in his masculine scent, stirring her already aroused senses.
He tossed his keys on the counter. The jingling sound along with the slam of the door and twist of the lock lent an erotic edge of anticipation to the night, serving as a prelude of what was to come.
He turned to face her. “There’s no place like home.” Only a small light burned from the back hall, giving her a glimpse, and as she glanced around, the dark wood and barely there decor reminded her so much of Rick.
“So what do you think?” he asked, a wry tilt to his sexy lips.
“This place is very you.”
“Tonight it’s going to be
us.
” His voice came out a low growl, curling her insides with a hunger long denied.
He reached for her, drawing her into his arms for a slow, seductive kiss that quickly turned wanton. The hours they’d spent in Norman’s served to build the urgency between them and as he thrust his tongue into her open, waiting mouth, Kendall knew he was as hungry and desperate as she. For someone whose world was spiraling out of control, the notion that she wasn’t alone was strangely reassuring.
By the time he broke the kiss and led her into his bedroom, she was burning with need. She told herself she was starting an affair but was more afraid the feelings arcing between them indicated something much deeper. Something she had no business contemplating now or ever.
He came up behind her and she turned to see he’d already pulled off his shirt, leaving him dressed in a pair of jeans, the button already undone. His chest was tanned and muscular and as her gaze settled on the sprinkling of hair and his dark nipples, her own breasts hardened in response.
“The whole time we were in Norman’s, I couldn’t wait to get you alone.”
“I know what you mean.” She grinned. “I felt the same way.”
His dark gaze bore into hers. “You didn’t help matters, pressing to stay and talk to Charlotte.”
“Part of me wanted to be polite. Another part needed to talk business.” She grabbed hold of the scalloped edging of her lace shirt and teased him by slowly lifting her top. “You made me realize both could wait.” Before she lost her nerve, she pulled the shirt up and over her head, letting it fall to the floor in a discarded heap. “Pleasure’s much more important,” she said, stepping forward and letting her bare chest, covered only by a wisp of a camisole, rub against his.
“I agree.” He grasped on to her shoulders and his thumbs caressed her flesh with circular strokes. His body picked up a similar rhythm and through the soft silk, his hips swayed and his chest undulated against her. “Feel what you do to me.”
“I do.” Beaded and sensitive, her nipples rasped against the fabric, even the thin sheath too much of a barrier when she wanted only skin against skin.
“That’s not all.” He gyrated his hips in a circular motion, letting the building swell of his erection pulse and settle against her stomach. The sensual pull shook Kendall to her core, physically reaching out to her feminine mound, and emotionally touching the depths of her soul. She pressed her lower body tightly against him, both wanting to feel his hard body come alive and needing to feel more in an attempt to block any emotional feelings building inside her.
He groaned and eased her aside of him. Words were unnecessary as they undressed quickly, the frenzy to feel skin against skin consuming them both. Rick lifted her and lay her down on his bed, and as he came down on top of her, she took refuge in the sizzling body contact that felt so good. She sighed in pleasure, then realized the sound echoed between them.
Without warning, he sat up, his large body towering over her and his thighs straddling her stomach as he studied her intently. “I’ve never wanted another woman the way I want you.”
Her heart flipped at the admission. “I feel the same way.” Honesty compelled her to speak even as she warned herself against getting too attached to the man or the moment.
“I sure as hell hope not.” He burst out laughing. Kendall did a mental rewind and realized what her words implied. A burning heat rose to her cheeks but she appreciated the sudden lightening of the mood. Intensity wouldn’t do either of them any good right now. “I mean I’ve never felt this way about another man.”
He ran a tender hand down her cheek. “I’m damn glad.”
Emboldened, she smiled. “Then prove it.”
“I intend to.” He reached over and opened the night-stand drawer, pulling out a condom, then paused. “Kendall . . . ”
“Yes?”
“I keep these out of habit, because Chase told both Roman and I that if we were ever unprepared, we weren’t just disrespecting ourselves, but the woman we were with.”
Kendall felt a rush of emotion as she realized the strong familial bond shared by the Chandlers, a bond she’d never experienced with anyone before. Except maybe her aunt, but that time had been too brief and the good memories often too painful to remember in light of the void that remained afterward.
“For a man of few words, your brother chooses them wisely.” She returned her thoughts to Rick.
Rick nodded. “It’s the journalist in him. But that’s not my point.”
“Then what is?”
A tight muscle pulled at his cheek. “I keep these here but I’ve never used them.” He took out the entire box and dumped them on the mattress beside them. “Eleven plus this one makes twelve.” He held the plastic wrapper in his hand.
He didn’t have to say any more or tell her what his words and actions meant. He’d never brought a woman to his bed before and he wanted her to know it. There’d been plenty of women, Kendall was certain. Just none here. She swallowed hard.
Instead of reacting, she chose to keep the moment light. “So how many do you think we can use in one night?”
He studied her for an intense second, one in which she was afraid he’d call her hand or push for entry into emotions she didn’t want to share.
Instead he grinned, shrugging off the serious moment. “Why don’t we find out?” She watched as he took care of protection quickly, then splayed his hands across her thighs. His strong, weathered skin contrasted with her whiter flesh, making his virility and masculinity that much more intense.
He eased her legs open wide with his palms, nudging the head of his penis inside her and she gasped. Hard yet soft, hot yet tender, his body slipped into hers, opening her, consuming her. Kendall sucked in a breath, amazed at the intensity of the feelings this one simple act aroused. But nothing about Rick Chandler or her feelings for him were simple.
Before she could think further, he thrust inside her, filling her completely. Desire took over, kindling the fire he’d already lit and sucking her into a vortex of anticipation and heady sensation.
“Rick.” Without planning or thought, she called out his name and his eyes darkened with heat and need.
Buried as deep as possible, their bodies joined, one impossible to distinguish from the next, he suddenly stopped, holding himself back. His arms shook with the force of his restraint.
“You stopped,” she murmured. “Why?”
He leaned so his forehead touched hers. “How is it I feel like I’ve been waiting forever when we really just met?”
Kendall wished she knew. She opened her mouth to answer and was rewarded with a kiss instead. A hot, demanding, openmouthed kiss that told her exactly where they were headed. They didn’t need foreplay. Foreplay had been every moment between them since the first time they’d met.