Authors: Beth Cornelison
"Name it."
"For you to pick me up for our date on your motorcycle."
"You liked having the wind in your hair and bugs in your teeth, eh?"
She wrinkled her nose and chuckled. "I'll remember to keep my mouth closed."
A low rumble vibrated in his chest. "I'm not sure I'm going to last until seven. If I save my paperwork for tomorrow, I can pick you up closer to six-thirty."
"I'll be ready."
With another sound kiss, he backed out of her arms and disappeared into his office, adjusting the front of his jeans, which were noticeably tighter.
Claire grinned. She'd done that to him. Maybe she didn't have anything to worry about after all.
Still, the jitters plagued her up until the minute Kevin arrived at Mrs. Proctor's house that evening.
As Claire started for the door, Mrs. Proctor called to her from the kitchen. "Is that him? Did I hear Kevin's motorcycle?"
"Yes, ma'am. I'll be out late, so don't worry about me if I'm not in before you go to bed," Claire called back.
Mrs. Proctor came out of the kitchen, balancing a pie in her cane-free hand. "As long as you're with Kevin, I haven't a reason to worry. Don't leave without this. I made it for you two, special for tonight."
Claire smiled at her landlady. "How sweet of you. You didn't have to do that!"
"'Course I didn't have to. But you were there when I needed you. You saved my life. And Kevin, well, he means the world to me. I just wanted..." She huffed. "Oh, just take it, dang it. It's chocolate cream."
Claire took the pie and gave Mrs. Proctor a kiss on the cheek. The woman shooed her toward the door. "Well, don't keep him waiting. Go on."
She didn't need to be told twice.
As Claire crossed the yard, Kevin's gaze stayed locked with hers. When she stopped before him, she leaned in to give him a quick kiss.
"I was going to meet you at the door," he said in a low, husky voice that made her toes curl.
"So I saved you the trouble."
"What is that?" His eyes flicked down to her hands.
"Dessert. Compliments of Mrs. Proctor."
He quirked an eyebrow. "Not strawberry, I hope."
"Nope. I set her straight on Mrs. Jernigan's misinformation. It's
chocolate
." Claire let the enthusiasm in her face express her opinion of the flavor.
"
Now
you're talking." He hitched his mouth in sly grin. "You know, I've heard chocolate is an aphrodisiac."
She returned an amused look. "Oh really?"
"Well, all I had to do is watch you carry that pie across the yard, and I'm ready to jump you." He slid a hand down her back and cupped her bottom, pulling her closer. "Then again, that had more to do with you than the power of any food."
"You flatterer. Keep talking like that, and I might share my ideas of how we can make eating this pie more...fun." She wiggled her eyebrows at him.
The fire in his gaze said he had similar ideas. "If you're ready, then...your chariot awaits." After Kevin strapped the Tupperware containing the pie to the bike with bungee cords, he climbed on and handed her the helmet. Claire swung a leg over the bike and snuggled close to him. She relished the excuse to squeeze close and feel the hard lines of his body move as they rode.
When they pulled in at Kevin's, the same scraggly dog that had been hanging around several days before trotted out to meet them. Claire knelt down to rub the dog's ears while Kevin rolled the motorcycle behind the trailer.
"What's your dog's name?" she asked when Kevin came back around to the front yard.
"Oh, he's not mine." Kevin stooped to ruffle the dog's fur as well and chuckled. "Hell, who am I kidding? The mutt's adopted me, and I don't have the heart to get rid of him. I guess I'll have to find a name for him. I've been calling him Mutt until now."
Claire tipped her head and grinned at him. "That's what I love about you. Beneath that hard, sexy body of yours, you have a soft heart."
His cinnamon eyes snapped up to meet hers, the look on his face stunned. What had she said that startled him so? That she thought of him as sexy or soft-hearted? Surely he didn't consider either comment an insult.
He wet his lips and shook out of his momentary daze. "I'll just go put the pie in the refrigerator."
Claire stood and dusted off her knees before following Kevin inside. She admired his backside as, his hands full, he used his hip to bump the door open.
Sexy?
Oh yes
. Kind hearted?
Definitely
. He showed it every day in so many ways. The combination was potent. A lethal double-whammy to her heart. How could she not fall for him? Instinctively she knew making love to him would seal her fate. There'd be no escape if she allowed herself that level of intimacy with Kevin. All she could do now was trust this man not to break her heart. Every indication told her she was in good hands.
***
Throughout dinner, Claire's words tumbled in Kevin's head.
That's what I love about you.
She hadn't said she loved
him
, just that she loved certain things
about
him. His soft heart. His body. She thought his body was
sexy
.
He drew a slow breath.
Steady boy
. The comment could easily have been friendly chatter that meant nothing. Still, hearing the word l-o-v-e leave her lips had his head spinning. Having her love anything about him was more than he dared to dream. And having even a little of Claire's affection was a dangerous thing.
So what was he doing with her here, tempting fate, testing his ability to save himself from eventual destruction? Because having even a little bit of Claire and then losing her would probably destroy him. And despite her earlier comment, the chances that a high-class woman of wealth and privilege like Claire could ever love and commit herself to someone with as little to offer her as he did was...a pipe dream.
"It was magical to listen to my grandmother make Chaucer and Dante come to life." Claire's face glowed as she talked, her zeal for her topic radiating from every pore. Her eyes sparkled like amber jewels.
Kevin struggled to focus on what she was saying and not on how beautiful she looked and how his body ached to possess her.
"Ever since then, I've wanted to follow in her footsteps, to earn my Master's degree in Literature and teach right here at Harrison just like she did."
"I'm sure your grandmother would be extremely proud to hear you say that."
Her expression sobered. "Until a few weeks ago, I let my parents—my father mostly—tell me my dream wasn't right for me, that what I
should
want was to marry some businessman like my dad, have babies and throw parties to entertain my husband's cronies. Which is fine if that is the life you want. It's what my mother did. But I need more than that."
Kevin's heart stumbled as Robin's parting words drifted back to haunt him.
I'm sorry, Kevin. I need more. If I stay with you my dreams will die, and I've worked too hard to lose it all now.
Claire reached across the table and took his hand, kick starting his pulse again to a racer's pace.
"What about you? If you could do anything, anything in the world, what would you want to do with your life?"
Spend it with you. Making babies. Making love. Growing old together.
"Let's see..." He stroked her wrist with his thumb, savoring the delicate skin there and fantasizing about other soft places on her he hoped to discover later that night. Patience was proving difficult, but he brutally shoved thoughts of later aside to concentrate on now. "World peace would be nice. That and ending hunger."
She squeezed his hand and grinned. "Lofty, but very worthy goals, sir. Anything else?"
He considered telling her about the interview he'd been granted with Arrington Inc. for the job Lydia had pointed him toward a couple days before. Landing that job was definitely a goal of his, something that would go a long way toward making other dreams he had come true. In the end, he decided to keep his job lead a secret for the time being.
"I know...getting the national anthem changed to 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame'."
She rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Yeah, right."
"Think about it. Baseball is America's treasured pastime. Everyone already knows all the words and can hit all the notes. It's already sung at every major league game during the seventh inning stretch."
Her nose wrinkled. "The what?"
"You have been to a baseball game before, haven't you?"
"Mm, can't say that I have."
Kevin sat back in his chair, clapping his free hand over his heart. "Oh, my God! That's criminal! It's un-American! We will definitely have to do something to remedy this oversight."
She smiled and brought his other hand, still clutched in hers, to her lips. The kiss she pressed to his palm was whisper soft and incredibly erotic. His blood surged, hot and thick, and the tension inside him torqued one notch tighter.
"Sounds lovely. I'd love to see a baseball game with you."
His gaze clung to hers while the air between them snapped and crackled. The heat and urgency reverberating in his body goaded him to scoop her in his arms and carry her to his bed now. Every sensitized nerve ending shouted for him to end the exquisite torture building inside him. But another voice prevailed over his greedy need for her.
Take it slow. She deserves more than a hasty retreat to the bedroom. The evening was young, the sun still hovering on the horizon, and she was his for the whole night. Determined to make the most of their time, to draw her close through sweet, slow seduction, he tamped down the raging demands of his body and gave her a smile.
"Come with me," he said, rising to his feet. "There's something else I want you to see."
C
HAPTER
E
LEVEN
With her hand nestled comfortably in Kevin's, Claire followed him outside, where he settled on his front steps.
The scruffy mutt hurried over to greet them, his tail thumping her legs while she and Kevin both gave him an affectionate pat. Apparently satisfied that he hadn't been ignored, the mutt curled up at their feet and resumed his nap.
Kevin nodded toward the view before them. "Get a load of that. You won't see a better show, short of the aurora borealis."
She turned to study the array of colors painting the sky as the sun sank for the evening. Across a large open field, the flaming orb slipped behind a line of pine trees that stood sentinel atop the swell of a small hill. She'd seen countless sunsets in her life and appreciated many of them for their beauty. But she drank in the dazzling reds and golds lighting the sky in Kevin's front yard with fresh eyes. The simple beauty and tranquility of the sinking sun captivated her. That Kevin would want to share mother nature's glorious display with her struck her as infinitely romantic.
When she glanced at Kevin, she found pure awe and appreciation brightening his eyes as he, too, took in the magnificent scenery.
"Earth has not anything to show more fair/ Dull would he be of soul who could pass by/ A sight so touching in its majesty," she muttered under her breath.
He quirked one eyebrow in query.
She grinned. "Wordsworth. The opening lines of one of his sonnets." She sighed contentedly as she turned back toward the horizon. "Why do I think this isn't the first time you've watched the sun set for the sheer spectacle?"
He slanted a glance toward her and tipped a grin. "Because it's not. When your television is stuck on one channel, you learn to make the most of the entertainment right outside your door. It's free, and hey—" He waved a hand toward the horizon. "Where else are you going to see that exact shade of purple?"
Deeply moved by his sentiment, she smiled at him. "I don't know. Maybe...right here." She touched a finger to the corner of his eye where Ray's fist print had faded to dusky shades of plum. "Does it hurt?"
He shook his head. "Not unless I think about what might have happened to you if I hadn't distracted Ray from his intent."
Claire frowned. "I could have handled him, Kevin. He had me a little spooked, but in the end, I think Ray's mostly hot air. As much as I appreciate what you did for me, as flattered as I am that you'd put yourself on the line for me, I need..." She sighed and looked back out at the darkening sky. "I need to make my own way, fight my own battles. After years of letting my father make the rules and tell me how to live my life, I have to know that my life is my own. For better or for worse. My decisions. My choices. My solutions. I can't rely on someone else ever again without sacrificing my self-respect." She felt his gaze on her and met the dark passion in his eyes. "Does that make sense?"
A muscle in his jaw flexed, and he nodded. "Yeah."
Even if he didn't truly understand or respect the reasons she needed self-determination and wanted her independence, he had at least listened to her. The intensity of his gaze told her he wanted to understand her, wanted to support her, wanted...to kiss her.
She granted his wish. Because kissing him topped the list of things she wanted, too. Kissing him felt right, preordained, as natural and beautiful as the sunset that spread a magic cloak around them.
She lost herself in the tender touch of his lips, the smooth glide as his mouth moved across hers with a gentle suction. Wanting more of him, she opened to the velvety caress of his tongue and met every stroke in kind. She plowed her fingers through his thick, ruffled hair and held him close while she indulged herself with the sweetness of his kiss and the promise of things to come.
His hand moved restlessly over her back pulling her nearer, as if he, too, couldn't get enough. He tasted faintly of the wine they'd had with dinner, but the intoxicating thrill that washed through her came from the rhythmic ebb and tide of his mouth, drawing on hers.
The moment stretched until she swam in sensation. Never had she felt so fulfilled, so happy, so certain she was where she was meant to be. Kevin was everything she'd ever wanted. Yet he still managed to surprise her every day and show her even greater depths of himself.