Unnatural Relations (Lust and Lies Series, Book 1) (34 page)

Kyle didn't look convinced, but a phone call kept him from debating the point. Barbara let Matt answer it, since he moved first, but it was Dani calling for her.

"I have semi-good news. That disturbance yesterday did involve Russ Latham and some hooker. He got thrown out of that motel, but rather than moving to another one, he went north, out of Virginia. I've left word with the front desk of every motel and hotel in the area to notify me if anyone checks in matching his description or with his vehicle and so far, there's no sign that he's returned. I wouldn't suggest a celebration quite yet, but I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that he's given up."

Barbara took a deep breath. "Thanks, Dani. I just wish there was something I could do to repay you for all your help."

Dani chuckled. "Maybe you'll pack me another lunch someday. In the meantime, the biggest thing you can do for me is to find yourself some happiness."

Barbara relayed the news to Kyle and Matt with her own warning to Matt not to let his guard down yet.

"Semi-good news demands a semi-celebration," Kyle said. "How about dinner and a movie tonight? An early one, of course."

Matt and Barbara accepted his invitation, but as they were all leaving the house, she wondered if she should have clarified the matter of where Kyle was planning to spend the night.

The day was blissfully uneventful for Barbara and Matt, until the doorbell rang while they were getting ready to go out with Kyle.

"It's Tammy," Matt exclaimed after looking out the window.

Since Barbara had told Kyle about the girl's last visit, he completely understood the unhappy expression on her face. However, Tammy seemed to be back to her old, bubbly self, as she greeted all three with superficial cheek kisses.

"Before anyone says a word, I want to apologize for my mega-boring bad mood the other night. You were absolutely right, Barb. I got a better job this morning, and I already met
several
fascinating prospects. So I came to take you and Matt out to dinner to celebrate." She looked at Kyle as though she just realized he was there. "Oh! I'm interrupting something, aren't I?" Her lively expression died in two blinks of her big blue eyes.

"Maw?" Matt tugged on her sweater and looked up at her pleadingly, but Kyle replied before she could.

"Please join us. We weren't planning anything special."

Tammy instantly became animated again. "I've got a better idea. Let me take Matt out and you two can have the evening to yourselves. Or the two of us could stay here and order pizza and play video games. Your choice, Matt."

"Pizza and games here!" he declared without hesitation.

The change of plans had occurred so swiftly, Barbara felt a little dizzy. "Are you sure?" She felt Kyle's fingers scratch her back three times and glanced at him curiously. He had just used one of her and Matt's signals for "run as fast as you can."

"Absolutely," Tammy stated firmly.

"Positively!" Matt seconded.

She went through all the pre-departure reminders twice as she put on her coat and checked her purse for her keys. "Are you absolutely positive—"

"Out,"
Tammy ordered Barbara with a dramatic wave of her arm.

"Yeah, Maw," Matt said, laughing. "Get out before we have to throw you out."

Kyle tugged on her arm. "I think they want to be alone."

"All right, all right," Barbara said, shaking her head. "But if anything happens, you call me right—"

"Is she always like this?" Tammy asked Matt and he rolled his eyes.

Barbara knew when she was hopelessly outnumbered. After one more hug for Matt, she and Kyle finally left the house. When he opened the passenger door of his car for her, he had to move his briefcase before she could sit down.

"What kind of leather is this?" she asked, running her hand over the slick black finish as he lifted it out.

"Eel skin. It doesn't get ruined if it gets wet." He waited for her to get situated then hurriedly put the briefcase in the trunk and got behind the wheel.

As he was backing out of the driveway, she asked, "What does the
H
stand for?"

He quickly glanced at her and continued out into the street. "The what?"

"The
H
of
HKT
... the initials on your briefcase. My goodness, Kyle, you're blushing. Is it that awful?"

"I think so. Why don't you guess?"

"Harold? Hector? Harvey? Herbert?" He shook his head and his smile widened with each of her guesses. "I've got it—Horatio!" She just prayed it wasn't Howard.

"You're not even close."

"Okay, let's see. Harrison? Homer? What are you doing?" She couldn't imagine why he pulled into the parking lot of the first shopping strip they came to. As he brought the car to a stop a good distance from any stores or restaurants, her curiosity rose.

Kyle answered her unspoken question by drawing her into his arms and pressing his lips to hers. With each heartbeat, the kiss went from saying
hello
to
I missed you terribly,
to
I need you,
to
I don't want to wait until we're somewhere more private, the back seat will be just fine
.

They were moments away from mindlessly following through with their urgent desire when a blast from a car horn jolted them to their senses.

Kyle grinned at her. "I guess that pretty much sums up what I've been thinking about all day." He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. "Where would you like to have dinner?"

She angled her head to inhale the cologne on his neck, then kissed his earlobe and whispered, "How does room service sound?"

He grinned. "Do we need to stop at a drug store first?"

"Nope," she said patting her purse. "I was pretty sure you'd go along with my suggestion so I came prepared."

He responded to her with a low growl and another long, hungry kiss.

"Kyle?"

"Hmmm?"

"What's your first name?"

"Ha—Hannibal."

"Hannibal? As in Missouri?"

Kyle made a face. "As in the man with the army of elephants. My father was a history buff."

Rather than drive all the way to his hotel room in Richmond, he decided to head toward Washington and take advantage of the first decent-looking place they came to. It still took them nearly a half hour, with every stoplight offering an excuse to touch and taste a little more. By the time they got inside a private room with a king-size bed, the foreplay had already gone on much longer than either of them could stand.

The French twist she had so painstakingly forced her hair into came undone in seconds. Kyle barely noticed the new sexy lingerie in his rush to get it off her body. His neatly pressed shirt and slacks were carelessly dropped to the floor.

Unable to tolerate any more delays, he lifted her and joined their bodies where they stood. She welcomed him with a sigh of relief, but as he raised and lowered her hips, her relief was replaced by another building need. He quickly brought them both to climax, yet neither was fully satisfied. Without separating their bodies, he moved to the bed and resumed the rhythmic demonstration of his deep love for her.

That second release relaxed them both sufficiently to think about ordering food, but once dinner was finished, Kyle carried her back to bed again.

After a soul-wrenching kiss, he asked, "What time does Matt get up for school in the morning?"

"About six a—" She gasped as his mouth closed over her nipple and sucked.

He lifted his head to see the clock on the nightstand. "Six, huh? That gives us another eight hours before we have to get home."

"That's not fair to Tammy. Remember, she just started a new job."

He made a face at her. "All right. We'll get home by midnight. She wouldn't expect us to be back before then." Before she could voice another objection to staying a little longer, his extremely skilled tongue went to work on her other breast.

It was the first time all over again as he slowly aroused every nerve in her body until there wasn't a thought in her mind, only physical sensation. Each time she began to peak, however, he moved his attentions to a less sensitive area. She tried enticing him in return, but he had been so well sated, he wasn't having any problem controlling his response. Pleading failed as well. She finally resorted to threats to get him to stop teasing her.

"Are you frustrated, love?" he murmured against her mouth. "Is your skin on fire?" His fingers lightly tickled the flesh around her navel. "Is your pulse pounding between your thighs? Do you think you might explode if you don't soon feel me inside you?" His fingers slipped into the center of her heat and pressed upward.

She managed to nod her head as she bit her lower lip.

"Good. Then you know how I've felt since Sunday morning after we made love the last time. I thought being with you over the weekend yet not being able to touch you in front of Matt was torture. But I didn't have any idea how bad it could get until all I had was your voice over the phone."

He went back to kissing and stroking her until she was reduced to kittenish whimpers. "Before you know it, we're going to have to leave this room and go back to being frustrated and sleeping alone. How long will it be this time? Two days? Three? Five again?" His fingers drew another anguished moan from her. "I love you so much. I don't want to hide how I feel about you. I don't want to sleep alone anymore."

He repositioned his body over hers and eased his way inside. She tried to move her hips, but he held her still. "I want to be free to do this every night, love." He slowly withdrew from her, then pushed forward again, causing her nails to dig into his back. "Tell me you want the same thing and I'll be the happiest man in the world. Say you'll marry me, Barbara, and I'll make sure you never have another worry for the rest of your life."

"Oh, Kyle, I—" The slightest shift of his hips took her breath away once more.

"I need you in my life. Please, love, just say
yes."

She could no longer remember any of her logical reasons for maintaining her independence, not when Kyle was everything she could ever ask for in a husband. As he expertly drove her back to the place where her mind stopped functioning entirely, she whispered the word he awaited.

"Yes."

Chapter 17

Barbara's mind slowly refilled with little things: Kyle's warm breath on her neck, his heart pounding heavily close to her own, the monumental decision she had just made while her hormones were in control of her brain.

Last night she had just begun to admit that she might be in love with Kyle. Matt was just beginning to warm up to him. Perhaps, in time, she would have agreed to marry him anyway. But this wasn't the way she wanted it to happen. How could she marry someone whose first name she hadn't even known until a few hours ago?

Your new boyfriend's name isn't Kyle. It's Hamilton.

You still don't recognize a wolf in sheep's clothing when you meet one, do you?

Barbara knew better than to trust anything Russ said, but did she really know Kyle well enough to trust him with her and Matt's life? They had only met two weeks ago... under extremely strange, yet oddly familiar, circumstances. Not even two weeks, actually. And her photo had appeared in the newspaper less than a week before that.

Was he really embarrassed about being caught making a business call in his car, or was it something else? The words she heard him say during the night came back to her. She hadn't dreamed them. It hadn't been a wrong number. She clearly remembered the phrase, "a hundred sixty-five million". Big money. Not the kind an office equipment salesman would deal in, but the kind the Hamiltons possessed.

Girl, you've got more smoke around you right now than a five-alarmer.

Dani was right. There had been far too much smoke blinding her lately, but she was about to blow some of it away.

She sat up and tried to see the truth in his face. He opened his eyes and smiled. Either he loved her with all his heart, or he was as good at lying and acting as Russ was. "Why did you do that?"