Chapter Two #2
He silenced her with a wave of his hand. “Forget it. You did what you had to do, I guess.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her cheeks wet.
He shoved the heels of his hands into his eyes, experiencing a familiar burn in his gut. Regret. Frustration. Hurt.
“I’m sorry, too,” he muttered. “This wasn’t what I wanted when I asked you to come upstairs with me.”
She wiped her face with the back of her hand. “I can’t undo the past, Jed. You’re going to have to forgive me and let it go. If it’s any consolation, I was hurting, too.”
“But not enough to change your mind.”
“No.” She bit her lip. “The end may have been painful for both of us, but if I’m being honest with you, I would probably have done the same thing again.
I was old for my years, Jed. I knew I had to put someone first. And that someone was Grammy Tilda.
You had every opportunity in the world at your feet.
My grandmother had no one but me. If I had let you, I think you would have stayed in Royal to help me. ”
The quiet words held dignity and sadness and the ring of truth. Perhaps Kimberly had been right all along. That was a tough pill to swallow.
He shoved those thoughts aside and tried to resurrect the mood. “You said it’s all water under the bridge, and that’s true. But you’re still a beautiful woman, and I want you, Kimmie.”
She managed a smile. “I want you, too.”
When she stood, he pulled her close and cupped her bottom with his hands.
Touching her like this melted his pique into nothingness.
How could he hold on to such a negative emotion when she was finally in his arms?
Gently, he lowered the zipper of her dress.
All night he had wondered if she was wearing anything under that fitted bodice.
The answer was no. His hands caressed smooth, warm skin.
After a few awkward moments, they found their rhythm. Undressing each other in silence, they discovered an intimate accord. Quick smiles...the occasional hitched breath when he removed her lacy undies or when she saw the strength of his erection.
As he reached for a condom, she stopped him, her cheeks flushed. “I’m on the pill. And I’m okay...I haven’t...”
She stuttered to a stop when he put his fingers on her lips. “I understand. You don’t have to worry about me, either, I swear.”
After that, they clambered into bed like an old married couple, settling between the soft, smooth sheets with simultaneous sighs.
“I’m nervous,” she said.
Tenderness overwhelmed him. Tenderness he would have sworn was long dead. “At the risk of sounding wimpy, me, too.”
She chuckled. “You’re a lot of things, Jed, but wimpy isn’t one of them.” She ran her hands up his arms, her thumbs delineating muscles and sinew. “I truly didn’t know how special it was...what we had back then. Men like you are unusual.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.” He settled between her thighs but didn’t move. The effort cost him, but he hovered on the brink of some important revelation.
“You don’t have anything to prove. Even as a teenager you were confident. That self-assurance enabled you to be kind to those who needed it. Tender with me. Gentle in your strength. I loved you for that. And admired you.”
He hadn’t been kind in his thoughts. When she cut him loose, he had wanted to strike back...to make her suffer as much as he was. But as an eighteen-year-old kid, it had been more important to hide his pain. To act as if her defection meant nothing to him.
He had allowed his pride to get in the way back then. Would things have been different if he had come back to Royal immediately and faced her? Could he have changed the course of fate?
Neither of them would ever know. But now was another story.
Dragging his attention from the past, he looked down at her. The wide-eyed feminine gaze bespoke want and need and a healthy dose of wariness. He understood all three.
Gently, he stroked her breasts, first one and then the other, gauging her reaction in the way her eyelids fluttered shut and her back arched. Her skin was softer than a kiss.
Losing patience in the face of raging hunger, he moved between her legs and entered her slowly. The feeling was indescribable.
“Hell, Kimmie.”
Slim legs wrapped around his waist, ankles locking at the small of his back. “What? What’s wrong?”
He shuddered, closer to the edge than a virgin youth with his first female. “I thought I had embellished the memories.” He sucked in a breath. “I don’t understand what you do to me.”
He felt her heart pounding against his. Sweat dampened his forehead. Slowly, he moved in her, desperate to stave off the imminent explosion.
Kimberly urged him on, tilting her hips to force him deeper. “I don’t need your gentleness tonight, Jed. Give me everything...please.” Her hoarse cry told him she was part of the insanity.
He took her...again and again. The bed rocked with the strength of their passion. She fought him, clung to him and at last, flamed with him in a blast of incinerating heat.
But when he awoke half a dozen hours later, she was gone.