10. Katy
Katy
L ooking into Andrew’s soulful brown eyes, standing so close to him, I couldn’t resist pulling him down for a kiss. I had to know if that kiss back in Denver was a fluke. If I’d had built it up in my mind to be more amazing than it really was.
I hadn’t.
His lips were firm and kind of cold from being outside, but as we pressed against each other our mouths warmed. He let me lead, and when I licked along the seam of his lips he opened his mouth and met my tongue with his own.
The kiss turned hot immediately, fire licking through my veins. I groaned against his mouth, my hands sliding to his shoulders to pull him closer. Everything around us faded away. It was just me and Andrew, our mouths fused together, my heart pounding in my chest so hard I thought it might burst right through my ribcage.
I wanted him. With every beat of my heart I could hear the word mine . But happily ever after was part of the fairy tale, and people like me didn’t get a Prince Charming. I’d learned that the hard way. Besides, I was way too old for this romantic crap. I was getting osteoporosis for God’s sake.
As if sensing the change in my mood, Andrew pulled back enough for us to catch our breath, his forehead pressed against mine. He hadn’t shaved yet this morning, and his dark scruff made him look even sexier than he usually did.
“What are we doing?” I whispered, even though I’d been the one to initiate the kiss.
“Giving into the inevitable,” he whispered back and then he was kissing me again.
I didn’t protest. I couldn’t.
His hands dropped from my waist to my ass, squeezing my cheeks as he pulled me even closer. We were both wearing layers of clothes, yet I could feel his erection pressing against my belly, making me want nothing more than to reach between us and feel it grow harder in my hand.
A car started nearby, then I heard the crunch of tires on snow, reminding me that we were standing in Andrew’s driveway in full view of the neighbors. I jumped back, breathing heavily, and without conscious thought my fingers moved to my lips as if they had a life of their own. My lips were tingling.
Andrew stared at me, his gaze intense, but waiting for me to make the next move.
“You, uh, you’d better get ready for work,” I said, breaking his gaze and looking over his shoulder. An older woman was walking her dog, not even trying to hide the way she was watching us.
Andrew glanced over his shoulder and then back at me, lifting one hand to press his hand along my cheek. I leaned into him.
“Fair warning. Mrs. McArthur will have this on the town Facebook page within minutes,” he said softly. “Then I’ll hear from my mother wanting to know what happened. That’s life in a small town.”
I groaned. The town had a Facebook page for gossip? Of course they did.
“I’m having coffee with your mother later today. She asked me to help her with some updates to the preparedness plan for Lawson.”
“Be prepared for a lot of nosy questions about us,” he warned.
“As opposed to your mother’s usual not-nosy questions?” I said with a laugh.
Marianne Lawson must have been a trained interrogator in her last life.
“Come on.” Andrew took my left hand in his. “Let’s have some breakfast before I go to work.”
As I headed into my bedroom to change out of my damp running clothes I replayed that kiss over and over in my mind. What was I doing? I was starting to fall for Andrew, and that would only lead to disaster. He was a great guy, almost perfect in fact, but we lived in different worlds. I needed to keep my distance until I was able to go home.
I just hoped that I could.
The next three days followed a pattern. Andrew and I went for a three mile run in the morning, but with no kissing. We’d share a cup of coffee and a light breakfast, then he’d go to work and I’d do what I could to keep myself busy. Read. Do a pilates video. Walk around the town. Try to convince Goldie that I wasn’t a threat to her.
I also spent a lot of time hanging around City Hall helping Marianne while simultaneously fending off her not so subtle hints that Andrew was perfect for me.
The thing was, she was right. Andrew was perfect for me. Sadly, I wasn’t perfect for anyone. Besides, as much as this weird little town was starting to grow on me, I couldn’t stay here. I had a life in Denver that I’d return to when my hand healed. This wasn’t real.
Friday night I was looking through the fridge trying to figure out what we could have for dinner when Andrew came home. He was wearing navy blue dockers with a white button down shirt and a tie with little cartoon birds on it. He should have looked ridiculous but for some reason his outfit was totally sexy.
“How was your day?” I asked, wincing internally as I realized how domestic this was, the little woman in the kitchen making dinner when the man of the house came home from work. It was like we were one of those sitcom couples I used to watch on TV when I was a kid.
“I have big news for you,” he said with a smile.
“What?”
“The DA has agreed to drop all the charges against you,” he said proudly. I knew he’d worked hard to make that happen.
My heart thudded. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Whoo hoo!” I threw up both of my hands in victory, then winced as my cast bumped against a cabinet door. “That’s amazing!”
I rushed forward and pulled him into a tight hug.
“Oh my God! Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.”
His voice sounded kind of rough. When I looked up, he was staring down at me with a look I couldn’t interpret. Our eyes met and held for what felt like an hour, but I couldn’t look away.
Slowly Andrew lowered his head, giving me time to pull away, but instead I popped up onto my tiptoes and met him halfway. His mouth crashed against mine, demanding entrance, and I opened for him with a sigh.
Our last two kisses had been hot. Incredibly hot. But somehow this one felt different. Like a claiming.
Andrew backed me up until my hips hit the counter, then without breaking the kiss, he grabbed me by the waist and pick me up, setting me on the surface. I wasn’t a big woman, but I also wasn’t a lightweight, and I couldn’t deny that the way Andrew so easily picked me up gave me a thrill.
“I love kissing you,” he said when we broke apart to catch our breath.
He peppered little kisses down my chin and the side of my neck, while one of his hands snaked its way up beneath my loose shirt to cup my breast. I was wearing a bra, but the touch seared me as if we were skin to skin. He locked onto my nipple, pinching it through the fabric, and I made a moaning noise that would have embarrassed me if I’d been in my right mind.
At some point my legs had fallen open, because Andrew’s hips were now wedged in between them. I wrapped my legs around his upper thighs, pulling him closer, and as he returned to my mouth to give me another rough kiss, I wantonly rolled my hips against his erection.
The kiss went on and on, and by the time Andrew broke the kiss again I was shaking with need. My panties were wet, and my nipples had hardened into painful points against my bra. Andrew looked as wrecked by the kiss as I felt. His mouth was swollen, and his eyes looked a little wild. Someone – me I guess – had pulled his shirt from the waistband of his pants and opened it halfway up his torso, revealing a firm belly covered with a light layer of hair.
I stared at his abs while I caught my breath, wondering how on Earth a man in his late forties still had abs like those. I wanted to trace them with my tongue.
“Katy.”
I looked up and saw the conflicted emotions chasing across his face.
“Yeah.”
“I want you. I need you.”
My heartrate, already in the stratosphere, picked up even more. “I want you too.”
“But I… I can’t.” The words sounded like they’d been ripped from his throat.
“What? Why?”
Did he have a girlfriend he’d forgotten to tell me about? A secret wife? No, that couldn’t be true, not when his mother was trying so hard to fix us up.
“If I have you… when I have you… It won’t be a one and done. I won’t be able to let you go. Do you understand?”
I just stared at him like I didn’t understand English. “I said yes.”
He shook his head. “I need you to say yes to more than sex. I want a relationship. With you.”
He winced a little, like he was annoyed at himself for saying it, but then his expression turned resolute.
“I’ve fallen in love with you.”