33. Alex
33
ALEX
Katherine leans away from my chest and turns, lifting a haunted blue-green gaze to mine.
I’m instantly on alert.
Preparing for the worst is kind of my business.
“Talk to me, Katie Bird. I want to know all your thoughts, even your fears. Especially your fears.” I can’t fight her demons if I don’t see them.
“I want to come back next year. And every year after that. But I’m terrified that this is all too fast and that I’m going to wake up tomorrow and you guys will have scattered to the winds. Then I’ll be alone with my plants, crying into my caramel ice cream.”
The words are so heartfelt.
Earnest and endearing.
While I hate that she has doubts, I understand them. What we’ve started is far outside of her norm. And even though feelings are involved, it’s easy to see that she’d want, even need, to protect herself. Her heart. Her future.
And since her needs and future have always been tied to her mother, grandfather, and the family company, this must all be so new to her.
Standing on her own feet, away from them.
Finally having the opportunity to see who she is and what she wants.
Which is great for her and scary for me.
A breeze cuts through our picnic. It smells like rain and freshly cut grass. Katherine’s hair whips around her face, turning the normally put-together woman into a wild sprite.
I reach out, tucking her hair behind her ear again. She leans into my touch, so familiar and at ease, even though I can see the turbulence beneath her calm exterior.
“I get it.”
Her jaw drops, and her lips part in a tiny O.
“This has all been unexpected. Amazing, but unconventional.” I keep my voice low, for her ears only. “The best week of my life, by a mile. But I get that it’ll take time. Relationships aren’t built overnight.”
“You’re right.”
She licks her lips again, and damn, do I want to kiss her. To show her how I feel. I’m better at that. Words aren’t my strong suit, but for her, I’ll find the right ones.
“I’m not proposing we slow down. But what if we trust the process?”
Her smile lights me up inside, and I can’t help but return it. She presses a quick kiss against my palm and then nestles her cheek back into my hand.
She’s an incredible combination of fierce resolve and graceful acceptance.
Determined to stop her mother from ruining Gabe and independent enough to step out from the shadow of the Chanlers, no matter how tentatively. Except, she’s not tentative, is she? When she’d had enough, she broke free with a swift stroke of a metaphorical knife.
“I don’t know what this looks like going forward. I don’t have a tidy label. But you’ve brought out a side of Gabe I’ve never seen before. You’re this amazing glue I didn’t know we needed.”
Do I tell her how I’d moved in with him under the guise of looking for a new place but secretly because I was worried about him. He’s been a different man this week.
“Because of you, he’s finally sleeping. He’s probably slept more this week than he did all last month.”
Her lips twist and then settle into a slight smirk. “Of course you’re more worried about him than yourself. Always the protector.”
She reaches up, curling a hand over my forearm and rubbing back and forth, sending that unconscious jolt of awareness up my limb and through my nervous system.
“I love that about you,” she murmurs.
My gut churns.
Such a telling statement. This woman appreciates being protected, which begs the question, why didn’t anyone protect her as she was growing up? I’m sure she had a body man, but emotional protection is far different.
Her phone chirps, but she doesn’t move. I see the glimmer of happiness shoot through her expression. It must be a custom tone because nobody could be that excited about texts. Whoever is messaging her, she likes them and welcomes the contact.
There’s another stiff breeze and Katherine tips her chin up, looking at the sky. Another enchanting smile curves her lips. “I think it’s going to rain.”
No sooner have the words left her lips than I feel a drop hit my cheek. There’s a squeal of voices across the park and then a flurry of activity as Mother Nature sends everyone diving for cover.
Katherine doesn’t move.
Of course she welcomes it. Will she ever stop surprising me? This princess who’s finally escaped her tower.
She grins over at me, so much joy radiating from her that I sit in the rain, almost dumbfounded. Then she reaches for the remnants of our picnic, tossing them back into the basket the hotel provided.
I launch to my feet, take her hands, and pull her up. She snatches the blanket, and I grab the basket and her hand. Then we’re off. Dodging raindrops as we race back to the hotel and laughing because there’s something so refreshing about being caught out in the shower. Tourists are darting off, and the city is being cleansed.
My men keep up, protecting the woman who’s come to mean everything in such a short amount of time.
She tugs me down a side street. Shirt speckled with raindrops, she glances up at me, all pink-cheeked and excited. There’s a flicker of something mischievous in her eyes that reaches down inside me, unlocking an exuberance I haven’t felt in decades.
Katherine gives my hand a firm tug and leans against a wall, gaze searching mine.
She drops the blanket and reaches for me, fingers clinging to my shirt. Desire coils heavy inside, ready to strike, to unleash, to throw her over my shoulder and race back to the hotel.
“Why are we stopping, Beauty?”
Not that I care about getting wet.
“So I can kiss you.”
I duck my head. The rest of the world falls away, and nothing and no one matters except for her. Us. This moment. Rain falls from overhead, drenching us in a late spring storm. “I thought so.”
Her lashes flutter closed as she stretches up, so eager for my kiss. The picnic basket plops against the pavement, and I crowd closer to her, caging her against the wall.
She gives a happy little moan.
The first touch of our lips is soft perfection. A brush of a butterfly’s wings. But I can’t stop there. Not with the way her body strains against mine. It’s like she sucks me in with her whole body, speaking without words. No. Shouting without words.
No sounds are needed. It’s all there in her hands moving over my shoulders, down my sides, and hooking through my back belt loops. It’s in the way the urgency of her kisses tick up. More and more energy ignites between us until her lips part and she teases me with that talented tongue.
Groaning, I open my lips, parrying back, losing myself in her and our kiss. Only when we’re both breathing heavily and reaching a fever pitch do I lift my head.
“What are you doing to me, Beauty?”
“Just marking items off the bucket list, Mr. Hunt.”
Damn, her sassy comebacks stoke the flames. I want to hear more about this bucket list, but first, it’s time to get off the street.