Right from the Start

by Jeanie London

  And that told Kenzie everything she needed to know.

  Letting go of a longtime dream should have created a gaping wound in her heart, but somehow it felt peaceful, and empowering, and promising and...

  Right.

  * * *

  WILL SAW KENZIE’S CAR on her side of the lot when he pulled in. It was late, after nine, but he remembered she’d mentioned Lou would start delivering presentations to potential clients this week. On impulse he glanced in the bed of his truck, where he’d been driving around with her grid replacements since he’d picked them up from his warehouse yesterday.

  He had five thousand things to do at Angel House, and Kenzie had already given him a free pass to put off the remaining work at Positive Partings until he was ready. She understood he was out of time. And she cared enough to want to help.

  But in that moment Will needed to see her, so much that the need was an ache inside. The grid was the perfect excuse. Kenzie’s life would be so much simpler if she had another room available instead of coordinating with Lou to use the large session room. Replacing the rusted fastenings would take him twenty minutes tops. He’d feel better by making her smile. He’d feel better just seeing her.

  That was all the rationalization he needed.

  A mere twenty minutes then he’d head to the Angel House side, to shoulder the pressure of that ticking clock and everyone who depended on him to clear out his crew by the weekend.

  Will let himself in through the side door, but didn’t find Kenzie in her office. A quick tour of the place didn’t turn her up, which meant she was either in one of the bathrooms or only her car was here. So much for seeing her. Will headed up the attic stairs with the grid and dragged it into the crawl space.

  He’d just disconnected the first set of rusty bolts when he heard the music. And knew.

  Kenzie was here.

  He needed to turn around and slither right out of this crawl space, climb down the stairs and straight out the door. And he would have done just that but for the music. She was in the studio dancing, moving her beautiful body with an effortless grace that belied the exquisite discipline of her training.

  He could envision her fully without even closing his eyes.

  Now that he’d kissed her and felt her body close, Will had nothing to protect him from this crazy need that only the feverish pace of his life helped him keep under control.

  Barely.

  And the knowledge that as much he wanted her, he had nothing to offer. He wouldn’t change his life, but he wouldn’t invite Kenzie into it, couldn’t.

  That helped him keep his need under control, too.

  But tonight, when he was frazzled and fried and so unsure he could pull off his end of a miracle, Will had no resistance to the soft strains of music lingering in the dark crawl space, to the knowledge of the woman who would be moving her beautiful body in rhythm with the music.

  Just a glimpse.

  That’s all he’d wanted tonight, one glimpse of her so he would feel better.

  But even as his head warned him to get out of the crawl space, Will inched forward on a steady course.

  Just a glimpse.

  And there she was, showcased through the missing ceiling panels. The exquisite lines of her body softly illuminated in the overhead light, reflected in mirrors on the walls. Her body lithe and in motion, shifting from one perspective to another, fast, graceful, strong.

  He might be half-dead from exhaustion but his body reacted to the sight of her, the blood pooling in his crotch—that one part of him more alive than the rest of him together. Will stretched out on his stomach, so he had to shift to get comfortable, and...clang! He nailed the metal support with his boot. The ensuing groans of the stressed T-bars didn’t stop for a lifetime.

  Busted.

  Kenzie had to know he was there. No one could have missed that racket. Especially Kenzie who already knew he had a penchant for lurking in the rafters.

  But she continued dancing, never glancing up at those empty ceiling panels. She didn’t call him out. She raised her arms in a series of graceful moves and freed her hair from whatever contraption held it in a ponytail.

  Suddenly red-gold waves tumbled around her face, shifting and swaying in time with her movements, curls catching the light as they created their own dance around her face.

  Will watched her, unsure what to make of the situation, riveted to the sight of her. The only thing he knew was that he could never resist this assault on his senses.

  And it was an assault in every way.

  Before his eyes her movements lost their precision, her athleticism, yielding to a much sultrier performance. Her every motion lengthened as she swayed, a new kind of dance, one that emphasized the lean lines of her body. Bare arms rose and fell above her, around her, drawing his gaze to the way her hips rolled to the tempo of the music, the way her breasts lifted upward as she surged forward only to fall back again in a sinuous display.

  He remembered the stage in the big hall that had graciously supplied the square footage for classrooms and remembered that Kenzie was more than a dancer. She was a performer.

  She knew he was up here, and she danced for him.

  He knew it with a gut-wrenching certainty. Every sense ground to a stunning stop until he could no longer hear the creak of the catwalk or the steady strains of the music.

  There was only Kenzie.

  And the way she moved. Her body so pliant, her motion earthy as if her dance was a seductive ritual. Her tempo quickened. He couldn’t say if the music did because he only followed the rhythm of her body, the music of arousal.

  Red-gold waves whipped over her face as she swept forward to touch the floor with outstretched fingers in an impossibly fluid move, then soared back again to reveal the swell of her breasts, rising and falling with the unrestrained intensity of her dance. Again then again.

  Then she leaped forward in a graceful jump before compacting her body tightly on the floor to begin a different sort of dance. She rolled over sinuously and stretched her legs, never losing her rhythm but presenting her body from new angles as she arched upward, braced on an arm, breasts lifting skyward, hair flowing behind her to graze the floor.

  She presented such a sensual display, from the way her mouth parted around her breaths to the flexing muscles along her legs. He was so caught up in the sight of her that he wasn’t prepared when she spun around and lifted off the floor, stretched her arms upward.

  Toward him.

  Their gazes collided across the distance.

  Her gold-flecked eyes half-hooded with invitation. His surely dazed by the effects of her dance.

  Desire was all over her face, and he had never wanted more in his life, would never want more. Ever.

  There was no thought of resisting. He had no thought left in him. No reason. No fight.

  He’d been fighting for so long already.

  Rolling off the catwalk, Will hung suspended for a moment before dropping down through the empty grid.

  He landed in a crouch that vibrated through his joints, and for one breathless moment they faced each other, assessing. Her arms still outstretched. She didn’t shy from her desire though it left her vulnerable. His pulse faltered as he realized with one flash of blinding clarity the course he committed to.

  Once he touched her, he wouldn’t have the strength to deny her, or himself.

  And he wanted so much more than a glimpse.

  So mu
ch more.

  Then he was on his knees, gathering her into his arms, kissing the breathless sighs from her mouth as she melted against him with a need as great as his own.

  They began their own dance of exploration. Their mouths came together, and he drank in the taste of her, the warmth of her mouth, the intensity of their shared breaths.

  They’d fought their need for so long.

  Skimming his hands along the curve of her neck, he touched her with complete freedom, trailing his palms along her shoulders, and down her bare arms. Twining his fingers into her hair, he coaxed her head back until all the smooth skin of her throat lay exposed to his touch, and he kissed her there, too. He dragged his mouth over her smooth skin, tasted her the way he’d fantasized about for far too long.

  Resting light hands on his shoulders, she swayed backward to grant him greater privilege. His name broke from her lips as he nibbled at the hollow between her neck and shoulder then trailed his mouth down the smooth expanse of her chest.

  She shivered.

  Her hands fluttered around his shoulders, his neck, finally cradling his head and guiding his descent with an encouraging pressure that proved her need. He tasted her quickening pulse, the desire that made her tremble as he inched his tongue beneath her collar, hinting where he’d like to explore.

  But Will couldn’t resist the lure of her kiss for too long and lifted his face to hers again, caught her mouth.

  Oh, could this woman kiss.

  Her soft mouth slanted across his, so warm and eager. She teased him with inviting strokes of her tongue, brushed their mouths enticingly, and shared her breaths. She met every hungry stroke of his tongue with a demand of her own.

  And Kenzie wanted.

  Her need revealed itself in the way she sighed his name, in the way her kisses grew hungrier and her hands began to roam, in the way she arched against him, a full-bodied motion that brought his body to aching response.

  Molding his hands over her bare shoulders, he explored with her, the feel of her skin, much more tantalizing than in memory.

  The straps of that clingy dance thing she wore got in his way. So he slid them over her shoulders. She lifted her arms through and brought them around his neck, arching backward until her breasts crushed his chest, and he could feel her heartbeat join his, beating in tandem.

  There was no reasoning between them, no rational arguments or good intentions. There was only this moment and the feel of her against him, those bare arms draped around his neck, the swaying motion of their bodies together. Their own dance.

  Then he explored the length of her, learned the bow of her spine, the indent of her waist, the smooth curve of her bottom. And he couldn’t help but anchor her closer, cradle his arousal against her warm body. She responded by rocking back and forth, taking advantage of their closeness.

  He groaned out her name, a broken sound.

  Kenzie.

  Then he started peeling away layers of the clingy thing she wore, revealing her body inch by luscious inch, her skin pale in the soft light, so sleek and enticing.

  His hands felt clumsy in the awe of the moment. This was insane. There was no place to make love.

  There was only the two of them.

  And a moment that could be theirs.

  He wanted to see her reflected in all these mirrors. He wanted her underneath him. Or against him. Or on top of him.

  He wanted to wipe away the last vestiges of her calm until she came unglued in his arms.

  He only wanted Kenzie.

  And when they were finally both naked, finally, Will pulled her on top of him.

  Finally.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  KENZIE COLLAPSED OVER WILL, too weak to open her eyes. All she could do was cling to him, boneless, because if she let go, she’d roll right off his lap and tumble into an undignified heap on the floor.

  What had she been thinking trying to seduce the man...seducing the man inside her studio? She hadn’t been thinking. She’d been acting. With gumption. Besides, there weren’t many other places to make love. The sofas in the reception area or her office, maybe?

  But either of those would have meant relocating, and there had been no stopping once Will had dropped through the ceiling, put his hands on her...

  They were still locked together, her sitting on top of him, the quiet only punctuated by the ragged sounds of their breathing. His chest rose and fell sharply, and her heart throbbed almost painfully. Resting her cheek against his shoulder, she drank in the feel of him, all male, overwhelmed with the proof of how incredible they were together.

  Right.

  Kenzie finally opened her eyes and had to blink several times to make sense of the decadent sight they made in reflection. His glossy hair against her pale skin. Her bare arms draped around his broad, broad shoulders. Her knees tucked around his hips, holding him close.

  The sight made her tremble again.

  He noticed because he braced himself on one arm, and slipped the other around her waist, supporting her. He was such a caring man. Such a beautiful man, outside and in. From all these angles. She pressed a kiss to his silky hair, couldn’t resist.

  Kenzie had always liked kissing. But she especially liked kissing Will. She liked the way his kiss reached all the way down into the deep inside of her and awakened places she normally didn’t notice, made her hum with anticipation.

  She liked kissing him.

  And she liked making love with him even more.

  A sigh slid from her lips, the sound of contentment.

  Tipping his head, he met her gaze, those clear eyes half-hooded and searching. He looked raw around the edges, exhausted and spent with his mouth unsmiling.

  So utterly handsome, though his expression was not one of a man who had just made her body tingle, a man who had come unglued in her arms the way he’d made her come unglued in his.

  His expression was all pensive concern.

  “Now we’ve really complicated things between us.” His throaty whisper broke the quiet.

  Ah, he didn’t stop caring for even an instant. Not even sitting here naked with their intimate places pressed close. Kenzie wondered if he knew how to stop caring.

  She hadn’t realized how hard he’d been struggling to resist this, resist her.

  Through the filter of their lovemaking, she recognized so much of his struggle in his gentlemanly concern for her, in the careful way he’d been shielding her from the unique pressures of his life, the challenges that had molded and shaped him into such a caring, committed man.

  She pressed her mouth to his softly, unable to resist.

  “Only if you don’t trust me to make my own choices. I know what’s best for me, and I know what I want.”

  To be with Will.

  * * *

  WILL LEANED AGAINST the wall and inclined his head toward Kenzie’s side door. He hadn’t been here since last night when they’d made love in her studio, when they’d done the only thing they could do—give in to need and table the consequences until they could make time to figure things out.

  Until he could make time.

  “Knock, will you?” he told Bob’s nephew Jason, who had been coming every night to give Will a hand.

  Jason shifted a worried glance between Will and the door then knocked sharply. Kenzie’s car was the only one in the lot, which meant she didn’t have a class. The sun hadn’t gone down yet, so he stood a chance of getting her to answer the
door.

  He controlled his breathing while they waited. This was crazy and still wasn’t sure how he’d gotten himself in this situation.

  Jason knocked again, harder this time. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you.”

  Will shook his head, grateful for the distraction. “I need you to get those light fixtures up. Are you sure you’re good with that?”

  “Piece of cake, man. Don’t worry. They’ll be up by the time you get back.”

  That confidence alone was enough to make Will nervous. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any choice but to leave Jason to finish the job he should have been finishing.

  The door cracked open and Kenzie appeared, looking somehow angelic silhouetted in the light from the hallway behind her. “Hello, may I help—”

  “Kenzie, I need a ride,” Will said abruptly.

  Her expression transformed at the sound of his voice, and she pulled open the door. The instant she saw him, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

  Judging by her expression, he must look like hell. He was sweating a lot. That much he knew. “Would you mind giving me a lift to the emergency room?”

  Her gaze riveted to the hand he cradled against him. “Ohmigosh! What happened? Are you okay?”

  “Hurt my wrist.”

  “He slipped off the ladder and broke his fall with his hand. It looks broken.” Jason filled in all the details that made Will sound like the total idiot he was.

  “My right wrist,” Will said lamely. The wrist he needed to do absolutely everything from install the fixtures in the classrooms to brushing his damned teeth. “Can’t drive.”

  “He won’t let me take him.” Jason shrugged. “Sorry to bother you.”

  Kenzie shook her head at the kid, clearly flustered. “No problem at all. Let me grab my purse. Do you want an ice pack? I have a first aid kit.”

  “No,” Will said at the same time Jason said, “Tried that.”