When he finally moved between her legs and entered her, she slipped over that edge.
After what they'd shared the previous night, Tina wouldn't have thought it possible that this joining could be more. But somehow it was. This time she felt as if he took more than her body, more than her heart, but her very soul. In every way she was absolutely and completely vulnerable. She held back nothing, willingly gave all she was.
He thrust deeply inside the tight, hot glove of her body. Again and again. Long, slow strokes that gradually quickened. Like a drum beating faster, then faster still, pounding fiercely. They moved as one, the urgency now gripping them both.
She cried out when the first shudder rolled through her, dug her fingernails into the rippling muscles of his damp back. He took her hips in his hands, held her still as the second shudder shattered inside her.
She felt his climax stiffen his body. On a deep, harsh groan, he crushed her to him and shuddered.
Too spent to move, to speak, to even think, they sank into the mattress together. After minutes or hours, it was hard to say which, he rolled to his side and pulled her into his arms.
Laying her head and hand on his chest, she listened to, and felt, the heavy beat of his heart.
And she smiled.
* * *
When Reid woke, he had no sense of time. He glanced at the bedside table, then realized they'd only been asleep a few minutes. Tina stirred at the movement, then murmured a complaint when he slid out from under her.
"You're cold." He pulled down the bedclothes, then tucked her under the warmth of the covers.
Her eyes fluttered open as she rolled to her side and tucked her hands under her face. "I wasn't until you moved."
Light from the moon washed the walls in shades of gray, sent shadows sliding across the floor. An overwhelming sense of peace and … wholeness? settled over the room.
Climbing under the covers beside Tina, he stretched out and leaned on an elbow, gazed down at her and grinned. "You look good in my bed, darling."
Her eyes met his as she slid a fingertip from his shoulder to his hand. "You have such a big one."
His grin widened. "Thanks."
Rolling her eyes, she slid her fingertip to his chest and pushed. "Bed."
"Oh." He feigned a hurt look.
"Very masculine."
His heart lurched when her fingertip slid down his chest to his rib cage. "I'm glad you like it."
It wasn't so much what she was doing to him as it was what she wasn't doing. With her finger tracing the outline of his bottom rib, she seemed quite content to touch him, but stay within the parameters of "safe" territory.
Not that her touching him anywhere was exactly what he'd call safe, Reid thought.
When she ever so slightly inched her way downward, he sucked in a breath and covered her hand with his. "Tina, look at me."
She lifted her gaze to his, and he realized she didn't have to touch him at all to turn him on. All she had to do was look at him with those languid bedroom eyes.
"I'm not going to pretend I'm interested in Rachel anymore."
Her hand stilled, then she rolled to her back. "I know," she said, closing her eyes. "I don't want you to."
Leaning over her, he brushed his mouth against hers. "We can talk to your parents tomorrow and—"
"No!" Her eyes snapped open. "I'll need to talk to Rachel first, to prepare her. Then I'll talk to my parents."
"I understand that family dynamics can be complicated. Lord knows mine gives new meaning to the word. But you're twenty-four years old."
She shook her head. "You don't understand my father. When it comes to Sophia and Rachel and me, he's more than unreasonable—he's irrational and inflexible."
"What could he object to?" Reid asked, then cocked his head and grimaced. "Well, other than the fact I've seduced his youngest daughter and taken her virginity. So how big are the knives in his kitchen, anyway?"
"Just be glad he's a baker, not a butcher." Smiling, she pressed a kiss to his jaw, then dropped her gaze. "Reid, I want you to know that just because you … because we, ah, slept together, I'm not expecting, I mean, I'm not asking for any kind of—" She blew out a breath. "You know."
"Commitment?" The word felt odd on his tongue. He had, to roll it around in his mouth, found the taste wasn't as bitter as he'd thought it would be.
If anything, he suddenly realized with startling clarity, the taste was just right.
Yet here Tina was, Reid thought irritably, intently trying to explain to him that she wasn't expecting, or asking, for a relationship. He frowned at her. "Are you dumping me, Tina?"
"No, of course not." Her gaze snapped back up. "I just think you, we, should be open and honest with each other."
"Haven't we been?"
"I just don't want any misunderstanding between us."
"Looks to me like there already is, sweetheart." She gasped when he took her by the shoulders and rolled to his back, bringing her on top of him. "Look, I don't know exactly what's going on here between us, but I do know I want to be with you, openly and publicly."
"I'd like to be with you, too," she said softly, then pressed her smile to his mouth. "But your family, your father's campaign—"
"My father's campaign has nothing to do with you and me, Tina. Who I see personally and what I do in my private life is my business."
"And every newspaper and magazine reporter's in Savannah," she added.
"That's always a possibility," he said with a nod. "I'm a Danforth. I can't stop being who I am."
Her eyes softened as she touched his cheek. "I wouldn't want you to, Reid."
Her hand on his cheek, such a simple, gentle gesture, made his chest hitch. He couldn't remember any woman who'd ever made him feel this way. No woman who had ever mattered so much.
He took her lovely, delicate face in his hands and brought her mouth to his, wondered if he would ever get enough of the sweet taste of her.
He certainly intended to try.
Tracing the seam of her lips with his tongue, he slid inside the honeyed softness. Her tongue met his, mating, stroking, slowly growing more urgent. He felt more than heard the moan from deep in her throat, and the slight forward thrust of her hips heated his blood.
Wanting, needing more, he deepened the kiss, slanted his mouth against hers over and over. He ran his hands down her back, cupped the round softness of her firm bottom, arched his hips up to press intimately into the V of her legs.
They were both breathing heavily when she rose upward, then slowly came back down onto the hard length of him, inch by torturous inch. He pressed himself deeply inside her, his hands tightly gripping her hips.
And then she began to move. Slowly at first, drawing out the intense pleasure until it became unbearable. With every thrust of her hips, the rhythm built, spiraled. The fever swept through them like a storm, wild and fierce. Powerful.
Eyes closed, hair tumbling around her shoulders, she tossed her head back on a sharp cry as her climax shuddered through her. He crushed his hips to hers, driving himself into her again and again, until his body convulsed with the same release.
She collapsed on him, gasping for breath, murmuring something incoherent. Struggling to breathe, himself, he wrapped his arms around her, brushed his mouth over her temple and kissed her cheek.
While their hearts and breathing slowed and their minds cleared, he held her close, smiled when she sighed and snuggled against his chest. "No more sneaking around," he reminded her.
"Tomorrow," she murmured on a nod. "I'll talk to my parents tomorrow."
* * *
Nine
« ^ »
Tina came into the bakery through the back entrance, winced at the bright tinkling of the bell that signaled the opening of the door. On a daily basis, she never even noticed the sound. But today, considering the fact she was an hour late, that little brass bell seemed to blare with the fervor of a bastille trumpeter.
Once, Tina remembered, w
hen Sophia was sixteen, she'd managed to wrench the clangor out of the bell so she could meet a boyfriend in the back garden. But their father had caught on quickly enough. The boyfriend had been banished, Sophia grounded, and the bell replaced with a stronger, louder, daughter-proof model. While Mariska held charge at the front door, from the kitchen, Ivan kept track of the comings and goings through the back door. No one sneaked in, no one sneaked out. As teenagers, it had driven the Alexander girls crazy, but as adults, Tina had never given it much thought.
Until today.
Today, she thought with a smile, she'd overslept in the arms of the man she loved.
A shiver ran through her that had nothing to do with the cool air coming in through the still-open back door. When she'd wakened this morning in Reid's penthouse, with his broad chest pressed against her back and his muscled arm draped possessively around her waist, she'd had to pinch herself. Enjoy the moment, she'd told herself. Don't think about the future. Don't let yourself hope, or wish, for too much. Be happy with what you have now.
But what if, she thought. What if maybe, just maybe…
A breeze whispered over her neck, and an unreasonable dread shivered through her. She closed the door, wincing again at the bell's clanging, then glanced at her watch. Rachel would be in her office already, and even though Tina knew they needed to talk, she didn't dare take the time now.
Hurrying down the hallway, she stuck her head around the corner and cringed at the sight of the long customer line. Her mother was working the register while her aunt helped fill orders. Billy, the counter clerk Tina had just hired, was working the coffee counter.
She wondered briefly where Jason was, then realized he was probably already preparing to go to Los Angeles with his band.
Terrific. One more straw on the camel's back.
At least Yana had come in to help this morning, Tina thought. That would save the day from being a complete calamity. Tina caught her aunt's attention and gave her an is-it-safe-to-enter look. Yana nodded, then pressed a finger to her lips.
Sucking in a breath to calm her nerves, Tina walked behind the counter and grabbed an apron.
"Katina." Her mother frowned at her. "Where have you been?"
"I'm sorry, I—" She glanced at her aunt, who shook her head.
"Never mind." Mariska cut Tina off with a swipe of her hand. "We will talk about this later. Take the register while I package Mrs. Green's brioche."
A crash from the kitchen, then mumbled cursing, had Mariska shaking her head. "There will be no living with that man today."
"I'll go talk to him," Yana said, then winked at Tina. "He'll be fine."
Tina swallowed the lump of tension in her throat, grateful for the temporary reprieve. Even though this was not looking like the best of days to have a father/daughter talk, she'd made a promise to Reid, and for both their sakes, she was determined to keep that promise.
It was another fifteen minutes before the morning rush finally thinned out, and with only two customers in the bakery, both of them sitting at tables, and her mother and Yana in the kitchen, Tina knew she had to "seize the moment," as the saying went. It was time for her, and for Rachel, to tell their parents the truth. It was time for them to realize that their daughters were not children anymore, but adults.
"Billy, watch the counter," she said to the new clerk. "I'll be back in a minute."
She was already heading for Rachel's office when the bakery door opened and Reid walked in.
No! she wanted to say. You can't be here yet. She was torn between throwing her arms around him or throwing him out.
When he walked straight toward her, her heart stopped.
For a moment she almost thought he was going to kiss her, but he didn't, just looked at her and smiled.
Her insides turned soft and warm.
Quickly she looked at the customers to see if they'd noticed who had walked in. When it appeared they hadn't, she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the hallway out of sight.
"Reid—"
His mouth caught hers, and for a moment she leaned against him, her pulse quickening as she returned the kiss. Oh, he smelled so good, a woodsy aftershave, and he tasted like mint. She wanted to kiss him all over.
Somehow she managed to come to her senses and stepped back.
"You shouldn't be here now," she said, still breathless from his kiss.
"I know." Sighing, he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I couldn't help myself."
In spite of her nerves, she smiled, then folded her arms and took another step back before she did something she'd regret, like wrap herself around him and kiss him again.
"This isn't a good time." Keeping her voice low, she glanced over her shoulder toward the kitchen. "I'm not sure what's going on, but my father's on the warpath this morning."
"Have you told him about us?"
She shook her head. "I got to work so late I didn't have a chance, and he's been in such a mood, I think it's better to wait."
"Why don't you and I go now?" he said quietly. "Together."
"It's not that simple." She closed her eyes and hugged her arms tightly around her. "You don't know what it's like when—"
"Katina."
At the sound of her father's voice in the hallway behind her, Tina's heart dropped. Slowly, very slowly, she turned and faced him. The look of fury on his face turned her blood to ice.
Ivan's gaze snapped to Reid. "You. In my kitchen."
"Yes, sir."
Tina touched his arm as he moved past her. "Reid," she whispered. "You don't have—"
"It's all right," he said with a nod. "It's time." Heart racing, she followed Reid and her father into the kitchen, where her mother and Yana were dusting powdered sugar on cooled nut cookies. "Dad—"
"Quiet." Her father pointed a finger at her. "This is not your concern, Katina."
Not my concern? Too stunned to even respond, she simply stared at her father.
"Were you with my daughter last night?" Ivan demanded.
"Yes, sir."
"Ivan, keep hold of your temper." Wiping her hands, Mariska stepped closer to her husband. "We should discuss this calmly."
"Calmly!" He broke into a string of Hungarian phrases that Tina had never heard before and couldn't make out. "You think I should be calm when our daughter spends the night out with this man?"
"With all respect, sir," Reid said without raising his voice or batting an eye. "I'd like to say—"
"Please." Tina looked at Reid. "Let me explain."
"How can you explain for your sister?" Ivan narrowed his eyes as he looked at Tina. "When she gets here, she will speak for herself."
When she gets here? It took a beat to sink in. They were talking about Rachel, Tina realized. And what did they mean "when she gets here?"
"Rachel's not here yet?" Tina asked carefully.
Mariska's bottom lip quivered. "She did not come home last night, or to work this morning. She did not even call."
Tina looked from her father, who had his beefy arms folded over his wide chest, then to her aunt, who shook her head.
"This is unbelievable." Tina looked up at the ceiling and sighed, then squared her shoulders. "Mom … Dad, Rachel's fine, but she didn't spend the night with Reid."
"The man just admitted it," Ivan shouted, then glared at Reid. "I demand to know where my daughter is."
"She's right here. With me."
All heads turned at the sound of Jason's voice. He stood at the back kitchen entrance, his arm locked securely around Rachel's waist.
"She was with me last night," Jason said, meeting Ivan's eye.
Uh-oh. Tina heard her mother gasp, then watched her father's face turn deep red and his eyes bulge. Here it comes.
"We got married." Beaming with happiness, Rachel held up her left hand to display the gold band on her third finger. "I'm Mrs. Jason Burns."
Rachel's announcement seemed to suck the air out of the room. No one spoke, no one moved.
"I love y
our daughter." Jason looked at Rachel and smiled. "And she loves me. I want to spend my life with her."
"Please be happy for us," Rachel said, her eyes filling with tears. "Please. I love him so much."
Breath held, Tina waited for her parents to say something, anything, but the shock hadn't worn off yet. They were still frozen in place, their eyes wide.
Maybe this wasn't going to be such a good time to tell her parents about Reid, after all, Tina thought.
It was Yana who moved first. Wiping her hands on a towel, she moved across the kitchen and wrapped her arms around both Rachel and Jason. "May you be blessed with happiness, health and many children."
"Well, that's the rest of the good news." Rachel hugged her aunt back, then looked at her parents timidly. "We're going to have a baby."
Gasping once again, Mariska clutched a fist to her chest. Ivan went from red to purple.
A baby? Rachel was having a baby?
Her parents forgotten for the moment, Tina rushed to her sister and new brother-in-law and threw her arms around them. "When … how…"
"I wasn't sure until yesterday." Rachel wiped at her tears. "That's why I didn't get a chance to tell you, and then last night, when you went with Reid and I—" Rachel bit her lip when she realized what she'd said.
"Stop!" Ivan's bellow rattled the pans. "Everyone stop right now."
They all froze.
His fists on his hips, Ivan stomped across the kitchen and narrowed his eyes at Rachel. "You got married to Jason and are having a baby."
Rachel nodded hesitantly.
Ivan swung a look at Tina. "And you were with this man—" he glared at Reid "—last night."
Tina swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. A muscle twitched in Ivan's jaw. He turned slowly and looked at his wife. "How could this happen?"
"What's happened?"
It was Sophia who spoke. She stood in the kitchen doorway, took in the look on everyone's faces, plus the way Rachel and Jason were wrapped around each other, then arched a brow and said, "Oh."
The Cinderella Scandal Page 11
