A Bridge to Dreams

by Sherryl Woods

  Aching with a need more profound than any she had ever known, she turned sideways until her body was aligned with his, her hand resting against his chest where she could feel the heat of his skin and the quickening beat of his heart.

  “I want to make love to you,” he said quietly, searching her expression for a response. She tried desperately to cling to reason in the face of his entreaty, but the heartfelt plea in his eyes matched the yearning that was growing inside her.

  “It would be a mistake,” she said, trying one last time to make him see what was so very clear to her.

  “Why?”

  “Because after tomorrow you’ll be gone. I don’t want that much of my heart to go with you.”

  “I will only be gone if that’s the way you want it.”

  She shook her head. “It’s not what I want. It’s just the way it has to be.”

  “How can I convince you that’s not true?”

  “You can’t,” she said sadly, wishing she were wrong.

  He levered himself away from her with a sigh, but his touch lingered at her breast. He squeezed gently, watching the darkening of her eyes, witnessing the power he had over her. Karyn could almost hate him for that, hate him for proving to himself and to her that he could overcome her resistance easily, if that’s what he chose to do.

  She brushed his hand away angrily and straightened her shirt. “You can make me want you,” she admitted. “So what?”

  “I think that says quite a bit about where we stand.”

  “Passion’s easy. Even animals experience lust.”

  “And you think that’s what it is between us? Nothing more than lust?”

  “Of course. You come charging into my life like a white knight and sweep me off my feet. It’s no surprise that I respond to you physically.”

  “So you see this as just part of the vacation package. Join Brad Willis on his tour of the San Francisco area, complete with a quick tumble in the hay. Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.”

  Karyn was startled by the bitterness in his voice. Before she could respond he said angrily, “Let me make one thing perfectly clear. If that’s all that was going on, we would have been in bed together that very first night. I’ve held back because I knew you felt some uncertainties. I wanted you to have time to get used to the idea of the two of us together, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let you go on thinking that we’re just a couple of animals in heat. You may not know it, but I do. What we have is special. I will not let you throw it away because of some misguided notion that we’re from such different worlds that we couldn’t make a go of it.”

  “Make a go of what? An affair? We could probably manage that, but how long would it last? A few weeks, maybe a couple of months, until you got bored.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not sure which makes me angrier, your lack of faith in me or your own insecurities.”

  Tears filled her eyes as he lashed out furiously. This wasn’t the way she wanted it to end between them. “Brad, I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry for what?”

  “Because…” She realized then that she wasn’t at all sure what she was apologizing for. She’d only been trying to be honest with him. “Maybe I’m not sorry,” she said quietly. “I only wanted you to know how I felt. I think your response just proves my point. We are worlds apart on the things that count.”

  His body taut with anger, Brad got to his feet and began gathering their things. “Let’s go.”

  Suddenly cold inside, Karyn shivered, but she stood and followed him to the car. The long ride back to San Francisco was made in tense, angry silence. It seemed somehow fitting that as they reached the outskirts of the city, a cold, damp fog began to roll in, turning the beautiful day to a gloomy gray. It reminded her all too closely of the very first day her Hawaiian vacation plans had been dashed.

  Feeling alone and miserable, Karyn paid little attention to the road, looking out only when the car had stopped. Brad was parked on a hill in front of his small hotel in Pacific Heights. Staring straight ahead, his white-knuckled grip still tight on the steering wheel, he said, “I’m sure you can find your way home from here.”

  She nodded. Then she looked again at the angled line of his tense jaw, at the stubborn set of his shoulders. The thought of never being held in his arms again stirred an aching emptiness so overwhelming that she nearly gasped aloud in dismay.

  “Brad…” she began hesitantly.

  Only a slight tic in his jaw indicated that he’d heard her whisper his name.

  “Don’t you think we could talk about this?”

  He sighed heavily. “We’re past talking.”

  “I don’t think so. I’d like to try.”

  After the longest sixty seconds of her life—she heard them ticking away on the car clock—he said simply, “Where?”

  She took a deep breath, recognizing the risk she was taking, not only with the suggestion, but with her future emotional well-being. “Here. Now.”

  Brad turned a startled gaze on her. “In my room?”

  “I trust you,” she said simply. There was no need to say that she didn’t trust herself nearly as much.

  “You shouldn’t,” he retorted bluntly. “My body is aching for you right now. I can’t make any promises about what will happen once we get inside.”

  “You would never hurt me.”

  “Not intentionally.”

  “Then there’s no reason to be concerned. We need to talk. We’re here. It seems like the logical place.”

  “And you’re very big on logic,” he said with a touch of wry humor. “I hate to tell you, sweetheart, but this time I think you may have outsmarted yourself.”

  Nerves alive with anticipation, Karyn nodded. “Maybe so,” she admitted. It didn’t keep her from being the first to open the door and head up the walk into Brad’s hotel.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Karyn was charmed by the small hotel, which had once been an old Victorian house. The staff was welcoming, greeting Brad by name when they went inside. He and Karyn climbed the steep, curving staircase to his room, her heart pounding harder with each step. She knew exertion wasn’t responsible for her breathlessness. The fluttery feeling in the pit of her stomach warned her that she was entering dangerous territory. Her resolution was wavering. Like shifting sand, the arguments pro and con slid in and out of her mind. Desire and sensation were easily winning over caution.

  Brad opened the door to his room. She stepped inside, holding her breath as the door shut quietly behind her. The click of the lock jangled her nerves and she shot an anxious look at Brad before looking hurriedly away and studying the intimate, unique surroundings.

  Old-fashioned lamps cast a romantic glow in the dusky light. Soft music played from an old radio. The setting was perfect for seduction. A window was open to the damp breeze and the air practically throbbed with their mutual hunger. She realized at once that there was no question of talking first, of resolving differences. There was only this white-hot flame that melted the very core of her. She began one last, halfhearted protest and then she was in his arms.

  The minute he held her, Karyn knew this was the right choice. No matter what happened between them after this week, she wanted the magic of the vacation to be completed. Brad’s touches had been so tender up until now, his kisses as alluring as springtime. She wanted to know the power of his caresses in passion, the wild intoxication of his deep, hot kisses at the height of loving. She would never forgive herself if he left and she never knew.

  Brad backed a step away, stood facing her and waited.

  “There’s still time to change your mind,” he said, his voice gentle, though his eyes blazed with desire.

  Karyn shook her head. The decision had been made before the door to the room had closed behind them. “Not a chance.”

  The defiant lift of her chin seemed to amuse him. “Are you absolutely sure you’re here because you want to be?” he said. “Only a little while ago, you were so sure this wasn’t
what you wanted, that this was the last place you wanted to come with me.”

  She met his gaze evenly. “I have to know,” she said helplessly.

  “Know what?”

  “What it’s like to make love with you. I realized driving here that I didn’t want to go through life not knowing.”

  “How will your family feel about this?”

  The question irritated her all the more because it was fair. She had put her family between them. “My family has nothing to do with it,” she snapped, then sighed. “I’m not trying to defy them, if that’s what you’re afraid of. This is just between you and me. I swear it, Brad.” She heard his breath catch, saw the tension begin to ease. Her voice dropped to a whisper as she moved into his embrace. “Just you and me.”

  “I hope so.” With a touch that trembled against her cheek, he brushed a strand of hair from her face. “I’ve discovered this week just how selfish I can be,” he said in a voice that was raw with emotion. “I don’t want to share you, Karyn, not even with your family.”

  The words seduced as effectively as his caress. No one had ever wanted her so much. No man had ever treasured her above all others. That this man did—even for this timeless moment only—staggered her. Karyn felt herself melting, the last lingering doubts swept away.

  “Kiss me,” she pleaded, gazing into his eyes. “Show me how much you want me.”

  The request seemed to shatter the last of his powerful restraint. His arms tightened around her waist as he captured her lips on a sigh of pure pleasure. The hot, moist invasion of his tongue was as sweet as honey, the heat of his body as warm as a January fire. When his strong hands slid beneath her sweater to span the bare flesh beneath, the sensation was as wicked as a million midnight dreams. Her body hummed with the unfamiliar music of his touch, quickly in tune, delightfully in sync.

  Karyn was so absorbed by the soaring sensations that captivated and teased, she was hardly aware of the precise moment when her clothes were stripped away. Only the sudden chill of the air against burning skin shocked her into awareness and then she was lost again, clinging to Brad as he led her into a sensory world she’d only dared to imagine.

  The sweet throb of tension low in her abdomen grew until it was her only reality. As glorious as it was, she knew there was more, knew that until Brad’s body was united with hers, she would remain incomplete. Burning with fire and too shy to say the words, she used her body with some shockingly instinctive expertise to tell him how badly she needed him, how desperately she wanted him.

  Brad heard her frantic, unspoken plea and with one powerful thrust he moved inside her, causing the tiniest instant of pain, then filling her, carrying her to the edge of wonder and then beyond. Their exultant cries came together, born someplace deep within each of them, unifying them for all time…no matter what the future held.

  Joy spread through her as she collapsed at last against the pillows, Brad heavy on top of her. When he started to shift his weight, she held him tight. She’d waited a lifetime for this sense of absolute harmony and completion, and she didn’t want it to end.

  “Don’t move,” she begged. “Not yet.”

  “I’m too heavy.”

  “No. You’re perfect. Holding you like this makes everything more real. I want this moment to last forever.”

  “Maybe that’s something we could arrange,” he said, his tone so serious that Karyn’s breath snagged in her throat.

  “Brad, don’t…”

  He interrupted the whispered plea. “Listen to me. I think it’s time I met the rest of your family, time we talked about the future.”

  “No!”

  At the single, harsh exclamation, he did roll away, leaving her feeling bereft. She dragged at the sheets to fight the sudden chill, but it was bone-deep.

  “Dammit, Karyn. Don’t tell me even after this that you think what we’ve shared isn’t lasting.”

  “It can’t be,” she insisted adamantly. “And I won’t have you dragging my family into it. It would only upset them, if they knew I was having a wild, impossible fling—”

  Brad’s harsh, muttered oath cut her short. “Impossible! It is not impossible.”

  “It is.” She met his furious gaze without flinching. “I will not…” She tried again to make him see reason, but the phone rang before she could complete the warning. She didn’t want promises. Despite what she’d said, she wasn’t expecting forever. She couldn’t involve her family in something as tenuous as what she and Brad had. She had hoped for a little more time—just this one tender, romantically sensual night—before reality intruded. The insistent phone already precluded that.

  Brad swore again as he reached across her to answer it. Scowling down at her, he was clearly every bit as angry with her as he was at the interruption. “Yes,” he barked at the hapless caller.

  As he listened to Tim Chambers’s urgent warning, Brad’s impatience gave way to wariness. He glanced at Karyn, who was still regarding him with indignation. “She’s here,” he admitted tersely. “Do you want to talk to her?”

  “No. Just get her out of there. You haven’t got much time. Frank and Jared are on their way over. I tried to stop them, but Frank wasn’t inclined to listen to reason. If he owned a shotgun, he’d have it with him.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.”

  “Look, Willis, I’m not too crazy about this situation myself, but I’m warning you. Get Karyn out of there. She doesn’t deserve to be embroiled in some messy scandal.”

  “What the hell makes you think I’d let that happen?”

  “Because some sleazy tabloid guy is hot on your trail. That’s how Frank found out in the first place. The guy called here looking for dirt. I don’t know exactly what he said, but it was enough to send Frank rampaging out of here. I’ve never seen him so furious.”

  “Thanks for the warning. I’ll take care of it on this end.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. I have a few questions about all of this, too. I’d just rather ask them when everyone’s calm and rational.”

  Another dragon to slay, Brad thought as he hung up the phone. The timing, however, was lousy.

  “Who was it?” Karyn asked.

  “It wasn’t anything for you to worry about.”

  “But you said something about my being here.”

  “It was just the concierge,” he improvised quickly. “He wanted to know about breakfast.”

  She regarded him skeptically. “If that’s all it was, why are you pulling on your clothes as if the demons of hell are snapping at the door?”

  Brad leaned down and kissed her. “Stop worrying. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “You have to go downstairs to discuss breakfast? It’s not even dinnertime.”

  He cursed himself for not being more inventive. He should have known she’d have a million questions about any excuse that flimsy. He tried another deep, drugging kiss. “Back in a minute,” he said when she was breathless. He was out the door before she could react.

  Puzzled, Karyn stared after him. Something very odd was going on, something Brad clearly didn’t want her to know about. It wasn’t until she heard the sound of raised voices that she figured out exactly what it was. Her brothers! Dear God, how had they found out? More important, why hadn’t Brad told her? She had every right to know that her family was on the warpath. The very last thing she needed or wanted was another man intent on taking care of her. She had just barely gained her independence.

  Not waiting for the battle to escalate into the crashing sound of flying furniture, she jumped out of the bed and began yanking on her clothes. She was still hopping on one foot, trying to get her other leg into her jeans, when Brad returned. He was wearing a very self-satisfied masculine smirk. If she’d had any strength left after their lovemaking, she’d have smacked it off his face. Instead, she gave one final tug on her jeans, slid the zipper up and faced him squarely. In her bare feet, she barely reached his chin. She had to look up to glare at him properly.

/>   “My, my,” Karyn began scathingly, “that was some argument. Couldn’t you agree on whether or not to poach the eggs?”

  She caught a first flicker of doubt on Brad’s face. “You heard?”

  “Not everything, but enough to guess that my brothers were here. I’m amazed you’re in one piece.”

  “They’re not unreasonable men, Karyn.”

  “Are you sure you’re talking about my brothers?” she said incredulously.

  “That’s who they said they were. Frank and Jared.”

  “Oh, God,” she moaned. Even though she’d known it, she’d been hoping against hope that she’d been wrong. “Then they were here?”

  “Oh, yes. They were definitely here. Actually, Jerry had held them at bay for five or ten minutes before I even came downstairs. The man’s so discreet, I doubt if he’d admit to a fire if he thought the arrival of the firemen would compromise a guest’s privacy.”

  “Then why on earth didn’t you just come back upstairs and let him handle them?”

  “Because they were not buying Jerry’s story for one second. Frank already had one foot on the first-floor landing and Jared was holding Jerry three inches off the floor. I figured there wasn’t a door in the place that was safe until they found their baby sister.”

  “So, what did you tell them?”

  “That I was in love with you.”

  Even as her pulse leaped, her common sense kicked in. “How dare you tell them something like that?” she shouted. “Don’t you get it? Now they’ll expect you to marry me.”

  “No problem. I told them we were working out the details.”

  Karyn buried her face in her hands. “I will never hear the end of this. They’ll track you, Brad. They’ll make you go through with it. They’ll camp outside your office door at the car dealership. You’ll never be able to show your face there again.”

  He grinned. There still wasn’t the slightest evidence of anxiety. “Then you’ll just have to make an honest man of me, won’t you? What would you think of an August wedding? For that matter, we could fly to Las Vegas tonight. How about it?”