“Out of everybody, Thena…you’re the last person I would have expected this from.”
“Is there a problem here?” Reese entered her office.
“No,” Kyle said. “No problem at all.” He looked at her with such disdain that she felt her heart breaking. They say curiosity killed the cat; in this case, it killed their friendship. She wasn’t sure he could ever forgive her.
Kyle stormed out of her office, nearly knocking Reese over in the process. She stooped down to pick up the pencils that were now scattered all over the floor. Kyle had hit the canister so hard that some of the pencils had flown to the far end of the massive, open floor office. She could have fit at least fifteen cubicles in the space, should she had wanted to close up the view, but she didn’t, which is why she had decided to leave the floor plan open. There wouldn’t be much privacy if she hired on more staff, but at least the environment would be warm and inviting.
“Let me help you,” he stooped down and started picking up some of her pencils.
“You’re not on site today,” she noted. “Is something wrong?” If something was wrong she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. What else could go wrong today that hadn’t already gone wrong?
“I had a doctor’s appointment this morning. I stopped in to show you the note. I’m on my way over to the site now.”
She looked at the note in his hand and waved it away. “That’s not a necessity here. I trust my workers until they give me a reason not to.” Of course she had trusted Kyle too, and look where that landed her.
Once Reese left her office she locked the front door. The last thing she needed was yet another person just walking inside. Maybe she should do like the rest of the office staff and just take the rest of the week off…no, she couldn’t do that. She had work to do, whether she wanted to or not, she needed to.
By four o’clock Thomas was pounding on the office door, worried that the door was locked and most of the entry lights were off. She hadn’t seen a need to keep the reception area lit—she really didn’t want anybody to know she was in there. By seven o’clock they had already eaten dinner and showered and she had gone to bed early. She wasn’t sleepy, but she wasn’t in the mood to talk either. Thomas hadn’t had any information to share with her on her mother’s case. If he had it, he wasn’t sharing it. She was too tired to even think about it. In fact, she didn’t want anymore information about anything this week. She was tired of learning people’s secrets, tired of finding out the people she thought she knew she just didn’t know at all.
When Thomas came into the bedroom, wrapped in a towel she looked at him and smiled. “Are you in for the night?”
“No plans to go anywhere,” he removed the towel and climbed into bed with her before leaning on one elbow over her. “You barely touched your dinner.”
“I’m sorry,” she looked up into his eyes. “I guess I just have a lot on my mind. Kyle stopped by the office today. I asked him about his arrest—I shouldn’t have.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing pretty,” she said, leaving out details that she really didn’t want to tell him. “I think I lost another friend today.”
He dipped his head and kissed her lips. “If the two of you are meant to be friends then this will work itself out.”
“Maybe,” she blinked. Maybe they wouldn’t be okay, maybe they would, but tonight she didn’t want to think about it. She brushed her fingers up the side of his arm. “Will you make love to me, Thomas?” She wanted to be connected to something good, to someone good, to him.
He kissed her once more, barely breaking the kiss as he positioned his body over hers, and then he let his weight press into her. He felt wonderful, and she wanted more of him. She deepened the kiss, placing her hands on his shoulders and pulling him closer.
He broke the kiss just long enough to grab her wrists and secure them over her head—one big hand holding them in place as the other hand traveled down to the hem of her sleep shirt and pushed it up. She spread her legs wider for him, giving him more space for his body.
He kissed her, warm, tenderly, gently as he looped his fingers in the waistband of her panties and then, in one effortless tug, he ripped them from her body. She gasped in surprise, the sound muffled by the conquest his mouth was making on hers. She moaned as he slipped a finger through her already moistened folds, knowing, anticipating, that he would soon come inside of her.
He moaned as he stopped kissing her. “You’re already ready for me,” he growled with approval as he eased up just enough to reach the bedside table. He pulled a condom from the drawer, ripped open the package and quickly sheathed himself with the latex protection before positioning himself over her and entering her in one fluid motion.
“Thomas!” She arched her back, spreading her legs wider and taking him deeper. “Please, more, please?” She heard her breathy cries as he pushed deep inside her. She felt her body building to climax—the need, the desire, the passion, all of it consuming her as if she would simply die if she didn’t get release.
Each powerful thrust had her arching and screaming and crying out his name. He still held her hands above her head and she wanted so much to be free of the hold, to reach her arms around him and pull him close. He held her gaze as he rocked inside her. Her legs trembled with need. She wanted to hold him; needed to hold him. She wanted him to release her wrists so she could cling to him.
As if knowing her need he released her wrists. He leveled himself a little above her, eased out of her drawing her protest before he thrust back in hard and fast. His eyes shimmered with heat, with passion, with determination to make her come in his own time. She couldn’t look away. She couldn’t close her eyes because watching him, his primitive emotions shining so brightly in his eyes, the passion strained expression on his face, made her feel connected to him on every level.
She held onto his biceps, lifting her hips to meet each thrust with passionate movements of her own.
“Thena,” he groaned as he eased out and sunk into her once more—hard, fast, deep and she came, loudly, as she clung to him. Her eyes closed tight as the waves of pleasure coursed through her body. Sweat glistened on her body, her heart pounded so hard she thought it might pound its way out of her chest.
“More,” she panted as another orgasm racked her body, leaving her shivering in his arms as tears leached from her eyes. She felt herself crying, felt her self clinging to him, felt him slowly lick her tears from her cheeks. He felt so good, so real, so right, that she knew, no matter what happened with them, she would never feel that strong of a connection, that deep of a connection, with another man. She loved him—all of him. It didn’t matter how fast it happened, or how much she still didn’t know about him, Thomas McGregor was the only man she wanted in her life, for now, for always. Whether they married or not didn’t matter; she had already pledged her heart to him. She was already in love with him. She didn’t need a piece of paper to confirm that.
He left the bed only once, and that was to dispose of the condom. Then he came back and pulled her flush against the side of his body to hold her while they slept. She wasn’t sleepy now. Now she wanted to know more about him, about his life, about his family.
“Are all of your siblings as tall as you?”
“No,” he stroked a feather line up and down her arm. “Gavin’s tall, six feet, but Eve is…well, she’s about your height, she’s five-five and Alyssa is five feet even.”
“Wow, that’s a big difference.”
“Yes it is. I’m the tallest out of my entire family.” He laughed. “I hit my growth spurt early. At fifteen I was already at six feet. My mom took me to the doctor and asked him if he could give me something to make me stop growing.”
She laughed. “No she didn’t.”
“Yes she did. The doctor was busting a gut trying to hold in his laughter too. He assured her I would hit the ceiling eventually…almost literally. I hit six four before I finished my senior year, but then I stopped growing—thank
God for that.”
She stroked her fingers through his hair. “Maybe you should have modeled—you know, being as tall as you are.”
“I don’t see me as a model, Thena. Is that your type?”
“No. I’m used to slightly less height on a man. Kyle is only five eight. The other guys I dated were shorter than that. My dad was five seven. You’re the tallest guy I know.” She laughed. “You’re the tallest person I know.” She giggled.
“Does the height bother you?”
“No,” she said quickly. “I like that you’re tall. It’s really sexy, and alluring…and at the risk of sounding like a total girl, it makes me feel safe with you.”
He laughed. “Well that’s a good thing…I think.”
“It is.” She stroked her fingers across his chest. “Although I’m not sure how the dancing thing will work. I mean, you’re rather tall and I’m—well, not so much.”
“Somebody leads, somebody follows.”
“I know that part,” she rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying it’s not as if I’ll be able to burry my face against the crook of your neck and inhale your masculine scent.”
He started laughing—hard, and so did she. “I may have read one or two romance novels as a child.”
“One or two, huh?”
“Well, maybe three or four…”she laughed again. “Or six or eight…”
“I get the point. Well if you really want to be able to burry your face against the crook of my neck, Thena I can just carry you through the entire dance.”
“You cannot,” she shrieked.
“Thena, you’re lightweight. I wouldn’t even break a sweat.”
She shook her head. “It wouldn’t look right if we were on the dance floor and I had my legs wrapped around you instead of having my feet on the floor.”
He shrugged. “But it would feel right.”
She couldn’t argue with him there. She rather liked having her legs wrapped around him—she liked it a lot.
Chapter Fifteen
“Kyle walked into her office, carrying an orchid in a soft shade of yellow. “Peace offering,” he smiled. She smiled back at him and pulled the gift box from her desk. She had planned on going to him and offering one herself.
“Ditto,” she handed him the box as she took the orchid. “I really am sorry, Kyle. I had no right to ask.”
He held up his hand. “No, I shouldn’t have gotten so bent out of shape over it. It’s just I never thought you would believe it.”
“I didn’t. I swore it couldn’t be true. Then when I mentioned it to Thomas, and he looked into it and found out it was true…I didn’t know what to think.”
“I know. I should have told you before; it’s just not something I’m proud of. I don’t know why she lied on me. I never stalked her. I never did anything to hurt her. Once it was over, it was over. And the next thing I know I’m being arrested on one of my construction sites. I almost lost everything, Thena. So I hope you can understand why I don’t talk about it now.”
She shook her head yes. “I am sorry.” She pointed to the gift, “open it.”
He pulled the wrapping paper from the box. “Sweet!” His eyes widened. “Now this is a real man’s tool belt.” He opened the box completely and took the beige suede belt from inside.
“Now you can get rid of that raggedy one you’ve been wearing around your construction sites for the past six months.”
He laughed. “That’s my lucky tool belt.”
“Well let it be lucky in the closet.” He kept laughing and she shook her head. “Seriously, Kyle one of these days that thing is just going to rot through and fall off at one of your sites. I don’t know how it’s holding your tools now.”
“Okay, okay…I’ve got it. Time to throw it out…or at least put it in the closet.” He looked at her sheepishly. “So, do you forgive me?”
“Yeah. Do you forgive me?”
“Of course. Now, about this guy…”
“Oh no you don’t. We are not going on with this big brother, little sister thing anymore.”
“I don’t think of you as my little sister, Thena. Trust me on that. I just want to know if you really like this guy.”
She smiled and whispered softly, “I really like this guy.”
He wrapped one arm around her. “So there’s no chance of us getting back together then.”
She slapped his shoulder. “You’re not serious.”
He laughed hard. “It got a rise out of you didn’t it?”
He was always teasing and joking. How she ever even entertained the thought that she had been wrong about him was a mystery to her. He was too sweet to do any of the things he had been accused of doing. Thomas walked in the moment she was about to show Kyle out. He didn’t have his angry scowl at first, but it quickly appeared.
“Kyle came to bring a peace offering,” she pointed to the orchid on her desk.
“Yeah, we kissed and made up—not literally of course.”
Thena shook her head. “Ignore him. He doesn’t know how to use the brains God gave him.”
Kyle laughed. “Listen, I’m sorry about yesterday—”
“Yesterday? What happened yesterday?”
Thena lowered her head and shook it. Why couldn’t Kyle just go peacefully?
“You didn’t tell him?”
“Not in full detail, no.” She realized she was now not going to be able to just finesse the situation. “Kyle was angry and he knocked some pencils over.” That was true, he was angry and he did knock the pencils over, but Thomas didn’t need to know just how angry.
“I swear I just get so upset when this comes up. I don’t know what the hell was…sorry for my language, Thena…wrong with those cops.”
“You didn’t have an alibi, and the girl thought it was you.”
“I don’t know why she’d think that. Maybe it was one of her other boyfriends. She was sleeping with quite a few…from what I heard around the construction sites anyway. She never seemed like the type, but there my men were, snickering about the slut I was dating. So I broke it off with her.”
“You broke it off with her?” Thena and Thomas said at the same time.
“Yeah. I don’t date women who spread their legs for anything with two legs and a penis.”
She thought Sandy had broken it off with Kyle. He had never said differently when things ended for them. Of course, she hadn’t asked for details. She never pried because she knew if he wanted her to know he would tell her. The pain she could hear in his voice when he talked about Sandy she always thought it was because of the breakup, now she knew differently. He was still angry about what she had done to him.
“And I did have an alibi for one of those nights…I just couldn’t produce her.”
“Why don’t you have a seat over there and tell me about it. Maybe I can help you clear this up once and for all,” Thomas gestured to the round table in the corner.
“Yeah, sure. Why not? I mean I’ve been deep in crap since that day. What are a couple more hours,” he shrugged.
“I picked a lady up at a bar…or more like she picked me up.”
“Kyle, you don’t pick women up at bars.” Thena was flabbergasted. The Kyle she knew wasn’t even into the bar scene.
“I was so pissed at the problems I had been having because of Sandy. I lost a contract bid because of her, and I just needed to let off some steam. I had gotten to my car when the woman I saw inside approached me and asked me to take her back to my place. I wasn’t drunk, but I was angry and that’s just as lethal to a man’s sanity.” He told them how he had gone home with the woman. She said she was in town for a couple days. He had sex with her and two minutes after they were done her phone rung. She answered it, closed the call quickly and said she had to go. He never heard from her after that. “She was cute, but not my type. She had big breasts,” he gestured with his hands, “a small waist and she was a wildcat in bed. She kept telling me to call her name; she slapped me when I didn’t comply the fir
st time. I figured she was just into wild stuff you know…Phoebe, who thinks a chick with a name like that, and that mousy brown hair, would be so kinky?”
“Phoebe…no,” Thena shook her head, “can’t be the same one. She has blond hair and she’s clearly still in town.”
“She used to have brown hair,” Thomas said absently. “Did you get her last name?”
“Not because she gave it to me, but when she answered the phone she answered it with “McNamara,” so that’s how I knew it. It didn’t matter because she left town the next day—at least she said she was leaving—and I figured I didn’t have a chance of getting the cops to go look for her anyway.”
“I can’t believe it,” Thena stood and paced the room. “It’s the same woman. But why would she lie to him?”
“She didn’t,” Thomas assured her. “Phoebe left Boston for New York, but she wasn’t gone long. She transferred back out here. Her transfer got pushed to the top of the pile. Even though they had a more qualified detective in mind for the transfer they picked her. She’s gone blond since her rendezvous with Kyle, but it’s definitely the same Phoebe.”
“Who is she?”
“She’s a cop, Kyle. To be more accurate, she’s the cop working—or not working, my mother’s case.”
“I should have known that chick was trouble. She had been flirting with some old guy just the night before.”
“Did you get a good look at him?”
“Yeah. He was old man, I mean old. And he was wearing a suit. I thought he was her father at first, but then the way she kept touching him—if that was father-daughter relations then she has one messed up family.”
“And yet you still went home with her.” Thena rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, it was stupid. I know that now, but that night I just wanted to let go, and for a little while I did—with her.”
“If you see this guy who was with her again would you know him?”
Secrets and Lies Page 19
