He drew her close, hugging her body to his. “It wasn’t your fault, Sonia. I know that Patricia was behind it all. After you left, we pieced it all together.”
“But if you didn’t think it was me, why did you let me think you blamed me? Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, pain in her voice
* * *
Key drew in a breath.
That was a question he’d asked himself, one both his brother and father had asked. He was man enough to admit the real reason for accusing her of the betrayal.
“I was afraid.” He made the admission, his jaw tightening.
Afraid of what?
“Damn, baby, this isn’t easy for me. I was afraid of this...us, what it meant.”
“I’m not following,” she replied, her voice anguished and low, and he knew it was now or never. He had to tell her what he felt, how much she meant to him.
“I love you, Sonia. I’ve loved you for so long, it’s as though I loved you before we even met,” he said, and knew she heard the catch in his voice. “With the first volley of emails between us, I knew you were a woman to be reckoned with.”
He stopped, a bittersweet smile on his face. “In a lot of ways you’re like my mother. Strong, independent. Capable,” he said. “I started to like you even then, though I fought the show, fearing what it would do to the ranch. The notoriety I could deal with, but once I knew the true legacy of Nick’s parentage, and mine, I knew I had to protect more than the Kealoha Ranch. I had to protect my family.”
“And that’s why you started being nice to me?” she asked in a low whisper. He heard the hurt in her voice.
“Sweetheart, if you recall, there wasn’t anything...nice...about some of the things we did,” he said, and laughed lightly when his comment met a fiery blush.
He bent down to kiss her softly on the top of her head.
“I told myself it was to see what you knew, what you and your crew were up to, but I wanted more than that. The show had nothing to do with how I felt, even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself. At first I thought I’d get you out of my system while making sure you were on my side, just in case you did know my family’s secret. But I was only fooling myself. You were already under my skin by then. And it scared the shit out of me,” he admitted frankly.
She leaned away from him to catch his gaze. “Why?” she asked softly, her eyes locked with his.
He drew in a breath.
“Because I was scared as hell you couldn’t possibly love me half as much as I was head over heels in love with you,” he finished, and covered her surprised mouth with his.
He broke the kiss and placed both hands alongside her face, staring intently into her eyes. “I don’t deserve you, baby, but, God, I love you, Sonia. I love you more than anyone or anything in this world,” he said, his voice breaking as he saw tears falling down her eyes.
He felt an unexpected emotional tug and the sting of tears in his own eyes at her reaction.
His gaze took all of her in, from the sheet now loosened, hanging around her waist, to her curly mop of hair, gathered into a haphazard knot on top of her head, wild strands sticking out everywhere. She wore no makeup, and her eyes were tinged red from tears.
To him, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. And she was his.
“Please tell me you forgive me, baby. Please,” he said, burying his face in the hollow of her throat.
He knew she had to love him. It was in her face, had been in her face for him to see. He’d been so damn stupid, refusing to admit what both his father and brother already knew. Not only did he love her, was crazy about her, she felt the same way about him.
She had every right to tell him to go to hell after the way he’d treated her, what he’d accused her of. And if she did, he’d keep right on loving her, until she admitted what he already knew.
He held on to her and waited. Her body’s reaction to his also alerted him to the fact that she loved him. He felt the stab of her sweet nipples against his bared chest. He released a heartfelt groan of relief when he felt her small arms wrap around his neck.
He sought the nirvana of her lips before he forced himself away.
“I’m sorry, baby. So sorry... Please tell me that you forgive me,” he begged. When she nodded her head almost shyly, he felt a rush of relief.
Unceremoniously he flipped her body so that she lay beneath him on the bed, and he laid siege to her mouth. Between muffled kisses and intimate sighs, he murmured against the sweetness of her lips.
“I don’t know how long I can last, baby. It’s been so damn long and I’ve missed you so damn much, I ache,” he admitted freely.
“I’ve missed you just as much, Key...now shut up and make love to me, boy,” she quipped, and he laughed lightly along with her. All laughter came to a halt when he slipped a hand between them, slipping his fingers past the nest of curls at the juncture of her thighs and testing her readiness for him.
He lifted his finger and brought the evidence of her readiness to her attention. Keeping his eyes on hers, he licked her cream from his finger.
“Oh, God, baby, please make love to me,” Sonia begged, and Key laughed roughly.
He tried to be gentle, knowing that in his rush he might hurt her. But he was as randy as he’d ever been and hoped for the best. Guiding himself to the center of her vagina, he carefully fed her small inches of his shaft, nearly coming when her walls clamped down tight on his cock.
“Easy baby, it’s been a while,” he said, his voice rough, low.
Closing his eyes, he clenched his jaw and pushed swiftly, embedding himself inside her until he felt his sac tap against the seam of her butt.
Home. He felt as if he was home.
Making love with Sonia made him complete.
After adjusting her on him for their mutual pleasure he slowly began to rock inside her body, holding on to her hips as he made love to her. Although impatient, he wanted to make it last.
Wanted to make up for mistrusting her.
He wanted to relish and treasure her.
When he felt her wrap her legs around his hips, he knew that she had given in to the pleasure and was giving as good as she got.
“I’ve missed this, baby. But, God, I missed you even more.
* * *
“Oh, yes, Key...I missed you...missed this,” Sonia cried as he stroked deep inside her willing body. Realizing he was holding back, feeding her just enough of his thick cock to tease she placed her hands on his hard, muscled butt and squeezed.
Not enough to hurt.
Just enough to feel good.
He shouted, his stroke picking up with deadly intent.
“That’s what I’m talking about.” She laughed, her body on fire from the heat of his touch.
“Oh, yeah...you like it rough, do you?” he asked, grinning at her, sweat dripping down his face as he continued his deep strokes.
“Hmm,” she said, tightening her hold on him. “Just enough to feel good, Key,” she said, and shifteded one of her hands below his butt.
“Oh, God, baby, where’d you learn that?” he asked, his shout so loud she was afraid anyone who happened to be within one hundred feet of the cabin would hear him.
She smiled up at him, her body on fire and the strength of his strokes making coherent thought a soon-to-be-impossible thing.
“Only from you, baby, only from you,” she whispered, love in her eyes as she stared up at her man.
Her words made him pause fractionally and glance down at her before he continued. What she saw in their light blue depths told her more than mere words could ever tell her. He loved her.
“I love you, Key!” she cried out, her orgasm sweeping over her.
As she allowed the tide to sweep and engulf her, she heard him shout at the sa
me time, declaring his love for her again.
With two more corkscrew thrusts, she felt his seed burst inside her body, and she closed her eyes, welcoming him inside her as together they climbed the summit and went over, reaching their peak in unison.
* * *
“Do you love me enough to marry me, Sonia?”
Sonia’s eyes opened slowly before she shut them quickly, the sunlight from the cracks in the blinds blazing directly into her face.
She turned to face Key to find him intently watching her, one big leg thrown over hers as their bodies lay close together.
He toyed with one of her long curls, twirling it around his finger.
“Did you hear me, Sonia?” he asked, and although he said it nonchalantly, she heard the tension in his voice.
For some reason his nervousness acted as a calming agent for her. She smiled.
“You might as well give in and say yes. I’m not letting you out of this bed—off this ranch, until you do,” he said, and she opened one eye to peek at him.
“Yeah, is that a fact?” she asked, keeping the laughter out of her voice.
“Damn right it’s a fact. We’ll just have to figure out the mechanics of it all. I’m not trying to take away your career—”
“Oh, thanks, that’s a relief,” she murmured, biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing.
“But I figure with you producing the second season of the show, you’ll be here for another six months—”
“You all want to do another season?” she asked, astonished.
“I can travel back to L.A. with you during the off-season of the ranch. Nick can cover for me.”
“There’s an off-season for ranching?” she asked, but he continued to ignore her, outlining his plan.
“I can use the time to buy cattle from a couple of the auctions in that area. I figure between that and you taking time off, we can make this work,” he finished. If she didn’t know better, she would swear Key was nervous.
Which made no sense, as he was the epitome of Mr. Cool. Her smile grew brighter.
Taking pity on him, she stopped him.
She grabbed him by his broad shoulders and brought his face down to hers to lay a kiss on his perfect mouth.
“I have news to tell you. I wasn’t sure you would care before, but now...” She trailed off and told him of the new show she would be producing in the fall, as well as the new venture she had with her friend Dee Dee, a venture that would keep her in the field of producing, just from a different angle. Screen writing.
“Between the new show and the script, I’m going to be kept busy for a good long time,” she said.
When she saw his face darken, she frowned. “What? I—I thought you’d be happy. And this way we don’t have to film on the ranch anymore.”
“But I don’t mind. And I want you to know I trust you. You’ll never believe I do, Sonia. That will always be something between us. Besides, why would you not want to do another season? The show is a success and it’s all because of you.”
“Key, I do believe you. My decision not to continue on with the show is because I know how much you value your privacy,” she began, and when he opened his mouth to protest, she kissed him softly.
The kiss grew until she forced her lips away.
“And I don’t want anyone invading my privacy, either,” she said simply.
“But what about your career?”
She smiled. “My career will be just fine. I’m ready for change, and with the new show taping in Hawaii, I’ll keep my hand in producing! This new venture with Dee Dee is one I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”
“Well, now that you’ve shared your news, I have something to share with you,” he said, and filled Sonia in on his phone meeting with Nate Wilde, the adopted son of Key and Nick’s biological father.
By the end of his telling, she was in front of him, listening carefully.
“And Nick...how did he take it?” she asked, as he’d told her of Nick’s not-so-great reaction to the news of who they were.
“He still isn’t taking the news very well. He doesn’t want to blame Dad, and he can’t bring himself to blame Mom,” he said, and she heard the frustration in his voice. “Seems he’s hell bent on blaming someone. Unfortunately those someones are the Wildes.”
He turned her around to face him and brought their faces together so that he could kiss her.
“I’m sure we’ll figure it all out,” Key said.
She smiled. “Together. Because that’s what family does,” she said, a shy smile coming out, exposing the tiny dimple in her cheek.
Key groaned. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”
“I don’t know. But whatever it was, I hope it never goes away.”
“No chance of that,” he replied, and was about to kiss her when he realized she hadn’t answered his question.
“Well?”
She didn’t have to ask what he meant. A grin lit her face.
“Yes, Key, yes, yes, yes, yes, I’ll marry you,” she promised, and squealed when he grabbed her and hugged her tightly to his body, releasing a loud whoop.
“Time to seal the deal,” he said, a purely masculine light entering his bright blue eyes.
He caught her mouth with his in a kiss that brought a flush of heat coursing through her entire body. As she moaned into his kiss, welcoming the weight of his body on top of hers, her last thought was that the kiss wasn’t the only thing to seal the deal.
The deal, their fate, had been sealed the first moment they’d spoken. Before they’d ever met, fate had sealed the deal.
Now, forever and always.
* * * * *
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Kimani Romance story.
You dream in vibrant hues! Harlequin Kimani Romance stories feature sophisticated, soulful and sensual African-American and multicultural heroes and heroines who develop fulfilling relationships as they lead lives full of drama, glamour and passion.
Enjoy four new stories from Harlequin Kimani Romance every month!
Visit Harlequin.com to find your next great read.
We like you—why not like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
Read our blog for all the latest news on our authors and books: HarlequinBlog.com
Subscribe to our newsletter for special offers, new releases, and more!
Harlequin.com/newsletters
TO HAVE A WILDE
ISBN: 9781460315620
Copyright © 2012 by Kimberly Kaye Terry
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com
oming)
To Have a Wilde (Wilde in Wyoming) Page 15