Katy swallowed past the lump in her throat. “You didn’t have to do this. I have friends who could have helped out.” His care and compassion, and his easy acceptance of her children touched her deeply.
“People work.” He settled her on a carved wooden bench in the hallway and removed her shoes.
“So do you.” She had recovered all her memories, save for the day before the shooting. But Dr. Watson had been optimistic it wouldn’t take long.
“You’ll discover one of the benefits of partnership is not having to answer to anyone for your time. I don’t have anything pressing this week…unless you sent over another court application behind my back.”
Katy blushed and shook her head. She didn’t want to think about work, or the case. She felt safe here. Hidden away from the world.
A wave of fatigue hit her. Maybe she wouldn’t fuss about lying down after all. But she would have to borrow a shirt from Mark. All she had to wear were her clothes from the hospital. Steven had refused to pack her a bag and had forbidden the children from bringing her clothes.
She looked down at the faded cotton shirt the nurse had given her from the charity box to replace the shirt and jacket the paramedics had cut off in the ambulance. Not a very good match for her suit skirt. If she hadn’t been so desperate to get out of the hospital, she might have taken Mark up on his offer to buy her something to wear.
“What’s this?” She brushed at a flaking, dark brown stain on her skirt. Where had it come from? She hadn’t noticed it at the hospital, but then she had dressed as quickly as she could in case Steven found out she was leaving.
“Blood.”
Katy startled at Mark’s gruff tone, and a shiver crept up her spine.
“Blood?” She didn’t deal well with the sight of blood. Steven had always been the one to fix up major cuts and scrapes.
“The gash on your head bled a lot. Martin bled on you. Your shoulder…” His voice cracked. “There was so much blood…I thought you were dead.”
Her gasp echoed in the quiet apartment. “Martin?”
“He didn’t make it.” Somehow she had known the answer, but hearing it brought a wave of emotion to the surface.
Oh God. I’m covered in a dead man’s blood.
“Get it off! Get it off!” she shrieked, pushing herself off the bench. She struggled with button in the back. “Mark, please, get it off me,” she begged.
He crossed the hallway in a heartbeat, ripped the button open and slid the skirt over her hips. Then he scooped her up and carried her into a huge marble bathroom, cradling her in his arms while he turned on the water.
Less than a minute later, stripped bare, she stood under the warm, soothing spray of his enormous shower. Mark undressed and slid in behind her, pulling her down onto his lap as he settled himself on the marble bench. Under the soothing cascade of warm water, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair.
For the longest time, they didn’t move.
Katy closed her eyes and felt her tension ease under the pulsing beat of the shower and the steady beat of Mark’s heart against her back.
She shifted on the bench, wiggling to find a more comfortable position. Mark gave a sharp groan and pulled her closer, his erection pressing firmly against her bottom.
Raw need replaced fear. Dr. Watson hadn’t said anything about avoiding sex. She wiggled again, slowly this time, grinding herself against his shaft.
Mark unlocked his arms and slid her forward, away from him. “This wasn’t such a good idea,” he rasped.
He trickled soap down her back and massaged gently, taking care to avoid her shoulder. Katy breathed in the familiar sandalwood scent and looked back at him over her shoulder. “Were you at the courthouse when it happened?”
“Up.” He helped her stand and placed her hands against the glass wall of the shower. All business, he rubbed shampoo into her hair and massaged her scalp until her eyelids briefly slid closed.
“I got there just after you were shot.” He rinsed her hair and then ran his hand down her back to cup her bottom.
“And James? Is he involved because of Martin?”
He bent down and lathered her legs with long, firm strokes. “He asked his sergeant to take on the case as a favor to me.” He rubbed toward her inner thighs, and her insides tightened. She must be well on her way to recovery if all she could think about was sex.
“Mark?” Her voice was soft, questioning.
“No.” With a gruff bark, he shoved her legs together and pulled her back against his chest. Soapy hands smoothed over her stomach, around her ribs and across her hips. She lifted her arm, drawing his attention to her breasts.
A sharp pain quelled her arousal.
“My shoulder.” She pointed to the huge wad of bandages covering her left shoulder and upper arm. “Should I be in the shower?”
“Probably not, but Trixie is coming over later to change the dressing. Just keep it still.” He cupped her breasts, sliding his slippery fingers around them in a satin caress. How could anything feel so good? Her head dropped back against his shoulder and his fingers teased her nipples into hard buds. Katy groaned in frustration.
“You can’t say no and then touch me like that.”
“I can do anything I want. You’re too weak to fight me.”
She couldn’t help but smile at the teasing note in his voice. “I’m not that weak. I’m pretty sure I could—”
“And I like the little sounds you make.” He nuzzled her neck and pinched her nipples again. Desire sizzled through her and she moaned.
“God. Just like that,” he whispered in her ear. He rubbed her breasts again, but without the soap the friction aroused her even more.
Her eyelids slid closed. “I need…”
“You need to be thoroughly washed. They only sponged you down at the hospital and they didn’t get off all the blood.”
He lifted her knee and placed it on the bench. “Open for me, sugar.”
Katy parted her legs and his fingers slid through her wet folds, with a teasing, feather-light touch.
“Stop. Mark. You’re torturing me. Haven’t I been through enough?”
“So hot and wet.” His words, and the rough edge to his voice, sent her arousal soaring out of control.
Using her own moisture, he stroked his finger over her swollen clit. Katy struggled to stay still but her hips tilted, straining to his touch. She yearned for release and the mind-numbing pleasure of climax under his sensual fingers.
“Mark…” She leaned back and pressed herself against his hot, hard shaft.
“Okay, we’re done.” He turned off the shower and stepped outside.
“We’re done?” Water beaded off her heated skin and she shuddered with the ache of unfulfilled need. “I don’t want to be done.”
“Out.” He held up a fluffy towel and she stepped onto the bathmat—beige, like everything else.
“But…I need you,” she groaned.
He dried her completely and with a brusque efficiency that made her head spin. “You’re just out of the hospital. You need rest.”
“What was that in the shower?”
“Me being stupid.”
She huffed out a frustrated breath when he lifted her in his arms and carried her toward the bedroom. “I’m not broken.”
“You will be if I don’t put you to bed.” He pushed open the double doors to reveal a modern, low-rise bed with a massive padded leather headboard. Very masculine. Very bachelor. Very big for one person.
He threw back the blankets and settled her in the bed. Katy moaned with disappointment when he drew the sheet over her, covering her with excruciating gentleness.
If he noticed, he didn’t say. Instead he tucked the blankets around her, adding a thick feather comforter so heavy and warm her body melted into the mattress. The silk sheets slid decadently around her, and the slick touch on her sensitive flesh almost sent her over the edge.
“Don’t go,” she whispered as slee
p overcame desire.
“I’m not going anywhere, sugar.” He climbed on the bed and put his arm around her, holding her tight as she drifted away.
Mark paced up and down the hallway outside his bedroom. Trixie had come and gone and Katy had fallen asleep after her dressing had been changed. He had managed to distract himself with work for a few hours, but he could no longer resist the pull of the beauty in his bed.
An unfamiliar peace had settled over him when he realized he would have her all to himself. Here nothing could come between them. He could indulge his desire to look after her. Protect her. Hold her.
He pushed open the door, stripped down to his underwear, and lay down on the bed beside her. He had done her no favors by allowing his needs to spill out of the courtroom and into their personal lives. But after almost losing her, he was glad he had taken the risk.
He drew back the covers and trailed his fingers between her breasts and over her stomach to her bare mound with only the lightest of touches. So beautiful. Her skin glowed in the moonlight streaming through the window. He circled each nipple, delighted when they pebbled beneath his touch. So responsive. Even in her sleep.
He should leave her alone. Let her rest. But his body refused to move.
She whimpered and he realized his fingers had been rolling and pinching her nipples of their own accord. He slid his hand between her legs and ran a finger along her folds. So wet. For him.
Trixie, with her usual lack of inhibition, had informed him he wouldn’t hurt Katy if he wanted to take advantage of having her captive in his apartment. But he had to be gentle.
Gentle.
It had been a long time, but he could do gentle.
Katy stirred and he leaned over and ran his tongue in light circles around her nipples before taking one in his mouth and sucking it into a hard peak.
She awakened with a gasp. “Oh God.”
“No, sugar, just me.”
Her eyes, when they focused on him, were half lidded with sleep and the stirring of arousal. “What are you doing?”
He leaned over to kiss away the little worry lines creasing her forehead. “Looking after you.” He sucked her nipple and then nipped gently. Katy arched her back and moaned.
“I thought you were going to let me rest.”
Mark turned her on her side and pulled her back into his chest, cupping her soft, warm breast and squeezing lightly. “I changed my mind.”
She winced and gave a soft cry.
Damn. He had forgotten about her shoulder. “Sugar, I’m sorry.” He helped her roll back and pushed himself off the bed. “I’ll get you some pain killers.”
“No.” Her voice rose. “Please don’t leave. We just need to be careful.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t hurt me if you misbehave properly. No teasing and leaving. And no rolling.”
He chuckled and lay down beside her again. “Well then I want you to lie still and let me give you what you need, and I’ll take my pleasure in giving it to you.”
She huffed her disapproval. “I want to touch you.”
“Hard to do when you can’t move your arm or your shoulder.” He propped himself up on his elbow, tracing circles over the smooth, taut skin of her belly. “But if you have a problem with the other hand, I can restrain that one too.”
He shook his head and mentally chastised himself.
Gentle does not involve tying her up.
Mark’s deep, velvety kisses branded Katy’s lips, filling her senses. Pleasure washed over her in languid waves, chasing away the last remnants of sleep.
His mouth moved lower, painting from her throat to the crease of her breasts with soft, brushed kisses. His hands replaced his lips, cupping and squeezing until she ached under his touch.
“I like my scent on you,” he murmured. “It tells me you’re mine.”
She shuddered and gave in to the deep hunger unraveling inside her, the need to be possessed utterly and completely by the man who had not left her side for five days. For this moment in time, there was nothing but him, his warm breath on her skin, his gentle caress and the tortuous exploration of his wet, silken tongue.
His hot kisses moved lower, down her sternum to her belly button. He teased and tortured the neglected area before grazing his chin over her mound.
Katy panted in anticipation as he blew a hot breath over her folds. She threaded her fingers through his thick hair, guiding him to where she wanted him to go.
How many nights had she lain beside Steven imagining a lover like this? A lover who wanted to touch her. Tease her. Drive her insane with pleasure.
“Hands off, sugar.”
He abandoned her aching sex and continued his exploration of her body, as if she were a new land to be discovered. He licked and kissed every finger and every toe and the hollows of her ankles, wrists, elbows and neck. He nuzzled the sensitive skin of her inner thighs, whispered in her ear and sifted his fingers through her hair.
Her world narrowed to each heated touch and lingering caress. The scent of sandalwood enveloped her as she writhed on the cool, silk sheets and licked his minty taste off her lips. Sensation piled on sensation until need filled her with such an ache; a carnal groan escaped her lips.
“I need you inside me. Now.”
“Not yet.” His fingers dipped into her body, spreading her moisture along her folds and up around her sensitive clit, stroking until it throbbed.
“Please.” Katy jerked her hips in a silent plea for more as his agonizingly delicious touch sent flames of need licking through her body, burning the last clouds from her mind.
“Trust me.”
She barely heard him as images tumbled into her mind. The missing pieces. The day before the shooting. Silver, James, the end of the conflict, the boardroom and the silence.
She stiffened and edged away.
Mark froze. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”
Katy shook her head and swallowed hard. “I remember. That night in your boardroom. I trusted you and you turned your back on me.”
He pushed himself up beside her. “Katy…I made—”
She cut him off with a finger over his lips. “I don’t know much about guys. My Dad left when I was young. I had a few boyfriends in high school, and then I met Steven. But I suspect there aren’t many men who would spend five days and give up a week’s worth of billable hours to sit beside an injured…friend. Or who would take her into his home to care for her, just to save her from the clutches of her irritating ex-husband.” She threaded her fingers through his thick, sable hair. “Tell me it wasn’t just for fun,” she whispered. “Tell me it was something more. Tell me you don’t regret it.”
Mark shuddered and slanted his mouth over hers. The now familiar taste of him spiked through her, sending quivers of need down her spine.
“It was something more,” he murmured against her lips. “So much more that I was afraid of hurting you. And yet, that’s exactly what I did. I regret that more than you could know. I’m sorry, sugar.”
“How sorry?” Her bottom lip trembled.
He gave her a cheeky grin and pushed himself down her body, settling himself between her legs. “Very, very sorry,” he rasped. He peppered little kisses along her inner thighs until he reached her aching center, and then he licked down through her folds with one long, luscious stroke.
Katy gasped and her hips jerked off the bed. Mark’s firm hands held her down and he licked again, this time flicking his tongue over her clit.
The muscles of her thighs tightened as she tried to angle herself to where she wanted his mouth to be. But when his tongue pushed inside her swollen tissues, a long desperate wail left her lips.
“Does that feel good, sugar?”
Clit throbbing for attention, she nodded and arched her back, seeking out the delicious torment even as it pushed her to the edge of her control.
“I want to hear you say it.” He sank a finger all the way inside her. “Tell me.”<
br />
“Yesssss. It feels good. So good. Don’t stop.”
He stopped and pulled away.
Katy sucked in a sharp breath. “Nooooo. I said don’t stop.”
His voice dropped, cracked. “I need to be inside you, sugar. I need to feel you everywhere. I need to know I haven ‘t lost you.”
She heard the crinkle of a condom wrapper and then his warm body lowered over hers. His heart drummed wildly beneath her palms and she arched into him, seeking the fulfilling sensation of having him buried inside her. The tip of his erection teased against her swollen entrance and she moaned.
“Maybe that’s enough. I think I’ve paid the penalty for hurting you.”
Katy glared. “Are you kidding? You’ll have to try harder than that.” Anything to get him inside her. She had forgiven him, but he didn’t need to know it. Not yet.
He grunted with satisfaction and plunged into her, hard and deep, sending shock waves of unbelievable pleasure through her body. Her hips wiggled uncontrollably, her sex clenched and her body coiled tighter and tighter. He slid in and out, increasing his rhythm, building her tension.
Katy dug her nails into the tense, hard muscles of his back. His hand slid between them and he pinched her nub firmly, changing his thrusts to a hammering pace. The room became a red haze as hot, blinding shards of pleasure consumed her. Sensation swept everything from its path, filling her with ecstasy as her sex clenched over and over again in a firestorm so intense, she barely registered when he gripped her hips and came with a low guttural groan.
When Katy’s body finally softened beneath him, Mark kissed her softly, tasting her sweetness. Her long, silky lashes drifted down over her eyes, showing only a glimmer of her dark blue gaze.
He slid out of her warmth and quickly disposed of the condom. Then he lay on the bed and pulled her into his arms, wrapping the coverlet around them.
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