by Gray, June
I stayed awake that night, keeping the bedroom door open so that Josie and I could listen for the telltale jingle of keys or the sound of footsteps, but the entire place was eerily silent the rest of the night and well into the morning, a deafening confirmation that somewhere out there West was flying towards something and, for once, the compass wasn’t pointed to me.
21
KAT
I’m not proud to say that my eyes were red and puffy the next morning, nor was I proud of being that girl who stayed up all night worrying about a man’s whereabouts instead of focusing on her very first fashion show. But somehow or another, I’d turned into her.
After I showered and dressed I stood in front of the mirror and told the girl in the glass to get it together.
“This is the most important day of your education,” I told her, my hands gripping the edge of the marble counter. “Don’t fuck it up because your boyfriend is not here. You’re not that girl. So lose the insecurity and jealousy crap and rock that fucking show on your own, like you always intended!”
Josie barked behind me, my own furry cheerleader.
“Thanks, girl,” I said, bending down to rub her behind the ears. “I’ll do my best.”
I was seventh in my class of twenty to show my clothes, which gave me time to put the final touches on the clothes as well as the models themselves, who were volunteers from another fashion program.
“So how are we walking?” asked Miko, the model wearing an asymmetrical hoodie paired with a full skirt made of muted tweed.
“Like this.” I took a few steps as an example. “Not exactly stomping. Just make you presence known.”
“So, like a man?” Cindy asked, who wore the pencil skirt made of triangular patches of tweed paired with a men’s white button-down shirt gathered at the waist with a black belt.
“No, like a strong, powerful individual,” I said. “The point of this collection is that you can be both feminine and masculine at once. That you can be powerful and strong and still be pretty and sexy.”
The models nodded, hopefully with a new appreciation for my designs.
Professor Ramirez came up to me a few minutes later with a clipboard in his hand. “You ready, Kat?”
I looked over at the models that wore my designs, feeling a surge of pride. All of those individual pieces—the choices of fabric, the unusual silhouettes—shouldn’t have worked. Hell, even Professor Ramirez questioned me every step of the way, but seeing the final product brought it all together. I’d had a vision and here it was before me. I realized I was never more ready than in that moment.
“Definitely.”
“Kat,” Professor Ramirez said, putting a hand on my shoulder.
“Yes?”
His handsome face lit up, the lines around his eyes crinkled. “You should be proud.”
I smiled back, my chest absolutely swollen with every possible emotion. “I am.”
The show lasted all of two minutes, even as each model made her way down the runway in a confident, unhurried fashion. All too soon my name was called out by the emcee and I stepped away from the anonymity of backstage and onto the runway. My models flanked my sides as I walked the length of the stage towards the end, hoping the entire time I wouldn’t trip over my feet and land on my face.
So maybe West wasn’t here to see this, or anyone else for that matter, but in the end it was my own satisfaction that counted. And you’d better believe that, as I stood there at the end of the runway to the applause of the audience, I was damn happy with what I’d accomplished.
I stood there for a moment, squinting against the bright lights, when my eyes settled on the face in the crowd. There, sitting on the first row with the other fashion professionals, was the actress Amanda Blake. She stopped her clapping long enough to wave and give me a thumbs-up sign.
As I walked back, my breath suddenly caught in my throat. There, in the second row, was a face I might not have recognized were it not for the proud smile splitting his pale, lined face.
I stopped, my feet glued to the floor. “Dad?”
Then I saw the person beside him, waving and smiling. “Franny?” I whispered. My eyes traveled to her right and I about shat my pants when I saw Drew sitting beside her.
What the hell?
I don’t know how I didn’t trip as I craned my head to search for any other familiar faces, but all too soon we reached the end of the stage. I stumbled behind the screen and stared at my models for a good minute.
“Hey, Kat, you okay?” Miko asked, starting to change back to her clothes.
“But he’s in jail,” I said, fighting the urge to run out onstage and make sure I hadn’t been imagining it. And Franny I could see coming, but Drew?
“He needed to be present at his daughter’s show,” came a deep voice behind me.
I whirled around and came face to face with West. He stood a few feet away from me, wearing jeans and a black button-down shirt, his face scruffy from a few days’ worth of stubble. Somehow just looking at him made it hard to breathe. “You’re here.”
The corners of his mouth gave the slightest lift. “I am.”
I glanced around at the models who were in various states of undress but found his dark gaze locked on me. He looked so effortless in his elegance, his hands in his pants pockets, his posture relaxed and inviting, but of everything, his unflinching, direct gaze was sexiest of all.
“Damn, Kat,” he said on a sigh and took hold of my wrist. “Come here.” Then he was tugging me, enveloping me with his long arms.
I fell into him easily, pressing my face into his chest and breathing him in. I wrapped my arms around him and felt the strong thud of his heart against my cheek.
“I missed you,” he said, sliding his hand up my neck and bringing our lips together for a kiss that was hot and needy. “God, I missed you.”
“Me too.” I looked up at him to let him see the effects of last night on my face.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how soon I could get back,” he said, running his thumb along the hollows under my eyes.
“So you brought my dad here?” I asked, glancing back towards the screen that separated us from the audience.
“I had to make sure he was here for this day.” He bent down and took my lower lip between his own, sucking it into his mouth gently.
I pulled away. “When you didn’t come home last night, I thought you…”
He cradled my face in his hands and pressed his forehead to mine. “I thought you said you trusted me?”
“I do. At least, I tried.”
“Kat, I don’t know how many times—”
I grabbed the back of his head and rose to my toes, kissing the words right out of his mouth.
He slowed and I felt his lips form a smile against mine. “Did you just shut me up with a kiss?”
I laughed. “Maybe,” I said and kissed him again before he could form a reply. We pulled apart only when Professor Ramirez called out over the crowd, “Okay guys, time for the final bow.”
I looked around, finding my clothes piled on top of a chair but the people wearing them gone. I gave West one final peck on the lips before joining my classmates as we filed back out to the stage, standing on the runway in a haphazard fashion while the audience clapped.
To my left were Dad, Franny, and Drew clapping and whistling. I didn’t go back with the rest of my classmates after our final bow; instead I jumped off the stage and ran to my dad, throwing my arms around him. “How is this possible?” I asked, fighting the urge to cry.
“Early release on parole for good behavior,” he said with a huge grin splitting his face.
“I didn’t even know you were up for parole.”
“I wanted to keep it a secret, just in case,” he said. “Your boyfriend happened to call right after I’d talked to the board and got word that I would be getting an early release.”
“That’s a crazy coincidence.”
“Not really. He told me he’d been keeping ta
bs on me for a while now. Since he left Alaska.”
“And you were allowed to leave the state?”
“From what I understand that boyfriend of yours talked to the authorities.”
A warm hand splayed on my hand and I turned to find West standing beside me. “I talked to his parole officer and persuaded her to let him leave the state for a few days.”
“I have to go back to Alaska on Sunday,” Dad said.
I hugged him again. “But it’s okay. You’re here. You made it.”
“I’m here, sweetheart,” he said, patting the back of my head. “I finally made it out.”
Tears stung my eyes. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me,” I said so that only my dad could hear.
“You know, I’ve done many things wrong in my life,” he said. “But you, you I got right.”
“I love you, Dad,” I said through the burning in my throat and eyes. After several deep breaths, I finally reeled in my emotions and stepped away to face the rest of my visitors.
Franny was first to come forward. “Oh my God, I’m so proud of you!” she said, throwing her arms around my neck.
“Thank you. I can’t believe you’re here!” I spied a frowning Drew over her shoulder. “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that you’re here, Sheriff, but… what the hell are you doing here?” I asked him.
He gave a good-natured shrug. “She asked me to come.”
“I have a lot to tell you,” Franny said with a conspiratorial wink. “And by the way, was that Amanda Blake waving to you in the audience?”
“Yes!” I took Franny’s hand and searched the room for the location of said actress. “There she is. Come on.”
~
“I can’t believe I met her,” Franny said as we stood around the kitchen that night, mooning over her photographs with Amanda Blake we’d snapped on her phone. “She was so nice. She plays such a witch on TV, but she’s so different in real life.”
Josie walked over and nudged her foot, demanding attention. Franny bent down and hugged her. “I missed you too,” she said, showing genuine affection for my dog.
West set out plates on the counter while I pulled out the boxes of food from our favorite Chinese restaurant. Every now and then he’d drop a kiss on my head or pat my side, basically taking any excuse to touch me inconspicuously.
While my father was in the bathroom and Franny and Drew were talking, Luke bent down and said in a low husky voice that sent tingles up my spine, “We need to talk.”
I twisted my head around to look at him, finding our faces only inches apart. “By talk you mean screw, right?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
He chuckled. “Sure. We’ll spend the rest of the evening talking.”
While we ate dinner around the granite counter, Franny and Drew filled us in on what’s happened in Ayashe since I left, but strangely enough, kept skirting around a specific issue.
I waved my chopsticks between Franny and Drew. “Okay, as much as I love hearing stories about Dale Hokkeland, I need to know: what is it with you two?”
Franny smiled over at Drew, who only smiled at her warmly. “That’s a story for another night,” she said.
West was watching me with something that looked like amusement in his eyes.
“What?” I asked, taking a bite of honey garlic chicken.
He looked pointedly at the two thin pieces of wood squeezed between my fingers, the skin around his eyes wrinkling as he smiled.
“I had a lot of practice while you were gone.” I picked up a clump of rice. Rice, of all things! “I guess this means I survived New York City.”
He grinned. “I never doubted you for a second.”
22
WEST
Dinner was a wonderful affair. I had never seen Kat smile so much as she did that night. Bringing her father, Rich, to New York had been no easy feat but, judging from the glow on her face as she looked at the people surrounding her, I knew that all my efforts had not been in vain.
I sat back and took her in. She looked stunning with her blonde hair framing her face in loose waves, wearing a hunter green tank top that hugged her body under a men’s white dress shirt. Her black slacks were loose but tapered at her ankles, and she wore a pair of sexy black stilettos to complete the outfit.
She looked strong, stunning, like a woman who had finally found her place in the world.
After dinner I broke out a bottle of champagne that I’d been saving for this occasion.
“To Kat,” Rich, said, raising his champagne flute. “For her tenacity and pure brilliance.”
“To my dad,” Kat countered, no doubt to steer attention away from her. “Who protected me and has always been there for me.”
“And to Luke for making it happen,” Drew said, taking me by surprise. He hadn’t said more than a word to me since I’d landed in Alaska. He cleared his throat. “That, that was a cool thing you did.”
I nodded in his direction, lifting my own glass. “And to you and Franny. May you—”
“Finally tell us what the hell happened,” Kat interjected, causing a round of giddy laughter to erupt.
“I will, I promise,” Franny said, glancing at the man beside her. “But not tonight,” she said, finishing her drink and rising to her feet. “Right now we need to get going.”
“You’re not staying with us?” Kat asked, casting a questioning glance at me.
Drew put a hand on Franny’s shoulder. “Not this time.”
Kat whirled on her dad. “But you’re staying with us, right?”
Rich chuckled, a deep, hearty sound. “Yes, Katie. I’m staying here.”
Kat walked the happy couple downstairs, still trying to get the story out of them and leaving me under the watchful gaze of her father.
“You know, I don’t think I even heard her curse once tonight,” Rich said, his eyes towards the front door.
I continued loading the dishwasher. “She has definitely toned down the language a little,” I said. “But not by my urging, I assure you.”
“Hmm.” There was a long pause, then he said, “She seems different.”
“Different how?” I already knew the answer to this question, had seen firsthand how Kat had reluctantly emerged from her cocoon of comfort and found the courage to spread her wings, but I wanted to know if other people could see it too.
“She’s…” He stopped, searching the room for the right word. “Warmer. She’s more talkative, more social. And I noticed that she makes more physical contact, not just with you but with other people. She’s definitely not the same girl who said goodbye to me over nine months ago.”
“No, she’s not.” But it wasn’t just Kat who had changed; I was no longer the same person either. I couldn’t even remember what it was like to be the guy who avoided true intimacy, who instead lived his life focused on outer pleasures.
“She calls you West,” Rich said in a soft tone, pulling me from my thoughts.
I turned away from the sink to give him my direct attention. “Yes. She gave me many names back in Alaska,” I said, recalling the impetuous look on her face each time she’d called me something funny. “West is the one she finally settled on.”
“You know why, don’t you?”
I shook my head as a strange sensation traveled down my spine, as if I was poised above a treasure chest, about to discover what lay inside. “Though I suspect it means something significant.”
Rich leaned back, his hands resting on his belly. “Ever since Kat was old enough to listen I’d told her to head west.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Because west is where you find your freedom and, in turn, yourself.”
I sank down on a stool, absorbing his words. Kat believed I was the key to her freedom. Even when I didn’t have an identity of my own she’d put her faith in me that I’d somehow help her find herself. The enormity of it was enough to bring a man to his knees.
I looked back up to her father, who was watching me with a ste
ady gaze. “Sir, there’s something I need from you.”
He raised an eyebrow, a knowing smile on his lips. “And what’s that?”
“Your permission.”
~
After we set Kat’s father up in her bedroom, making doubly sure he had everything he needed, Kat and I headed back to my side of the apartment. As soon as we locked the glass door behind us I took hold of her waist and swung her around to the brick wall, taking her mouth in one smooth motion. She wound her arms around my back and pulled me closer, her body arching off the wall and into me in desperation.
A groan rose from my throat, the pleasure of having her in my arms so intense that I almost gave up on the rest of the evening and fucked her right then. I had plans, but at that moment I was having a damned hard time trying to remember what they were. Instead of wasting valuable time thinking I simply planted my hands on the wall beside her head and feasted on her mouth, vividly aware of the contrast between the gritty brick against my palms and the soft slickness of Kat’s lips.
I pulled away, breathing hard. “How the hell did I manage to live without you for so long?” I asked, nuzzling her cheek, breathing her in.
She put her hands against my chest and pushed me away. Before I could recover my wits, she took hold of my shoulders and spun us around so that I had my back to the wall. She gave me a look of mischief before sinking to her knees, her fingers sliding up the bulge over my jeans and taking hold of my belt buckle.
“Kat…”
She looked up at me while her fingers made short work of undoing my fly. “I’ve had this fantasy,” she began in that voice that I found so sexy. “Where we’re in this very position, and I pull your pants down over your ass until you spring free.”
I watched as she did just that, chuckling as my shaft smacked into her chin.
“And then I put my tongue down here at the base, by your balls, and lick all the way up to the tip.”
