by Jenna Jacob
Gran nodded, then smirked. “He would have carried them up to your room, too, if you hadn’t chased him off.”
Kaitlin rolled her eyes. “I definitely don’t need Sky Whitefeather’s help with anything. I’ll manage just fine by myself.”
Gran didn’t say a word, only smirked mischievously as she held the screen door open while Kaitlin hauled her suitcases inside. She dropped her purse and computer bag off in the kitchen before banging her luggage up the stairs, biting back a curse at how heavy they were.
“I know you don’t want Sky hanging around, but if you scuff up my woodwork, I’ll have to have him come over and touch up the paint for me,” Gran called from the bottom of the stairs.
“No, you won’t. I know how to use a damn paintbrush,” Kaitlin assured her.
“Well, come on back down after you get settled. I’ll be in the kitchen. Oh, there are clean sheets on your bed. Sky was here earlier and helped me put them on,” Gran hollered up, a hint of laughter lacing her words.
“Of course he did. The big, sexy, can’t-mind-his-own-business twit probably short-sheeted them, too,” Kaitlin grumbled under her breath as she stared at the smooth white bedspread. “Please don’t let his scent be saturated in the fabric. I’ll die.”
She’d survived Sky’s hug, but the thought of inhaling his intoxicating scent all damn night made her shiver. Even if she did manage to get some sleep, Kaitlin knew he’d play the staring role in her X-rated dreams. She found it ironic that after all this time, all the different paths their lives had taken, Sky still had the power to turn her inside out. With a disgruntled grunt, she tugged the suitcases onto the bed and then smoothed a hand over the cotton spread.
She could almost hear the springs squeaking as images of them making love flooded her mind. Softly cupping her throbbing breasts and giving them a gentle squeeze, she wished that they were Sky’s hands and that she were writhing and panting beneath his spectacular body.
“I think I need to find a shrink,” she mumbled as she removed her hands. “This is ridiculous. He may not be married, but the past is set in stone. I can’t go back and change it now, no matter how badly I want to.”
With a heavy sigh, she turned and spied the unicorn on the nightstand. Kaitlin shook her head. “Oh, hell no. Out of sight, out of mind,” she muttered. She snatched up the figurine and shoved it in the drawer.
Unwilling to torture herself any further, Kaitlin unpacked and padded back down to the kitchen. As she breached the doorway, the telephone rang. Gran left their tea steeping on the stove and picked up the receiver.
“Hello.” She paused then rolled her eyes. “Yes, Hazel.”
Kaitlin curled her lips with a sneer before carrying the mugs to the table and sitting down.
“Well, of course I know Katie transferred some money. She’s sitting right here,” Gran exclaimed.
Kaitlin looked at her watch. In less than fifteen minutes, the entire town of Connor would know she was back home.
Gran sucked in a tiny gasp. Kaitlin looked to find the old woman’s blue eyes wide with surprise. Slack-jawed for a fraction of a second, Gran then pinned Kaitlin with a look of disbelief. “How much money did you say?”
Kaitlin cringed inwardly but gave Gran a carefree shrug.
“Yes. Yes. Don’t worry. Katie and I will come by tomorrow. Yes. I’ll tell her.” With a scowl, Gran hung up the phone.
Ready for the interrogation to begin, Kaitlin waited as Gran sat next to her at the table. But when she did nothing but start sipping her tea, Kaitlin frowned. Gran’s silence was deafening…like it had been when Kaitlin was young and needed a switch or a scolding.
She cupped her hands around her mug and blew at the steam. “You’re not going to ask why I moved so much money?”
“Nope,” Gran replied with a shake of her head.
“I can explain,” Kaitlin continued, knowing she should just shut up and let it alone before one question led to the next.
“I’m sure you can. But you’ve already told me you need time. What I don’t know is if the time you’re looking for is to sort things out or work up the nerve to tell me what in blazes is going on.” Gran’s tone, while teeming with frustration, held no contempt. “In the meantime, Hazel said we need to split that money into several different accounts for insurance purposes. You and I will go to the bank tomorrow and get that taken care of.”
“The whole town’s going to know how much money is in your account before sundown,” Kaitlin drawled with a sour expression.
Gran nodded and sipped her tea. “I have no doubt about that, but they’ll also know how successful you are, as well. That’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
How successful I used to be, Kaitlin thought disparagingly. As she lifted the mug to her lips, she closed her eyes and inhaled the spicy scent of cinnamon and cloves. It was the fix for everything that ailed you—or so thought Gran. Unfortunately, even Gran’s special tea couldn’t fix the total devastation Kaitlin’s life was in.
CHAPTER FOUR
Touch had a memory.
-John Keats
Naked in bed with a raging hard-on, Sky tossed and turned, unable to wipe Katie from his head…both of them. He’d already taken matters into his own hand…twice, and was still as hard and horny as a teenager. Finally, he threw back the covers and climbed out of bed. After tugging on his jeans, he crept to the kitchen. Snagging a cold beer, he pilfered the pack of cigarettes and lighter he kept hidden in the junk drawer before meandering outside.
The moon was full, illuminating the houses and fields with a sepia glow so bright it was as if Mother Earth intended to keep the world cast in a perpetual glow of twilight. The sound of cicadas, field crickets, and tree frogs resonated through the night breeze in a symphony of nature.
Plopping down on the steps, Sky tipped back his beer, taking a long pull before wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. He stared at the house across the street. The lights inside were all extinguished. His heart beat faster knowing Kaitlin was behind the walls a few hundred yards away. He wanted nothing more than to creep inside Gran’s house and slide into bed with Katie…his beautiful, broken minx.
He wondered if she were still crying or if she’d found temporary respite in sleep. The sounds of her anguished sobs still rang in his ears. He couldn’t erase that wounded look in her eyes when he’d asked her about the bruises. Seeing her so utterly shattered touched places inside him he didn’t want to examine. Doug was a dead man. Though simply killing him was too quick…too easy. Sky intended to make the prick suffer for stealing the light from inside his Katie.
Squeezing the beer bottle in his fist, Sky desperately wished it were Doug’s neck. He set the brew down to keep from shattering the glass and worked to shove his bloodthirsty ghosts away. Tapping a cigarette from the pack, he started to thumb the lighter when something caught his eye across the road. He tucked away the unlit smoke as Katie wandered down the driveway.
Dressed in a long white nightgown with moonlight spilling all around her, she looked like a floating angel as she made her way to the road. Sky swallowed tightly as she tipped her head back and stared up into the sky. Cocking his head, he peeked out from beneath the portico and saw the stars, twinkling like suspended diamonds in the moonlit sky. He didn’t know what Katie hoped to find in the heavens; he only knew he’d found what had been missing from his life. Her.
The wind blew, pressing the material of her gown flush against her body. He envied the fabric…wanted to wrap himself around her and mold himself against her feminine curves, place his lips against her warm flesh to nip and nibble the lobe of her ear so he could feel her shiver and hear her soft squeal. His cock was strangling, throbbing within the confines of his jeans. His balls churned and pulsed in time with his pounding heart.
He wanted to own and possess her in every imaginable way. But what he longed for more than sinking balls deep inside her sinful, tight core was for Katie to open up and confide in him again. The need to know what that pric
k-assed motherfucker had done to her in Chicago raged within, like a snorting beast. Sky’s mission was to discover the truth and find a way to mend her.
He stood and stepped off the porch. With his eyes glued to Katie’s back, he silently made his way across the yard like a thief in the night. In the moonlight, her gown appeared almost translucent. To his delight, she wasn’t wearing a stitch under the fluttering fabric. Stepping onto the gravel, he winced as the rocks bit into his bare feet. But he didn’t care. He would have walked through busted glass to answer her siren’s song.
The breeze carried her scent—soap and lilac filled his senses. As he stepped even closer, a piece of gravel sputtered from under his toe. Katie spun and quickly stepped back as her arms rose and her hands bent in a ninja pose. He wanted to throw up a fist pump. She’d obviously had some training, yet Sky’s relief was cut short. The bruises told him that even her skills hadn’t saved her completely. The thought of her having to fight for her life sent a chill down his spine. Without a word, he cupped her neck and pulled her to his lips, cutting off the cry of surprise that was coming from her throat.
Though he was prepared for her to fight him—which she did at first, before relaxing in his hold and slumping against his chest—Sky moaned in approval. The dizzying heat of the kiss coupled with the warmth of her body called to every caveman instinct within him. Instead of dragging her to his room by her hair, he swiped his tongue over the seam of her lips. When she opened for him, he delved in deep, consumed with a fire he’d thought was long gone. She tasted sweet like peaches. Solid like redemption and, fuck-it-all, hope with such rightness he didn’t want their kiss to ever end. He skimmed his lips along the outline of her jaw and back to her mouth, savoring her softness.
Sexual tension arced, and in that one glorious moment, Sky felt as if he’d never lost her. Demand roared though his veins…sizzled and crackled like liquid lightning. Hungry and impatient, he slid a hand over her slender body, tracing every curve like a blind man memorizing braille.
He tangled his fingers into her soft hair and then gripped as he fused her to his mouth, harder. A thin whimper vibrated over his tongue. Her fingertips sank into his flesh, and he could feel the same need passing between them…hot and true. She was like a drug. A drug he couldn’t get his fill of. They exchanged a kiss neither of them would soon forget. But that was his intent. He wanted to brand himself into her body, mind, heart, and soul so thoroughly that Katie would know he owned a part of her until the end of time.
Still, this tempting taste wasn’t enough. Sky moved his hand to her breast, brushing a gentle caress over her pebbled nipple with his thumb. Katie tore from his mouth with a cry of pain. Anguish creased her face as she cradled her breasts and hunched her shoulders.
What the hell? Confusion rolled through him, but he was quick to realize she was hiding something far more nefarious than the bruises on her neck. Staring at her glistening wet lips, he reached up and slowly began unbuttoning her nightgown. Katie tensed and wrapped her fingers around his wrists.
“Please, don’t,” she begged in a trembling voice.
“I need to see everything he’s done to you, baby,” he whispered softly.
“No. I have to get back inside,” she argued as a ribbon of anxiety fluttered over her eyes.
She was terrified, but Sky was unwilling to let her retreat. Fisting the fabric of her gown, he tore it open with a rough sweep of his hand.
“No, Sky. Please,” Katie moaned, raising her arms to cover herself.
He had no right to press the issue, but once he’d started down this slippery slope, Sky refused to cede. Locked with her gaze, he shook his head, then brushed both her hands and the fabric aside. He slowly slid the cotton over her shoulder while a subtle tremor quaked her body. In surrender, Katie dropped her arms to her sides. It pained him to see her admit defeat so quickly. The fear shining so brightly in her eyes told him she was more than broken…she was a whole different person now.
Skimming a gaze down her smooth, pale flesh, he saw angry red teeth marks marring her skin. One nipple—the one he’d caressed—was crusted in dried blood. His stomach pitched. The years he’d spent extracting information—in ways far more brutal than what he saw—didn’t make him immune to what she had endured. She’d been overpowered and helpless at the hands of a monster. That knowledge sent a rush of savage fury through his entire system. Though he’d already vowed that Doug was going to die, seeing what that animal had done to Katie sparked a whole new level of torture Sky intended to inflict. He banked his rage and wanted to tuck her against his chest, but fear of hurting her again stopped him. Katie drew back and covered herself.
“Easy, sweetheart. It’s me. I’d never hurt you…ever.”
She cast her eyes toward the ground.
“Come here,” he whispered.
Before she could refuse, Sky gathered her shaking body into his arms. Gingerly resting his chin on the top of her head, he closed his eyes. A million questions circled his brain, yet she needed far more than an interrogation. She needed his compassion and support, and Sky aimed to drown her in both until she lowered her fortress of pride and let him in. Still, he needed to extend an olive branch in hopes that she’d accept it.
“Talk to me, Katie,” he whispered, feeling as if he were trying to defuse a bomb.
“There’s nothing to say,” she replied, tensing in his arms. “I did what I had to do. Case closed.”
“There’s more to it than that, and we both know it. You don’t have to hide from me, Katie. We’ve kept each other’s secrets for years. Yours are still safe with me,” he murmured, wanting to kiss her again.
“They were once, but obviously not anymore,” she replied in a brittle tone. This time she took a step back. A look of accusation flared over her face.
“What are you talking about? Of course they still are,” he assured her.
“You. You just couldn’t wait to point out my bruises in front of Gran. She wants answers now…answers I’m not ready to give her yet.”
“I want them, too, but I wasn’t intentionally making things more difficult for you, Katie. I was… Well, I was pissed.”
Katie flinched. “You were pissed?”
“Yes. And I still am. Doug did this to you, didn’t he?” Sky asked, gesturing his hand over her body.
“Well, it damn well wasn’t the mailman,” she replied with a derisive smirk. “And I’m sorry, but you have no right to be pissed. You have no right to my life in any way, especially sticking your nose in places it doesn’t belong.”
Oh, Sky knew exactly where his nose belonged, but his urges had to take a back seat. Her caustic tone rubbed him wrong. He would willingly spar with Katie, but he was no one’s whipping boy…not even hers. Moving in, quick and determined, Sky crushed his mouth over hers. The kiss was forceful…relentless…filled with passion and rage. Katie began to struggle. Good. He’d light a fire into the old Katie as bright and hot as he needed to in order to see her take charge of herself again. When she didn’t relent this time, Sky let her go, pinning her with a primitive stare.
“Don’t kid yourself. I have every fucking right.”
~*~
Sky turned and stormed away, leaving Katie standing slack-jawed in the middle of the road. She snapped her mouth shut, but her lips continued to tingle from his kiss. Desire pulsed through her veins as she watched him stomp up the stairs and disappear inside his house. Kaitlin wasn’t sure what she ached to do more—crawl into his bed and make love to him for days or kick him hard in the balls.
“I don’t need this shit,” she groaned.
Wrapping the tattered remains of her nightgown around her, Kaitlin headed to her room. Back in bed, she touched a finger to her thoroughly kissed and slightly swollen lips. A shiver rippled down her spine. Sky had never been a slouch when it came to kissing, but he’d honed his skills. They were mind-blowing. She didn’t want to know who’d helped with that task. Instead, she tried to calm the need he’d ignited ins
ide her. But she couldn’t get away from his earthy scent. It clung to her skin and mingled with her own feminine musk and lilac body lotion, branding an erotic mosaic to her senses.
Kaitlin still hadn’t regained her equilibrium. The minute Sky had pulled her into his arms, she’d seemed to spiral into a hot, swirling mist of desire that awakened every neglected cell in her body. She’d been wholly unprepared for the way her mind had shut down and her body had taken over. As if her defenses were made of cotton candy, he’d annihilated them all with the first stroke of his tongue. The ghost of his calloused hands still glided over her flesh, arousing her nerve endings and making them tingle.
A very unladylike growl bubbled from the back of her throat. She felt both angry and ashamed that he’d seen the marks Doug had left. She’d known at the time she should have stopped Sky, but he’d zapped all rational thought with … well, with everything. The newfound dominant thing he possessed was hot. Knee-buckling, heart-pounding, pussy-dripping hot.
The fact that he seemed to have all his shit together left her feeling vulnerable and lost. And dammit…he’d stolen her ability to trust her own judgment with those toe-curling kisses he’d drowned her in. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. She hadn’t been able to sleep earlier; hence the walk outside, but after her encounter with Sky, it was virtually impossible for her to even try falling asleep now.
As predicted, she tossed and turned the rest of the night while her mind spooled in an endless loop of Sky…erotically frustrating and incredibly decadent Sky. She wanted him to put out the damn fire he’d ignited inside her, but she’d tossed him over like a sack of trash—a fact he’d already reminded her of. Kaitlin doubted he would be interested in more than kissing her and sending her away—like he had tonight—wanting, needing, and alone. The chemistry between them might still be combustible, but acting on her howling hormones would mess her up in the head even more…if that were even possible. Dawn was breaking before Kaitlin finally drifted off to sleep. If she thought her fantasies had been frustrating while she was awake, her dreams were nasty, dirty, and explosive…and as she’d anticipated, Sky was the only man in every wicked one of them.
