“I’m just appreciating what it stands for.” She raised her eyes to his. “Are you sure you want to marry me, Trevor?” The last thing she wanted to do was to scare him off, but he had a right to know the chance he was taking. “You don’t know what you’re getting. For all you know, I could be a convicted felon on the run, or a serial killer who went off the deep end because of all the murders she’s committed. Neither one of us knows who I really am.”
She was adorable when she was trying to be serious, he thought, doing his best not to laugh out loud. “Mom told me that they took your fingerprints at the police station. If you’d turned up in the database, we would have heard by now. You’re not a felon.”
She accepted that—sort of. “Maybe I’m a clever con artist.”
Completely adorable, he underscored. “And you’re what? After me for my cookware?”
“Hey, you’ve got some pretty snazzy pots at the restaurant,” she deadpanned.
“Now I know what to buy you for Christmas.” Growing serious, he looked at her for a long moment. “You know I love you, don’t you?”
“I kind of figured that out when you gave me the ring.” The smile on her lips rose into her eyes. “I love you, too.”
He didn’t say anything in response. Instead, he picked her up into his arms and carried her to his bedroom. Trevor had always been a firm believer that actions spoke louder than words.
Chapter Twelve
No rest for the wicked, Venus thought.
But then, she really didn’t want any. Not tonight. She spent the rest of the night either making love with Trevor, or resting after the fact, curled up against him and feeling incredibly content.
Each time one of them began to doze off, the other would wind up arousing them either through a caress, or a tender kiss innocently planted on a cheek, a forehead or the top of a head.
It took very little to set either one of them off. She should have been exhausted. Instead, she was thrilled and raring to go with very little encouragement.
Maybe it had to do with the wedding they’d attended, or the proposal that had arisen from it. Whatever the reason, they couldn’t seem to get enough of one another tonight.
In the beginning, Venus thought it was only her, because she was experiencing something singularly wonderful. But after the second time, as she paused to regroup, she realized that it was the same for Trevor. Not ten minutes after they’d reached the highest peak, he was lightly outlining her ear with his tongue, sending waves of hot shivers down her spine, magically renewing her energy levels.
Twisting, Venus turned into him, moving so that her body wound up on top of his. From her vantage point, she smiled down into his face. “I don’t remember ever being this happy.”
“Said the woman whose memory only goes back for a total of seventy-three days.”
That he remembered the number of days touched her deeply. She wondered if all men were that thoughtful, that caring. “My memory might not go back any further than that, but there’s this feeling I have—”
Her weight hardly pinned him down, but all he raised was his head to look at her. “Yes?”
“This feeling that I’ve never been this happy, never felt this good before.” For a moment, she folded her hands on his chest and rested her chin there, her eyes on his. “I can’t really explain it, it’s just something I feel in my bones. A ‘given’ for lack of a better term.” She paused, searching for the right words. “And it makes me afraid.”
His eyes narrowed as he tried to follow her train of thought. “Afraid?”
She nodded, the ends of her red hair moving ever so softly along his bare chest, tickling him. “Afraid that I’m too happy. Isn’t there supposed to be some kind of balance in the universe? A yin followed by a yang?”
It amazed him the things she remembered when she couldn’t remember her own name. “Maybe this is the ‘yang.’ Maybe you’ve already had the ‘yin.’”
That didn’t seem right to her. “But—”
He threw her a curveball. “You’re almost perfect, you know.”
Her mood switching to playful, Venus decided to rise to the bait. “Almost?”
He nodded. “But sometimes, you think too much. Talk too much.”
Before she had a chance to refute his statement or defend herself, Trevor framed her face with his hands and brought his mouth up to hers, kissing her hard. Melting away her concerns until all that was left was an overwhelming desire to become one with him again. To make love with him until they reached utter exhaustion.
“You know—” her words came in short spurts, her lungs rapidly depleting their air supply “—I think we’re setting some kind of a record here.”
He paused for a moment, cupping her cheek. “In order to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, there has to be a third, disinterested party keeping tally.” Brushing a kiss against her lips, he laughed softly. “I doubt anyone seeing you like this could remain disinterested for more than five seconds.” He reconsidered the assessment. “Less.”
Raising her head, she shook it, sending her hair flying like a curtain of fire. “I don’t want a third party, disinterested or otherwise, anywhere near us when we make love.”
His laugh filled the apartment. “Why, Venus, you’re shy.”
She lowered her head again, her face inches from his. When she spoke, her lips all but brushed against his. “Now who’s talking too much?”
He felt his gut tightening. What was it about this woman that made him want her so? “You’re absolutely right. Why am I talking when my mouth could be doing something far more rewarding?”
And with that, his lips began to move down along the smooth expanse of her throat, working their way down her breasts, leaving reignited flames in their wake. Venus made no effort to conceal how crazy he made her. She twisted and turned against him, absorbing the sensations he created within her.
The evening continued. They continued. She lost track of how many times they wound up making love, lost track of everything except the happiness that was all but exploding in her veins, even hours after they drifted into a semisleep in each other’s arms.
The sound of stealthlike movement registered in some far-away region of her brain, which seemed to fall into gear long before the rest of her did. With great reluctance, she pried her eyes open.
She lay facedown on a pillow. Daylight pushed its way into Trevor’s bedroom, reaching the corners and painting them gold. Turning her head toward the sound, Venus blinked twice before focusing on the figure on the far side of the room.
Trevor.
He was hunting for socks in the bureau.
“You’re up,” she murmured. “And dressed.”
The sound of her voice drew a rueful smile from him as he looked in her direction. “I’m sorry, I tried not to wake you.”
Unless he was sneaking off to see another woman, she couldn’t see why he shouldn’t wake her. Exhaustion had finally caught up with her. She gave herself two more minutes.
“What time is it?”
“Nine.”
That did it for her. Any thoughts of lingering evaporated. Venus bolted upright. “Nine? Aren’t we supposed to be at work?”
He tried not to notice that she was sitting up in bed, nude except for the sheet pooling around her hips. Trevor could feel his blood heating again. Instantly. He wouldn’t have thought that possible, not after the night they had just shared. He was surprised he had any energy left to react.
But he obviously did because he wanted to pull the sheet from her, wanted to shed the clothes he’d just put on and make love to her slowly, with precision instead of just heat.
Trevor forced himself to study the headboard behind her back. “Go back to sleep, Venus. You can have the day off.”
Rather than please her, favoritism bothered her. Was that something about her character? Or was that part of the new person she was? “You’re not taking the day off,” she pointed out. No one took a day off and then wore a t
ie.
“I’m the boss.”
She inclined her head. “And I’m not supposed to get preferential treatment,” she reminded him.
She didn’t want the staff at Kate’s Kitchen to think that she was sleeping with the boss to get ahead. She liked the people she worked with and they seemed to like her. Venus didn’t want anything getting in the way of that.
Trevor laughed, crossing back to the bed. He stole a quick kiss. “Too late for that. Unless you think what went on last night happens between me and all my employees.”
She grinned. She trusted him. Without being told, she knew in her heart that Trevor wouldn’t cheat on her, wouldn’t take advantage of any woman who worked with him. “I wouldn’t have thought that Emilio was your type,” she deadpanned.
He tossed a pillow at her. “If you’re not going back to sleep, wise guy, put something on before I forget all my newly formed good intentions and go back to having my way with you.”
She grinned. “Certainly don’t know your way around a proper threat, do you?” If anything, his words made her want to goad him on. Tucking the sheet around herself, she slid to the edge of the bed. “I’m going to have to stop at your parents’ house for a change of clothes. I don’t think a strapless evening gown is the proper outfit to wear under an apron.”
“Right now,” he said, catching her in his arms and dragging her up to her feet, savoring the feel of her body, “I’d like to see you wearing nothing beneath the apron but an inviting smile.”
Venus laughed, draping her arms around his neck. “That can be arranged,” she told him, mischief gleaming in her eyes. “Tonight.” She whispered the last word like a seductive promise.
She’d certainly blossomed these last two months, he couldn’t help thinking. Her transformation had gone from her being an uncertain young woman to one who grabbed on to the life she had with both hands.
And she’d caused a change to come about in him, as well. She’d broadened his life, made him think beyond menus and profitable quarters. He still worked hard, still aimed for success, but now there was a bigger reason. Now he wanted to do it for her.
For them.
He wanted, more than anything, to make certain there was a future waiting for them—and the family to come. He might have rescued her from the sea, but she had certainly rescued him from the narrow world in which he’d unconsciously imprisoned himself.
“It’s a date,” he whispered back, brushing his lips against hers quickly.
He fought the temptation to make love to her again. But if he gave in, if he allowed himself even the most fleeting taste of her lips, it would only lead to another. And another. And they both knew where that led.
Taking her hand, he gently pulled Venus out of the bed. Then, instead of letting go, he looked down at her hand. Specifically at the third finger. His mouth curved in satisfaction.
“Looks like it’s still there,” he murmured, raising his eyes to hers.
What an odd thing to say, she thought. “Did you think I’d lose it?”
“No, I was just afraid that I’d imagined the whole thing. That you didn’t say yes.”
“I still don’t know me very well,” she confessed, “but I’m fairly certain I’m not stupid. And letting someone like you slip away would be one of the stupidest things a person could do.”
“Saying no to me would be the height of stupidity.”
The strange, disembodied male voice rose out of nowhere and echoed in her head. For a moment, she was afraid she was hallucinating. And then she became aware of Trevor’s arms around her. A feeling of well-being pervaded through her, blocking out the effect generated by the voice.
Trevor looked at her, concerned. She’d gone pale again. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “Did you remember something?”
“No…” She shook her head. Rather than try to replay the voice in her head, she deliberately blocked it. “It was just that annoying feeling of déjà vu, here for a second, then gone again.”
Instinct guided her. She didn’t want to explore where the voice had come from, or who it belonged to, afraid that the answers might undo her. Undo her new world. She’d crossed a line recently, no longer wanting to know who she’d been before. Only wanting to savor who she was now. Trevor’s fiancée.
Venus glanced at the dress on the floor. The dress he had peeled off her so slowly last night, she thought she’d explode, consumed by desire, before he finally got it off her. “Um, won’t your parents say something about my being in the same outfit as yesterday?”
He grinned. At times she was wonderfully innocent. He liked the fact that she cared about what his parents thought of her. He liked everything about her.
He kissed her forehead with deep affection. “I think by now they’ve noticed that you didn’t come home last night and they’ve put two and two together.”
A smile played on her lips. A glimmer of mischief entered her eyes. “More like one and one.”
Bending down, Trevor picked up the dress and handed it to her with more than a trace of reluctance. “Don’t tempt me, Venus. I’m already running late.”
Venus let the dress he’d handed her slip through her fingers back down to the floor. Shedding the sheet that still clung to her, she stepped forward and pressed her nude body against his, causing delicious sensations to race through her. Anticipation had brought them up to yet another, higher plateau.
The smile on her lips and in her eyes was seduction itself. “Well, since you’re already running late, what’s another few minutes?”
Oh, the hell with it, he thought. He didn’t have to get in early. They didn’t open until eleven-thirty. Emilio knew what to do and had said more than once he’d be willing to jump in if needed.
“A few minutes?” he echoed, taking her face between his hands.
His heart swelled. She’d breeched an area that he thought would never be touched again. When his mother had died in the plane crash, he had been the most devastated. Out of the four of them, he had been the one who’d withdrawn the most, grieved the hardest. Felt abandoned. His heart had frozen in self-defense. Kate had done her best, but there was always a part of him that had been held in reserve, a part of him that refused to become involved.
That part was gone now, merged with the rest of him. He loved this woman completely and utterly to the bottom of his soul. And though she had said yes to him, his vulnerability worried him even though he could no longer do anything about it.
“Are you telling me that I’m too fast?”
“No,” she breathed. “You’re just right.” Her eyes shone as she told him how she felt. “You’re the perfect lover.”
“You,” he informed her, kissing her once, then twice, and then again, heating more with each pass of his mouth, “have nothing to compare it to.”
She twined her arms around his neck, bending into him, into the wonder that his mouth created all through her. She would have thought this was their first time. Instead of the best time, she amended silently, because that was what it seemed like. Each time was better than the last. Improving on perfection.
“Don’t have to,” she asserted. “Some things you just know. Some things fall into the realm of absolute.”
She seemed so serious, he would have laughed if it wouldn’t have hurt her feelings. God, but he wanted her. Forever and always. “Is that so?”
“That’s so.” Pulling back after more passionate kisses, she pretended to frown slightly. “Am I going to have to rip your clothes off your body, or are you going to get naked voluntarily?”
“Voluntarily.” Trevor chuckled as he loosened his tie.
But Venus shook her head. “Too slow,” she declared. To make her point, she yanked his tie off the rest of the way, tossing it on the floor. Her eyes never left his. What he saw there quickened his gut. The next moment, she was pushing his jacket off his shoulders and down his arms. Even the sound of her breathing, audible and shallow, had his pulse accelerating.
“Nothi
ng like a shy, retiring woman to turn me on,” he told her.
She stopped suddenly, raising her eyes to his. Questions shot out of nowhere, filling her head. “Have there been many? Before me,” she clarified, then strung the words together to make more sense. “Have there been many women in your life before me?”
He pulled his arms free of the jacket, and the shirt she’d unbuttoned simultaneously, sending them to the floor in a heap. As he tilted her head back with his hand, his mouth captured hers again. The kiss was deep and seemingly endless.
“None that I can remember,” he told her honestly when he finally drew back just a little.
And it was true. The women he’d been with, the ones he’d taken to his bed in hopes of getting close to, in hopes of actually feeling something for, just blended together in his head, one patchwork quilt of faces all merging into one.
No one stood out in his mind but her.
“Not even Alicia?”
“Not even Alicia,” he replied.
Her mouth curved against his just before she returned to the kiss. “Nice to know.”
It took them another forty-five minutes before they finally made it out the door, temporarily sated. And then another half hour to reach his parents’ house.
It would have been faster, but Murphy’s Law had gone into effect and there had been an accident on the road, a truck versus an SUV. Police cars, ambulances and fire trucks had all been summoned to the scene, all doing their share to impede the flow of traffic. Rather than flow, the traffic didn’t even trickle. As a result, everything came to a near standstill and he was too embroiled to take an alternate route.
“We’re really going to be late,” Venus commented, worried.
He spared her a glance. “I don’t regret a second of it.”
The smile he saw cross her lips made everything worth it.
As Trevor finally turned onto the cul de sac where his parents’ house was located, he automatically glanced toward their driveway to see if someone was home. From the look of it, everyone was home. His mother, his father and his sister.
[Kate's Boys 02] - The Bride With No Name Page 12
