by Rhian Cahill
He complied because he had no choice. His mind was one step behind his body. Slipping a knee between hers, West nudged until Kels parted her legs farther and gave him the room he needed to settle over her completely. They fit perfectly. At least it seemed that way to him. Then again, he’d waited so long to be with her he wouldn’t care even if they didn’t match in all the right places.
When they finally connected, skin to skin, from chest to feet, he held still. He wanted to take one second—only one—to savour the feel of Kels beneath him. She was soft where he was hard, and the silkiness of her skin where it pressed against his made him think of warm honey. Why, he hadn’t a clue, but think it he did.
This woman did things to him no one else ever had. It wasn’t just his body that reacted to her, his mind did too, thoughts and ideas inspired by nobody but Kelsey always filled his head when she was around. And when she wasn’t. He’d never wanted to do better, be better, for anybody but her. If she’d only give him a chance, he’d spend the rest of his life being the best at everything for her.
Kelsey didn’t think she’d drawn a full breath since West had taken off her clothes. The way he’d cherished each new section of flesh he’d uncovered and those teasing tugs on her belly ring had stolen her ability to think as well as breathe. He made her feel sexy and beautiful and desirable in a way Bry never had. Not that she should or was comparing them. They were so different and not just in the way they made her feel.
Bry was safe, comfortable, like slipping on a pair of old running shoes. Whereas West was daring, sexy beyond belief and a little disturbing, like wearing a pair of five-inch red stilettos. Except there were moments when West made her feel so content to be near him that she had to wonder if he couldn’t give her what she’d sought from Bry all those years ago. Why she was thinking any of this while they lay skin on skin for the first time in over a decade was anyone’s guess.
She didn’t need to worry about thinking anymore when West bucked his hips and distracted her with the hot, heavy slide of his cock over her sex. Her muscles contracted and moisture coated her folds as the area throbbed with need. She’d never felt this close to coming with so little stimulation. It always took concentration on her part—concerted effort on her partner’s—to get her there.
Except with West.
With him, all it took was a look. Kelsey didn’t know whether to be embarrassed by how easy she was where he was concerned or thrilled that he could give her pleasure without thought or effort. Not wanting to be the only one experiencing this almost overwhelming rush to the finish line, she set her hands and fingers in motion. She started with his back and explored the smooth contours of muscle over bone, the broad sweep of his shoulders and then down his spine to the taut globes of his arse.
“God. That feels so good. Don’t stop, Kels. Touch me everywhere.”
West’s panted words urged her on. She wanted to stroke every inch of him, but the need pulsing between her thighs grew more demanding with each beat, and she knew touching him wasn’t going to be enough. Not right now.
Kelsey rolled her hips, thrust up and down with an urgency that increased the more she did it. His legs slipped deeper between hers and the crown of his cock nestled its way inside her folds to nudge her opening. On reflex, her legs widened and her pelvis lifted, causing him to sink inside the barest of millimetres. But it was enough to send her into a need so frenzied her vision blurred, her hips bucked and her nails dug into the flesh of his arse cheeks.
“Kels. Slow down.”
“No.” She dug her fingers in harder, used her feet to brace herself against the bed and drove herself onto his length as far as she could.
“Fuck!”
It was the only warning she got before West plunged down and impaled her completely.
For a split second, they froze. Kelsey didn’t even breathe. Then everything happened at once. West moved, withdrew on a slow glide that instantly picked up speed, then drove back in again. She rose to meet him, digging her feet into the mattress as she did. He surged in and out, each stroke harder and faster than the last until she had no choice but to just hold on for the ride.
She wrapped her legs around his hips, her arms around his shoulders, and bowed her back to lift her hips to his. The new position sent him deeper, and the change of angle meant his cock brushed over the sensitive spot inside that guaranteed she’d find release.
He rose onto his elbows and stared down at her with eyes gone black. His jaw was firm, a muscle twitched along the right side, and his nostrils flared wide as he drew in ragged breaths.
“I want you with me,” he puffed out. “I can’t last much longer.”
Kelsey wasn’t worried he’d come without her. The tightness in her lower belly and the pulsing tingle in her clit signalled she wouldn’t last much longer either. And when West leaned to one side and slipped a hand between them to stroke the bundle of nerves gone taut with need, he barely had to touch her to send her flying.
The orgasm ripped through her. It wasn’t a gradual wave of release. It was a full-body slam. Head to toe in one simultaneous discharge of energy. Her back arched as every part of her went rigid for a split second before she dissolved into a liquid heat so intense she lost touch with reality for a moment.
West’s control seemed to snap in that instant. He grabbed the back of her thighs and pulled them wider as he pistoned his hips, plunging his cock in and out until he broke. His body jerked, his rhythm lost as he came. The growl he emitted through clenched teeth was one of pleasure and pain that she remembered from their first time.
Memories swamped her, and with her emotions so recently bombarded, Kelsey couldn’t fight the tears stinging her eyes. They leaked from the corners even though she squeezed her eyes shut so tight she saw stars.
“Kelsey?” West’s voice was hoarse.
She didn’t open her eyes. Couldn’t let him see the regret and longing—the guilt—she knew would be reflected there. Turning her head, she burrowed her face against his neck. He still covered her, remained buried inside, but he held his weight on his arms as he bracketed her head with his hands and forced her to face him.
“Open your eyes.” His hands tightened, but not painfully. “Look at me. Please.”
It was the please that got her. Slowly, she raised her eyelids and met his gaze.
“Did I hurt you?”
Kelsey shook her head.
“Then why are you crying? Do you regret what we just did already?”
Why did he sound like he expected her to regret this? Even if she had to wait another ten years, or worse, never touched him again, she’d never regret making love with West. “No.”
“Then why the tears? Talk to me.”
She wasn’t sure herself so how could she explain to him the maelstrom of emotions currently turning her insides into a tornado?
West eased out of Kelsey and rolled to the side, taking her with him so she lay across his chest, her head resting on his shoulder. “Talk to me,” he murmured into her hair.
He stroked his hands up and down her back, the action designed to soothe her and the sudden anxiety that he’d fucked up royally—again—ripping through his gut.
“Kels?”
She shifted, buried her face against his neck, drew in a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “I don’t know.”
Huh? “You don’t know why you’re crying?” How could she not know?
She shook her head, the soft strands of her hair tickling his chin, catching in his stubble.
“Something must have made you cry. Are you sure I didn’t hurt you? I was a little rough.” He’d been desperate at the end there, and he was afraid his need had caused him to take her too hard—push her too far.
“No. You didn’t hurt me.” Kelsey tried to pull away but he tightened his grip and held her close.
“Stay. Let me hold you a little while.”
/> West held his breath until she relaxed against him. He didn’t speak, didn’t want to risk her bolting if he said the wrong thing. He’d wait her out. She’d talk to him eventually. At least he hoped she would.
The phone beside the bed rang, disturbing the strained silence surrounding them. Kelsey pressed her hand to his chest and pushed, but he didn’t let her go.
“I should get that,” she said, her lips moving over his skin and sending chills down his spine.
“Let your machine pick it up.” West wanted to wrap his hands around the neck of the person on the other end of the phone. “It’s barely daylight. Who the hell rings at this time of the morning?”
“Nobody. Which is why I should answer. It could be an emergency.”
There was nothing urgent enough other than death to warrant a dawn phone call, but he conceded her point. “Maybe. If they leave a message and it is, you can get back to them. If not we can stay right where we are.”
Kelsey’s voice echoed down the hallway and into the room, her message short and to the point, followed by the beep and then the last person West wanted to hear today of all days spoke.
“Kelsey. Sorry to ring so early, but I knew you wouldn’t mind. Mum had a bad night. She’s confused and asking for you. She won’t let anyone else near her. Do you think you can drop into the home and settle her down this morning? She doesn’t recognise me or I’d calm her myself. If you get this in the next thirty minutes ring me.” The house went as silent as a tomb when Bry hung up.
Kelsey had stiffened in West’s arms the second Bry’s voice had blasted through the machine, and West knew there would be nothing he could do or say right now that would do him any favours. So when she pushed out of his arms and turned away to fling her legs off the bed and stand, he let her go without a fight.
“I have to go.” She didn’t look at him as she made her way over to the bathroom.
“I know.” He sat up, removed the condom hanging from his now limp dick and wrapped it in a tissue from the box beside the bed.
“Can you let yourself out?” she asked without turning around.
He’d been dismissed. And while that possibility had lurked in the back of his mind, to actually hear Kels say those words—to see her dismiss him without a second thought as she ran to help her ex—cut so deeply that West looked down to check there wasn’t a gaping hole in his gut. She was the only person who could kill him with a few words or none at all.
“West?”
He glanced up and met her gaze. “Yeah, I’ll let myself out.”
There must have been something in his voice or his expression, because she came back to the bed and reached out to stroke her fingers through his hair. “I have to go. Marjorie needs—”
West reached up and placed two fingers over her lips. “It’s okay. Go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Are you sure?” She spoke against his fingers, the warmth of her breath caressing his skin sending a shiver down his spine.
“Yes.” He removed his hand and used both hands on her hips to turn her around and point her in the direction of the bathroom again. “Go. Do what you have to.”
She glanced over her shoulder once before nodding and making her way across the room again. When the door closed between them, West let out a breath and flopped back on the bed. He stared at the ceiling. This wasn’t the way he wanted to end their first time together, but he couldn’t demand she not go no matter how much he wanted to. He’d love to stay until she came out of the bathroom except he didn’t think that would do his cause any good either.
With a sigh, he dragged himself off the bed and gathered up his clothes and wallet. He grabbed the used condom and headed to the kitchen where he quickly trashed the rubber, got dressed and scooped up his keys. His shoes were in the living room, and once he had those on he was out of reasons not to leave. Heart heavy in his chest, he made his way to the front door. But he couldn’t resist one last glance down the hallway before he opened the door and walked out.
Chapter Eight
Kelsey rushed into the nursing home where Bry met her before she’d taken more than three steps into the foyer.
“Thank God, you’re here,” he said as he reached for her hand and pulled her into a quick hug.
“How is she?” Kelsey asked as she slipped from his embrace.
“Not good.” He led her down the brightly lit hallway. “They were going to sedate her if you didn’t get here soon.”
“I got here as quickly as I could.” Guilt swamped her.
“Oh, I know, I wasn’t having a go at you.” Bry glanced at her. “Did I wake you?”
“Ah, no. I was up.” Kelsey felt her cheeks heat as she recalled exactly what she’d been doing when he rang. “I was, um, in the shower.”
“Right. Well, I’m just so grateful that you came.” He stopped her outside his mother’s room and Kelsey could hear the older woman calling her name from the other side of the closed door, but Bry grabbed her hand before she could push her way inside. “Wait a second. When was the last time you saw mum?”
She had to think for a moment. She’d meant to keep up her visits when she’d separated from Bry, and she had in the beginning, but with setting up her new life and the fact that Marjorie rarely remembered anyone nowadays, Kelsey had let those visits slide. “A couple of months.” She winced. “Maybe six.”
“Try not to be shocked by her appearance. She’s deteriorated rapidly in the last few weeks. Her weight is down and her lucid episodes are more and more infrequent.”
“Okay.”
Bry sighed. “She thinks we’re still married, Kelsey.”
“Oh.” The last time she’d seen Marjorie they’d spoken about the divorce and Marjorie had voiced her disappointment that Bry and Kelsey couldn’t make it work. Maybe her lack of memory was a good thing. At least now her ex-mother-in-law wouldn’t be sad to see her.
“I know it’s a lot to ask, but could you pretend we are while you’re in there? She doesn’t recognise me, so it’s not like you’ll have to be all over me or anything like that,” he quickly reassured her. “In fact, she thinks I’m a doctor who’s going to give her some horrible medicine or do something heinous to her so I won’t come in at all if that’s all right with you.”
Kelsey looked at Bry for the first time since she arrived. Really looked at him. His cheeks were hollow and the bags under his eyes were a deep, dark-blue-black that made him look as though he hadn’t slept in weeks. He’d lost weight too. She placed her hand on his arm and gave him a gentle squeeze. “It’s fine. I’ll see if I can get her settled.”
“Thank you.” His smile was a bare stretch of his lips and failed to convey any real happiness.
She smiled a sad smile of her own as she let go and turned to face his mother’s door. Taking a deep breath, Kelsey tried to calm her nerves and put a genuine smile on her face. With her emotions fortified and her game face on she pushed open the door and greeted the woman who’d been her surrogate mother for most of her adult life.
“Marjorie. I hear you’re giving everyone a hard time.”
“Kelsey? Where have you been?” Her former mother-in-law demanded as she rushed towards Kelsey and threw her thin arms around Kelsey’s neck.
Kelsey did the only thing she could. She slipped her own arms around Marjorie’s frail body and pulled her close. Closing her eyes, she held on, comforting herself and the older woman for long moments.
When Kelsey opened her eyes, she saw the staff had left them alone at some point, and with care, she eased Marjorie out of her arms and over to the bed. “Come on. Let’s get you back into bed.”
“Where’s that son of mine? Why isn’t he here with you? I don’t know why you ever married that no good fool, but I’m so glad that you did, because if it wasn’t for you I’d never see anyone besides those horrible doctors and nurses who want to perform weird me
dical experiments on me.” Marjorie complained the whole time Kelsey helped her onto the bed and tucked her in.
“They’re not going to experiment on you. They’re trying to make you feel better, not worse,” Kelsey soothed.
“Hmph. That’s what they tell you,” Marjorie mumbled as she snuggled down under the blankets.
Kelsey smiled. Marjorie’s memory might have gone, but her imagination was still as fanciful as when she’d been a young woman writing fiction novels.
“Want me to read to you?” Kelsey knew that was one thing that her former mother-in-law still enjoyed even in her deteriorated mental state. Well, at least she had when Kelsey had been here last.
“Oh. Yes. Read to me.”
The book on Marjorie’s bedside table had a bookmark sticking out of the middle. When Kelsey picked it up she discovered someone—probably Bry—had been reading Marjorie one of her own early works. Smiling, she dragged over the armchair and took a seat. “I’ll start where you finished off.”
She was barely a page in when Marjorie’s eyelids started to droop. And by the time Kelsey got to the bottom of the third page, Marjorie was sound asleep. Not wanting to risk stopping too soon, she kept reading for a few more pages.
The door creaked open behind her and she turned to see Bry poking his head through the small opening. “She asleep?” he whispered.
“Yeah.” Kelsey placed the bookmark back where she’d started to read, figuring Marjorie wouldn’t remember her reading that part and stood. “We should leave her to rest.”
Bry backed out into the hallway as Kelsey moved towards the door. With one final look over her shoulder to assure herself Marjorie was covered, Kelsey exited the room, making sure the door didn’t make a sound as it closed behind her. Neither of them spoke as they made their way along the corridor to the family room set aside for residents and their guests.
“Thank you for coming,” Bry said as he held the door open for her.
“Bry why didn’t you tell me she was getting worse?” Kelsey hoped their divorce hadn’t given him the impression she no longer cared about his mother. Or him.
