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His lips twisted into a semblance of a smile. “Yes. They have a beautiful ranch on the outskirts of town. They breed German shepherds, and she quilts. He has a good job, and they’re the picture of a stable, loving home.”
“But you don’t buy it.”
“No. She cries sometimes when I call, and she’s too quiet other times.” He paused and shifted his legs, his gaze drifting to the play-by-play on the TV, though she knew he wasn’t seeing it. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s me. If along the way, he stopped being the problem, and now I’m the one who makes her sad. I’m a living, breathing reminder of when her husband beat her.”
“You never let her forget.”
“How could I? I never forgot. Not for a minute. I still see her bruises.” He stopped as she lowered her gaze to her lap. “Yeah, I froze last night, seeing yours. Everything reminds me. Thinking of some guy doing anything to you—”
“The situation with us was different. It was mostly consensual, and he was never violent. Not once.”
“I didn’t plan to react the way I did outside. But when his fist came up to bang on the door, I couldn’t see straight. I couldn’t control my rage either.” He smiled again, but tha
t smile was as icy as the snow falling outside. “Guess that adage about the apple never falling too far from the tree is right, even when it’s not your own damn tree.”
“Now you’re talking BS. You’d never hurt me. God, I all but asked you to spank me, and you wouldn’t do it. It’s a different kind of pain, but you won’t even cause me that much.” She framed his face in her palms. “You overreacted, yes, but your heart was in the right place. It’s always in the right place, just like it’s been every day since you first walked in my bar. Just like when you helped me catch up in chemistry class when I kept falling asleep.”
After a long pause, he cleared his throat. “I don’t wear a halo well. Especially when it’s undeserved.”
“Says who?”
“I wanted you. Then, now.” His direct blue gaze sliced through her, leaving her quivering inside. “I knew you were taken, and it didn’t stop me. Christ, I nearly tore you apart today.”
“You hear me complaining?”
“No. But I don’t want to be like him. I don’t want you to go along.”
Her face flared with heat. “What part of today made you think I was going along? I was fully involved, I assure you. I’ll be fully involved the next time and the time after that. You’d be surprised how fast you see the error of your ways when you walk into your living room and see your boyfriend inside one woman, his face in another’s lap, and a third one getting herself off a few feet away.”
“Kylie, wait.” When she started to rise, he circled his fingers around her wrist to hold her still. “I got hit in the head today. Don’t listen to me.”
She shook her head and laughed. “Nice try.”
“I’m sorry if I questioned your ability to make up your own mind. I guess I’m just a little amazed that you’re here with me. That there’s nothing standing in our way.”
Her cheeks warmed again for an altogether different reason. “Jumping out of one relationship and right into another wouldn’t be too smart,” she said, well aware she already had.
Casual sex didn’t enter the conversation when it came to Justin Norton.
“So we won’t call it a relationship. We’ll call it a…situation.”
She laughed again. Being with him made her happy, and denying it wouldn’t do either of them any favors. “Right. That sounds much better.” Her stomach growled, and she smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. All my appetites are huge.”
Now it was his turn to laugh. He rolled up her shirt and leaned down to kiss her belly. Her muscles fluttered under his lips, and he turned his head to smile up at her, his face alight. “I’ll satisfy all of them, don’t worry.”
“You’re so gorgeous. I never looked at you long enough before,” she whispered, brushing his tangled hair back from his forehead. “You’re going to get a swelled head if I keep this up.”
“Oh, that’s already taken care of. Just not the one you’re thinking about.” He ground his hips against her ass, and she stifled a sigh at the feel of his thick length. “But before we get back to that, we have a night-before-Thanksgiving feast to prepare.”
“We sure do.” She climbed off his lap and stuck her hand in his as he got to his feet. “So…frozen dinners, huh?”
“We’ll do better than that. I already know what I’m eating for dessert.”
She shivered and pulled him up the hall toward the kitchen. “Would you look at that? I’m suddenly in a big hurry to get this meal finished.”
Justin had never enjoyed a feast of fried shrimp, crackers and cheese, fruit, and Cobb salad before. At least not all in one meal. His refrigerator had definitely netted more than just pizza, though he had no idea where the seafood had come from. The Cobb salad lacked bleu cheese, and the apples were tart enough to wear away his fillings, but all in all, their dinner was delicious.
They’d worked their way through one bottle of wine and were now uncorking the second, though Kylie had drunk the lion’s share of the first. She’d started feeling some pain earlier, but if he wasn’t mistaken, she wasn’t feeling any now.
