Hallie’s hands plopped onto her hips. “Oh yes,yourprecious bed. How could I forget it? Especially when I was foolishly trying, with all this wifely care, to lure my husband back into it!”
“What?”
“You are the most stubborn, bull-headed, inconsiderate man I have ever met. Why I would even try to make this marriage real is beyond me!” Her hand waved in the air with each shouted word. “I don’t know why I was thinking you—”
Kit crossed the room and had a grip on her waving wrist before she could finish. His eyes bored into hers. “What were you thinking?”
“Nothing! Let go.”
“Hallie, what did you want?”
“Forget it!” She tried to pulled her hand away.
He wasn’t going to let her go, not until he heard her say exactly what she meant by “luring” her husband. She pulled her hand again, and he wrapped his arms around her, pinning her to his chest so she couldn’t get away. Her hair fell over his arms. She wiggled like a hooked worm, forcing him to tighten his hold. She looked up at him, glaring, and her hair spilled downward. He was lost.
His lips met hers, and she stilled. He released her hands, and suddenly they were around his neck, clinging to him the same way her lips clung to his. His hands closed over her bottom and he lifted her higher, held her even tighter against his body. Her soft breasts pillowed against his chest and her lips parted, an invitation to his tongue, so he tasted her.
As they kissed—deep, tongue-stroking kisses—he reveled in her flavor and his hold relaxed, letting her slide in slow, slow inches, back to the floor. Her arms wrapped tighter around his neck and her tongue mimicked his, swirling in the recesses of his hot mouth, licking and sending his want of her to new heights. Against his ribs her breasts rubbed slowly with the motion of their kiss, and hot, sweet desire bolted through him. His kiss moved from her sweet mouth to her ear, where he knew his tongue could make her quiver.
“You want me... don’t you? I can feel it.” His tongue flickered into her ear, dampening it, and then he whispered, “Tell me, sweet, tell me you want me. Tell me you’re not afraid...”
Hallie moaned, and pressed her ear harder against his open mouth.
“Tell me with words. I need to hear the words,” he said, breathing his plea into her ear.
“I want you... but I didn’t know how to show you. I—”
“Show me now,” he murmured against her damp lips, and kissed her with a kiss so powerful he ached with need. He filled his hands with clouds of her hair. He filled her mouth with his tongue, stroking her teeth, her mouth, her tongue. Her hands moved, tentatively, into small, stroking circles on the tight muscles of his back. Her tongue joined his, and she rubbed against him. He was in heaven.
No, he was in the kitchen. Kit pulled his mouth away and tilted her head up to his. Her eyes, closed in passion, opened as his thumbs lightly stroked her jaw.
“Are you sure?” he asked, praying that she would say yes.
Her eyes, misty and moist, gave him the answer he wanted, but as if to create no doubt, Hallie’s lips melted against his, her body moved against him, and her hands, wedged between their bodies, rubbed rhythmic circles on his chest.
Kit stilled her teasing hand, threaded it through his own and pulled her from the room. They ran upstairs, and once in their room, he pulled her against him, kissing her hard and using his back to shut the bedroom door. His hands covered her bottom and he lifted her, pressing her against his aching, hard length. Holding her against him, he walked to the bed and sat, draping Hallie over his arm while his mouth closed over a cloth-covered breast.
She moaned and threaded her hands through his hair, instinctively pulling him closer while she pressed her breast against his open mouth. He kissed her neck, along a trail to her mouth while his hands pulled the clothing from her shoulders.
He pulled away, driven to see her breasts bare. She saw the direction of his gaze and tried to cover herself.
“No,” he said. “Please, you’re beautiful. Let me look at you... all of you.” He set her on her feet and his fingers fumbled with her belt. He loosened it and shoved her clothing down to the floor, seeing for the first time the wonder of her bare body. Her beautiful white breasts were so full, he would have to use both hands to hold one. Never, never would he think of her as a young girl again. Her body was a woman’s body, and so stimulating that he could almost feel his blood run thick.
His eyes roved downward, past her small waist and full hips, to her legs, and he stopped. The inside of one thigh was scarred a bluish-red, and the mark ran from mid-thigh all the way down to her calf.
His eyes met hers. “What happened?”
Tears streamed from her eyes and she turned to the side, hiding the scar from his view and shaking with shame.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, and bent to try to pull up her clothes.
“No!” Kit tore the fabric from her hands, and pulled her to his chest just as her tears burst into sobs.
“The f-fire.I b-burned it.” Her fists knotted against his shirt front. “It’s s-so ugly. I’m sorry,” she whispered between crying breaths.
Kit brushed her tears away with his thumbs. “No, Hallie, it’s not ugly. It caught me by surprise, that’s all. I thought you came out of the fire unharmed. Why didn’t you tell me you’d been hurt?”
“Why? The doctor said no one but my husband would see it.” Hallie tried to pull away, but Kit held fast.
