He turned on the faucet and let the water run until it was cool, then filled a glass and drank it dry; filled it again, and did the same.When he put it down empty, his hand was shaking.He walked into his bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed.
The intense quiet assailed him and for the first time since Casey had grabbed his arm in the airport and turned the light back on in his world, he let himself think of the brief period of time when he’d thought she was dead.Uppermost had been the overwhelming sense of pain and loss, but there’d also been regret.Regret that their lives had been so screwed up when they met.Regret that he’d never said aloud what he knew in his heart to be true.
A shuddering breath slid up and out of his throat.He’d been given a second chance, and he wasn’t going to waste precious time again.Footsteps sounded on the stairs outside.He tensed.It was Casey.The front door opened and he heard her call out.
“Ryder?”
He stood.For him, there was no turning back.
“Oh, there you are!It was so quiet I didn’t think you were here.”
He paused in the doorway, staring at her and memorizing the way she looked and the way she moved.Her long, black hair was pinned up off her neck and slightly tousled from travel.Her eyes were wide and still a little shocked, her lips looked tender, almost bruised, as if she’d bitten them to keep from crying, which he supposed she had.He watched as she absently brushed at a speck on her suit.Red was a power color, she’d told him.He could definitely agree.She held a power over him he couldn’t ignore.
When she stepped out of her shoes and bent down to pick them up, the hem of her skirt slid even higher up her legs, accentuating their length.His heart filled.That woman was his wife.
“Casey.”
She glanced up, her shoes still in her hand.
“I need to tell you something.”
That’s right!He’d told her the day she left that when she got back they needed to talk.Her heart skipped a beat as she waited for him to continue.Instead, he started toward her.
“Today, when I thought I’d lost you, do you know what I regretted most?”
She shook her head, her eyes widening as he cupped her cheek.
“That I hadn’t told you the truth about how I felt.”His gaze bored into hers.“I know what I’m going to say wasn’t part of our bargain, but dammit, sometimes things change.I am sick and tired of pretending I’m satisfied with being your husband in name only.I love you, lady.I want to lie with you, make love with you.I don’t want another night to pass without holding you in my arms.If you can’t handle this, then say so, because in about three seconds, it’ll be too late.”
Casey’s eyes were full of tears as she dropped her shoes and put her arms around his neck.“Why waste three seconds when the answer is yes… a thousand times yes?”
Ryder reached behind her and locked the door, then her feet left the floor.“Your place or mine?”
“Anywhere, Ryder, as long as you’re there.”
He headed for his bedroom with her in his arms.When he put her down, his hands went straight to the buttons on her suit.His voice was shaking.“God give me strength,” he whispered, fumbling as he tried to push buttons through holes.
“Let me,” Casey said, and finished what he’d been trying to do.
She walked toward the sliding glass doors, pulling shut the drapes as she dropped the jacket of her suit on a nearby chair.On her way back to Ryder she stepped out of her skirt.
He wasn’t prepared for the woman beneath the suit; not the wisp of red bra, the matching bikini panties, the long, silk stockings or the black lace garter belt holding them up.And this time, when he swept her off her feet, he wrapped her legs around his waist and sank down onto the bed with her still in his arms.
He nuzzled the curve of her neck, savoring the joy of being able to hold her, inhaling the faint but lingering scent of her perfume, testing the soft crush of her breasts against his chest, and knowing that the tight draw of his own muscles next to that wisp of red silk between her legs was becoming difficult to ignore.He held her close, savoring the joy of knowing she was still alive.
“Today I rode a roller coaster into hell and came out with an angel in my arms.I don’t know why we were given a second chance, but I don’t intend to waste it.”
Her arms tightened around his neck as she rained brief, tiny kisses along the side of his cheek and his chin.He grabbed her face, gazing into her eyes and watching them fill with tears until he thought he could see all the way to her soul.
“I feel like I’m about to make love to a ghost.I can’t believe I’m holding you, feeling your breath on my cheek, your arms around my neck.I must be the luckiest man in the world.”
Casey’s breath snagged on a sob.“I’m the one who got lucky.The day I got lost in the flatlands and found you in Sonny’s Bar was the day my life began to change.You’ve stood with me.You’ve stood by me.I will never be able to repay you for what you’ve already done in my name.”
“Hell, darlin’, I don’t want your money.I want your love.”
“Then take it, Ryder.It’s yours.”
He rolled until she was lying beneath him in those bits of red-and-black lace.With an impatient snap, he undid the clasps on her garter belt and rolled down her stockings, silken inch at a time.
