Damn her. He crossed his arms and broke eye contact. “No.”
“Kurt,” she said, regaining his attention. She licked her lips and looked up at him through her lashes.“I’m sorry. I wanted this to be a grand gesture. To show you how serious I am.” She dropped her arms to her sides, elbows locked straight with her hands balled into fists. Her chin lifted and she looked him dead on, emerald eyes shining. “Goddammit, I love you.”
A low buzzing filled his ears and his chest floated, but…Caution. “How do you know? What’s changed?”
“Nothing. And everything.” Shelifted her hands and dropped them, huffing out a breath. “I think maybe I’ve always loved you, but I needed time to make sure it was real. To know that I could trust my feelings and fully commit. I was goddamned miserable after you left, but even after I realized what a fool I’d been to let you go, it took me a few more weeks to stop being a coward about it.”
“You’ve never been a coward.”
Shescoffed. “I’m scared out of my freaking mind. Maybe I always will be. My dad left me. My stepdad left me. Aaron…” Her hand waved away the man’s name as if she couldn’t bear to have the word in the air around her.
Kurt couldn’t blame her.
“I’m afraid you’ll leave me too,” she said, wounding him. “Not because I don’t trust you—you’re the most honorable man I’ve ever met—but because there’s a partof me that will probably always believe that no relationship with a man can be trusted. That men don’t stick around. Not with me, anyway.”
His stomach knotted.
“I’ve finally found the courage to put myself in your hands, to take a chance that you won’t ‘trample all over my heart’ either. I know you deserve better than an emotionally damaged woman who can’t give you a family, who is skepticalof marriage and happily ever after. But I’m hoping, maybe, you love me enough to overlook all that.”
She had given up everything to come here and lay herself bare to him. He understood how big a deal that was.
“Can we…” She swallowed hard and took a step closer, holding her arms across her ribs. “Can we try again?”
“Because you love me?” he asked, his voice gravelly, his stomach fluttering.
“Yes.” Her eyebrows lifted and her lips curled into the barest hint of a smile. “I love you.”
He could hardly breathe. “You might have to tell me a few more times before it sinks in.”
Her smile grew. “I will tell you every day for the rest of my life. I love you, I love you, I love you.”
He’d never be able to hear it enough, but that would do for now. Unable to suppress a grin, he closed thegap between them, hauling her into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist, almost knocking him off balance, and he kissed her, his whole body sighing as he sank into her lush mouth, drunk on her fresh-air scent and cinnamon taste.
In seconds, he had her pinned to the wall, holding her up with one arm as his other hand roamed. First order of business: jettison the damned parka. He unzippedthe monstrosity, pulled it off her arms, and then slid his hand under her fuzzy sweater, seeking the softness of her breast.
She moaned and attacked his mouth with her own, rolling her pelvis against him. With a little push, she freed her legs and stood, tugging off her scarf and cap with a crackle of static. Strands of her hair stood up straight, floating around her head in a halo. “I shouldhave worn a dress.”
“God, yes.” He kissed his way down her neck. “Always wear dresses.” She was beautiful in anything—and he knew for a fact she wasn’t a dress fan—but he was fully on board for easy access.
Unwilling to take his hands and mouth off her, Kurt didn’t make it easy, but with a minute of fumbling, she managed to free one of her legs from her jeans and push his khakis and boxers downto his hips. Far enough.
Impatient, he lifted her again, shoving aside her panties, and then he was inside of her and it was…everything.Shewas everything.
Trapped against the wall, Caitlyn clung to him, offering little breathy moans as she kissed his neck and dug her fingers into his shoulders. Her body grasped him tightly, creating an electrifying friction as he thrust and withdrew, drawingout the pleasure until he couldn’t bear it. He pistoned his hips, giving all of himself and his love to Caitlyn, every part of him pulling up tight, balancing on the edge of a precipice.
“I love you, Kurt.” Her breath brushed his ear.
His orgasm rocketed through him. He had just enough awareness to reach between them and bring her along for the ride.
Stars fell around them as he kissed hereyes and cheeks and mouth over and over.Never enough.
Caitlyn laughed and leaned her head against the wall. “Hang on, Superstud. I need to catch my breath.”
His legs were locked, but his limbs trembled as his body cooled. Pushing off the wall, he gripped his pants as he stumbled to the couch and sat, her heat still surrounding him in the most delicious way.
“One of these days we’ll go slowlyenough for me to kiss you everywhere,” he said, letting his head drop against the couch cushions, even as he kept a tight grip on her hips.
Her sexy smile made his dick jump with renewed interest. “Ditto.”
