Page 43 of Be My Valentine

Kate turned around slowly.

“What am I doing here, then?”

Mark was still hugging her, his hands crossed behind her back.

“You talk to me and tell me what’s wrong with you.” he pulled her a little tighter “Maybe look me in the eyes.”

Kate bit the inside of her cheek, and Mark realized he was seeing that gesture for the first time.

“You’re having dinner with my parents tonight, it would be a little suspicious to behave like that… you asked me to keep it quiet until Saturday, but since you’re not at all, I think we should talk, because clearly something is wrong and I don’t want to sit at the table with you avoiding me like the plague.”

“I’m not avoiding you!” she protested “Not on purpose, at least, it just comes naturally to me.”

“I don’t think that’s exactly a compliment.”

“Oh God!” Kate rested her forehead on Mark’s chest, and he kissed the top of her head, smiling.

He took her by the hand and sat her down on one of the tables leaning against the wall at the end of the steel shelves full of boxes.

“Come on, spill it.”

“I was wondering if you… if what happened is, you know… some kind of rite of passage. If you’ve done it with others… I mean it makes sense that you’ve done it with others.” she was rolling up in her words “I meant with others like me… that is.”

Mark looked at her in amazement.

“Are you asking me if I usually sleep with secretaries?” He asked her brutally.

Kate remained with her eyes downcast.

“You told me to spit it out.” She said softly.

Mark inhaled. Yes, he’d asked for it, and maybe it wasn’t exactly an inappropriate question.

“I never did. My father was always pretty strict in that respect.” he explained darkly “In fact when he met my mother, he fired her after a month.” He added amused.

Finally, Kate looked up.

“Any more questions?”

She didn’t resist, she had to know.

“Are you seeing someone? In an official way, I mean. Emma practically forced you to be my date and maybe she doesn’t know yet that you’re, well, busy.”

Mark leaned closer, almost touching her lips with his own.

“It’s just you, Kate, and I’m only attending that very boring evening to be with you.”

“Really?” She widened her eyes.

But how could he resist her? Mark kissed her firmly, leaving her no time to add anything else. He couldn’t tear himself away from that mouth, couldn’t separate himself from all the pleasurable torment raging in his chest. He untied her hair with dexterity and lowered his hand, crushing her to himself even more. With a sharp gesture he moved her to the edge of the table, pelvis against pelvis: he wanted her to feel it, to realize the desire it brought him. Kate hesitated only a moment, then glued herself to him even more. Mark understood that she was as involved as he was. He pulled away making a huge effort of will.

“I want to date you in the open, Kate. I’m thirty-seven, stolen kisses aren’t my thing.”

“I won’t be the cause of a fight with your father, though. I’ll get another job, it doesn’t matter what, I just need to keep seeing you.”

Mark stroked her cheek as she fixed her hair.

“That sounds reasonable.” he looked at her for a moment interdicted and decided to jump in “Kate, I have a question for you too.”