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She was tired of the physical hiding, but more than that she was tired of pretending that she hadn’t fallen deeply in love with Marco. She knew that the truth would end it all and she wasn’t ready for that.
‘What if I didn’t?’
‘You’re angry?’
‘I’m tired of this creeping around,’ he flared without warning as he began prowling across the room with the leashed power of a big sleek jungle cat he made her think of.
Kate felt a nervous flutter in her stomach. Was this where it ended? She’d told herself she was ready for this moment and now it was here, she knew she wasn’t. She knew she never would be. She loved him and when she lost him her life would be scarily empty.
He stopped, exhausted from fighting feelings he couldn’t bring himself to acknowledge. ‘Oh, hell, I’m sorry, it’s been a foul day and...Dio, Kate, take me to bed.’
They took each other, stumbling across the sitting room, shedding clothes as they went, ending in her bed.
He watched her slide sinuously down his body, allowing her mouth and hands to drive him to the brink before he twisted her under and reversed their positions, entering her in one swift hard thrust, her body arched up under him to meet him.
A while later they lay in a tangle of sweat-slicked limbs.
I love you, she whispered in her head. Sad beyond measure because she knew that if she spoke those words out loud, the words she ached to say, she would lose him.
Marco entered the apartment, his dark hair ruffled from the five-minute energetic kick-around with his daughter, and called out Kate’s name.
There was no reply.
He knew she was here; the nursery nurse supervising Freya’s play session had given out the information readily enough when he had casually asked her whereabouts.
She had complied, but behind the respectful smile he had been left with the distinct impression that thecasualwasn’t working. His brow furrowed. He knew how much Kate hated the idea of gossip but he had thought of a possible solution. He was working out the best way to sell it to Kate, who was not always taken by logic.
In fact, for someone who considered herself practically minded she positively embraced illogic, which was fine so long as she carried on embracing him.
Marco found himself in the unique position of having nothing to compare to the sex he enjoyed with Kate, because it wasn’t like any sex he’d had, and he’d thought he’d seen it all, done it all, short of falling in love.
Love was a no-go area that he had spent his entire adult life staying clear of, and now...he wasn’t inlovewith Kate?
How would you know?
He laughed at the question in his head, swerving away sharply from that line of thought. The fact was he couldn’t be in love because if he had been he’d be running in the opposite direction, and he wasn’t. So why not enjoy what they had, explore it and not worry about labels while it lasted?
A furrow formed in his wide brow. It was lasting—was that significant? Boredom should have set in by now, but it hadn’t. On the contrary, hisneed, hisappetitefor herhad only increased over the weeks.
Some days he was...counting the minutes?
He made himself wait. Masochism or just to prove hecould? Luckily, he was not into self-analysis, and he didn’t need deprivation to up his libido. All that took was the thought of touching her glorious skin, of kissing her mouth when it tasted of him, of hearing that guttural little lost whimper in the back of her throat, of seeing the glazed heat in her eyes when she came.
The list of what turned him on was endless.
Walking towards the bedroom, shedding his jacket, he called her name again and pushed open the door. His smile immediately faded. He felt icy fingers in his belly.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Oh, I’m so glad you’re here!’ she exclaimed.
Some of the tension left his shoulders, then she turned and he saw she had been crying, before she literally hurled herself at his chest. His arms came around her as her head tucked under his chin.
‘What has happened? Tell me,’ he said, struggling with the surge of protectiveness that was too strong for him to deny ownership of.
She wanted to stay there for ever...feel his arms around her even if the safety was an illusion... She took a breath and eased herself free, struggling for composure as she tilted her head up to look at him. As their glances locked his hands slid down her arms before dropping away.
‘I had a phone call from Jake,’ she revealed quietly.
