He placed a chaste kiss on my forehead, drawing me close. There, I felt like home.
Unfortunately, there were only flickering sparks, not the all-consuming need to drop my clothes and give myself to him. In his defense, I didn’t feel that hardness I also felt in Kalen’s arms.
What did that matter? Turner and I had passion. I’d given him my virginity and spent many stolen moments finding pleasure with him. I don’t have to be consumed by another man to be happy, I told myself.
Turner’s hand slid down my back and I felt him begin to grow hard.
He stepped back, looking faintly embarrassed. And that was okay. He was a man who’d grown up to treat women with respect, not like the barbarian Kalen was. Yet, I couldn’t deny a little disappointment that he hadn’t lost control because of me.
Every time Kalen needed me with such voracity there was power in it. I felt in control, wanted, desired.
“I should go check on Mary,” I said, wanting to end any embarrassment on either of our parts.
Turner did something unexpected. He got in my space and walked me backward until we reached the door.
“Make no mistake how much it’s costing me to hold back. I want you. But all of you. I’ve waited years. I can wait another day for you to decide.”
This time, I’d felt all of him and his desire for me as a long, hard fact.
His lips brushed over mine a second before he stepped back.
More confused than ever, I scrambled out the door and found Kalen dressed and waiting for me.
Twenty-Eight
Kalen stood by the table without a smile, smirk, or anything in between. He was expressionless and I sighed, not ready for round two.
“You’ll need this when we leave,” he said, pulling a small purse from the leather satchel.
Curious, which had always been my downfall, I moved closer and took it from his hand.
“What is this for?” I asked, eyeing the salmon-colored Prada labeled bag he handed me. “Do you think because people can’t name the color of this that they’ll be so busy staring at the purse rather than at me?”
The glare he threw at me hadn’t been what I’d been going for. “Open it,” he demanded.
I unzipped the sporty purse whose color was somewhere in the pink family. I decided not to comment on the fact it was a designer bag that probably cost more than the combined wardrobe for the entire community.
He knew that it cost too much. It didn’t need to be said. I pulled out eyeliner and mascara. There was more, but I got the point. “Makeup, really? I don’t wear that much as it is. My guess is that it would draw more attention to me.”
“Keep looking,” he said, sounding annoyed.
Fumbling around in the purse until I felt something that didn’t feel like makeup, I pulled out a bottle. “Hair dye.” Black at that.
“It’s not permanent.”
“Why?”
“We thought it best you hide in plain sight,” he said.
“We?”
“Stop deflecting,” he said.
“And the makeup…” I trailed off, remembering the TV image of Kalen with the heiress. I’d only caught the briefest of views, but it wasn’t something I could forget. Her hair had been black. “The woman in the pictures. Is that why you were with her?”
Silently, I pleaded for that to be true.
“No. I wasn’t lying when I said I was giving you space,” he admitted.
Then it all made sense. “I’ll look like her, so when I’m going into your apartment people won’t expect it to be me.”
Something snapped inside me. The thought of another woman in his space making love to him killed a part of me. My fist connected with his chest before I let him have it with my words. “You bastard. A couple days after your declaration of love, you took her to your bed.”
He stilled my beating fist, makeup falling from the open bag to the ground. “She cares,” he said, but the she to whom he was referring was me.
“I don’t,” I answered, pulling my hands free, picked up the spilled makeup and then shoved the purse into his chest.
“I’ll drive to the airport in the morning and catch a flight to Chicago.”
I didn’t think I could afford to pay cash for a last-minute flight. But I did have an emergency credit card I hadn’t used.
“Whoever it is will follow you.”
“It doesn’t matter. Isn’t that the point, to draw them away from my family?” I spat.
“Fine. We leave together.” He shoved the purse back at me. “You and all that fuckable red hair will leave, and if someone is watching they’ll take the bait. But when you get to the airport, you’ll find one of those family bathrooms tucked away somewhere and change your appearance.”
“No,” I declared. “I’m not running scared.”
“Then I’ll follow you wherever you go.”
“What about your son?” I said, checkmating him.