Part 7 (2/2)

”You left me the minute you saw her.” This was said so quietly that Reid almost didn't hear her.

”Mari-”

”Please, don't do this. Don't deny what we both know is true. We had a lovely time together, and I don't want to watch it die a painful death while you pine for the one who got away. Don't do that to us, or to me.”

Before Reid could piece together a coherent response to that, she was out the door and in her car. He slammed the door shut and pounded his fist on the wood. How had this day spun so far out of control from when he'd woken up in the morning to make lazy love with Mari to watching her storm out the door as their relations.h.i.+p came to a sudden, turbulent end?

”I'll tell you how it happened,” he said, fuming as he grabbed his car keys. ”Kate Harrington is how it happened. Once again she's turned my entire life upside down, and this time she's not getting away with it.”

After dinner, Kate took what was left of her bottle of wine to the beach patio and stretched out on one of the wide lounge chairs. It wasn't lost on her that the chairs were made to accommodate two people, and as usual, she was alone. Normally, being by herself didn't bother her. But here, in paradise, she felt lonelier than she had in a long time.

Of course it was because nothing had gone as she'd hoped today. Now that she'd seen Reid again, Kate was able to admit that she'd expected to find him single and as lonely as she was for what they'd once had. But he seemed to be happily settled with the dark-haired beauty he lived with.

Thinking of her, the pet.i.te woman with the dark eyes and curvy body, Kate experienced an emotion that was all new to her-jealousy. Was he with her now, in bed, making love to her? Or were they looking at the same moon on their deck, talking about his long-lost girlfriend who'd come to visit today and laughing about how misguided she'd been to show up that way, expecting to pick right up where she'd left off with Reid so long ago?

”Ugh,” she said to the moonlight, scrubbing a hand over her face as if to erase the memories of the other woman Reid loved now. It wouldn't do her any good to think about them and what they might be doing.

The house phone inside rang, jarring her out of her musings. Kate got up to answer it.

”Ms. Harrington,” the operator said. ”My apologies for disturbing you, but you have a visitor. A Mr. Matthews. He's quite insistent on seeing you.”

Frozen with shock, Kate held the phone to her ear and stared at the wall, trying to formulate a coherent thought. Reid was here. And he wanted to see her.

”Ms. Harrington?”

”Please send him down.”

”Very well.”

Since she didn't have time to change before he got there, she retied her robe and ran her fingers through her hair. What was he doing here? She could barely think by the time he knocked-or rather pounded-on her door a minute later.

Before she could get to the door, he pounded again. ”Open up, Kate!” What the heck had gotten into him?

She opened the door and started to ask him what was wrong when he pushed past her into the living room.

”I hope you're happy.”

”What... I... What're you talking about?”

Watching him pace around the small room like a caged tiger, Kate was reminded of the long-ago night when he'd come to her place, intending to end their relations.h.i.+p. Rather, they'd gone to Memphis the next day and ended up in bed together.

”Mari has left me. Happy?”

”She... Why?”

”Because of you! Because you showed up and ruined everything, just like before!” The sleepy-looking brown eyes she'd adored from the start were shooting fire at her as he spoke. He wore a white s.h.i.+rt that offset his dark tan, and his hair was mussed, as if he'd been pulling at it. He was fifty-five now but didn't look a day over forty, and Kate still loved him as much as she ever had.

The realization sent her reeling, making her heart beat erratically and her mouth go dry. ”I...I'm sorry. I never meant to ruin anything for you. I only wanted to see you, to tell you... I'm sorry.”

His gaze moved over her slowly and intently, which put her already frazzled nerves on alert. ”Are you?” he asked in that slow Tennessean drawl that got her every time.

”Am I... Am I what?” She hated that he turned her into a stuttering fool, but being this close to him when he was obviously enraged with her had fried her brain cells.

”Are you sorry she left me?” He stepped closer, forcing Kate to back up-right into a wall.

”I, um...” What was she supposed to say to that?

His face was now an inch from hers when he asked again, more slowly this time. ”Are you sorry she left me?”

Since she didn't dare try to speak, Kate shook her head.

”Why?” He zeroed in on her lips, which made them go dry.

Kate licked them and watched his eyes darken with what looked like desire. His eyes had always gotten darker and s.e.xier when he was turned on.

His hands landed on her hips, fingertips digging into her skin through the silk and setting her on fire. ”Why?”

”Because I want you.” With him standing a mere inch from her, with him touching her for the first time in a very long decade, it suddenly wasn't difficult at all to tell him the truth. ”I've always wanted you. Even when I wasn't supposed to want you.”

And then he was devouring her. There was simply no other word to describe the way he kissed her, as if he'd been saving up for this moment for as long as they'd been apart. He consumed her with his lips, tongue and teeth.

Kate wound her arms around his neck and held on as tightly as she could, kissing him back with everything she had. She had no idea how long they stood there, pressed against the wall, kissing each other with years of pent-up pa.s.sion and desire fueling their embrace. It was unlike anything Kate had ever experienced, even with him. And still his hands never moved from her hips. He held on so tightly, as if he was afraid she might get away if he let go.

Wanting more of him, Kate arched into his embrace, encountering the hard press of his erection against her belly. When she gasped, he broke the kiss and turned his focus on her neck.

”This is crazy,” he whispered between openmouthed kisses that made her melt in his arms. ”What're you even doing here?”

”I came for you.” She fisted a handful of his hair, remembering the way the dark silky strands had felt between her fingers the first time they were together. The feel of his hair on her skin was something she'd thought about long after they broke up. ”I couldn't stop wanting you. I tried for so long to stop, but I couldn't. I never stopped.”

His groan was nothing less than tortured. ”I never stopped either. I thought of you every day. I listened to your music whenever I was in the car alone. It made me feel closer to you.”

”I'm sorry,” she said, a sob escaping from her lips almost against her will. ”I was horrible to you, and you helped me so much.”

He quieted her with another deep, searching kiss that made her want to beg for more of him. ”I was wrong to go behind your back the way I did. You were exactly right when you said I'd disrespected you.”

Kate shook her head. ”Everything I have is because of what you did. I was an idiot to think the career would've happened without someone helping me.”

”I have no doubt at all it would've happened with me or without me.” As he said those words, his hands finally left their perch on her hips and moved up to cup her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. ”You're more beautiful than ever, if that's possible. When I saw you on my beach today...” He shook his head. ”I thought I'd dreamt you.”

”I didn't come here to mess things up for you. I didn't know you had someone else. I swear. I never would've come if I had known that.”

”Mari is a lovely woman, and she was very good to me, but she isn't you. There's never been anyone else quite like you.”

Kate ran her fingers over the prominent cheekbones she'd always been so captivated by. ”For me either.”

”Not even Clint What's-his-name?” he asked with a raised brow.

Kate laughed at the expression on his face. ”More rumor than truth.”