Part 14 (1/2)
He gave her a warning look that made her swallow her automatic denial. ”It's my turn, Emma, so you just be quiet and listen.”
Emma snapped her mouth shut and began backing up as he kept advancing. Never had he looked so big, so imposing. So irritated with her.
She b.u.mped into the wall and was annoyed with herself for retreating. She wasn't afraid of Casey. Out of all the things she'd ever felt for him, not once had fear ever been an issue.
Casey crowded into her, caging her in with his body. When she started to sidle away, he gripped her shoulders and held her firm. They stared at each other in silence until Emma gave up and held still.
”I care that you've been lying to me from the start.”
”But...”
”I care that I let you get away.”
Her eyes widened. Let her get away? Far as she knew, Casey hadn't wanted her to stay. Oh, he'd offered her help because Casey was the type of man who could do nothing else. But he'd made it clear many times that she didn't factor into his future. Well, this was his future, and just because she'd materialized didn't mean...
His hands kneaded her shoulders absently, while his gaze burned. ”And you can bet your sweet a.s.s I care that I've never had you.” He leaned closer and his voice dropped to a guttural whisper. ”I care about that a lot.”
Her heart thundered, and her pulse went wild. Unable to maintain eye contact with him so close, Emma looked away. But Casey wasn't allowing that. He put a fist under her chin and brought her face back around, forcing her to meet his burning gaze. His eyes had narrowed with intent, starting a trembling deep inside her. ”You quote double standards to me, but you wanna know what's really unfair?”
”No.”
He pressed into her until she felt his hard flat abdomen against her belly. Oh G.o.d. Her whole body came alive, quivering with primal awareness.
”It's unfair for a gorgeous young woman to keep throwing herself at a guy until he can't sleep nights for wanting her too much. And then she runs off and no other woman will do because he has a taste for her a a G.o.dd.a.m.ned hunger a yet, d.a.m.n it, she's gone.”
”Casey...” She gave the breathless complaint automatically. She couldn't allow herself to believe him. Always, he'd rejected her, wanting no more than friends.h.i.+p. Time apart couldn't have changed that.
His fingers tunneled into her hair, holding her head still. He lowered his forehead to hers and his eyes closed, his voice going rough and deep. ”It's unfair because now that you're here again, all grown up and s.e.xier than ever, you no longer want me.”
She felt his warm breath on her lips, felt the heat of his frustration, his urgency, which sparked her own. Her body was melting into his, her nerve endings tingling and alive. Not want him? She was dying for him.
”I'm sorry, sweetheart,” he murmured against her mouth, ”but I don't intend to let you get away with it.”
He said that so simply, sort of slipping it in there on her, it took a second for his statement to sink in. When his meaning dawned on her, Emma became alert with a start, only to have any thoughts of rejecting him quelled beneath a ravaging kiss. He didn't ease into the kiss. No, he took her mouth with ruthless domination.
Emma loved it.
All objections scattered, as insubstantial as a hot summer breeze. Aware of her surrender, Casey groaned low in his throat and tilted his head, fitting his mouth to hers more securely. He continued to hold her immobile, pressing her to the wall. She felt the muscled hardness, the vitality of his body against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her belly and thighs. She tried to squirm, to get closer, but his grip didn't allow it.
The kiss was an onslaught, never broken, always going deeper, taking and giving, and Emma forgot they were in a hospital with people milling around outside the room.
Casey didn't forget. Slowly, reluctantly, he pulled back. His thumbs brushed the corners of her swollen mouth. Emma fought to get her eyes open.
”I love your mouth, Em. So d.a.m.n s.e.xy.” He nipped her bottom lip, licked her upper, took her mouth again. He sank his tongue in, soft and deep.
Emma groaned.
”I used to imagine your mouth on me,” he whispered, ”and it made me nuts.”
Hearing him say it made her imagine it now. ”Yes.” She would love to taste Casey a everywhere. ”Yes.” She reached for him again.
Casey stepped them both away from the wall and urged her head to his shoulder, then wrapped his arms around her to hold her tight. He took several long, unsteady breaths, which allowed her to do the same. Emma was so shaken that if Casey hadn't supported her, she thought she might have melted into a puddle on the floor.
”I'm going to give you time, Emma.”
She flattened her hands against the firm wall of his chest, relis.h.i.+ng the feel of him. Time? She didn't need time. At the moment, she didn't want time. Unless it was time enough to explore him, to kiss him everywhere, to feel him deep inside her. Oh G.o.d, she would melt.
”I'm going to wait so you won't feel rushed.”
She couldn't stop shaking. ”I won't.”
He went still, cursed softly, then turned his face in and kissed her ear. ”Shh. Not yet. First you're going to get comfortable with me again. Then we're going to talk, and I want the truth this time, Emma.”
Her heart, which had only just begun to calm, kicked into a furious gallop again. ”No...”
”And then.” His tongue touched her earlobe, licked lightly inside to make her s.h.i.+ver. ”Then I'm going to lay you down, strip you naked and sate myself on you.” He groaned as if being tortured. ”I've got nearly a decade of l.u.s.t to make up for, sweetheart, so it's going to take me a really long time to get my fill. I hope you're up for it.”
Emma shuddered. She had no idea what to do, what to say. But in that single moment, she made a decision. She wouldn't leave Buckhorn again without having Casey first.
If that made her feelings for him harder to deal with, so be it. She wasn't a weak woman with silly illusions. She knew from past experience that Casey wouldn't want her as a permanent fixture in his life. She knew she'd never fit into Buckhorn. She never had.
When she'd left, there'd been a lot of things she wanted. Security, respectability, a close family...and Casey Hudson. But of all those things, it was only Casey who had kept her awake at night.
She had the security and respectability that came with a good job, an att.i.tude adjustment, maturity. She had a family; not her own, but the Devaughns were very special to her and she loved them. She'd attained things of value, but she'd also learned that they weren't enough. She hadn't admitted to herself what was still missing in her life until Casey made it clear that he wanted her.
She'd never be close with her own family; seeing her father again had proven that. But she could have this a she could have her memories of Casey. With everything combined, she'd make that be enough for a lifetime.
She looked into his mellow golden eyes, glittering with excitement. His sharp cheekbones were flushed with arousal. For her. Emma whispered, ”All right.”
The heat in his eyes flared, but was quickly banked. ”G.o.d, Emma.” He took several deep breaths, leaned back and finally managed a smile. ”The minutes are going to seem like hours until I can get you alone.”
Emma nodded.
”Until then, let's talk about your dad a and what really happened the night he dropped you on my doorstep.”
CHAPTER EIGHT.
CASEY SAW the shuttered way Emma guarded herself. Well, too bad. Sometimes the truth proved painful but, d.a.m.n it, he deserved that much.
He couldn't stop touching her, smoothing her warm cheek, relis.h.i.+ng the feel of her. He could barely wait until she was naked so he could rub his hands, his face, over her whole body. He wanted to stroke her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her belly. Between her thighs.
The second she'd agreed with him, he'd gotten semihard and he had a feeling he'd be that way until he got her alone. Heat snaked through him, adding to the s.e.xual tension and making his voice gruff. ”Come on, Em. You know you can tell me anything.”
She closed her eyes tightly. ”People don't just fall into old relations.h.i.+ps that easily, Case.”
”You and I do.” Spending the day with her had reaffirmed that much. Emma looked different, and her att.i.tudes were wiser, more confident. But the closeness between them existed as strong as ever. No other woman had ever touched him so easily. ”Regardless of what you ever thought, Em, you've always had a special place in my heart.”