What Belongs to Her (Harlequin Superromance)

by Rachel Brimble

  It was clear Kyle had added nothing to his home since the day the interior decorator left. Not that it mattered. To Sasha, there was nothing worth seeing once you stepped into the room because it was impossible to avoid the breathtaking view through the floor-to-ceiling windows and centered patio doors covering the entire breadth of the far wall.

  She slowly approached, her feet sinking into the plush cream carpet as she trailed her fingertips along the back of one of the enormous fabric sofas. She turned the key in the lock of the doors and suppressed a laugh as she flung them open and stepped outside.

  “My God.” The words whispered from her lips as she walked across the flagstones toward the enormous hot tub, past a barbecue and luxurious sitting area.

  She tried and failed to stop gawking as she wandered farther still. Strolling along a pier that stretched out over the shore and beyond to an enormous white yacht. She shook her head and planted her hands on her hips.

  Seagulls dove and bobbed on the water’s surface. Soft white clouds scudded lazily across a perfect blue sky. The fading sun lingered in its downward descent as though not wanting to leave a place so pretty and peaceful. She drew in a long breath and took it all in because God only knew what tomorrow would bring.

  Time ticked by and she let it. Suddenly, she wanted this moment to last forever, without having to deal with the things going wrong in her life. She didn’t regret telling John what happened to her, but she did regret putting the flash of anger in his beautiful blue eyes. Eyes that told her so much.

  The yacht beside her clanked gently against the pier as a rush of water from a passing Jet Ski rippled its surface. She stared at the exterior of the boat. Fiona Forever. Her heart beat with sorrow. Was Fiona John’s mother?

  A plank creaked a few feet behind her, and she spun around.

  John strolled toward her, his face inscrutable behind the cover of his dark sunglasses. “Now you see what evil can pay for.”

  She forced a laugh. “I can’t believe this place.”

  He turned toward the yacht and stared at it for a moment before lifting his shoulders. “It reeks of criminality. I hate it. As soon as I leave here, this is the first place I’ll sell.”

  Sasha’s stomach knotted, and she turned her back to him, preferring to watch the ripple of the ocean than acknowledge the ripple of regret that ebbed through her blood. “You could put your own stamp on it if you wanted to stay. This is a shell. It could be made into anything you want it to be.”

  His hands came to rest on her shoulders, and when he rubbed his thumbs at the knot at the base of her neck, her knees trembled.

  “I don’t think I could ever live here.” His breath whispered against her ear. “Not knowing this is where Kyle made his home...where he ruined so many people’s lives.”

  “You’re not him, John. You’re your own person.”

  “I know that, but I’ve also accepted there’s little hope of the people in Templeton not looking at me without thinking of him.”

  “You don’t know that. You’ll just have to bide your time.” She turned, and his hands slipped to her waist. She smiled. “I look at you and I see so much more than Kyle.”

  “I need to go.”

  Her stomach knotted, and her heart stuck like a rock in her throat. “You’re really going to leave Templeton? Just like that?” She stepped back from his grip and crossed her arms across her stomach.

  “What? No. I mean I need to go from here. Now.” He pulled one hand away from her stomach and lifted it to his lips. “Nothing is going to be simple about me leaving Templeton. Not anymore.”

  “Oh.” His soft insinuation and her misinterpretation of his leaving town forever brought embarrassed heat to her face.

  He smiled. “I’d better make sure everything is locked up at the fair. Kyle’s files are there and I’m sure they’re locked in my desk, but I want to make sure.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Especially as I intend to take a long weekend.”

  The glint in his eyes chased her insecurity away and she smiled. “A long weekend? What’s that?”

  He winked. “You’ll see. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Her breath escaped on a laugh. “Then I’ll see you soon.”

  He smiled and kissed her knuckles again. “The bathroom is upstairs, third door along the corridor.”

  “Thanks.” She glanced past him toward the house. “There’s nothing I want more than to wash some of this day off me.”

  He kissed her gently. “Enjoy. I’ll see you later.”

  Her smile trembled as he walked away and into the house. No matter how much she wanted to enjoy this moment, she was afraid of what it meant. He’d just said he couldn’t stay here, so what did that mean for them? She shouldn’t have let her desperation to have him near her, now and possibly forever, to show so openly through her words and reactions. He’d know how she needed him. Know he held her heart in the palm of his hand to use and abuse as he saw fit.

  Nausea churned and whirled and no matter how much she told herself John wouldn’t do that, that he wasn’t there to hurt her, the feeling wouldn’t abate. I have to go. This is too soon. I can’t need him this way.

  She ran for the house and into the living room, yanking the patio doors closed behind her. She raced to the front door and stopped. Her hand trembled on the handle as her heart hammered.

  She looked over her shoulder to the stairs.

  To stay or go. Fight or flee.

  Her feelings for John were terrifying and stripped her of her need to control and categorize every aspect of her life. Was that such a bad thing? Her hand slipped from the door. She could do this. She could see where her feelings took her. Didn’t John make her happier than anyone had in years?

  Possibility tugged hard at her heart, and Sasha lifted her chin. She wouldn’t run. Nor would she hide. She never had before and she wasn’t about to start now.

  She breathed deep and wandered toward the stairs. With her hand on the ebony banister, Sasha headed toward Kyle’s bathroom. She pushed open the door, and her heart melted.

  My God, have I found the perfect man?

  Fifteen minutes later, she lounged deeper into the mammoth tub and her tension drifted away, leaving her limbs weak. Sasha smiled. She felt like Cleopatra. John had filled the tub with the most delicious, jasmine-scented bubbles and lined its edges and every other available surface with flickering candles.

  Never before had she indulged in such luxury, nor felt so cared for or romanced. Where had the bubble bath and candles come from? He must have bought them along with the wine and food when they stopped in the supermarket because there was no way someone as masculine and built as John would take a damn bubble bath.

  She grinned.

  Her mind should be filled with her conversation with her mother, the known truth that she’d dealt with Kyle and instigated a way for him to get the fair from Granddad. Yet, all Sasha wanted to do was linger a little longer in the enjoyment of being cared for by someone else, of letting someone behind the armor she’d erected years before. Finally a man had found a way inside her heart. Finally he’d come into her life and she already felt stronger and more capable with John than she did alone.

  She couldn’t remember a time when she’d been happier...or more afraid her happiness could be snatched from her in a heartbeat.

  Turning her thoughts from losing John before anything had really begun between them, she focused on her mother. Confusion and fear of what happened next reigned supreme. She couldn’t deny her mother had mistakenly done what she thought best for her youngest daughter. Her baby. Tears had streaked her mother’s cheeks earlier that afternoon as she implored Sasha to understand.

  Sasha stared unseeingly ahead. Having never experienced abuse, how was her mother to truly understand that wherever a victim of abuse went, the memories followed?

  The biggest saving grace was Tanya didn’t know what happened that summer, which meant from that moment on, only her mother, Leah, Kyle and now John wou
ld know what she went through. Maybe, finally, that chapter of her life could close.

  A shrill ringing of her cell phone on a table beside the tub shot Sasha’s heart into her throat. She bolted upright and swiped at the tears she didn’t know she’d cried. With her hand trembling, she snatched up the phone and looked at the display. Leah. Sasha released her held breath and pressed the talk button. “Hey, you.”

  “At last. Don’t you check your phone anymore?”

  Sasha grimaced. “I know you’ve been calling, but I’ve been...”

  “Avoiding me? Running from criminals? Going after Kyle with a shotgun? What?” Leah groaned. “I’ve been going out of my head today wondering why you aren’t picking up or calling me back.”

  “I’m sorry.” Guilt she’d caused Leah distress pushed Sasha from her unexpected cocoon of comfort. She abruptly stood and stepped out of the bath. “Things have gone crazy.” She reached for one of John’s, or likely Kyle’s, huge white towels and wrapped it around herself, the phone balanced in the crook of her neck.

  “Crazy how? I was hoping you had some good news by now. Better still, you’d be up for a bit of fun this weekend and we can talk things out over a cocktail or two at the Oceanside.”

  Sasha slumped into an armchair in the corner of the enormous bathroom. An armchair that would fit nicely in her apartment it was so big, soft and comfy. “That sounds good, but I don’t think it will be happening anytime soon.”

  “Why not?”

  Because all I want to do is hide out here in my nemesis’s house and maybe get to know his son a little better....

  Sasha grimaced. “Things aren’t so good right now.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I don’t even know how to do that.”

  A couple of seconds ticked by before Leah sighed. “The beginning is as good a place as any. Come on, love. You can tell me anything. You know that.”

  Sasha’s body dried where she sat. The next fifteen minutes passed as she took Leah from her conversation with John at Clover Point to her realization he carried equally as many family hang-ups as she did, to Freddy being a second, unexpected adversary, to...

  “You had sex with him on the kitchen counter? Jesus, Sasha.” Leah emitted a high-pitched shriek. “I frigging love it. You go, girlfriend. You’ve got this. You’re in control so don’t worry about it. Mark my words, he’ll be handing you that fair on a plate.”

  Sasha squeezed her eyes shut and dropped her head into her hand. “It’s not about that. I had sex with him because I really, really like him.”

  “I was joking! I know you, remember?”

  Sasha closed her eyes. “Sorry. I just...if there was any chance John might think—”

  “He won’t. You’ve already said he’s nothing like Kyle and he hates everything that has gone on at Funland. Take a chance. He’s handsome, rich and clearly gotten right under your skin. It’s time. It’s time to trust someone.”

  “I don’t know....”

  “I do. Look, why don’t I meet him? Maybe it will make you feel better knowing what I think of him after I’ve actually spoken to the guy. We could set something up this weekend. I’ll find a man for a double date. It’ll be fun.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Maybe? Don’t you want me to meet him?”

  “Of course. It’s just finding out about Mum and what she did... It’s sent me running and wanting to hide for a while. Socializing is the last thing on my mind.”

  “Where are you now? Shall I come over with a bottle of wine?”

  “Why don’t you guess where I am?” Sasha rubbed her head against her palm as though trying to scrub some sanity into her brain.

  Now her best friend was on the other end of the line, the reality she was sitting in Kyle Jordon’s towel, in Kyle Jordon’s house, waiting for Kyle Jordon’s son to come back, didn’t feel quite so surreal as it did half an hour ago. Now it felt deranged.

  Leah coughed. “Okay, I could say where I think you are, but that will mean part of your brain has fallen out.”

  “I think it has.”

  “You’re at his house, aren’t you? You’re actually at Kyle Jordon’s house. Oh. My. God.”

  Sasha laughed and pushed up from the chair. “I am, and it’s amazing.”

  “That’s it. I’ve got to see this for myself. Please, Sasha. Let me come over there.”

  “Now? No, you can’t.”

  “Tomorrow then. Please. Run the dating idea past John. Maybe we could have a quiet night in...at Kyle’s house.”

  Sasha grinned at the excitement and slyness in Leah’s voice. “You’re a bad girl, Leah Dixon.”

  “Is that a yes? You’ll set something up?”

  “I’ll see. Now get off this phone before...” The slamming of a door downstairs brought her words to a halt and her heart beat erratically. He was home. John was back. “I’ve got to go.”

  “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  Sasha smiled and dropped her towel. “Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s absolutely right. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.” Sasha ended the call, hoping Leah understood the succinct ending of their conversation held the silent “do not disturb” signal and her friend wouldn’t consider calling her again later.

  For now, she didn’t want to think, breathe or consider the mess of her life. She wanted to keep hold of the feeling of being loved and cared for. She wanted to be free. She wanted to be a woman exploring the discovery of a new relationship—no matter how futile the longing for something lasting might be.

  More than anything, she wanted to be free.

  Drawing in a long breath, Sasha strode from the bathroom, feigning sexual confidence despite the tangle of knots in her stomach. Her entire body hummed with the need for comfort, for the feel of John’s hard muscled body beneath her hands and the thump of his pulse joining hers. Every moment with her mother had been washed from her skin and now it was time to eradicate it from her heart. For tonight, she wanted to think of nothing else but John. God only knew how long she had left with him before he left Templeton and her life.

  Her heart ached with sadness at that thought, but she had no intention of wasting a single moment when John could be hers.

  She padded from the bathroom and along the pale cream opulence of the upper floor landing. Her ears strained for his movements and when she leaned her hands on the ebony banister and looked over, their eyes met.

  She didn’t smile. She didn’t speak.

  His darkly intense gaze wandered the entire length of her naked body. Her heart pounded and her body tingled with anticipation, yet she stood perfectly still as his gaze wandered over her. He slowly ascended the grand staircase, not taking his eyes from hers.

  Second by unbearable second passed as he closed the space that separated them. He reached the landing and paused.

  His jaw tightened and his midnight-blue gaze lit with a raw animal lust that shot sensation after sensation through her core and her entire body. He opened the buttons on his shirt, and it fell to the floor behind him. She swallowed and drank in the sight of his bronzed, muscular chest and washboard stomach. His feet whispered over the carpet as he strolled toward her, snapping open the top button of his jeans.

  She wet her lips and resisted the urge to run at him. No more taking over. No more rushing to the end. He’d see her bare and vulnerable. He’d see her. She wanted him to make love to her. She wanted his love.

  He stopped so close, she had to tip her head back to meet his gaze. His eyes bore deep into hers before dropping lower to her lips. Without touching her, he kissed her. The soft gentle persuasion as he opened her mouth and slipped his tongue inside, was the most sensual moment of her life. She trembled for him, yearned for him, but the slow, concentrated feel of his mouth on hers was all she needed to understand the emotions that pumped through his blood equally matched the ferocity of hers.

  Slowly, he eased back and slipped his hand around hers. Silentl
y, she followed as he led her along the landing toward a bedroom. They stepped inside, and Sasha flicked her gaze to the setting sun in the distance. The entirety of the dove-gray room was bathed in pink from the lowering sunlight coming through the floor-to-ceiling French doors at the other end of the room. Together, they moved onto the gray satin sheets of the enormous four-poster bed.

  The material slid across her naked body as she collapsed against the pillows. His lips caressed her collarbone and her breasts, teasing and licking at her hardened nipples.

  Moaning softly, she slid her hands over the rigid planes of his shoulders as he kissed her skin. His eyes were closed and his dark lashes fanned his cheeks, Smiling, she smoothed her fingertips through his hair, and he opened his eyes.

  “You’re so beautiful, Sasha.”

  Tears burned. “When you look at me, I feel beautiful.”

  He smiled softly and eased from the bed, the mattress lifting with his weight. She didn’t want him to leave her. Not for a single second. She wanted the moments to last until they truly had to end when he walked from the Cove.

  With his eyes locked on hers, he removed his shoes and socks, jeans and boxers, before climbing back on the bed beside her. He leaned up on one elbow, his body pressed to the side of hers and his gaze roaming over her face and lower to her breasts. His erection firmly lay across her thigh, and she lifted her fingers to it. She smoothed them back and forth across the engorged and silken skin, circling the head and back down to run her nails through his thatch of pubic hair. His eyes closed as he inhaled a shaky breath through flared nostrils.

  There was no power game here. No better or worse. She sensed his enthrallment as she embraced hers. With the front door locked and the world kept out, Sasha had never felt more at peace. This was the man she was meant to be with. This was the man whom fate had decided should share her life. Would it happen? Would they make it so?

  She stared into his eyes. “Make love to me.”