“Hmm. No, in high school, I was known as the chameleon,” she admitted.
“Why?”
“Because even when I was smiling, my friends didn’t know what to think. Half the time I was a mess under that smile, and they sensed it.”
“Why a mess?”
“Low self-esteem, longing to fit in. I always felt like the odd kid out when Daddy brought me to his Chicago home for a weekend. Worse during the summer, when it was weeks instead of days. And when I was seventeen, he insisted on having me with them for the entire summer before my last year in high school. Said that was probably the last chance he would have to spend some real time with me before I went off to college. That’s when I realized how much my father’s wife truly despises me. And my half siblings, who were sixteen and fourteen at the time, were clear about what an embarrassment I was to them.”
“And your father didn’t do anything about it?”
“Oh, when he was around, they pretended. Lied. You have no idea how much I hate liars because of what that summer did to me. But when we were alone, none of them could hide what they really thought. It got to me, but I had to pretend, too. I couldn’t break Daddy’s heart. I hated living that lie. I guess I wasn’t alone. Probably most teenagers live in some kind of emotional turmoil.”
“Yeah, I remember what it was like.” All too well.
“So tell me.”
“I already did.”
“That you ran away from a foster home when you were fifteen. But why?” she asked. “How about some details?”
His gut wrenched. “It’s not a fun story.”
“It is what it is. I told you mine. It’s only fair that I get to know something about you.”
She said she wanted to know, and she probably did on one level, but what about the whole truth? Because she was who she was, he was tempted to tell her what he’d never admitted to another soul.
“C’mon, Thorne,” she urged him. “Be real for once.”
For once? Did that mean she could read him better than he’d thought? Did she have any idea of how many lies he’d told her? Maybe not, or she wouldn’t be so comfortable with him. Eventually this was all going to come crashing down on him. Maybe it would be better to put a wedge between them now, before they both got in too deep. The truth would do that, but could he tell it? Once the threat to her life was ended, he would be on his way. Gone out of her life. Because that’s what he did, right? Went on from one assignment to the next. One city to another. The idea left him feeling empty. If he got in any deeper, it would be even worse. Better if there were not any broken hearts that needed mending.
“Okay. That’s only fair,” he said, choosing how much truth to tell her. Just enough to put her off. “I left because I thought that if I didn’t, I would surely kill the bastard who called himself a foster father.”
—
Katelyn’s heart pounded at the unexpected admission. “Why? What happened?”
“I went after him when he put his hands on me one too many times.”
“You mean he was beating you? He should have been arrested!”
“No one would have believed me over him.”
Thorne went stone-faced. Silent—making Katelyn’s skin crawl. She’d touched a nerve. What had the man done to him?
Maybe she didn’t want to know how bad it had been.
But part of her really did.
Part of her wanted to be able to comfort him after she’d obviously upset him.
Knowing asking him more about it now would only upset him further, she murmured, “Sorry, I’d like to know more about you, but I didn’t mean to intrude on something that is obviously so personal. Forget it.”
He nodded. “Maybe that’s best.”
Her throat closed and she gave him one long look before getting to her feet. She took a last sip of water before again securing the bottle in the cargo pocket in her pants.
“Going somewhere?” Thorne asked.
“I was thinking that if we’re going to get around this lake, we ought to get started or we’ll be weak from hunger before we get halfway around.”
Anything to break the tension she’d caused. To her relief, his tight expression softened just a bit as he stood.
They walked in silence for a while. She still felt the strain between them at first, but it eased as they continued on. The terrain changed slightly, with the bank rising several feet above the lake when they were directly across from the cabin entry. Gazing into the water, she noticed a school of small silver fish flashing by.
“Look. How pretty!”
“Especially since they’re in their natural habitat.” Suddenly Thorne said, “You know, I just realized I’m starving,” and stuffed the bottle holding the remainder of his water deep into a pants pocket.
“So you want to go back? We’re almost halfway. Let’s just pick up the pace a bit.”
“It’ll take too long.”
“Did you stow away some stash before leaving the house?” Glancing at his pants pockets, she didn’t see any bulge other than the water bottle that would indicate he’d brought something to eat with him.
“Nope. I thought I would take the direct route.”
With that, he flung himself off the high bank into the water.
“Are you crazy?” she yelled after him. “You’re fully clothed!”
She swore he was laughing at her, the sound bubbling through the water as he began to swim toward the opposite bank. He flipped on his back for a moment, yelling, “C’mon! I’ll race you!” and then flipped again and kept going.
Fighting his challenge, she informed him, “I am not swimming across the lake!” And thirty seconds later—all the time it took for Thorne to convince her to throw her cares to the wind—she jumped in to do just that.
Chapter 8
Once he realized Katelyn had followed him into the water, Thorne slowed a bit. She caught up to him about a quarter of the way across the lake.
His jumping in might have seemed a little crazy to her, but he’d known Katelyn would follow him. He’d had to do something to shake the mood her questioning him about his past had put him in. He didn’t know if he would ever be able to reveal the real details. Not with anyone. Especially not with a woman who turned him inside out.
Who made him want to belong to someone for the first time in his life.
Made him want to belong to her.
As they swam together, stroke for stroke, he felt in sync with her. It felt good. Natural. Right. A sensation that filled him more and more often when they were together.
He’d been fighting it. Taking himself on a guilt trip. She didn’t know who he really was. She wouldn’t want to know. They’d spent the night together. Surely she had expectations having to do with trust. He hated that he was lying to her to keep up the pretense forced upon him. What else was he supposed to do?
Keep his hands off her, of course.
Too late for regrets.
Not that he had any regrets about being with her.
A few minutes later, he was standing in thigh-deep water a dozen yards from shore. When Katelyn went to stand too, he helped her to her feet.
Surprisingly, she let him, even while chastising him, “Do you realize how long it will take everything to dry out?”
As she stood there with her wet hair and clothes plastered to her, he hoped they’d never dry. He had to tear his gaze from her breasts. The cool water had made her nipples go hard.
She added, “It’s a good thing my shoes are made to wear around water.”
“Then what are you complaining about?” Taking her hand, he tugged her toward shore. “You can go barefoot around here while we eat. Besides, that bag of yours was heavier than I expected. I’ll bet you brought another pair.”
“Of sandals, not shoes. Luckily, I wasn’t wearing them.”
He laughed. “Stop complaining! You know you had fun.”
“Yes, but—”
He hauled her hard, directly into him.
> And when she opened her mouth to protest, he took immediate advantage, helping himself to a kiss. She froze for a second. He could almost hear her brain buzzing, urging her to push him away with a new protest. The next second, her arms were up around his neck and she was kissing him back for all she was worth.
Suddenly she pulled her mouth free and flattened a hand on his chest. “I thought you were hungry.”
Growling, he picked her up and carried her to a side door of the cabin, where he punched in a code. The door led directly into the kitchen, where he set her down on the tiled floor.
“Wait. We’re dripping with lake water,” she complained. “Don’t you want to get out of these wet clothes before we eat?”
“Great idea.”
He began stripping her, starting with her wet T-shirt. Laughing, she mocked fighting him to get him to stop. Already hard for her, he slid her pants down over her hips, and the laughter died in her throat. He unzipped his jeans and she dropped her gaze, licking her lips as though she wanted to taste him. He grew even harder. Her breathing shifted as his cock sprang free. She reached out to touch him, but he used his hands on both of her arms to turn her around.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“This.”
He bent her forward over the island, then spread her thighs. He tested her. Aroused as quickly as he’d been, she was more than ready for him. Nuzzling the back of her neck while entering her hot, wet, pulsing opening, he guided his hands around to her front. One to her breasts, the other to gather her inner wetness over her clit. He’d barely begun moving in her when she cried out. Not a short sharp cry, but one that lasted, that cut through him, that triggered his long, incredibly intense release. He finished and she was still coming. Gasping. Begging for more.
“Please…please…”
Turning her in his arms, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, where he threw her on the quilt-covered bed. He got on his belly and snaked toward her, spreading her legs so that his mouth found her wet folds. Her instant cry of pleasure made his dick twitch, made him think about taking her again.
That could wait.
He wanted to draw out the sweet pleasure for her, to take her to places she’d never before reached.
—
Katelyn cried out again as Thorne used his tongue and fingers to plunge her into a madness of pleasure overload. Her mind lit with imaginings. Things she wanted to do with him. To him. Envisioning what his cock would look like before she wrapped her mouth around it and sucked him dry…
Now he was hard as wood again. She grasped him with both hands. Felt his size. The strength of his erection. The sheer size. Wondered how he hadn’t hurt her the night before. He moved over her to take her again, but when he tried to enter her, she stayed him and slid down lower under him, so that his tip was within a hair’s breadth of her lips.
He went still and tense, hands on the mattress, arms roped with muscle. She could hear every strangled breath soughing from his lips. She rubbed one cheek against his thigh and felt his cock against the other. She nipped the tender flesh between thigh and groin. He cried out in pleasured pain.
“Tell me what you want,” she whispered.
“You know what I want.”
She quickly slipped her mouth around him and then withdrew equally quickly. “You mean like that?”
He said nothing, but the tension rife within him said it all.
Heat curled outward from her center, setting her flesh on fire for him.
She tongued his head, tasted the bead of cum on the tip, then ever so slowly started drawing him in with a rhythm he couldn’t resist.
He began rocking his hips, stroking her mouth.
Grabbing his buttocks, she took him in more fully. Upped the pace. Deepened the strokes.
For a moment, he couldn’t resist…
But then he freed himself and plunged downward so they were face-to-face. Mouth-to-mouth. Tongue-to-tongue.
His knee between hers spread her for his swift entry.
For a moment, he didn’t move…
So she did, curling her legs up around his waist. Short, sharp movements seducing his response.
Driving into her like a madman, he took her out of herself yet again. She climbed, climbed, climbed until fireworks in her head took her over the ledge and dropped her into a free fall that felt like it would go on forever.
—
It was official.
Despite his reservations, despite knowing how terribly wrongly this brief encounter could end, Thorne was crazy about Katelyn Wade. He didn’t want to go further than that. Didn’t want to inspect his own feelings more deeply, but there was one thing he couldn’t deny any longer.
He couldn’t get enough of her.
They’d showered together, where he’d taken her up against the tile wall, so hot and slick and ready—always ready for him. Then they’d dressed and practically emptied the freezer and pantry. Okay, a bit of an exaggeration. But as they’d cooked together, they’d touched and kissed and stroked, and while the steaks were grilling, they’d given each other satisfaction without removing a stitch of clothing.
Afterward, they’d brought the food out on the covered patio next to the kitchen, where he’d watched with fascination as she consumed a large steak, a pile of mashed potatoes, a giant salad, and three dinner rolls, followed by a slab of chocolate cake.
“Are you sure you don’t want something more to eat?” Thorne asked.
“Oh, I could eat….” Grinning at him, she arched an eyebrow. “Just nothing with more calories.”
Words that were enough to turn him on again. And make him laugh. He couldn’t remember ever being this happy before. Never in his whole life.
Too bad it would have to end.
But not today.
Today he could pretend that this was the beginning of something special between them. Something warm and personal and inexplicable. Something he’d never before experienced. Belonging to someone—even if just for this one day.
Katelyn sighed and sat back in her chair. “I needed this.”
He needed it more. He needed her more.
“Food for energy after all the exercise we’ve had since we arrived?” he teased.
She gave him a slant-eyed look and a bit of a smile that seemed sad somehow. “No, that’s not what I meant. Last night at Lakeside…I needed time off from the nightmare.”
But obviously she couldn’t keep it from her thoughts any more than he could. “If you need to talk about it, I’m here.”
“No, not yet. On our way back to Lake Geneva tomorrow will be soon enough. Then we’ll have to face reality.”
Tomorrow. He’d feared she was going to assume that they’d leave here so quickly. He was waiting for a call from Hamilton in hopes of a break in the case. He’d checked his cellphone when she’d been digging in the freezer for those steaks. No such luck. No calls at all. Her father had insisted he keep her away from potential harm if there was no progress in the case.
Most of him wished it was over. That he didn’t have to worry about Katelyn anymore. Truly, above all, he wanted her to be safe. But there was that other tiny part—the selfish part—that wished they would never find the killer and this fantasy he was playing out with her would continue forever.
“Unless Detective Cole or ME Weaver calls, of course,” she added with a sigh.
“I kind of expected to hear from one of them today.”
Hopefully, contrary to his opinion, they would find that Sam Gilbert had died by accidental drowning and then going back wouldn’t be a security risk for Katelyn. Not that he believed that—the reason he’d brought her here in the first place. He was starting to wonder why it was taking so long to get some kind of update. He thought about calling the detective, but Cole had their numbers and Thorne knew he would be on it if there were something to report.
Suddenly Katelyn leaned forward, staring past his shoulder, her furrowed brow giving her an earnest expressi
on. “Hey, what was that?”
Thorne asked, “What?” as he turned in his seat to follow her gaze.
“Something moving back by those trees.”
Unable to see whatever it was that got her attention, he said, “Probably a deer that’s already moved on.” He didn’t want to say anything to scare her, but he didn’t stop searching the wooded area.
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“I saw something red. Like a shirt.”
Thorne lunged from his seat, his gaze scraping the area. “This isn’t public land. No one should go beyond the PRIVATE PROPERTY signs.” The thought that someone—Sam’s killer?—might have followed them here put him on high alert.
“There it is again!”
This time he saw it. A red shirt. He wasted no time in taking off after whoever was there.
“Thorne, wait a minute!”
His protection training kicking in, he ran all out. Katelyn called after him, but it didn’t slow him. He saw red—his field of vision literally flashed red. He zeroed in on the trespasser and he was almost upon him when he heard a weird sound.
Sobbing.
Like someone’s heart was breaking.
“C’mon, Harley, please! Where are you? Harley!”
Focusing, Thorne put on the brakes. A young boy whirled around to face Thorne so quickly his crew-cut blond hair seemed to stand on end. He was maybe twelve or thirteen, scrawny—and backpedaling fast. Terrified of him, Thorne realized.
Stopping within feet of the kid, who was hurriedly wiping at his wet eyes with the back of his arm, Thorne asked, “Hey, what’s going on? Who’s Harley?”
“M-my dog. I just wanted him to have some fun running here where there were no cars. I let him off the leash and h-he disappeared.” He held the leash up in his other hand.
Katelyn stopped beside Thorne, breathing hard and giving him a questioning look. He told her, “Kid’s dog is out here somewhere.”
“I been looking and looking! I’m never gonna find him. My dad’ll kill me if I don’t bring Harley home.”
The kid was slashing an arm across his eyes again, and this time Thorne saw bruises that looked like fingerprints around it. His gut tightened. He’d been the recipient of that kind of cruelty many times when he was a little older than this kid, and he wondered what the father would do to the boy if he went home empty-handed.
His Deception Page 11