by Kristi Gold
She grinned. “All in a day’s work. But if it makes you happy, I’ll let you tell me how amazing I am, as soon as we get Eddie down to the police station.”
“I plan on showing you later.” All night long.
“That sounds extremely intriguing. But first you need to call Anna and see if she can meet us down at the station to give her statement.”
As much as he wanted to show her how much he appreciated her right this instant, reality took hold. “I’ve already talked to her. She should be there in the next half hour. Caroline’s driving her in. I’ll call Edgar Kent on the way to the station.”
“Then we should be on our way. The quicker we get out of here, the less time Grant spends in jail.”
Kerry turned away but before she could open the door, Ford took her hand and tugged her back into his arms. He held on tight, never wanting to let her go. He didn’t want to consider that their time together was almost over, barring any unforeseen glitches. He didn’t want to think about not having her around. Not having her this close again. But he did think about it despite his concerns for Grant’s well-being and his responsibility back home in Nebraska.
He gave her a quick kiss, then let her go. “Okay. I’m ready now.” Ready to get back to the business of what he’d come here for—obtaining his uncle’s freedom. But he wasn’t ready to leave her just yet. Not until absolutely necessary.
“Looks like I won’t be leaving for a while,” Ford said as he pulled away from the police station.
Kerry experienced a solid bout of guilt that she wasn’t at all displeased over that fact. “What exactly did the attorney tell you?”
“He said he’d file a motion for dismissal and that it could be Monday before they let him out.”
“You’d think with everything they have now, they’d let him out tonight, not five days from now.”
“Kent said it’s a complicated process. Some crappy process, if you ask me. He also said he believes the D.A. still isn’t convinced that Grant isn’t behind this whole thing. Hopefully Kent can convince a judge there’s enough doubt.”
Reaching across the console, she took Ford’s hand and rested it on her thigh. “It’s going to happen, Ford. I can feel it in my bones.”
He shot her a quick glance. “I hope you’re right.”
“I am. I just know it.” She also knew that telling him goodbye would be the most difficult thing she’d done in years, and that time would come all too soon. Maybe even tonight.
Ford let go a long sigh. “That Eddie’s a pretty sad case. It killed me to see her beg them not to send her back home.”
“I know what you mean. That was tough. But unfortunately, she’s only one of many lost kids in this city and throughout the country.”
“What’s going to happen to her?”
Kerry loved him for the true concern in his question. “The detective said she’d go to a halfway house for now. She promised she wouldn’t put Eddie back into the home with the abusive boyfriend without some sort of investigation. However, it seems they can’t even locate the mother, so it looks as if Eddie might eventually end up in foster care or a group home.”
“How did she take that?”
“She seemed resigned to it all. I want to think that any place is better than the streets, but it’s hard not knowing what will happen to her. I do plan to keep in touch with her.”
“I have no doubt you will.”
A few minutes later Ford turned into the hotel drive and relinquished the SUV to the valet. Together they walked into the hotel, arms around waists, and didn’t let each other go until they’d traveled up the elevator and arrived at the room. Only then did Ford drop his arms from around her to unlock the door. Yet they didn’t take two steps inside the room before he had her backed up against the wall, kissing her, touching her, stealing her breath and her sanity in one fell swoop.
He left her lips to breeze his lips along her neck before working his way back to her ear. “We haven’t had any dinner yet.”
“I know,” Kerry said while ruffling her fingers through his hair.
He ran his hands up the sides of her sweatshirt. “Anything in particular that you’d like?”
“Oh, I can think of one thing.” She reached between them and ran a slow finger up the prominent ridge beneath his fly.
He caught her hand and held it there, pressing her farther back against the wall. “Do you want it now?”
“Yes.”
He dropped his hand and cupped her between her legs. “Right here?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s all yours.”
He took her hand and led her to the hallway, but before they reached the bedroom, he backed her up against that wall. Off went her jacket, shirt, bra and jeans, leaving her wearing only her panties and panting as if she’d run a three-mile marathon. Ford was still dressed, not for long she hoped, but she stopped thinking altogether when he went to his knees and pulled her underwear down her legs, lifted each foot to remove it completely, then tossed it aside.
He pushed her legs apart with his palms and then kissed his way up the inside of her thighs, stroking his tongue over the territory. Kerry was virtually boneless, especially when he halted his journey to use his mouth on her in some terribly creative ways in a very intimate place. He suckled and nibbled and caressed with his lips and hands. She anchored herself by clutching his head, held on until she neared the edge of release. But before that happened, he kissed his way back up her trembling body, pausing to suckle her breasts. A slight groan of protest slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I plan to finish you in bed, while I’m inside you. I want to feel you climax.”
Kerry wanted that too, but she also wanted to be daring and different. “Why the bed when we have a perfectly good wall?”
“You sure about that?” He sounded and looked concerned.
She traced the cleft in his chin with a fingertip then smoothed the worry from his brows. “Very sure. Unless it’s too hard to manage.”
His smile came into play slowly. “It’s hard all right, but I can definitely manage it.” He backed away and pointed to her. “Don’t move.”
As if she could really move at the moment. Then again, she might wilt onto the floor in a pool of need, a distinct possibility as she watched him walk toward the bedroom, stripping out of his jacket as he went. He came back a few moments later, wearing only a condom. He looked very proud. All of him.
Standing in front of her, Ford draped her arms around his neck, then pulled her legs around his waist and said, “Hang on.”
She did, tightly, as he pushed inside her, going deeper than she ever dreamed possible. And when she immediately climaxed with the second thrust, her nails inadvertently dug into his shoulders with the strength of the release.
“Damn,” he murmured. “This is almost too good.”
Kerry couldn’t describe how good she felt as he took her on a trip straight into the realm of a sexual place she’d never been before. She marveled at the strength of his legs as he bent to thrust inside her, his arms holding her and protecting her from the wall. Reveled in the power of his body and the sound of his ragged breathing. His skin grew damp with the effort and his eyes took on a hazy cast as he kept them locked with hers. She knew the moment he couldn’t hold on any longer by the tautness in his jaw and the hiss that filtered out of his parted lips. He closed his eyes, tipped his forehead against hers and, with one last thrust, his body shuddered. Kerry continued to cling to Ford, holding him close to her body and her heart.
After lowering her legs, Ford kissed her thoroughly yet gently, then swooped her up and carried her into the bedroom. He set her on her feet and turned down the covers but not the lights before laying her back onto the crisp white sheets. He took a quick trip to the bathroom and when he came back he joined her on the bed and rolled her on top of him.
“I knew there was a wild woman residing somewhere beneath that so
phisticated exterior,” he said, his hands in motion on her bottom.
“And I knew beneath that innocent-farm-boy act I’d find a really wild man, too.”
With a laugh, he flipped her over and hovered above her. “Have I told you how amazing you are?”
She tapped her chin with her fingertip. “I believe you did say that earlier. But it takes an amazing person to know an amazing person.”
“I guess we’ll both agree we’re pretty amazing, at least together.”
A wave of melancholy rode over Kerry, unwelcome after such a wonderful time. “I guess you won’t be needing my services any longer now that we’ve solved the mystery.”
He stared at her long and hard. “First of all, I don’t like you using the word services like that’s what this is all about. I didn’t service you. I made love to you because I wanted to. Second, I know it’s selfish to ask, but I’m going to ask, anyway. I want you to stay with me.”
“For how long?”
“Until Grant’s out of jail.”
Of course. He couldn’t promise her more than that, and she’d known that all along. Still, it didn’t hurt any less to know that she might be nothing more to him than a diversion, regardless of what he’d said. “Then you’re asking me to hang around until Monday?”
“Yeah. But only if you want to.”
Kerry wanted to, all right, even though she ran the risk of falling in so deep with him that she’d have to claw her way out. “I’ll have to call Millie and tell her. It shouldn’t be a problem since her niece planned to stay throughout the weekend.”
“And you’ll stay with me?”
Foolish or not, Kerry just couldn’t pass up the chance. Besides, who knew what might happen in five days? Maybe she could somehow convince him that he couldn’t live without her. And she would be certifiably stupid if she really believed that. But she’d be crazy not to try.
“Okay, I’ll stay.”
Nine
K erry Roarke soon found herself caught up in an erotic world created by Ford Ashton. On Thursday morning they began their day by showering together, interrupted by the untimely arrival of housekeeping. Dressed in matching hotel robes, they allowed the maid to make up the room while they cuddled on the sofa in the living area, discreetly touching each other until they bordered on getting caught in some fairly illicit behavior. After the maid finished, Ford requested a surplus of extra towels, bade her goodbye, hung the privacy sign on the door and then made incredible love to Kerry on the sofa.
After that, they dispensed with clothes altogether, donning the robes again only if necessary, parting only when necessary, rarely more than a touch away. They watched the night set on the city and the sun rise over the bay, concealed by the sheer curtain covering the window while Ford stood behind her and made love to her. For the next few days they ordered in-room movies that they hardly watched and meals they rarely finished, consumed partial bottles of wine using most of the contents on each other’s bodies.
Kerry learned it took Ford some recovery time between lovemaking sessions, but she also learned that, in regard to her own body, that wasn’t always the case. And Ford had discovered that quickly, taking any opportunity he could to bring her to climax when she’d least expected it, using his hands or his mouth or both. She never viewed herself as being such a strongly sexual being before, but then she’d never let herself be that open and trusting with any man. Ever.
On Saturday evening Kerry convinced Ford to go out for dinner and they dressed for the first time in almost three days. She took him to Chinatown for a quick meal and a stroll among the weekly market set up at Portsmouth Park. But they only lasted a while among the chaos because they couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other. They openly kissed on the cable car during the return trip, and the minute they arrived back in the privacy of the hotel room, off went the clothes again, and they become sexually entangled on the living room floor.
By the time Sunday rolled around, Kerry had explored every inch of Ford’s body, as he had hers. She’d willingly experimented with lovemaking in every way imaginable, and quite a few that she hadn’t imagined. He’d always treated her with the greatest of care, even when their shared passion turned completely unrestrained.
She now knew the way he looked when he slept—tousled and beautiful and almost innocent—because she’d watched him on more than one occasion. She’d also awakened to him watching her with his sultry blue eyes, and invariably that would lead to more touches, more kisses, more incredible couplings.
During the times when they’d both been exhausted and sated, totally replete, they talked about Ford’s fury over his mother’s careless disregard; her anger over her stepfather’s callousness. Both had decided to come to terms with their pasts and forgive, even if they couldn’t forget. They’d also discussed all their likes and dislikes, faults and downfalls, goals and dreams. Yet when Monday morning arrived all too soon, they had yet to discuss one important thing—Ford’s impending departure.
Kerry had also failed to tell Ford that she loved him, though she did with all her heart. In her life, she had never known a stronger truth. She had never known a more lovable man. But as they waited on the sofa for the call confirming Grant’s release, Kerry didn’t feel it was time to broach that subject. Even though she was wrapped securely in his arms, she sensed his tension and an underlying impatience. She understood that; he was ready to get on with his life. Without her.
His fingers idled on her arm as his deep voice drifted over her like a warm blanket when he asked, “What do you plan to do today?”
Nothing nearly as exciting as what they’d done the past few days. “First, I’m going to go home and change, visit with Millie, then go into the office. I’m going to have to work a little harder to catch up on my night courses since I missed a couple of classes last week.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about your school.”
She whisked a kiss over his clean-shaven jaw, drawing in the scent of his cologne and taking it to memory. “I’m not sorry at all. I’d have to say I’ve learned quite a bit over the past few days.”
He sent her a smile. “Yeah? What did you learn?”
That she’d fallen in love with him so deeply she didn’t think she’d ever surface. “Mostly about myself. I had no idea I had that in me.”
“And I had no idea that I had that much stamina. Must be the company I’ve been keeping.”
“What do you plan to do when you get back home?”
“It’s harvest time, and I have a few appointments with some feed suppliers. Just the same old thing I do every day.”
“Plow the fields? Herd the cattle? Sun naked by the pool?”
“Something like that, except when I get naked, I’m going to be thinking of you.”
There it was, the truth of the matter. She had been his distraction for days, but beyond that, he would think of her only in a sexual sense. “Have fun,” she said without looking at him.
He pulled her face toward him and ran his thumb along her jaw. “I’d prefer to have the real thing instead of the fantasy.”
“Guess you’re just going to have to settle for the fantasy, huh?” She held her breath and waited, hoped for something, although what, she couldn’t quite say. Maybe an invitation to come and visit, as if that would really happen.
He pressed his lips against her forehead. “I’m going miss you a helluva lot. I wish we didn’t live so far apart.”
Kerry wished that more than he would ever know. “But we do, and that’s a problem. But you can e-mail me now and then, let me know how you’re doing.”
“I can do that now and then but we don’t have good Internet access in Crawley. At least, not yet.”
“Oh, well. It was just a suggestion.”
“I could call you, if that’s okay.”
“Sure.”
“Maybe you could come out to Nebraska for a couple of days in the spring.”
Well, at least it was something, althou
gh Kerry realized not quite enough. “You know, Ford, I’m thinking it might be better if we just leave everything as it is. We’ve had a great time together, but having a long-distance relationship doesn’t work.”
“Have you ever had one?”
She’d never had a real relationship, period. “No, I haven’t had one, but I don’t think it’s logical to assume that distance makes the heart grow fonder.”
“Then you’re saying after I leave, that’s it? No phone calls. No visits.”
Kerry was surprised by the anger in his tone. “Don’t you agree that would be best?”
Taking his arm from around her, he leaned forward and studied the carpeted floor beneath his boots. “Maybe you’re right. But I’m not going to forget you.”
“And I’m not going to forget you, either.”
Straightening, he pulled her to his side again. “I’m not going to fly out until tomorrow. Will you stay with me one more night?”
“I have a class. Remember?”
“Yeah, I remember. But it doesn’t last all night, does it?”
“No, but I need to study.”
Kerry needed to resist him, but when he kissed her again so completely, she wanted to forget everything but this moment. He was so tempting. So very, very tempting.
They parted, yet he still kept his arms around her, as it had been during the majority of their time together. “I’m glad we met, Kerry.”
And I love you, Ford. “I feel the same, too. You’re a very special man.”
He hesitated a long moment, his heart seemingly calling out from his wonderful blue eyes. “What I’m trying to say is—”
When the phone rang, Ford bolted off the sofa and grabbed the receiver, leaving Kerry feeling incredibly bereft. He spoke in low tones, but when he ended the call with, “I’ll be right down,” she knew that the inevitable was upon them.
Kerry came to her feet, picked up her purse and bag and slipped both straps over her shoulder. “I guess that’s the news you’ve been waiting for.”