by Dani Wade
She sensed that wasn’t the question he’d been expecting. She wouldn’t be surprised if he chose not to answer, and for a long time he didn’t. When he did speak, his voice was low and had an uneven rumble. “I would care if anyone got hurt, Presley, but especially you.”
What did that mean? But he didn’t offer anything else, and Presley had used all the courage she had to ask the one question.
Where did they go from here? The miles sped by in a flash of green hills. Kane turned on the radio, and soothing instrumental music filled the car. She doubted it was his first choice for ambience, but at least it calmed Presley’s mood somewhat.
On the short flight out, Kane sat in the front with the pilot, leaving her alone with her spinning mind. Luckily she knew the family they were visiting well and had accepted their invite a while before she and Kane had become an item. The last thing she’d imagined was a weekend spent in the same room with him, this strained silence between them.
But when their hostess came to meet them under the portico while their luggage was being unloaded from the limo they’d taken from the airfield, an inkling of concern whispered through Presley.
“Hey, girl,” LaDonna said as she hugged Presley. Her friendly greeting contradicted her strained smile. “So glad you made it.”
LaDonna waited until after she’d greeted Kane before urging Presley a few steps away. “I didn’t know Marjorie was coming.”
Presley took in her hostess’s worried expression. “Um, I didn’t, either.”
“She showed up several hours ago.”
Presley squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, willing away a headache, then gave LaDonna a sympathetic look. “I’m so sorry. I hope that won’t put you out.”
“Well—” LaDonna glanced over her shoulder toward the doors as if to make sure the rest of the party—or the offending guest—hadn’t shown up to listen. “The thing is, we have a full house this time. Every room is taken.”
Great. Presley knew exactly what that meant. A weekend spent listening to her stepmother pick over every piece of clothing she’d brought to wear, or asking her a million times if Kane had picked out something she approved of. “Maybe I should just go home,” she groaned.
“Why would you do that?”
Presley’s eyes opened to see Kane’s curious expression over LaDonna’s shoulder.
“We’ve had an unexpected guest show up,” LaDonna confessed.
“Marjorie,” Presley sighed.
Kane’s expression was neutral. “I realize she can be difficult, but why would that be reason to abandon ship?”
LaDonna glanced back and forth between them as if unsure what to say, but Presley wasn’t in the mood to spell it out herself. “It’s messed up our sleeping arrangements.”
“Shouldn’t.” Kane’s voice was more matter-of-fact than she would have expected considering the strain between them. She anticipated his next words as much as she dreaded them. “Presley will be staying in my room.”
LaDonna’s eyes widened, but thankfully she didn’t express disbelief or ask questions. She gave a polite smile. “That’ll work, then.”
But as LaDonna turned away from Kane, her wide eyes met Presley’s. Her mouthed oh my gosh would have been comical if Presley didn’t have so much weighing her down. She didn’t want to make LaDonna uncomfortable—she’d always been a sweet woman, who had been a friend of Presley’s mother and stayed in touch despite their living so far apart. Their shared investments in horse racing gave the families even better reason to continue their longstanding friendship. Presley didn’t want to inconvenience her or spill the details of her currently troubled relationship—if one could call what she and Kane had a relationship. Deep down, she was very much afraid that’s exactly what she wanted.
But now Presley had to figure out what to do with Kane—and the king-size bed they would soon share.
Fifteen
As Presley eyed him warily, Kane had the first urge to smile he’d felt in days. He wasn’t sure why—the situation between him and Presley hadn’t improved. But the look on her face implied he was a big bad wolf who would more than likely take advantage of her in their shared room.
By damn, she was probably right.
Not that she’d forgiven him for his behavior. She might be able to sleep with him, but her spirit wasn’t quite willing. Kane had wavered about a solution to this problem—not to mention the cause—a lot over the last few days.
The answer wasn’t making itself known quickly enough.
“Presley! You finally arrived.”
The sound of Marjorie’s voice when they were only halfway up the main staircase made Kane smother a groan. As if this weekend wasn’t complicated enough... Marjorie wasn’t his favorite person, but he tried to be polite to her. But add in the strain between him and Presley at the moment, and his patience with her stepmother was bound to be a little thin.
Presley seemed to feel the same way, as she said in a voice that held no warmth, “We didn’t know you were going to arrive at all, Marjorie.”
The older woman’s titter set Kane’s teeth on edge, as did the light glinting off all the sequins on her top.
“A last-minute decision,” Marjorie assured them. “You shouldn’t mind, Presley. After all, you have a place to sleep, don’t you?”
The way she eyed Kane over her stepdaughter’s shoulder made him distinctly uncomfortable. Either she didn’t notice Presley’s clenched jaw or she simply didn’t care. Kane leaned toward the latter explanation.
Marjorie moved on to her next topic, one of her favorites. “Please tell me you’re on your way to dress for dinner, Presley. You shouldn’t wear slacks in this type of company—”
“We are actually on our way to our suite,” Kane interrupted, gesturing toward the man who waited at the top of the stairs with their luggage. “We’ll be down for drinks once we’re settled.”
Presley didn’t resist as he ushered her up the remaining steps. He handled the luggage while she crossed the suite to stare out the picture window overlooking the impressive gardens just coming into full bloom. Kane saw the waning sunlight darken to dusk in just a few minutes, giving the room a more intimate quality.
Knowing only that he had to reach her in some small way but unsure of how to go about it, Kane crossed to stand behind Presley. Though they weren’t touching, standing like this reminded him of their trip to Louisville. He wanted to use his body to bend her just where he wanted her. Connect with her from head to toe, get them both too revved up to be able to go down to dinner.
But now wasn’t the time to focus on sex. He could easily make her feel satisfied—but more importantly, he needed to make her feel respected. Their conversation in the car had told him that loud and clear.
So he did the one thing he didn’t want to do. He started to speak. About his feelings.
“When my mother died, I was fifteen—” He paused for a deep breath. “No, it started before that. She’d been sick with cancer for almost two years before she was taken from us.”
Presley shifted slightly, but he couldn’t tell what she was thinking so he continued. With only a lamp on in the far corner of the room, there wasn’t any light to see her reflection in the glass.
“My father worked full-time. Took care of all her medications, appointments, treatments...and he had me and Mason. But there are only so many hours in the day, and he had no relatives nearby to help him. Some of the neighbors would bring over food sometimes, but the longer an illness goes on, the easier it is for people to forget that you’re in need.”
He edged a little closer, drawn to her warmth.
“I wanted to help, so I begged my mom to teach me to cook the things she wanted to eat, whatever she thought she could keep down. Soups, mashed potatoes, pudding—soft foods to start. Soon I was making entire meals for
everyone. I helped Mason with his homework every night so he wouldn’t get behind. Took out the trash. Cleaned the bathrooms. Did laundry. Taking care of people just came naturally to me.”
Kane sucked in another deep breath, momentarily distracted by the brush of his chest against Presley’s back. The light scent of her hair, tied back into a thick ponytail, enticed him. He should stop talking before he revealed too much. Why didn’t he stop talking?
“When Em fell, I ended up in the same place, the same head space. Like if I just worked hard enough, I could fix it.”
“Since you didn’t prevent it?”
The murmured words were quiet, but their impact was massive.
Kane’s whole world tilted, leaving him dizzy. “Logically I knew I couldn’t have stopped it, but that message didn’t translate to my heart. So I tried to make up for it instead. Which didn’t go over so well.”
At all. Instead of bringing them closer, he’d driven Emily away. She’d needed space, time to heal...without him. The memories sent Kane back across to the dresser, pulling at his hair as he paced the expanse of the big room, his steps eerily silent on the plush carpets. “I should have handled it differently. Tempered my response to what she needed, what she wanted.” He jerked to a halt, bracing his hands on hips. “It’s just who I am, Presley.”
“No.”
Surprised, he braced himself to face her.
“That was your normal response on steroids. You felt yourself losing her, so you pumped it up.”
And made myself into a fool.
“The truth, Kane, is that she probably would never have accepted your help.”
“Why?”
Kane hated the plaintive note in his voice, yet it was also a relief to say the word out loud after listening to it echo inside his head for three years. Presley glanced back out the window, hesitating for long moments before she answered. Kane felt every second of that wait in his bones.
“I’ll admit, I looked up the details of Emily’s fall.” Presley shrugged. “I was curious. But there were things that puzzled me for a while. How could someone so invested in horses go completely in the other direction after what was obviously an accident?”
“She wanted nothing more to do with them,” Kane choked out. “When she left, she said she never wanted to see another animal or stable again.”
“She moved to a big city, didn’t she?”
Kane nodded.
“See, it could have gone the other way. There are lots of rehabilitation programs she could have worked with, helping her overcome her fears if she’d wanted to. But she didn’t.”
Presley took a few small steps closer to him. “And she couldn’t ask you to give up your dreams, either, Kane. She wasn’t pushing you away after her accident—she was pushing you in the direction of the future she knew you deserved. A future she couldn’t handle being a part of anymore.”
The truth hit Kane like lightning, jolting him from the inside out while freezing him in place. For so long, he’d had it in his head that Emily simply wanted nothing more to do with him, nothing to do with the essential parts of him. So those parts of him had to be buried—until the pressure of watching Presley accelerate toward that jump had his protective instincts spewing forth again like a shaken soda.
The implications whirled inside Kane’s brain, making him dizzy. Through sheer force he shut down his mind. He could dwell on it later, when he was alone. Right now, Kane needed to focus on the uncomfortable present and lock away the devastating past for another time. “I thought I’d buried my triggers,” he admitted, not acknowledging the turbulence inside himself. “Obviously I was wrong.”
A weak apology at best, but all he could manage at the moment.
This time Presley advanced on him with sure steps. “You know, Kane, there’s a difference between taking care of people and taking them over.”
Wise woman. “I forget sometimes.” With the best of intentions, but still...
“Then you’ll just have to live with me putting you back in your place...when it’s appropriate, of course.”
Her moss-green gaze met his. A little vulnerable. A lot strong. And like a snap of his fingers, Kane’s hesitation vanished.
He strode back to her, cupping her face to hold her captive for his kiss.
Once he started, there was no turning back. Passion, need and something deeper drove him forward. He made short work of stripping off their clothes. Her every gasp, every moan added an extra spark to his excitement. Luckily the bed was a soft landing place.
For a woman who worked so hard, Presley’s skin was silky soft, drawing his hands, his mouth. Kane might have spent time dressing Presley, but undressing her was a unique pleasure. Her body was firm, muscled from her hard work. Her long, lean legs felt like heaven wrapped around Kane’s hips.
He couldn’t wait to have her there again.
Stepping to the edge of the bed, Kane made a place for himself between Presley’s thighs. She was like the sweetest of treats laid out before him; Kane surveyed every inch before leaning over for a taste. He plumped her breasts with his hands. Her nipples tightened, begging for him. His kiss covered her delicate mounds, but he saved the little pink buds for last.
As he closed over one tip, Presley arched up to meet him. The dusky darkness of the room grew heavy with her moans and his ragged breath. She buried her hands in the thickness of his hair at the base of his skull, drawing him closer. He sucked at her tightened nipples until they darkened to rosy red.
Something about the feel of her, the sound of her, fit perfectly into the empty place in Kane’s soul. He didn’t want it, but there was no denying it. No way to stop himself from reaching out and taking her.
After slipping on a condom, he guided her legs around his waist. She locked her ankles together at the small of his back. Her core was wet and eager for him. Sliding inside felt even better than coming home.
It was just right.
The heat surrounding Kane lit an urgency inside him that he couldn’t control. Spurred on by the pressure of her legs pulling him closer, he plunged deep inside her. His world stopped. All he knew was that he didn’t want this to end. Didn’t want to face the day when he would never again connect with Presley’s very essence.
But his body wasn’t interested in the emotions.
In and out, each thrust became an automatic drive to detonate their explosion. He leveraged his stance for maximum force, losing himself in the clutch of her hands and the exquisite pull of her body. Every thrust to the hilt threw them closer to the edge.
Kane knew he wanted nothing more than to jump into the free fall with Presley.
Just a minute more, and he felt the impact hit her, the clamp of her muscles around him a direct jolt to his own ecstasy. Kane felt suspended in a maelstrom of pleasure and pain before slowly returning to the softness of the woman beneath him and the solid foundation of the floor under his feet.
Never had reality felt so good.
* * *
Apparently she shouldn’t have worried about that canceled contract.
Presley was pretty sure what they’d been doing upstairs shone from every pore on her face, but no one so much as hinted at it over dinner. Instead they all chatted pleasantly from cocktails to dessert, eager to meet the newest up-and-comer in the racing world when Presley introduced Kane.
As she watched him over the rim of her wineglass after dinner, she had the sinking feeling that Kane didn’t truly need her anymore. He was far more comfortable in social situations than she was and quickly connected with whomever he met. Yes, she’d helped him gain entry to a couple of places it might have taken him longer to break into, but his name and reputation had spread rapidly.
When it was just the two of them, their connection felt almost tangible. Their lovemaking upstairs had left her with no barri
ers against her true feelings for him. But it was hard seeing him work a room full of people when her natural instinct was to hide in a corner. How long would it be before babysitting her grew old?
But she certainly wouldn’t object to calling it an early night when she knew what was waiting for her upstairs.
LaDonna approached Presley’s quiet corner. “Wow, Presley. I’m thoroughly impressed,” she said as she eyed Kane, who was in conversation with a couple of high-powered horse brokers from Ireland.
“You should see him with his brother.”
“I’d heard there were two of them,” LaDonna said with a playful wink. “Don’t tell hubby that I’m salivating already.”
She turned her focus fully on Presley. “I’m sorry about the mix-up with Marjorie, but I didn’t know you and Kane were together when you asked for the invite. Why didn’t you tell me, Presley?”
“I wasn’t...sure.” Heck, she still wasn’t sure, if she admitted the truth.
“Are you happy?”
In some ways, very much. In others... But she couldn’t tell LaDonna that. Instead she protected herself and the complicated situation she was in by saying, “Yes, why?”
“Well, I’ve tried hard not to malign Marjorie over the years.”
Haven’t we all?
“But as a mother, she was never quite right for you.”
Marjorie’s piercing laugh from across the room only punctuated that truth. Presley sighed, then said, “I’m glad I’m not the only one who saw it.”
“Oh, your father had all the excuses for why you wouldn’t take to his new wife, and Marjorie adopted them for herself from the beginning.”
Presley tilted her head to the side, studying her stepmother in her sequined attire. Marjorie liked to glitter when she moved. “Do you think so?”
“I’m afraid so,” LaDonna said. She indicated Presley’s silky shirt and skirt with an elegant gesture. “And then I saw you like this, and I worried.”
Presley glanced down, expecting to feel self-conscious to have someone talking about her new clothes, but she fell back into the knowledge that the outfit was lovely and felt good, too.