Pulse Points

by Mary Lynn Baxter

  “If there’s anything I can do, I’ll be glad to.”

  Kasey gave the woman a wobbly smile. “Thanks. You’re too kind. But I’ll be okay.”

  “If you’re sure,” she said with seeming reluctance before moving on.

  Somehow Kasey managed to find the wherewithal to pay for the items in her cart and drive home. It was only after she was locked behind closed doors did she breathe. Even then, it was labored.

  Had he been Shirley’s killer? The way he’d looked at her… Kasey broke off with a shiver. Of course, it wasn’t. Her imagination was her own worst enemy.

  While trying to reprogram her mind, Kasey made her way into the bathroom and stepped into the shower, getting the water as hot as she dared. After slipping into a pair of lounging pajamas, she headed to the kitchen only to end up with a glass of iced tea and nothing to eat. The thought of food was revolting.

  She eased onto the sofa at the same time the doorbell pealed. Frowning, she uncrossed her legs and made her way to the door. After peeping through the hole, her stomach did another cartwheel. Although the image was somewhat distorted, it was obvious who was there.

  With trembling fingers, she unbolted the door and opened it.

  Tanner angled his head, his eyes roving over her. “I’m sorry,” he said in a husky tone.

  She licked her lips. “For what?”

  “Poor timing.”

  “Is this a business call?”

  “No,” he said, his voice deeper and huskier.

  Kasey’s mouth went dry. “Do you want to come in?” She realized how stupid that question sounded, but it was too late to retract it.

  “If that’s all right.”

  She moved aside and let him pass, thinking inanely that he wasn’t at his best, either, like the heat had gotten to him, zapped him of his energy. She guessed he’d been out campaigning. Despite his disheveled appearance, he looked good. Too good. He smelled good, too, a combination of sweat and cologne, a powerful aphrodisiac in her weakened condition.

  Once she found the courage to join him in the middle of her living room, an awkward silence hovered over them. Neither seemed eager to look at the other.

  Finally Tanner cleared his throat. “Are you okay?”

  “What makes you think otherwise?”

  “Your eyes. I saw…see fear in them.”

  Her lips parted, her mind in a whirl. She wished she hadn’t scrubbed off her makeup or had dressed in something less revealing, readily conscious of her nakedness underneath her pajamas.

  “Kasey.”

  The pull of Tanner’s rough, sexy voice drew her eyes back to his. For a moment their gazes locked. Kasey’s heart hammered against her chest. The way he was staring at her was insane. More insane was that she had let him in.

  “I—” Kasey’s voice broke on a sob, which further mortified her. To break down again was unthinkable for fear of the consequences. Yet she ached to say to hell with restraint and fling herself into his strong arms for the comfort she so badly sought.

  Only it wasn’t just comfort she craved.

  As if he read her mind, raw lust suddenly glinted in his eyes, then he groaned and reached for her. Wordlessly she went into his arms and draped her arms around his neck, clinging to him. For the longest time, he seemed content to just hold her.

  Kasey couldn’t say exactly when the body temperature changed. Maybe it was after she released a deep sigh that made her aware of how her nipples had hardened and were pressing into his chest. She felt herself stiffen.

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” Tanner whispered against her neck.

  His hot breath and lips against her skin buckled her knees. She clung that much tighter.

  “This is so good, so right,” he muttered before sinking his lips onto hers.

  Tongues met, then sparked while his hands slid down her body, cupping her buttocks. Her next breath stopped in her throat when she felt his rock-hard penis against her pelvic bone.

  “Where?” A savage edge roughened his voice.

  Pulling away, she grabbed his hand and led him into the bedroom, refusing to think about what she was doing. The moments were hers. She wasn’t about to lose them.

  Clothes were quickly dispensed with and soon they lay on top of the duvet, skin against skin, lips against lips.

  “You’re more beautiful than I remembered.”

  She felt herself drowning in his deep eyes. “So are you.”

  “Especially your breasts.”

  She gulped.

  “They’re perfect.”

  She ran her hands down his leg.

  He gasped. “Oh, please don’t stop.”

  She circled him with her hand, her thumb concentrating on the moist tip.

  Moaning, he dipped his head and latched on to a nipple and sucked.

  “Oh, Tanner,” she whispered achingly.

  Following another groan, his lips targeted the other breast while a hand parted her legs just wide enough for him to cup her there. He eased two fingers inside her.

  She bolted on a cry, then began frantically to massage him until she felt the moisture increase.

  “Please,” he begged, “I want to come inside you. Now.”

  “Yes, yes.”

  With glazed eyes holding hers for several beats, he thrust inside her, uniting them in moments shared, mindless bliss.

  Twenty-One

  She lay with her back to him, her body in a fetal position.

  He was so still and quiet he had to be asleep. She tried to control her erratic breathing but it was difficult. She wanted to awaken him and tell him he should go, but the words stuck in her throat.

  She didn’t want him to go. What they had shared had been incredible, had carried her to dizzying heights. She craved more of the same, more of his seeking hands and thrusting body. The scariest part was that this feeling was more than just sex. When she was in his arms and he was inside her, she no longer felt alone and afraid. At least not of strangers and things that go bump in the night.

  But Tanner was no stranger. He was the father of her child.

  Suddenly Kasey wondered what would happen if she woke him up and blurted out the truth. Confessed everything. What would his reaction be? Though her mind screamed rejection of that forbidden thought, it wouldn’t go away.

  All the more reason to keep her distance, to treat him with professional respect and nothing more. But after tonight, that was going to be hard, if not impossible. Even now, she dreaded for him to leave her. However, she knew he had to go and she had to let him.

  An affair was out of the question. To indulge herself again would be asking for trouble. Though she knew her secret was safe to the grave, it was not wise to play with fire. And that was exactly what Tanner was.

  Still…

  “Hey, you.”

  His husky spoken words brought her onto her side to face him. To her dismay, she felt tears well up in her eyes. It was the way he was looking at her, with his heart in his eyes, that triggered that emotion.

  Tanner reached out and removed a stand of hair off her cheek. “It’s okay. No one’s going to hurt you.”

  Only you.

  “Something frightened you today, didn’t it?” he asked. “I sensed that the second you came to the door.”

  “Yes,” she admitted with simple honesty.

  “Tell me what happened.”

  She did.

  A string of harsh profanities followed. Then he held her close in comfort for several minutes before putting distance between them. “Trust me, everything’s going to be all right.”

  “No, it’s not,” she gulped.

  “As long as I’m breathing, no one’s going to hurt you.” Cold determination underlined each word.

  Kasey licked her lips. “I’m sure I just overreacted.”

  “I’m sure you did, too, but that’s to be expected.”

  “That’s no excuse.”

  He kissed her again. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ve been through hell
and it’s not over yet.”

  She didn’t say anything for the longest time. Then finally she asked on a tremor, “When is it going to end?”

  “You’re not just talking about the murder are you?”

  “No.”

  His eyes darkened and he grimaced. “Does that mean you’re sorry?”

  She knew he was referring to their lovemaking. “No, but I should be.”

  “Why?”

  “You know why.”

  A sigh filtered through him. “Because of Mark.”

  “Partly, I guess,” she responded in a strained whisper.

  “You shouldn’t feel guilty.”

  “I know, but guilt’s my middle name.”

  “Look at me.”

  The pull of Tanner’s voice drew her eyes back to his. “Last night was perfect.”

  “It was, wasn’t it?”

  “I loved being inside you again.”

  Her breath caught. “I felt the same way.”

  “Then why are you fighting us? Fighting me?”

  “You know why.”

  “No, I don’t.” His voice was anguished now.

  “I wish things were that easy for me.” Careful, Kasey. You’re treading on thin ice.

  “The difference between us is that I don’t want to forget anything about that night. Everything that happened, the way I touched you, the way you touched me is forever seared on my brain.”

  “Tanner, please, I don’t want to talk about that night.”

  “Then we won’t.” He leaned over and grazed her trembling lips with his. “Just don’t shut me out, okay? I couldn’t stand that.”

  “We’re working together,” she whispered inanely.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “This is not right.”

  “It’s so right.”

  “I should never have let you in.”

  “But you did.”

  “I know,” she said again in a weak voice.

  The pad of his thumb caressed her lower lip. Hot desire made her weaker. “Don’t.”

  His eyes probed. “Don’t what?”

  “You know.”

  “Make you hot?” His words were an impassioned whisper as his finger continued to massage her bottom lip.

  She could only nod.

  “And make you want me again?” His voice had dropped another decibel.

  “Yes,” she said though tight lips. “Are you satisfied?”

  “Far from it.” He reached for her, pulled her against him and aligned her body with his.

  She heard his shallow, labored breathing and felt him press hot and hard into her belly.

  “Now I’m satisfied,” he whispered in a guttural tone. “Or nearly, that is.”

  He kissed her again, a deep, searing kiss that left her dizzy and breathless and clinging to him.

  “I won’t really be satisfied until I’m making you come,” he told her, his breath warm and caressing.

  Just once more, she promised herself. What could it hurt? When the time came, she could walk away. She had what it took to do that. She also had what it took to banish her guilt into the dark corners of her heart and grab the moment.

  “Kasey?”

  “What are you waiting for?” she asked, thick-tongued.

  He groaned, parted her legs and thrust inside her. Kasey closed her eyes and gave into the sensations rocking her.

  “Dammit.”

  Tanner looked up from the paper then crumpled it in his big hand before tossing it aside. The gun incident at the construction site had made the front page of the paper. Although he knew that was possible after the police became involved, he had hoped something else would take precedent over the incident.

  He should’ve known better.

  Anything he and Butler did out of the ordinary seemed newsworthy. Jack had warned him that privacy as he’d once known it would cease to exist. He hadn’t thought that would bother him, that his skin was thick enough and his confidence high enough to handle that downside of politics.

  He wasn’t so sure now. Especially when everything seemed to get blown way of out proportion.

  The article made his company look bad. Made his employees look bad. Made him look bad. The accusatory tone of the piece had Daisy Greer’s stamp on it. He’d bet everything she’d been on the scene.

  Why the hell did she have her stinger out for him? Why couldn’t Butler have been the unlucky bastard on the other end of her poison pen? Suddenly disgusted that he was wasting his thoughts and energy on an ambitious broad who would apparently do whatever it took to get ahead in her profession, Tanner deleted her from his mind.

  He focused his attention back to the half-written speech in front of him. But the words on the page seemed to all run together. He tossed down his pen, stretched back in his chair, then glanced at his watch.

  His luncheon appointment with Jack was nearing. In light of the article, he wasn’t looking forward to that meeting. Jack would be livid. He wondered if Kasey had seen it and what she was thinking.

  He fought the urge to pick up the phone and ask her. Not a good idea, he told himself, especially after last night and this morning.

  He’d hated leaving her. It had taken every ounce of willpower he possessed not to awaken her one last time and make love to her. He had squirmed, feeling like his balls were about to explode. Yet he’d contented himself on watching her sleep, concentrating on the rise and fall of her full breasts, remembering the feel and taste of them in his mouth and hands.

  The dusting of freckles across her face had made him smile. But it was her lips that he concentrated on. They were perfectly shaped and so kissable. They had done unbelievable things to his body, made him feel sensations he’d never felt before, not even the first time they made love.

  Now that he’d found her again, he couldn’t bear to give her up.

  But when dawn had broken, Kasey had awakened and stared at him stark-eyed. “You’re still here.”

  He tried to smile, but his efforts failed. “That’s not good, huh?”

  “No.”

  Tensing his jaw, he shoved the covers back and stood, conscious of his nakedness. But he didn’t care. Maybe he wanted to tempt her one more time, make her realize what she was giving up.

  He turned back to her and her face was flushed, though her gaze didn’t waver. Their eyes held for what seemed like an interminable length of time.

  “Please, I want you to go.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m going.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Tanner saw her watching him while he got dressed. When he reached the door, he swung back around, his gaze sliding over her. “Later,” he muttered.

  Now, as Tanner pulled his thoughts back to harsh reality, he stared into space and fought off a sense of hopelessness.

  “I caught you.”

  Tanner gave a start. Irene. The last person he wanted to see. “Come on in.”

  “Have you seen today’s paper?” she asked, striding deeper into the room.

  “Yep.”

  She shook the paper at him. “I don’t have to tell you this is not good.”

  “That doesn’t even warrant a response,” he replied on a sour note.

  Though color surfaced in her cheeks, Irene’s eyes continued to flash. “Sarcasm doesn’t become you.”

  “Then don’t invite it.”

  “My, but you’re in a pissy mood this morning.”

  He gave her a pointed stare.

  “After this article, I guess you have a right to be.”

  The article had nothing to do with his piss factor being high, but he didn’t bother to tell her that.

  “By the way, where were you last night?”

  That blunt question infuriated him further. “Since when are you keeping tabs on me?”

  “Since you hired me to run your campaign and since you kissed me.”

  “Dammit, Irene, will you stop harping on that kiss. It was a mistake for both of us and you know it.”

&nbs
p; Her lips thinned. “For you maybe.”

  “I have to go meet Jack.”

  “So you’re not going to tell me where you were, huh?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Are you seeing someone?”

  Her perception shocked him, but he didn’t let on. He just didn’t say anything.

  “One of these days, Tanner, you’re going to get what’s coming to you, and I hope I’m around to see it.”

  “What did you want, Irene?” he asked, trying to keep the ice out of his tone. As it was, their relationship was tenuous. He smothered a sigh. For someone who’d always had a way with women, he was suddenly batting zero.

  “Never mind,” she lashed back.

  “Tell me.”

  “Why?” Her mouth curled. “Your mind is obviously not on business anyway.”

  He bowed his shoulders and his eyes glinted. “You’re pushing your luck.”

  “Oh, all right,” she exclaimed in a waspish tone. “That Greer woman came to see me.”

  Before he could make a comeback, she turned and stormed out of the office, slamming the door hard behind her.

  “Great,” he muttered. “Just bloody great.”

  Twenty-Two

  She should thank Tanner.

  The thought of doing that, however, made her palms clammy. Still, she owed him. The new client she had just signed was a friend of his. Bob Jefferies had told her how pleased Tanner was with her work on his behalf. Of course, Kasey hadn’t taken full credit. Her staff had worked alongside her and still were. Until the election was over, satisfying Tanner was an ongoing project.

  Though Jefferies wasn’t in politics like Tanner, he appeared desperate for help. He’d taken over an established but floundering business and was determined to turn it around by advertising in a big way the changes he’d incorporated.

  The new, lucrative contract was both a boost for her self-esteem as well as the agency’s. If their client list continued to improve, she could make a dent in some of the debts. At least she was able to meet payroll. For the time being, that was a big plus.

  Kasey eyed the phone. Call him. It had been three days since they had made love. Even though she hadn’t seen or talked to him since, she had thought of little else. She had replayed in her mind every intimate detail of their time together.