by Renea Mason
Lachlan joined me, his hand on my back.
Vicky wrapped her arms around me. "I'm so happy for you. It was so nice to meet you, Lachlan."
He pulled her in for a hug. "Thanks again for your help."
Kelly still had the starry look in her eyes. "If Katherine gives you any trouble, you know who to call."
He embraced her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "Thank you."
"See you next week." I closed the door behind them.
The moment the door clicked shut, Lachlan had me in his arms. "I'm so sorry. I should have told you I was coming early, but I got a flight at the last minute and surprising you seemed like a good idea. It was six very long, terribly horny hours. Sorry, for the pre-introduction shag, love. But honestly, I don't think my desire for you would have allowed me to hear anything they said. I promise not to make a habit of it. Let's see," he said, tapping his chin in thought. "I think that's all the apologies I need to issue. I hope you're not too terribly upset."
I chuckled. He was so adorable with his charming smile and wordy explanations. "Not at all. I missed you."
"Oh, you did now, did you? Which part did you miss the most?"
I ran my finger over his lower lip. "Your smile. I love seeing you happy."
He pulled me closer. "I don't remember ever being this happy."
"Well, that's a bit surprising, since someone is trying to kill you."
"Love, just makes me appreciate what I've found that much more. When I was younger, we would have beat around the bush until one of us were brave enough to be vulnerable. This ordeal has taught me I don't have that kind of time. I know what I want, and I'm not afraid to say it. I love you." He cupped my face and kissed me.
Something about having him meet Vicky and Kelly ground him in reality. "Are you sure you're real?"
His hands ran up my back, underneath my shirt. "Very much so. And I'm all yours."
"How did this happen?"
"You looked at a desperate man and thought, how can I help him without caring about anything but easing his troubles." His fingers trailed along my rib cage, finding their way to the front of my shirt, where he worked at undoing my buttons. His lips played over my neck.
"Best cup of coffee I ever bought." I threaded my fingers in his hair.
A soft hum vibrated against my skin before the raspy words left his lips. "The best flight in coach ever." He toyed with the last two buttons, taking his time popping them loose, until finally letting the garment fall open. He bent down, kissing the swell of my breast. "I don't care what we do for the rest of the night, but I have to feel your skin against mine. So be prepared to do whatever it is nude and with me against you in one way or another." In the next breath, my bra slid to the floor. "Oh, and allow for plenty of snogging and other things as needed." His hands slid over the curve of my ass, allowing my pants and panties to rest in a heap on the floor.
Stepping out of my clothes, I took his hand and led him to the bedroom.
His cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket. "One moment, love, it's my manager." He put to phone to his ear, making no effort to hide the conversation from me. "Yes, Kyle." He paused. "Really? That's fantastic news. Absolutely." His eyes went wide with excitement. "Yes. Can you have Grace arrange travel for Katherine, as soon as I'm finished up here? She'll be staying with me. She'll need a pass and designer for the award show. Marvelous. Perfect. Thank you, Kyle. It looks like you'll be staying employed a little longer. Yes. Brilliant. I'll tell her. Night." He placed the phone back in his pocket.
I tried to hold back my excitement until I could know for sure. "Did they? I mean…"
His palms cupped my ass and pulled me against him hard. "Yes, love, they caught him. I'm no longer under threat, and I'm wearing far too many clothes." He shimmied out of his pants.
I wanted to kiss him. "Lachlan, that is fantastic news."
"Yes, yes, it is. News that deserves being celebrated."
I stood bare before him, and now it was my turn. "Stop." I grabbed his hand. "Let me do it."
The brilliant smirk that crossed his lips made me wet.
Piece by piece, I unwrapped my gift, and oh, what a gift he was. Flawless skin. Smooth muscle, devilish smile, deep brown eyes. Once completely undressed, we eye one another awkwardly, waiting for the other to make the next move.
"So, here we are. No one wants to kill you. We're both naked. And you have this, anything-but-little problem?" I grasped his cock in both hands, gliding my fist up and down his length.
His guttural moan, my reward. "Love, I see it as more of a solution."
"What exactly is the problem we're solving?"
He captured my bottom lip between his teeth and gently tugged until it slipped from his mouth. "First, love, there's the fact that my body reacts to you like I'm a goddamn teenager. Second, I want to be close to you and this..." He pointed to his cock. "will allow me to get really, really close. One day, hopefully, it will help us make beautiful children." He brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. He sighed. "Why do you always get that look when I talk about our future?"
"How are you so certain about what you feel?"
"I can't explain it, Katherine. I just know."
"We're back to that? Wizard, huh?"
"Yes, magic wand, remember?" He walked toward me, forcing me back toward the bed.
He helped me up onto the bed. "In all seriousness, Katherine. Were you confused when you fell for Daniel?"
I shook my head, keeping eye contact. "No."
We both scooted to the top of the bed, and he looped his arms around me. "See, that's what it's like for me. When it's real, it's easy. I know I've never felt this way before." He kissed me tenderly. "You're confused because you still have all this love inside for Daniel, and somehow, you let me in the middle of it all and don't know how to resolve it. If what you felt for me was different, it would be easy. But it's not, is it? It scares you. It makes you feel vulnerable. Makes you feel like you're somehow taking something away from Daniel."
Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. I buried my head in his chest.
He clutched me tighter. "I don't want you to stop loving him. I don't want to replace him. All I ask is that you make room to let me love you. When your heart broke, Katherine, it didn't diminish, the fractures allowed it to spread out—to double in size. There's room for both of us." He wiped a tear from my cheek with his thumb. "Do you love me, Katherine?" He cupped my chin, forcing me to look at him.
"Yes." I couldn't deny him any longer. "Very much. You're right, I'm scared."
He smiled and kissed my lips. "I can feel it, even when you can't admit it. Imagine with me our future. You're my wife. Our child growing in here." He placed his hand on my abdomen. "You'll be my refuge from the world I'm destined to be in, but never felt part of. Katherine, you feel like where I should be. Like home. No matter where I am. I'll protect you from all the uncertainty that plagues you and remind you that you are deserving of the same love you give. All you need to do is accept me and love me." He rolled me onto my back, stretching out on top of me.
It was as though his words broke through the surface where I had been drowning in fear. Afraid of what could be. Bound by what had been. He bridged the gap. I didn't have to choose the present to honor my past. I could have a future too. I needed to trust him and surrender my fear.
I felt his cock head thick against my thigh. I opened my legs to him, and it didn't take but a moment before he slid into me. I moaned, savoring the feel of him.
"Oh, I love that sound. Especially knowing I'm the cause."
I ran my hands over his muscled back.
He slid in and out in long fluid strokes, pulling almost all the way out just to plunge back in. The fullness I experienced with his cock inside me only exaggerated the emptiness I felt when he pulled out. When he slid back in, my muscles clenched around him, trying to keep him inside. A soft growl vibrated his lips against the shell of my ear.
"You feel so good.
I've missed you."
"I was just thinking the same thing, but please, say it again. Tell me you missed me." He bit his lip.
I smoothed my hands over his biceps. "I did. I really missed you."
He kissed me, soft, yet passionate. "At some point, we can be more adventurous, but right now, this is perfect. I need to feel you like this." He shifted my hips and changed the angle of his thrusts.
I gasped as he hit a spot inside that lit a fire.
"Tell me, what adventurous things do you have in mind?"
"Mmm… let's see. When we get to LA, I'm going to take you out and ravish you in the backseat of my convertible and fuck you under the stars." Soft lips trailed down my throat. "Oh, and the next time you start to doubt us, I'm going to bind you to my four-poster bed and torture you in every delicious way possible until you see reason and remember to trust me with our future." He sucked the base of my neck. "If you haven't already figured it out, I'm a bit of an exhibitionist. So…be prepared."
"So, the door was left open on purpose? You wanted Vicky and Kelly to see us?"
His thrusts delved deeper as he pressed his pelvis against mine. "Well, we are beautiful together. Why hide?"
"And the tabloid when we first met?"
"Not consciously, but unconsciously, perhaps. Maybe I knew, even at that moment, who you were for me. I didn't want to hide you from anyone before you were even mine. But right now, just feel me. Feel us. Feel how much I love you." He sucked the skin at the base of my throat between his lips, bound to leave a mark.
Neither of us said another word as our bodies rose and tumbled together in the lover's dance. His skin against mine, him inside my body, made me wonder how I had lived without him.
He reached between us and rubbed slow circles over my clit, urging me toward oblivion. "Tell me what you need, Katherine. What can I do to earn your pleasure?"
I gasped as he increased his pace. "That. What you're doing right now...don't stop."
There was no argument. Minutes later, I crested then crashed within, taking him with me. The tremors of bliss deep within my body milked his orgasm. His release coated my sex inside and out with the retreat of each thrust.
His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. His forehead rested against mine. "God, you have no idea what you make me feel. I'm never letting you go." The weight of his sated body pressed me into the mattress.
I whispered, "Please, don't. I couldn't stand to lose you now."
He rolled off me and pulled me tight against his chest. "You won't. I'm making you a promise here and now. Let me write our story, Katherine. Let me show you what is possible."
I knew better than to believe he could control fate. Allowing myself to love so profoundly opened me up to a pain equal to that love. That's what I had been running from, but when I looked into his eyes, I knew he was worth the risk.
12
Home
Our second six-hour flight was rife with hand-holding, stolen kisses, and dirty nothings whispered in my ear. We were a couple. Something I never thought I'd be allowed to enjoy again. Tomorrow night, we would make our public debut at the award ceremony, but even today, the camera flashes and stares seemed to validate my new life.
After about an hour's drive from the airport, we entered the gated community where Lachlan lived. Rounding the car, he came to my side, helped me out, and laced his fingers with mine. "Come, let me show you your other home."
I still fought the urge to run every time he made declarations I didn't think I should be allowed to have, but his joy was becoming more important than anything.
His hands rarely left my body. His touch always completed our connection.
The feel of his fingers teasing the skin above my waistband caused me to shiver. We stepped into the living area of the house, and I was instantly captivated by the breathtaking view framed by his panoramic windows.
"You can see across the valley," he said, leading me through the modern open space. We stepped out onto a balcony at the rear of the home, where the sun glistened off the crystalline water inside his infinity pool. "I think this is one of my favorite things about this house. It's small for LA standards, but it's a great use of space." He pulled me closer to him, his nose nuzzling my neck. "I can't wait until tonight when I can make love to you out here under the stars. I've always wondered what your skin would look like in the moonlight." His lips pressed to mine in a quick kiss. "Come on, let me show you the rest of the house."
We entered the living room again, closing the glass French-style doors behind us. I shivered. The cool rush of air conditioning puckered my skin after standing under the hot LA sun for those few minutes. I followed Lachlan around his minimal furnishings, through his gourmet kitchen, and down to a theater with twelve large, well-cushioned chairs in a stadium set up. Everything was manly yet elegant, minimalistic yet welcoming.
The garage housed his fully restored 1957 Chevy Bel Air Convertible. "This is where I've spent most of my time avoiding relationships. She's been a labor of love, but it's time the two women in my life finally meet." He ran his hand over the red-painted hood.
"It's beautiful."
"Thank you. I'll take you out for a spin later this week. Tonight we have some prep for tomorrow, and then I want to strip you naked and swim under the stars. I simply must make sure you have that well-sated glow tomorrow when I introduce you to the world."
I chuckled. "Well-sated glow?"
"Yes, love. If you don't let me give you least half-a-dozen orgasms tonight, I'm going to be disappointed. Plus, something primal in me wants to claim you before I take you into the tank with all those Hollywood sharks; there's solace in knowing my cum is inside you while the piranhas fantasize about taking a bite out of you." He let out a soft growl and pulled me tight against his body. "There's also something so deliciously dirty in knowing I gave you what all those admiring eyes would kill to have from me. I want you to feel it and know you're the only one who gets to have me that way."
I shivered from his declaration, and in a teasing tone, said, "Gee, I didn't know you were so territorial."
He pressed his erection tight against the juncture between my legs and slid his hands into the back of my panties to cup my bare ass. "You know, neither did I. Jealousy isn't something I struggle with, but maybe it's because you don't come from this world, and it took a considerable amount of convincing to get you here. Something inside me wants to protect you from it while, at the same time, flaunt how bloody lucky I am to have you. It's a proud possessiveness, exhibitionist style, I guess. I want to make it clear; they can't have us." He squeezed my ass tighter, spreading the cheeks.
I memorized the midnight flecks dotting his blue irises. "You know you have me, right? You've already seduced me in every way."
A sly smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Oh, I'm not worried about how you feel about me. I can see your love for me in the way you look at me, and in the way your body responds to me. I worry my world might make you question whether it's enough. So, I want you to be reminded of what we share at all times because what we have transcends the glitz and glam." He leaned down and stole a quick kiss. "Come on. I'll show you our bedroom."
His four-poster bed dominated the main wall of the room. It's ornately molded ironwork was a piece of art itself. Sunlight poured into the room through a crescent moon-shaped skylight in the ceiling. Just beyond the bank of windows in the East wall was another balcony overlooking a high drop off to the ocean.
He sauntered to the other side of the room and opened the closet door. My luggage was already inside. "This is your closet. I may have had Grace order you a few things."
"You didn't need to do that. I didn't exactly pack light."
He made his way to me, his shoes creating a light tapping on the bamboo floors. "I know, but I wanted to." He captured a lock of my hair, skimming his fingers to the end as if it were a strand of silk, and smiled. "I want to spoil you, Katherine. I have my indulgences, but comparatively, I don't have the
lavish lifestyle that many A-list actors do. I have this house, a tiny apartment in New York, and I spoil my family back home in London, but other than that, I've never really seen the point. Even when I was married, it was still just me most times, Cindy never moved in here. I hope you don't mind if I get a little excited about being able to share with you."
"I just don't want you to think it's something you need to do or that it's expected, because I'm accustomed to taking care of myself."
"Oh, I know, love. I'll try not to go overboard, but there is a certain amount of pampering which comes with being my partner. Tomorrow, you'll be fitted for your gown, and the tailoring will be done here. A team of people will work to get you ready. It will probably take a little to get used to, but just relax, enjoy it, and let them take care of you for me."
"I'll try."
"That's all I can ask." His mouth brushed mine, soft and erotic. The bulge in his pants nudged my belly.
I stepped back, panting. Glancing at Lachlan from over my shoulder, I ran my hands over the ironwork on the bed pillars. "Is this the bed you told me about?"
Hunger blazed to life behind his calm expression. "Oh, yes. When I bought the bed, the idea never occurred to me, but then I read your book A Simple Wish, where the man tied the heroine to the iron rack in the kitchen. It conjured all kinds of ideas about what I could do to you in this bed. The loops in the vines make the perfect place to secure ropes and hooks." He crossed the distance to stand beside me.
"So, you want to tie me up, Mr. Sinclair?" I tugged on the hem of his shirt and batted my eyelashes at him.
A growl rumbled through his chest. "Yes, very much. Maybe it's because I had to work to win you over, but your surrender would be almost as delightful as your orgasm. When I think about the two together...you begging me. You under my control. God, it makes me so hard. I never really understood the idea until I did some research for The Purple Mask. Even then, it wasn't something I thought I'd ever desire, but with you…I love how you challenge me, how you make me work for your affection. I don't want that to end. There's something about me having complete control over your body but needing to earn your desire. When I saw inside your mind through your words, it made me feel closer to you. Is that something you'd want, Katherine?"