by Leslie Kelly
Chapter Sixteen
In the years since he’d lost Holly, Zach had pictured getting her back, seducing her, making love to her in a way that would show her how much he’d always cared.
He’d never imagined anything as exciting as this. The red-haired beauty standing in front of him was practically begging him to take her, right here in the kitchen of her family-owned inn. With her swollen lips, her beautiful bared breasts and the luscious nipples he’d just sucked into hard, jutting peaks, she was the textbook example of an erotic woman.
And she was his.
“Please, Zach,” she whimpered, grinding against him, reaching for his jeans again.
This time he didn’t stop her. Instead, he helped, pushing the rest of his clothes off and kicking them away.
Her gaze smoldering, Holly reaching out to cup him in her soft, pale hand, her touch was incendiary against his rock-hard cock. She whispered something that sounded like, “I wasn’t imagining it,” as she stroked him, squeezing, caressing, driving him out of his mind. Finally she lifted the condom packet and tore it open with her teeth as if she couldn’t wait one more second.
She looked desperate. Wild.
Reaching for her pants, he quickly got rid of them, too, pausing for one moment to appreciate the soft curves of her body, the line of her hip, the length of her slender legs. Needing to touch her or die, he kissed her again, sliding his hand down her, pausing to tweak her sensitive breast and stroke her soft belly.
When he went lower, tangling his fingers in those pretty strawberry curls, Holly cried out, “Oh, yes.”
Zach teased her for a moment, then dipped his fingers further, groaning at how hot, slick and ready she was. When she was almost panting in his arms, he moved to her clit, stroking her, remembering exactly what she liked—how much pressure, how much intensity, how much everything.
“Please, Zach, don’t make me wait.”
The thick whisper shattered the last remnants of his restraint. Taking the condom from her, he sheathed himself then turned them around until she was the one backed against the counter. “I can’t believe this is finally happening,” he muttered as he lifted her, holding her thighs in his hands. Her skin was so soft….
Holly arched toward him, wetting him with the slickness of her sex and Zach lost all restraint. He plunged up into her, both of them throwing their heads back at the shocking pleasure of it.
She was tight and so damn hot that for a long second he couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. He could only savor.
Soon, though, the sensations took control. Holly wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his hips and met his every thrust. They kissed between helpless cries of delight. Until finally, when her jagged pants and cries told him she’d come, he let himself go, too, his body lost to heated orgasm. And, he suspected, his heart was once again lost to the woman in his arms.
Zach spent the night in her bed. After the incredible sex they’d had in the kitchen, she’d been too sated and lethargic to even remember that she’d wanted fast, raucous sex—and nothing else.
The next morning, when she woke early and gazed at his handsome, sleeping face in the bed beside her, she realized she’d gotten a whole lot more than she’d been looking for.
She could love this man. She really could. Memories of their past crept into her psyche—moments like those of yesterday when he’d helped her and her grandparents. Who couldn’t love him?
Stupid. He’s already proved he’s not the stay-around kind.
And now that he’d gotten what he’d been after before, he surely wouldn’t be sleeping in her bed for long.
She had to let him go. Correction—she had to make him go. Now, before she got in any deeper.
Holly cleared her throat. “Zach, it is 7 a.m.”
He didn’t even open his eyes, but smiled lazily. With his lightly stubbled cheeks, his tousled hair, that incredible bare chest, he looked sexier than any man had the right to be.
“Good. Time for more,” he replied, his voice throaty.
Oh, she wished. But she couldn’t back down now, not when she’d made the decision to end things before they went any further.
“No.” She swallowed hard as his eyes slowly opened. Though it was difficult, she managed to continue despite that warm, sultry green-eyed stare. “I have to get back to work….” To reality.
Though her heart ached, she added, “I want you to leave.”
Chapter Seventeen
Needing to meet the deadline for the robbery story update, a little confused by Holly’s mood and not having any of his stuff with him, Zach hadn’t argued when Holly had asked him to leave the other morning. He’d noticed she was quiet, withdrawn. Maybe wondering if they’d made a mistake.
Making love to her—twice—that night had been no mistake. In fact, it had been perfect.
Suspecting she needed time to process, Zach had kissed her and promised to see her soon.
So far it hadn’t happened.
In the three days since he’d slipped out of her bed, dressed and quietly left the house before Holly’s grandparents got up, he hadn’t heard a word from her. She hadn’t returned his calls, hadn’t indicated she was interested in seeing him again. A less secure guy might be feeling used.
Of course, there were worse things that could happen to a guy than being used for great sex by a beautiful woman. But he knew that wasn’t what had happened.
Holly might have wanted to use him. In fact, he’d bet her demand to have sex now, immediately, here against the refrigerator had been about her trying to convince herself that what they had was just physical. She’d wanted him but didn’t think she could trust him not to hurt her again. Remembering all the awful crap she’d seen her mother and father do to one another, he didn’t entirely blame her for not trusting her heart.
He needed to convince her to give him a chance to prove her wrong.
Which was why on Friday he left work early and drove the one hour back to Wheaton. He got to the inn at around five-thirty. The day was crisp and cold, darkness descending quickly here in the country, far from the city’s lights. There was no snow yet, but the forecasters said there might be a few flakes by Christmas. For the first time in years, Zach looked forward to the holiday because he hoped he’d have someone to share it with.
Smiling at the possibility, he parked in the empty lot outside the inn. The quiet feel of the place said they were still suffering from the slump that had driven Holly to such desperate measures this week. Hiding a body to ensure a positive story from the travel show had been pretty extreme. He only hoped it paid off.
It wasn’t until he was almost at the porch that he noticed the place wasn’t entirely deserted. He caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, seeing someone creeping in the shadows along the side of the house near the kitchen door.
It could only be one person.
His heart thudding, Zach knew it had to be the murderous jewel thief he’d thought was long gone.
But Fred Kipling wasn’t gone. He was here. Now. Breaking into Holly Cavanaugh’s home.
When Holly first felt the gun stuck into her ribs, her first thought was of her grandparents. God, please don’t let them come downstairs.
Her second was of Zach. Why, oh why had she been avoiding his calls, staying away from him when all she wanted was to ask him to come back?
Pride. Fear. Habit.
None of those things mattered now, though. Not when she was looking into the dark eyes of a big, rough-looking guy with Cro-Magnon features and a big-ass weapon.
She had no doubt who he was. “The body’s not here. The police took it away.”
“I don’t care about that,” Fred Kipling snapped. “Where are they?”
“Where are who?”
“Don’t play stupid with me, bitch. My contact in the Chicago P.D. said they weren’t on the body, which means you found them and kept them.” He pushed the gun harder into her ribs until Holly ga
sped in pain and terror, then he said, “tell me where the stones are or I’ll put a hole in you the size of Cleveland.”
The stones? The truth dawned. “The diamonds you stole? Why would they be here?”
“Teenie double-crossed me. I’d been hiding out in town and he came to meet up. But he got lippy with me and I had to…take care of him.”
The night they were in the tree lot, no doubt.
“I had to hide him quick, so I stuck him in the tree. Only when I got back to my place, I realized he’d already snuck in there before our meeting, found my stash and helped himself to a lot more than his fair share. He had to have them on him when he died. Which means you’ve got them now.”
Glowering as he pushed the gun harder against her, he growled, “now, give me what’s mine, lady. Unless you want to die.”
Chapter Eighteen
Zach dialed 911 as he ran around the side of the old inn, demanding the local police but knowing he wouldn’t wait for them. Not while Holly was in danger.
Damn, how could he have left her alone, so sure that Fred Kipling had skipped town? His stupidity could cost Holly her life.
Reaching the back door that led into the kitchen, he peered through the window, straining to see through the slit between the silky sheer curtains. What he saw was enough to stop his heart.
The ruthless criminal stood inside, a gun in his hand. And it was pointed directly at Holly Cavanaugh, the woman Zach now realized he had never stopped loving.
Through the cracks in the old door, he was able to hear some of their conversation. Enough to realize that he’d been wrong about what Fred Kipling wanted with the Christmas tree Holly had bought three days ago. Kipling didn’t care about his late partner’s body being discovered—he’d wanted the diamonds he thought had been in Leo Meaney’s possession.
He wanted to crash through the door, but the gun made him hesitate. If Kipling was startled, he might shoot first and think later. And Holly was in the line of fire.
Looking frantically around, he spotted Holly’s grandfather’s cane, propped beside the back door. It was a heavy, wicked looking thing, with a thick, silver wolf’s head for a handle.
Good enough.
Grabbing it, Zach began easing the door open, praying it wouldn’t squeak. Thankfully, luck was with him and he managed to get inside without the killer hearing any noise. But he must have felt something—maybe a sudden cold draft from the outside. Because Kipling began to swing around.
Zach didn’t hesitate. “Holly, go!” he yelled. Not even letting himself think about the gun in the other man’s hand, he swung the cane with all his might, striking Fred Kipling on the side of his head.
The blow was hard enough to leave the imprint of a wolf on the other man’s temple. And to drop him right to the floor.
Maybe it was a good thing they didn’t have any guests staying at the inn, Holly decided a short time later. Because for the second time this week the police were combing the house.
They’d arrived about five minutes after Zach had taken down the horrible man who’d threatened to kill her. If she closed her eyes, she could still hear the crack of her grandfather’s cane against Kipling’s skull, knowing the sound was still better than if she’d heard the explosion of gun fire.
The thief’s head had been shaped like a large boulder and considering he’d already regained consciousness by the time the ambulance workers were taking him away—with a police escort—Kipling’s skull must really have been made out of rock.
“You’re sure you don’t want to be seen by anyone?” Detective Santori asked. Though he was, again, out of his jurisdiction, the local department didn’t seem to mind his presence since he was the lead investigator into the diamond robbery.
“I’m fine,” Holly insisted, just as she had said to the first officer who’d thought she might be in shock.
She wasn’t. She was shaken up but okay.
As long as Zach remained by her side, his fingers twined in hers and his arm lying gently across her shoulders, she could handle anything. Absolutely anything.
She’d been crazy to send him away and just as silly to avoid his calls. Thinking that she could have him for one wild, sensual night and then forget about him forever had been a fool’s plan.
Holly was no fool. She loved Zach Weldon, she always had. She might have been too young and immature to know what to do about that love eight years ago, but now she was a woman.
Her grandparents were certainly proof that wonderful relationships could exist in her family. And Holly was not like either of her parents in any other respect—from looks to drive to loyalty. So why on earth should she be like them when it came to emotional commitment?
Besides, looking back on her relationship with Zach through adult eyes, she knew she had to share some of the blame. Not for doing what she’d thought was right at the time—even if it was a little naïve—but for never confronting Zach, never giving him a chance to explain.
She’d assumed the worse that night when she’d found him passed out beside his ex. Now, given what she’d come to see of the man over the past few days, she began to wonder if she’d known the real Zach at all. Because a man who’d try so hard to protect her home, who’d risk his life to save hers, was a man with honor. Could he truly have been guilty of what she’d thought he’d done?
She had to know the truth. Had he betrayed her? Could she forgive him?
And where did they go from here?
Chapter Nineteen
By nine o’clock Friday night, Zach and Holly were alone in the living room of the inn. The police were gone, her grandparents in bed. Silence had descended except for Bing Crosby crooning softly in the background.
They sat on the sofa, close—but not touching and had not spoken a word for several moments. No more talk about the robbers or where the diamonds might have ended up—Santori’s guess was that Leo Meaney had hidden them somewhere before meeting his partner at the tree lot.
There was no more chatter from Holly’s maid or her grandparents. Just them. Zach and Holly. With no barriers, other than the ones they had erected over the years.
Zach was going to surmount them no matter what it took.
“You haven’t been returning my calls,” he murmured, pulling his attention off the flames flickering in the fireplace. Between their glow and the twinkle of lights on the Christmas tree across the room, he could see well enough to notice Holly’s eyes shift, her lashes lowering over them.
“No, I haven’t.”
She said nothing else for a second and Zach’s heart stopped. Was she trying to find the words to thank him for his help and then ask him to get out of her life again?
“I was wrong.”
His heart resumed beating again and his world started turning again. “I think I understood why you didn’t.”
“You do?”
Moving closer, he stretched his long legs out beside hers so that they touched, ever-so-lightly. “You wanted the sex we never had—with no repercussions and none of the heartbreak.”
She gasped. “How did you…”
“I did go to school on an academic scholarship,” he said with a laugh. “I’m not stupid. Do you think I don’t know you’ve spent the past eight years thinking I was a cheating dog who couldn’t be trusted?”
“Not all of the past eight years.”
“No?”
She shook her head. “No. I began wondering if I was wrong on Tuesday when you agreed to do whatever you could to help my grandparents save their home.”
“And your home,” he murmured.
“Then today, when you could have waited for the police, you came inside, risking your life.”
“Did you think I’d just watch that bastard shoot you?”
“A cheating dog might have.”
Sitting up straight and dropping his elbows onto his knees, Zach stared into the flames. “I’m not. I never was.”
“I’m beginning to realize that,” she admitted. “What really
happened?”
Hardly recognizing himself in the dumb college kid he’d been, he said, “I went to my friend’s, pissed off, horny. My ex was there, flirting, offering to make it all better.”
“I’ll bet.”
“I don’t know, maybe I let her flirt with me out of hurt pride. I’d had a lot to drink.” He finally turned his head, meeting her stare. “But I never had any intention of doing anything. And nothing happened. I fell asleep on the floor and she crashed next to me. I never touched her. Then the next morning you showed up, and everything went to hell.”
Holly nodded, leaning closer, until their hips touched and her arm brushed his. The sweet, cinnamon-scent of her hair filled his head as she leaned close to press a soft, gentle kiss on his mouth. It ended quickly though the sensations continued.
“I’m sorry. So sorry. I didn’t even give you a chance to explain.”
“I don’t know if I would have. I was mad, Holly. Immature, angry, wanting more from a relationship than you were ready to give. Maybe I intentionally sabotaged us.”
“And maybe that was the right thing to do.”
It was his turn to stare in surprise.
“We were at different places in our life. Nineteen and twenty-year-olds, nowhere near ready to commit to anyone or even understand what a genuine commitment meant.”
“And now?”
She smiled, her beautiful face cast in light and shadow from the flames. “Now…maybe we’re ready.”
“You’re sure?”
Nodding, she said, “I sent you away because I was sure I would fall in love with you again if you stayed.”
“I know.”
“I was afraid of that. But I’m not afraid of it anymore.”
Reaching for her, Zach cupped her cheek. “I’ll never give you reason to be.” Wrapping his arms around her, he caught her mouth in a deep, breathless kiss that said all the other words he hadn’t yet gotten around to saying. Sweet words. Tender words. Heartfelt words.