They walked out into the main floor of the studio together. It was still quiet and empty. It would be a couple of hours yet until clients started to show up. Jed looked around at the place he’d built, the dream he’d nurtured. It was finally going to be his one hundred percent. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. So much heartache was tied to the studio since its inception with Kierstan, he’d have to find a way to cleanse it. He needed a fresh start.
Who knew, maybe he could find one with Kyle? Was there such a thing as ‘The One’ from God? He’d like to think so. He looked up into Michael’s earnest gaze and was somehow convinced. All the ugly things of the past seemed inconsequential.
He rubbed the koi fish that was wrapped around his arm and thought about what it symbolized, what it covered up.
“Hey, Mike?”
“Yeah?”
He took a deep breath and decided to take the biggest freefall of his life. “Would you do me a big favor, man?”
Mike smiled as though he already knew what Jed was going to ask. “Anything.”
Chapter 26
Jed flew in his new Mustang down the interstate and into the parking lot of Kyle’s condo. He felt as though he was coming out of a fog, but all he could think about was getting to her. Mike had assured him he’d handle everything at the studio, but he had to hurry.
He skidded into a space at a haphazard angle and jumped out. He gimped toward the stairs, again wishing his leg was back to full strength. But, he reasoned as he lumbered up the steps, he’d take a hundred more breaks if it kept Kyle safe from injury again.
He gave her door a brisk knock. When she didn’t answer quick enough, he banged again. “Kyle!” he shouted, afraid he’d already missed her.
He wondered if he could catch her at the airport. Would Mike know which flight she was on?
Just as he raised his fist to bang again, the door flew open. She stared at him with wide, startled eyes. “Jed? What are you doing?”
He dropped his fist as his eyes drank her in. Her hair framed her face in wisps of blond that were cute as hell and she was obviously already dressed for bed in boy shorts and a yellow tank top. No bra. He averted his eyes back to hers. She’d gotten new glasses.
“Muffet,” he managed past his dry throat.
She cocked a hip against the door. “You don’t get to call me that anymore.” She looked down. “Your cast is off.”
He nodded.
“That’s good.”
God, he wanted to hold her. To kiss her. “Yup. Still aches sometimes and it’s not as strong as it was. I’m working on it.”
“What can I do for you, Jed? Surely you didn’t come all this way for small talk?” She closed the door fractionally. “Because if you did, I’ve got to get some sleep. It’s late and I’ve got a four a.m. flight.”
He held the door open with his palm. “Wait.”
“Wait? Wait for what?”
He reached out his other hand and cupped her cheek, brushing her skin with his thumb. Her eyes fluttered closed and she turned her head ever so slightly into his hand, proving she was not immune to his touch.
She opened her eyes and pierced him with a questioning gaze.
“I need to talk to you, Kyle. It can’t wait.” He used the pad of his thumb to trace the line of her lower lip. “Can I come in? Please?”
She placed her hand gently over his and drew it from her cheek. She seemed to weigh the wisdom of her decision, but she finally nodded. “Fine. But you can’t stay long. I’m leaving for the airport in a few hours.”
He nodded and stepped inside behind her. He shut the door and followed her to the living room, where she tucked herself under a throw on the couch with a yawn. He glanced over to where her suitcases were neatly lined up in the hallway like little soldiers.
“Where are you off to?” he asked.
“Rome.”
He sat in the recliner opposite her and noticed the half-empty wine glass on the coffee table. “Rome? By yourself?” He could’ve kicked himself for asking, but it jumped out of his jealous mouth.
She studied him from under hooded eyes. “Yes, by myself. You sound like my mother. I’m a big girl, you know.”
He steepled his fingers. “I know you are.” God, he knew. Too well. “I’ve always wanted to go to Italy.”
This made her smile. A full-tilt, full-bore, head-on, million-watt smile. His heart melted.
“Me, too.”
He rubbed his neck. “Well, I’m happy for you. That’s really exciting.”
“Thank you.” She watched him fidget a moment longer. “So, as much as I’d love to talk about my trip with you, you said you needed to talk to me? It couldn’t wait?” She studied him expectantly.
“Right.” He stood. “You have anything to drink? You gonna finish that?” He pointed to the wine glass on the table.
She motioned for him to have at it. He chugged it down. Bad move. It didn’t mix well with the Jack Daniels and sudden case of nerves already heavy in his stomach. He made a face and sat back down.
“Jed?” she said, sounding impatient. “Just spit it out. I wanna go to bed!”
He leaned over, his forearms resting on his thighs. “I had this all planned out,” he started. “But I’ve lost everything I was gonna say, so I’ll just start talking and see what comes out if that’s okay.”
Her delicate brows drew together in confusion. “Fine.”
He nodded. “Fine.” He pinned her with a meaningful stare. “Kyle. The first thing you have to know is that I am so sorry.”
Her arms crossed protectively beneath her breasts. “Sorry for what?”
“For everything, sweetheart. For all the times I was rude and cranky. For pushing you away.” He glanced down at the floor. “For how I treated you when Charles was here that day.” He looked back up at her. “I shouldn’t have acted like that. I had no right. Especially since I had no claim on you.”
She visibly flinched. “Jed, I told you—”
“I know you told me how you felt about me,” he interrupted. “Please let me finish what I came here to say. I promise we’ll get to that later.”
She acted like she wanted to say more, but she nodded. “Fine. Please go ahead. You’ve spent months being remarkably silent about all this. I’d love to hear what you have to say to me now.”
Ah, temper, temper, he thought. But he knew he couldn’t blame her. He forged ahead. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right.” He moved to sit next to her on the couch. “The whole ugly mess with Kierstan fucked with my head pretty good. Then my dad.” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “But you gotta understand, just when I thought my life was on track, just when I had everything I’d ever wanted—”
“Who’s Sam?”
Her face was innocent. She had no idea she’d just reached in and twisted his heart. He looked down between his knees at the floor. “Sam was supposed to be my daughter.”
“Your daughter?” Her voice faltered. “You and Kierstan had a baby?”
He looked up and Kyle had turned white. He reached out, but she leaned away from his touch. “No. There was no baby.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I didn’t either for a long time.” He leaned back on the couch and tried to explain. “Kierstan and I had what I guess you’d call a fast and furious whirlwind relationship. It was hot and heavy and fun in the beginning.”
Kyle groaned and he glanced over. “Do you wanna hear the rest?”
She nodded though she didn’t look like she meant it.
“So, one day, she comes to me and tells me she’s pregnant. I’m surprised, but happy.” He closed his eyes briefly and recalled how it felt to be told he was going to be a father. How he’d stupidly hoped the baby would have Kierstan’s green
eyes. “Anyway,” he continued, “being my father’s son I asked her to marry me right away.”
“Naturally,” Kyle deadpanned. “Mr. Flows-With-The-Current-Gentry.”
He smiled. She was thawing a bit. “That’s me. Well, she said ‘yes.’ We planned a little wedding. We bought Gentry’s together as a joint venture and decided on the 60-40 split simply because all the start-up money was mine.” He rolled his eyes. “But I didn’t think a thing of it because she was going to be my wife. We were going to be a family. What’s a little thing like a business compared to all that, right?”
“Right.”
Sometime during his spiel, Kyle had reached over and grabbed his hand. The warmth was reassuring.
Okay, so now here came the painful parts. The ones he’d been holding back. He took a deep breath and looked her in the face. “She’d told me the baby was a girl and we named her Samantha. Then I found out that Kierstan was cheating on me with one of our tattoo artists named Trevor.”
“Oh, Jed!”
He swallowed. “She told me it was my fault that she cheated. I worked too much. Didn’t pay her enough attention.” He gave a half-laugh. “We all know what kind of attention Kierstan needs.”
“That’s bullshit, Jed.”
He adored her for saying so. “Maybe. But deep down I believed her at the time. I did work way too much. All the time, really. Building a business takes a lot of work, especially in the beginning. So I blamed myself for running her straight into another man’s arms. But that didn’t stop me from beating the shit out of Trevor when I found out.”
“Good for you.”
“Yeah, well, to make matters worse, when I was kicking his ass from here to Sunday, he let me know that my beautiful whore of a fiancée had also lied about being pregnant. There was no baby. I lost my lady, my daughter, my family, in one fell swoop.” And it had devastated him. He hadn’t realized until that moment with Trevor how much he’d wanted that child and he grieved her loss as though she’d died. And she’d never even existed.
“You lost your baby and your father almost at the same time.” Kyle squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. I’ve learned to deal with both losses.” And he had. Somewhere along the line, he’d figured out that his father hadn’t hurt his mother on purpose. Life and death were just part of the deal. He’d loved her completely and honestly and was just continuing to do so from another plane of existence. He didn’t know how he knew that, he just did.
Jed shot Kyle a self-depreciating half-smile. “But you wanna know the real kick in the ass of it all? As a way of showing my commitment to Kierstan, I’d already had Trevor tattoo her name and face on my arm. Here,” he pointed to where the koi fish was. “My little fuck up.”
“Ah.” She leaned over and placed a kiss to the fish’s fin. “This is much prettier anyway.”
His blood rushed at her touch, but he wasn’t quite finished. Now that he’d started this, he’d see that she knew it all, so she could take him or leave him with total honesty.
“Thank you. I think so, too.” He scooted over, tugging her until she sat in the crook of his arm, and readjusted the blanket across both their laps. He laid his head on hers and let the fingers of his draped arm toy with the top of her shoulder.
She yawned and leaned into him. He could tell she was fading fast.
He kissed the crown of her head. “You know,” he said, “ever since I had to cover up Kierstan’s tattoo, I’ve never done another portrait tattoo for a client and I’ve sworn I’d never get another one.”
“Hmmm,” she murmured, her breathing getting even as she relaxed against his side.
“Because, you see, in order for me to put something like that on my body again, I decided it would have to be tantamount to a promise between me and God that it was forever.”
He felt her lips through his shirt as she smiled against him. “Like sealed in blood?”
“Like soulmates.”
She got very still and he didn’t know if she was still listening. “So, you’d be declaring your undying love or proposing marriage or something?” she asked.
He waited until she looked up at him. “Something like that. But more like giving away my heart and soul.”
She turned and tucked her head back into his shoulder. “That’s a big deal, Jed. Guess you’d better think long and hard before you go getting any more tattoos, huh?” she tried to joke, but he heard her voice waver.
“Guess I better.” He gave her a minute to realize the ball was about to be in her court, then tipped her chin up and looked deep into her eyes. “Kyle, you told me once that you were in love with me. I need to know if it’s still true.”
Chapter 27
Kyle couldn’t process all of this. Jed was here with her now. Just as she’d dreamed of for weeks. He was holding her. He was finally explaining all the things she’d been wondering about. And now, the thing she wished for most seemed to be within her reach. She was afraid to hope.
“Kyle,” he said, his voice low and raw, “do you love me?”
How could she express the width and depth of her feelings for him? There were no words to give him.
She brushed the little stud beneath his lip with her fingertip, the source of many of her fantasies. His hot breath caressed her finger as he exhaled.
He studied her every movement as she slowly peeled the blanket away and shifted to straddle his lap. She cupped his face with both hands and brushed his mouth with hers once, twice.
“Yes,” she whispered against the skin of his neck as she found his pulse with her lips. “I love you more than I can say.”
She decided if she didn’t have the words, she’d make him feel her love. Absorb it through his skin and blood and bone until it reached his soul.
His hands gripped her hips and his mouth found the sensitive flesh behind her ear. His breath came in hot, moist bursts as he inched his way closer to her lobe. He gently suckled her little earring into his mouth and worried it with his teeth momentarily before letting it go, his lips still at her ear. “I love you too, baby.”
She didn’t move. She couldn’t.
He gently pushed her back until she was sitting up facing him, his hands supporting her at the waist. He brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Did you hear me?”
She shrugged and the strap of her tank top slid down her shoulder.
He reached up to straighten it, his fingers lingering suggestively on her arm. There was an inferno in his gaze that sizzled clear down to her core.
“Well, let me make sure you heard me. Because it’s important,” he said as his hand worked its way teasingly under the hem of her shirt to the heated skin of her belly.
She swallowed.
“I said . . .” His thumbs barely brushed the undersides of her naked breasts and she sucked in a breath, her eyes automatically closing.
“Look at me,” he commanded.
Her eyes slid open and she tried to concentrate on his fierce blue eyes. He reached up and took off her glasses. He set them on the small table next to the couch. “There. Now I can see those beautiful eyes better.”
She blinked, trying to pull his face into focus.
“Kyle, Kyle.” His hands were back and the tips of his fingers were caressing her ribs in an exquisite form of torture. “So beautiful.”
She moaned as her head lolled to the side and heat flooded her body. She’d been waiting so long for him to touch her again. Need was clawing at her.
“Now, as I was saying,” he said, his hands now frustratingly still. “Did you hear me?”
She reached for him, aching to fulfill this void within her body, but he wouldn’t budge.
He quirked a brow.
“Fine,” she relented, just wanting to g
et on with things now that her hormones were raging. “I heard you.” She leaned in and tried to kiss him.
“What did I say?” he insisted, dodging her.
She rolled her eyes. She honestly didn’t want to repeat it. What if she’d heard him wrong? How embarrassing would that be? She placed her hands flat against his chest. “Jed, this is silly. We’re both consenting adults here. I don’t need flowery words or promises you don’t mean.” She looked at him from under her lashes. “I know how I feel and that’s enough for me. And I think it’s pretty safe to say that I’m a sure bet for you tonight.” She rose to stand and offered her hand. “Come to bed with me.”
He studied her face for several seconds, but he didn’t press her any further. He stood, his body heat, even through the barrier of clothes, scorching her. But instead of taking her hand, he scooped her up into his arms, making her gasp in surprise. Her arms automatically flung around his neck.
He leaned down and kissed her briefly. When he pulled back, his eyes were as intense as she’d ever seen them. “Just so we’re clear, I’m not spouting off flowery words just to get you into bed.”
“Okay.”
“And, just so we’re clear. I. Love. You. Too.”
She swallowed.
He started walking toward her bedroom. “So, we have an understanding, then?”
Her stomach tied into knots as her heart dropped somewhere to the vicinity of her tailbone. Jed loved her? How had that happened? It had to be a miracle. An honest-to-God miracle. Tears welled in her eyes.
“You’re sure?” she croaked as he set her on her feet next to the bed.
Over his shoulder she could see the picture of the Roman Colosseum and suddenly it seemed so far away and so utterly small in comparison to what was happening here.
He drew her close, his hands at the curve of her hips. “I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
Inked by an Angel Page 27