Coming Home (13 page)

She rested her head on his shoulder and ran a finger over his bare chest. “My life is very different than it used to be.”

“Besides the obvious, how so?”

“I can’t go anywhere in public without security, for one thing.”

“That won’t be a problem here. No one cares about celebrities.”

“That’ll be nice. I miss being able to go to the Bluebird or Mabel’s to hang out and visit with friends and listen to music whenever I want to. I miss going to the mall with my sisters or walking into the movies like everyone else does, rather than getting there ten minutes late and leaving ten minutes early.”

“It sounds like a bit of a gilded cage.”

“In some ways it is.”

“If you had it to do over again, would you have wanted the big career so badly?”

Kate mulled that over. “I suppose I would, since I’ve never been all that good at anything else. This is what I was meant to do. I never question that. It’s just that sometimes I wish it wasn’t so confining, you know?”

“I can see what you mean. Definitely.”

“I sound like a jerk for complaining about a career in which I get paid millions every year to do the one thing I love to do.”

“You don’t sound like a jerk.”

“You have to say that. You love me.”

“Yes, I do, but I don’t have to say anything.” He kissed her nose and then her lips.
 

“Buddy tried to tell me. Back at the beginning, he said it would be crazy—and not always in a good way. But until you’re in it…”

“You can’t possibly know.”

“Right.” She ventured a glance at him. “You sure you want to step inside that gilded cage with me?”

“I’m very sure. One of the things I loved best about the time we spent together was that often it was just the two of us at home with the fire, your guitar and that angelic voice. What more did we ever need?”

Kate smiled, remembering the idyllic days and passionate nights they’d spent together when she was too young to know that such things didn’t come along every day and should be treasured. “Not much.”

“I’ll need to see Mari and offer the house to her if she wants it. A lot of the things there are hers.”

The idea of him seeing his ex-lover struck another chord of fear in Kate. What if he took one look at the exotic dark-haired beauty and regretted his decision to leave her?

“Stop that.”

Startled by his firm tone, she said, “Stop what?”

He traced the outline of her mouth with the tip of his index finger. “Stop thinking I’m going to see her and change my mind about you.”

“I wasn’t thinking that,” she said, even as a flush of heat invaded her face, making a liar out of her.

Reid laughed and hugged her tighter. “Sure you weren’t, darlin’.”

“I can’t help that the thought of you with someone else makes me a little crazy.”

“How do you think I felt having to read about you with
Bobby
and
Russ
and
Clint
? I wanted to go find each one of them and kill them in the most painful, bloody way possible for daring to lay hands on
my
woman.”

Kate’s mouth fell open in astonishment as her mild-mannered lover showed his jealous side.
 

His sexy mouth quivered with amusement. “Didn’t know I had murderous tendencies, did you?”

Zeroing in on his sensual lips, Kate shook her head. “I had no idea, and I’m truly shocked. You were always such a kind Southern gentleman.”

“There was nothing kind about my thoughts toward the other men in your life.”

“I’m sorry if I caused you pain. I never would’ve wanted that.”

“With hindsight, I supposed your relationships with other people—and mine—served to show us where we really belong, so it was all part of a grander plan.”

“That’s very philosophical.”

“It’s what I told myself so I wouldn’t actually find them and kill them.”

Kate threw her head back and laughed. Her laughter became a moan when he took advantage of the opportunity to place kisses on her neck that made her shiver with desire. “Let’s go back to bed,” she whispered.

“I have a better idea.” As he spoke, he gathered her in close to him and stood. He surprised her when he opened the gate that led to the sand.
 

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

The moonlight was like a mirror on the calm water. Kate’s senses were filled with the scent of sand and sea and Reid’s endlessly appealing cologne. She buried her nose in his neck and breathed him in. It was all she could do not to let out a giddy squeal of delight as he carried her to the beach. She couldn’t believe she was finally with him again and apparently got to keep him this time. It was too good to be true.

Under the cover of palm trees, Reid put her down and ran his hands from her shoulders, down her back to her bottom where he lingered for a minute before continuing farther south. He found the hem of her cotton dress and eased it up and over her head, leaving her bare before him.

She could see him just well enough to watch his eyes flare with heat as he cupped her breasts and teased her nipples until they were hard and tingling. “Whatever are you doing, Mr. Matthews?”

“This,” he whispered as he ducked his head and took one of the turgid peaks into the heat of his mouth, sucking hard as he pinched the other one between two fingers.

Kate gasped and clutched his head to her chest, wanting him all over again, wanting him forever and always. The warm air on her fevered skin, the fear of being caught naked on the beach, the heat of the sand under her feet and the silk of his hair against her chest overwhelmed her senses. She was about to beg him to lay her down right there and take her when he let go and unbuttoned his shorts.

After he dropped them to the sand, he took her hand. “Come swim with me.”

Kate hesitated. Life in the bubble had taught her to be cautious. “What if someone sees us?”

“No one will. We’ve got this part of the beach all to ourselves. Desi assured me of that.” He gave her hand a tug. “Come on.”

Kate stepped into the moonlight and let him lead her into water so warm it might’ve been bathwater.
 

“Doesn’t it feel good?” he asked, drawing her against him.

“So good.” Kate straddled him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
 

He tipped her backward to get her hair wet and planted kisses on her throat and chest and in the valley between her breasts. “You look like a goddess with the moonlight on your pale skin.” His voice was gruff and his erection throbbed against her. “You’ve never been more beautiful to me than you are right now.”

Kate had never felt more beautiful—or more aroused. She moved suggestively on his lap, drawing a deep groan from him.

“No condom,” he said, sounding tortured.

“I don’t care.” And she didn’t. All she cared about was experiencing this moment with him to the fullest, and to do that, she wanted him inside her—now.

“Kate…”

“Please.” She reached between them and wrapped her hand around his straining member, stroking him and laughing as he got even harder.

“Witch,” he mumbled.

Thrilled with herself—and with him—she guided him home to her. Kate had never made love in the water before and was unprepared for the overwhelming sensuality of him sliding into her as the water surrounded them. She released her hold on his neck and floated, stretching her arms above her head.
 

Reid took her invitation and bent his head to feast on her breasts.
 

Looking up at a sky littered with stars as he filled her and teased her, Kate realized this was, without a doubt, the happiest—and most erotic—moment of her life. The thought brought tears to her eyes as he coaxed her to a slow, rolling climax that went on for what felt like forever.
 

He grasped her hips and pumped into her. “Kate, God, I love you. I missed you so much. I missed you every day.”

The tears spilled from her eyes as he made her come again before he withdrew, his penis pulsing against her stomach as he gathered her into his arms.
 

“I love you, too.” Kate clung to him, thrilled and happy and content—and a tiny bit apprehensive about whether they could hang on to the magic once they left their island paradise and ventured back into the real world.

The next morning, Reid reluctantly left Kate sleeping in bed and drove into Basseterre, where he hoped to find Mari at her sister Angelique’s house. He was relieved to see Mari’s car in the driveway when he parked in front of the small white house where he’d been a frequent visitor in recent months.
 

They’d had a lot of good times together. He’d never deny that, but he also couldn’t deny that his heart had belonged to Kate from the day he met her. He’d spent far too long running from that fact of his life. The twenty-eight years between them weighed as heavily on his conscience as they ever had, but, after yearning for her for so long, he wasn’t about to let guilt keep them apart.
 

She was now a fully grown woman in the prime of her life, and she’d said she wanted him, that she’d always wanted him. Since he felt exactly the same way, he wasn’t about to try to talk her out of it. No, now he was all about finding a way to make a life with her.
 

Keeping that goal in mind, he knocked on the door to Mari’s sister’s house.

Angelique came to the door, frowning when she saw him. She shared exotic dark-haired looks with her sister. “What do you want?”

“I’d like to speak to her. Please.”

“She doesn’t want to see you.”

“I know, but we have a few things we need to work out. Please, Angi, let me in.”

“You’ve broken her heart, you know.”

“I’m sorry. I never intended to hurt her, but I also never made her any promises.”

“No, you didn’t. You just let her think that what you had was going to last forever when you knew it wouldn’t.”

Reid shook his head. “I didn’t know that, Angi—”

“Let me see if she wants to talk to you.”

She walked away, leaving Reid on the front porch to wait.

A few minutes later, Mari came to the door, looking tired and sad, which made him sad, too, knowing he’d done that to her. “What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.”

“What’s there to talk about? We’ve said everything we need to say.”

“No, we haven’t.”

She seemed to think about that for a minute before she came outside, closing the inside door behind her. “Let’s walk.”

Thankful she hadn’t slammed the door in his face, Reid went down the stairs ahead of her. In the street, she folded her arms and kept her head down, apparently waiting on him.

“We need to talk about the house.”

“It’s your place. I’ll get my stuff out of there.”

“Or you can keep it, if you’d like. I’m making some other plans, so if you don’t want the place, I’ll let it go.”

“What other plans are you making?”

“You really want to know?”

“Sure, why not,” she said with a bitter laugh.

“I’m going back to Nashville.”

She let out a snort of disbelief. “I thought you said you’d never go back there. You hated it there.”

Reid couldn’t deny he’d said that, so he didn’t. “Things changed.”

Mari shook her head in amazement. “All she had to do was crook her finger in your face, and you went running back to her after she broke your heart.”

Reid bit back the nasty retort that hovered on the tip of his tongue. “That’s not how it happened.”

“She didn’t break your heart?”

“We both made mistakes that we regret, but we’re past that now.”
 

“I know who she is.”

“I’m not surprised. She’s very well known.”

“Is that what attracts you? Her fame and fortune? Her glamorous life?”

“I loved her when she was no one in the business, and I hardly need her money.”

“No, I don’t suppose you do.”

“I’ll take care of you, Mari. You won’t want for anything.”

At that she turned on him, her normally genial brown eyes narrowing in anger. “I won’t
want
for anything? How can you say that? I’ll
want
for
you
!”

He immediately regretted his choice of words. “I meant financially.”

“Keep your money,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I never cared a fig about that, and you know it.”

The only fights they’d had were over his desire to pay for everything.
 

“I have to say, I had no idea you liked them so young. I must’ve seemed like an old hag after you’d been with her.”

“That’s not true! You’re a beautiful woman, and I always considered myself lucky to spend time with you.”

“But you never loved me.”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I hate that I’ve caused you so much pain. I never wanted that.”