Broken Promises (27 page)

Chapter Twenty-eight

When Alex reached his sister’s house, neither
she nor Cody were home. He headed downstairs to Bette’s apartment.
He knocked on the door. It opened slowly, and she gave a squeal and
started to jump into his arms but stopped and hugged him very
carefully. Shadow wasn’t so inhibited. Yipping gaily, the Sheltie
ran in circles.

“You’re here. I thought you weren’t coming
home until tomorrow. I was going to take a shower, then bring you
some dinner.”

“No need.” He reached down to scratch the
Sheltie’s ears. “I’ve been officially released from the hospital.
Cleared for duty.”

“Does that mean…?”

“Yes, cleared for action.” He gave her a
cheeky salute.

“You should’ve warned me.” Her hands went to
her hair. “I’m a mess.”

He took in the sight of her tousled hair and
skimpy halter top. Skinny jeans that struck just below her belly
button. “A beautiful mess,” he said with a laugh, then nuzzled her
neck and nipped at her ear lobe.

Squirming free from his arms, she rushed into
the bedroom and grabbed up a brush. He followed and watched while
she brushed her long, dark hair, the silken strands caressing her
tanned back. She turned from the mirror and gazed over her
shoulder. “What about your brother? What will they do with
him?”

He sat on her bed and toed off his running
shoes. “He’ll be kept in the local lockup until he goes to trial.
But before that, he’ll undergo a psych eval to see if he’s able to
stand trial.”

She set the brush on the small bureau and
walked toward him. “Three kidnappings and the attempted murder of a
federal agent. They’ll put him away for a long time, won’t
they?”

Swallowing the huge knot in his throat, Alex
nodded. “Yeah.” If he just hadn’t left Drew at the theatre all
those years ago…

“It wasn’t your fault, y’know. It was that
Rideout guy who took him and abused him.” Bette stood knee to knee
with him and brushed the hair back from his forehead, her touch
gentle and comforting.

“Yeah, but…” He rose from the bed and paced
over to the small high window and gazed out at the backyard. Regret
weighed on him like a stone around his neck. “I left him. Told him
I’d be right back. Meant it too, but…” He shook his head. “My
fault. Mine.”

He felt Bette’s arms ease around his waist as
her head rested against his back. “You were a kid. Even worse, a
teenage boy with hormones. All you did was follow a cute girl to
the arcade. Normal, natural behavior.”

He turned to face her, not willing to accept
her comforting words. “My
twin
went through years of abuse
and God only knows what else because of my hormones.
He
didn’t know the meaning of natural or normal.”

“And it’s still not your fault. That’s on
Rideout.” She frowned. “What about the body with Drew’s ID
bracelet? Did your brother reveal anything about that?”

“Another kid. Rideout picked him up hitching
on the Turnpike and ended up killing him for trying to escape from
the basement. Rideout put Drew’s bracelet on him. He must’ve
figured by the time the kid’s body was found, everyone would assume
it was Drew’s.”

“Which they did.”

“Yeah. The authorities didn’t bother to check
DNA.” Alex shook his head. “It was fairly new back then and not
routine. So they quit looking for him.”

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to
say.” She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, offering
her lips to his. For a second, he surrendered to their softness.
Heat suffused his body, and he grew uncomfortably hard. He shook
his head. “No. It’s not fair.” As much as he wanted to give in to
Bette’s heat, he didn’t deserve the gifts of her tenderness and
passion.

She gazed up at him, her warm eyes shimmering
with emotion. “I don’t care about fair. I care about
you
.
And if now is all there is, I’m fine with it.”

“Jersey, I don’t deserve you.”

“Probably not.” Her tone was casual, but her
gaze was mischievous as she led Shadow from the bedroom, shutting
the door. “Guess we don’t need an audience,” she said, wrinkling
her nose.

God. The radiant woman before him was all
that was good and right in his life. For now. Forever was a distant
illusion. A mirage. Beckoning, drawing him closer, then evaporating
at the last possible moment.

He’d found love at the worst moment in his
life with the woman most likely to ruin his career—at least as far
as the Bureau was concerned. But maybe not. If—and it was a big
if—they accepted her assertion she had no part in
the
life
.

She took his hand and pressed a tender kiss
in the palm. He stiffened and shook his head.

“Don’t pull away.” Her eyes glistened as she
gazed into his. “I meant what I said. No expectations. No promises.
I can’t think of a nicer way to say good-bye.”

What was a red-blooded man, who was
head-over-heels in love with a woman who wouldn’t take no for an
answer, supposed to do?

His determination melted away like snow in
the sun. Taking full advantage of her warmth and selflessness, he
pulled the halter over her head. At the sight of her firm breasts,
he sucked in a deep breath. His mouth grew dry. “You know you’re
freaking beautiful, don’t you?”

She cupped her breasts and gave them an
evaluating glance. “Well, since you seem to think so, I guess I’ll
have to consider your opinion as valid.”

She moved to unzip her jeans, but he covered
her small hands with his larger ones. “No, let me.”

“Okay, but…” She gazed up at him, her brows
pulled together in a frown. “Are you
sure
you’re all
right…physically? Jackie will absolutely freaking kill me if your
kidney starts bleeding again.”

“We’ll be careful.” He leaned over, lifted
the hair from her neck and gently placed a kiss just beneath her
ear. “Very careful.” He unzipped her jeans and helped her step from
them. He slid white lacy panties over the delicious curves of her
round ass. Then, kneeling, he eased the panties down her trim
thighs and buried his nose in the crisp dark curls where her legs
met. A whiff of her female musk rocked his senses. Reeling as if
drunk on her scent, he groaned aloud.

“Are you all right?” Her eyes widened as she
pulled away. “Did I hurt you?”

He laughed at the sudden note of concern in
Bette’s voice. “No. Just the opposite. I want to make love to you.
If this has to be our last time—”

“You know it is.” Eyeing him severely, she
raised her chin a defiant notch. “You’re going back to Chicago.
After that, you’ll be involved in whatever the VCTF does. I have a
life here. I’ll be working with Jackie, helping out however I can,
so don’t be making me any promises.” She nodded as if to say,
end of discussion
.

As far as he was concerned, there were two
people in the room, and he’d have his say…if he could get a word in
edgewise. Shaking his head, he set his hands on her shoulders and
eased her down to his level. “Just shut up. We’re wasting our last
night together. Honest to God, Jersey, you talk too damned
much.”

Her mouth opened to protest, but he stopped
her incessant flow of words with a kiss.

Bette struggled, tried to push away, to
resist, but only for a couple of seconds. After all they’d been
through—dammit, her defenses were next to zero. Her arms went
around his neck, her breasts pressing against the hard muscles of
his chest, so closely the rapid beat of his heart startled her. Try
as she might, she couldn’t ignore the sense of loss already
sweeping through her. This truly was their last night together. The
last time they would make love. The last…anything.

She surrendered and opened to his sweeping
tongue. He rose to his feet and gathered her in his arms. Rather
than let him try to pick her up and possibly injure his bruised
kidney, she took his hand and led him to the bed. Behind closed
doors and away from the rest of the world, she would have to make
this night last a lifetime.

Just the two of them together, they stumbled
onto the bed. Alex shed his shirt and kicked off his jeans. That he
wanted her was obvious. His cock was rigid and sleek as it arrowed
upward. She pressed her belly against him and rubbed back and
forth.

“See what you do to me,” he said with a
groan.

She took his hand and slid it into her cleft.
“See how wet I am. That’s what
you
do to me. I want you…”
Her voice cracked, and the gut-wrenching need to have him shook her
through and through. This “one last time” deal was a mistake. How
could she let him go when all she wanted was for him to stay with
her forever? This one night would never be enough.

“Mm.” He slipped two fingers inside and back
out again, then rubbed the head of his cock up and down her slit.
Her inner muscles clenched. She reached to guide his cock—

“Uh-uh.” He nudged her back onto the bed and
lifted her legs over his shoulders. Once again he buried his face
in her core, licking up and down her slit, lavishing attention on
her clit, nipping and sucking.

A kaleidoscope of sparks burst beneath her
closed lids, and a moan ripped from her throat as his masterful
tongue quickly brought her to a shattering climax, her inner
muscles shuddering.

“More,” she gasped, though, with every cell
in her body afire, how she could stand more she didn’t have a clue.
She grabbed a condom from the nightstand and slipped the foil
packed into his hand.

“Your wish is my command,” he murmured. He
lay back on the floor, sheathed himself, then pulled her with him.
He supported her hips over his as she took his cock and centered it
between her legs, inching down, enveloping him easily with the wet
warmth of her body. Her muscles stretched to take all of him. Once
he was fully inside her, she rotated her hips to give them the
pleasure they both craved.

Raising his hips clear off the floor, Alex
drove into her slippery heat, harder and harder, his body blazing
with an inner fire. More and more, deeper and deeper as if the
harder he thrust, the more he could possess her, body and soul. His
knees jittered as his groin tightened and the urge to come was
nearly overwhelming. Not yet. Not yet.

“More. Don’t stop,” she begged. Her raspy
breath warm in his ear, she rode him, her high breasts bouncing
with each thrust.

He reached for her breasts, pulling on the
nipples until they were tight chocolate buds, imploring him to
taste. Pulling her upper body closer, he captured one nipple and
sucked and gently raked it with his teeth.

Her breathing quickened, and her silken skin
flushed pink and hot against his chest.

Almost there.

Her inner walls tightened around his cock—oh,
God, the sweetest sensation.

Now.

He bucked hard, driving them both over the
edge. She cried his name and collapsed on his chest. Wet with
perspiration, he shuddered beneath her. “I love you,” he gasped.
“I—”

Shaking her head, she placed a finger to his
lips, stopping him from saying more. “
No
promises.” Breaking
the bond holding them together, she slid off him and curled into
the crook of his arm. Her head resting on his shoulder, she fell
asleep.

His eyes stung. This was really it. The
end.

How could he bear to leave her? In what
seemed like the blink of an eye, this one woman had changed him.
Made him think of someone besides himself. This was the one woman
he didn’t want to love and leave the way he had so many others
before. Maybe there was a way?

~~*~~

Later, Bette lay spooned in Alex’s arms. “I
don’t want to say good-bye,” he said, gently brushing a strand of
hair back from her forehead. “I don’t want to leave.”

A sense of peace and comfort spread through
her. Just the words she wanted to hear. Needed to hear. But a
relationship between them would never work, so the next step was
bound to hurt them both. Good medicine always tasted bitter. Best
to rip off the bandage quickly. Wasn’t that the conventional
wisdom?

Gathering her courage and determination, she
wriggled up to her elbows. “You
have
to go back. That’s all
there is to it.” She watched as he swung his legs off the bed and
set his feet on the floor. Glancing over his shoulder, his gaze
riveted to hers, he stood, then pulled on his jeans.

Why did she have to sound so selfless when
she certainly didn’t feel that at all? Devastated, yes.
Selfless—not by a long shot. Still she had to try. “You have a job
to do. And it’s important. You can’t give up everything you ever
wanted and worked so hard for. My family background will cause you
nothing but trouble with the FBI. And I refuse to be responsible
for ruining your career.”

Unable to watch him leave, she turned away.
Her chin started to tremble, and tears welled in her eyes,
threatening to spill down her cheeks. She sucked in a deep breath,
hoping she could keep from shattering into a thousand pieces. If he
would just leave. Like
now
.

“Just go,” she said, squeezing her lids
tightly and with all the calm she could muster.

“I’ll call you as soon as I’m situated.”

“No!” She yanked the sheet up, covering her
chest. “No! I told you no promises.”

He walked around to her side of the bed, then
sat beside her. “Things are different now, Bette.” His voice choked
with emotion, his chest rose and fell rapidly with his quick
breaths. “Before, we were strangers who passed in the night, but
now, we’ve shared too much. I can’t leave you like this. I don’t
want
to leave you, at all.”

Dammit. How much more torture could she take?
Somehow, short of physically kicking his fine posterior out of her
apartment, she had to make him leave. “You don’t have a choice.
Don’t you have some task force job to get back to in Chicago? Now
get out and leave me in peace. I’ll be fine. It’s not like this was
anything more than a glorified booty call.”