Love Revolution (Black Cat Records Shakespeare Inspired trilogy) (27 page)

“No.” Sam stopped her by putting a hand over hers. “Don’t. It’s not that.” She shook her head and stared past Sara toward the doorway, tears sliding down her cheeks.

“I understand. You don’t have to say anymore. Scoot over. I’m coming in,” she commanded, climbing into the narrow hospital bed and pulling her sister into her arms. She began stroking her back while murmuring soothing words. “It’ll get easier. Time heals all wounds,” she reassured her.

 Deep down, though, Sara wondered if she really believed that it did.

It was dark the next day by the time they released Sam. In the dimly lit underground parking garage, Sara thanked the aide helping her sister out of the wheel chair, standard protocol for anyone leaving the hospital. She draping an arm around Sam’s shoulders and assisted her into the waiting car. The heavy exhaust fumes in the enclosed space made her eager to get going.

Sara went around to the other side, scooted to the middle of the back seat next to Sam, nodding once in acknowledgement to the driver. Chris climbed in next to her. She patted Sam on the hand, eliciting a wan smile. Physically she seemed fine but emotionally Sara wasn’t so sure. Sam had been unusually quiet and reserved since she’d sent JR away.

As the car pulled out of the garage and Sara took in their surroundings, she silently thanked Beth for her foresight in arranging an unmarked vehicle with tinted windows. The story had obviously hit the news. The place was swarming with reporters and photographers, reminding her of how a fire ant bed looked when you accidently stepped on it. A wide and colorful assortment of news vans packed the curbs around the hospital. Sara didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until they were well on their way back to Vancouver.

Chris sat back in his seat admiring the two women beside him. He was awed by them both, each so tough and brave in their own way. What they had been through in the past couple of days was unspeakable, but it could have been so much worse. He was just so grateful they were both alive.

A car passed, the headlamps briefly illuminating their faces. His lips curved up as he watched them. They seemed lost in their own world, communicating silently without words as siblings sometimes do.

Sam stared out the window with her head pressed against the glass for a long time. Gradually the tension in her shoulders seemed to loosen. She turned and finally looked at Sara with drooping eyelids. Sara patted her own shoulder, offering it as a pillow. “Rest, Sam. We still have an hour to go.” One hand stroking her sister’s hair, she reached out to Chris with the other. He took it, bringing it to his lips before settling their intertwined hands to rest on the seat between them.

“Chris,” she whispered when Sam had dozed off.

“Yeah, babe.”

“There was one thing that I didn’t tell the police. About Pace.”

 “What was that?”

“I’m not his.” She blew out a breath. “He wasn’t my father.”

Chris looked at her incredulously.

“He was away when my Momma got pregnant. He told me right before the cops showed up. I don’t know who my real father is.” She gave him a gentle smile and kissed his scruffy cheek. “You know,” she told him, “for so long I carried around all this guilt and shame. I was so sure that his tainted DNA was something that I could never overcome. That it was the explanation for why my life was such a fiasco. I figured that I just came by it naturally.”

Chris squeezed her hand sympathetically.

“I was wrong, though. Genetics don’t define us. Take Sam for instance. She’s his own flesh and blood, but she’s one of the sweetest, kindest souls I’ve ever known.”

“I know you probably won’t believe it, Sara, but you and Sam aren’t as unlike as you think.”

“You’re right.” She smiled. “I don’t believe you.”

“Didn’t you help raise her, looking after her and helping to shape her into the person she is today?” he asked.

She delicately shrugged.

“She just wears on the surface what you’ve tried so hard to keep hidden away.”

Tears brimmed in Sara’s eyes. She turned her head sideways, leaning back against the headrest while she worked up the nerve to speak the words she’d longed to say for quite some time now. “I need to tell you something else.”

“What’s that?”

“I love you, Chris.” Even in the dim lighting in the car, she caught the big ass grin that immediately spread across his face.

“I know,” he replied.

“Hey, show a few teeth, why don’t you, arrogant man?” she groused, trying to tug her hand loose from his. “How about a nice ‘I love you too?’”

“Ah, Sara,” Chris said, grinning. “I do love you. This you know. Unreservedly, enthusiastically, without limit.”

Sara’s lips pulled into a wide smile. He brought her hand to his lips again, kissing the back several times before she felt the tip of his tongue trace the knuckles.

“Alex,” she warned, eyebrows shooting up and pulse quickening.

“I know, babe. In the back seat and everything,” he teased. “Except for your sister, it kinda reminds me of prom night.”

Sara giggled.

“What was that sound I just heard? Now I know for sure we’re back in high school.”

“Stop.” She laughed. “You’ll make me wake Sam.” Glancing at her sister to make sure she was still asleep, she turned back to Chris. “Do you think she made the right decision? With JR, I mean. He’s not my favorite, but they both seem so miserable.”

“I know. I saw JR when he left.” He was silent for a moment. “I’m not sure, Sara, but I do know it’s a decision only the two of them can make.”

Back in the hotel suite at Sutton Place, Sara quietly closed the door to Sam’s room. She walked down the hall into the living room. Chris glanced up at her. Neither spoke, but something hot instantly flared to life between them. He immediately reached for the remote and flicked off the TV. Rising from the couch, he moved across the room until he was even with her. His brown eyes were molten, his intent crystal clear.

“I look terrible,” she said, putting a hand up to cover her bruised face.

“No. You’re beautiful,” Chris said, gently cradling her face in his hands. He kissed her forehead, her eyebrows, and her uninjured cheek before leaning back to look into her eyes.

She blushed under his smoldering stare.

“I love you,” he said in a serious tone. “Nothing in the world is more precious to me than you.”

“You know just the right things to say to a girl.” Her lips curved up into a flirtatious smile. “Where have you been all my life?”

His gaze locked on her mouth. “Never mind that. I’m here now, babe.” His lips touched hers softly, a light brushing of the lips back and forth one time. Then he started nibbling his way across her bottom lip, stopping only to briefly taste each corner with a flick of his tongue.

Breathless, Sara pulled back and raised a brow. “That feels real good, but I’m not made of glass. Kiss me like you mean it. Like you did in Whistler before I screwed everything up.”

“Bossy little thing, aren’t you?” Chris muttered with a grin before leaning down to fulfill her request. He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her body flush with his. She let out a sharp breath that quickly turned into a moan as their tongues touched and tangled together. She reached up and threaded her fingers into his hair, pulling him closer, deepening the kiss. She heard the unmistakable needy sound of his deep masculine groan.

His hands slid beneath her shirt. The feel of his heated fingertips caressing her skin was an incredible turn on. She bowed her body toward his, pressing impossibly close. Lips molded to his, she reveled in the frantic devouring way his tongue explored her. It sent a fire blazing through her veins. Somehow, she got her fingers to the buttons of his shirt and began unfastening them from the top down. Reaching the last one, she placed her palms directly onto the bared skin that was revealed. Chris tightened his grip on her hips. A hot tremor went down her spine. Greedy for more, she spread slender fingers through the silky hair covering his taut abdomen, taking measure of the defined ridges underneath. Skimming her hands up and across his rock hard pecs, she peeled the shirt off of his shoulders and without stopping to look knew that it fluttered unhindered to the floor.

Chris pulled out of the kiss, chest heaving and captured her hands in his. Sara was just as breathless, a fact she didn’t even bother to hide. With a smile of satisfaction, she found Chris’ brown eyes black with a desire that matched her own.

“Let’s take it to the bedroom, Daniels,” he said with a masculine growl. “This is gonna take a while.”

Sara took his hand and led him down the short hall to her bedroom. He closed and locked the door before turning back to face her. Slowly, she lifted the pale blue scrub top up and over her head, revealing perfectly shaped breasts covered only by a lacy demi bra

Chris hissed his appreciation as he looked at her. “Damn, woman.” He reached for her hand and laid it over his heart. “It’s yours,” he declared like a vow, his expression intense.

Her throat tightened with a myriad of complex emotions. She stepped closer, taking his hand and laying it over her left breast where her heart began beating wildly beneath his warm palm. “And I’m yours, Chris.”

He lowered his head and kissed her slowly savoring the taste and texture of her lips. When he straightened, his eyes held hers as he skimmed his hand over the curve of her breast and down across the valley of her waist. Reaching the ruched material of the scrub pants, he deftly untied the bow holding them up. They slid off her hips and to the carpeted floor. His heated gaze traveled the entire length of her, attention riveted by the Brazilian cut panties that accentuated her long legs.

“I’ve never seen a sexier woman than you. You are beautiful in every way. Perfect for me.”

She smiled and moved to pull back the fluffy white down comforter and climbed into the bed. One leg crooked with the foot underneath the other knee, she lay back provocatively on one elbow and held out her other hand to him. He took and turned it over, watching her face as he bit lightly on the fleshy part of her palm before kissing it.

Releasing her hand, he sat on the edge of the bed and tugged off his boots and socks. Standing with his back to her, he made quick work of removing his jeans and boxers. When he turned back around, it was her turn to suck in a breath at the blatant evidence of his desire.

Chris looked at her and smiled. “Yeah, babe. It’s pretty much been like this for me since the day I met you.” The mattress dipped as he knelt down beside her. He reached out and hooked a finger just underneath the top edge of her panties, running his knuckles lightly across her skin from one hipbone to the other. She felt a tingle run up her legs. As he pulled the scrap of lace slowly down her body, his calloused fingertips glided softly over her smooth legs. The tingle turned into a shiver.

He gave her a brief hot look before kissing his way up her body the same path his hands had traveled. She reached for him wanting to bury her fingers in the silky hair of his chest.

“No babe,” he said, taking both of her wrists in his hand and straddling her body. He pulled her hands over her head and held them there. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear, “This first time, I want it to be just me touching you, cherishing you, loving you.”