Second Chances (16 page)

David shook his head back and forth in disbelief. “You are some piece of work.”

Sophie glared at him, pointing her finger into his chest. “And you had better never put your hands on me like that again, especially in public.” She smoothed her blond hair with her hand. “One might think you’ve forgotten where you came from.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” David furrowed his brow in confusion.

Sophie smiled and leaned in close. Her lips touched his ears. “Just that it seems you have forgotten your place. You were nothing before you and I got together. Just a bit-part actor with no opportunities waiting. I opened up a whole world for you through mine and my family’s resources. You’d be nothing without me.” Sophie kissed his cheek. “You ought not to forget that.” Her eyes glinted like steel.

Those words propelled David back a step. So this is how Sophie truly saw their relationship? And to think that he’d once loved her. The anger that had taken such hold of him died down and changed to…what? Pity?

“What’s happened to you, Sophie?” He changed his approach to a gentler one.

Sophie’s mouth opened in surprise. Her eyes softened and she cleared her throat. “What do you mean?”

“When did you become so cold, so unreachable? You didn’t used to be like this.” David took a deep breath as his pulse rate evened out.

For a moment, it seemed as though Sophie actually considered answering him honestly. Her features twisted as unfathomable emotions flashed within her eyes, but then they clouded and turned their usual icy blue. “It’s you that’s changed, David. Not me.”

That was partly true. He had changed. The ability to truly connect to someone, to want that person emotionally, as well as physically had done that. Because of Kristin, David had learned what it was to truly be in love. He had to go to her.

“We. Are. Finished. Enjoy your flight back to Glasgow, Sophie.” David turned away from Sophie and veered toward the door. As far as he was concerned, their charade was over.

Chapter Seven

Kristin could barely see the road through her angry tears. With immense relief, she finally parked the car and trudged up the stairs to her small apartment.

Kristin took off her clothes, letting them fall where they may, and ran herself a hot bubble bath. Surely a nice long soak would help relax her weary limbs and heart. Twisting her hair into a clip, she stepped into the warm water, letting it envelop her body. Every part of her ached from all of the recent sleepless nights. And the worries at Haven added to her stress daily.

“Ahhh.” Slipping deeper into the water, she tried to clear her muddled mind, relaxation fully on her agenda right now. She attempted to concentrate on letting the warm water ease the tension from her body. It was no use. As usual, David’s dark eyes and sensual lips invaded her thoughts. Annoyed, Kristin pulled the stopper, climbed out of the tub and wrapped a fluffy towel snugly around her body. Was she ever going to have peace of mind again?

Drying off quickly, she walked to the bedroom. She pulled on a pair of cotton shorts and a T-shirt. Nothing else was needed, since she was getting ready to sleep, though she doubted she’d be doing much of that tonight. The clothes she’d scattered earlier still cluttered the bedroom floor, so she snatched them up and tossed them into the hamper in her bedroom. Looking around, Kristin wondered what to do next.

At two in the morning, it was too late to call Ingrid, though Kristin wasn’t sure what she’d say to her friend now, anyway. Maybe tomorrow, after she sorted out her feelings.

Maybe some earl grey tea would relax her. She put the kettle on the stove to make a cup of tea. While waiting for the kettle to come to a boil, she walked over to the door of her studio. David had so casually asked about this door when he’d been here, making her cringe inside as she brushed his question away. Kristin doubted she had the energy to do any work tonight, yet here she stood.

The knob twisted in her hand, the door opening inward. She flipped the light switch and bright light flooded all corners of the tiny room. Canvasses were stacked in multiple areas against the walls, evidence of her recent creative bursts. In the center of the room stood a large easel with a gray, tarp-covered canvas.

This was what she’d been working on lately. She pulled the tarp gently and let it fall to the floor. Dark cocoa eyes stared back at her from the canvas, a look of intense melancholy on David’s chiseled face. Her index finger slowly traced the line of his jaw in a caress. The image captured the intensity in his eyes, the soft fullness of his lips, and the hard angle of his jaw.

The painting’s monochromatic scheme of all shades and tints of a cool bluish gray intensified the somber mood of the piece. Kristin hadn’t wanted to call it finished yet. Her artist’s eye obsessed about every small detail. Even as she tried to work on other pieces, she still found herself coming back to this one.

Some might consider it a masterpiece. Kristin considered it an obsession and an exercise in self-torture. As she stared at the portrait, pain of her loss twisted in her gut. Even in paint, David’s passionate eyes tore through her core. It had to be finished now, because it cut her like a knife each time she looked at it. Her shaking hands replaced the tarp, turned off the light and shut the door.

The kettle whistled, and she made a cup of tea. Her hands cupped the steaming mug as she settled on the couch, letting the warmth travel from her hands, outward, to the rest of her body. One thing she’d learned early on while living in London—a good cup of tea could do wonders. The English were convinced it could cure all ills and make everything right with the world. As Kristin sipped her tea, she hoped they were right.

The door buzzer startled her, and she spilled some of her tea. The warm liquid dripped over her fingers, more of an annoyance than anything else. At least she’d lowered the temperature with a dash of milk. Otherwise, her fingers would be burned and not merely sticky.

Kristin’s gaze shifted to the clock. Who in the world could be at her door at two in the morning? Concerned that a friend needed her, she set her mug on the table, wiped her hands on the hem of her shirt and walked to the intercom.

“Please, Kristin.” Through the static-laden intercom she heard the tremor in his voice as he pleaded. “Let me come up. I need to talk to you.”

Kristin closed her eyes, and willed herself to find the power to resist his voice as it washed over her. She didn’t have the strength to face him now. Her body drained, tired from the sight of seeing him with Psycho Sophie earlier.

“I’ll stand here all night if I have to. Please, I need to talk to you.”

He wasn’t going to leave. She sighed in defeat. “Fine, but make it quick.”

David was at the door almost instantly and out of breath. He must have run up the stairs. He stepped inside slowly and she shut the door behind him.

Kristin felt his eyes on her as she walked past him, further into the apartment. She turned to face him and crossed her arms in front of her, determined to talk only for a few minutes. “So, talk.” There was no reason to make this easy for him.

David’s gaze softened as he looked at her, making her acutely aware of how red and puffy her eyes must look with no makeup to cover up her crying jag.
Wonderful
.

He slowly reached out to her to graze his fingers against her cheek. “You’ve been crying.” Tenderness in his low voice seeped into her heart.

Kristin closed her eyes and shook her head. “Why are you here, David? Haven’t we been through enough hell this evening?”

He clasped her chin and her eyes flew open. “I had to make sure you were all right.”

Kristin removed his hand from her chin. “Shouldn’t you still be playing nice for the press with your ‘fiancé?’” Her fingers indicated sarcastic quote marks in the air around the word.

David’s hand fell limply to his side. “Sophie is more than likely on her way back to Glasgow. She only flew in for a few hours.”

He stepped closer, and Kristin backed away. She didn’t want to be so close to him. The heat from him, his spicy scent, it was too much. It had already dissolved small pieces of the fight she had in her.

“I can’t do this right now, David. I’m angry. I’m confused. And I’m so damn tired.” Her shoulders sagged.

“I’m sorry, lass. I never wanted you to hurt like this.” He stood there, his tall frame diminished by the helplessness in her words.

The smoldering fire in his eyes made her weak in the knees. How was she supposed to stand her ground when he looked at her like that?

She’d fought her attraction to him since they’d met. Now, as David’s heated gaze locked with hers, Kristin came to the conclusion that she was tired of fighting. She wanted to give in. Would the frail ribbon of reason within her rein her in?

“Those red rings around your eyes, lass, they tell me that you’re not fine.” He stepped deliberately toward her again.

She backed away from his advancement, trying to maintain some distance between them. She swallowed as her heart rate accelerated. Her breathing sped up. The urge to keep fighting was failing fast.

“So would you care to tell me the truth, then?” David’s brogue became even thicker as his voice turned husky.

Kristin continued to back away from him as he came toward her, and she cried out in surprise as her back came up against the outer wall of her bedroom. Mere inches away, he braced his left arm above her on the wall.

This close, her body responded to the heat that emanated from him. His eyes darkened as he focused intently on her. Kristin hadn’t wanted to get this close to him, yet here she was.

Tears trickled down Kristin’s cheeks as she gazed at him, her pounding heart making it hard for her to breathe. “Why are you doing this?”

Softly, he wiped the tears away with the thumb of his right hand. Kristin watched as the tide behind his eyes slowly changed from a confusing storm to the color of a clear, dark, ebony sky.

“Ever since we met, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, and I have tried, believe me. You’ve invaded my heart and my soul, no matter how I’ve tried to push you out. It kills me to see you in such turmoil, and to know that I am the cause of it.”

Kristin stared at David in stunned silence. The words that had come out of his mouth surprised her. She hadn’t thought he would be so honest and open with her, not about this, not with the way they’d tiptoed around everything so far. “David, I”

He pressed his finger to her lips. Kristin melted under the heat of his gaze. What in God’s name was happening?

“Now, all I can think about is this.” David leaned forward and kissed her. His lips were soft and smooth, just like she remembered.

As David pulled away, fear at what she was about to do gnawed at her gut silently. Was she ready for this? Would she disappoint him? Kristin laid a hand on his chest, the thud of his heartbeat was just as strong as her own.

“Tell me you don’t feel the same way,” his voice rumbled huskily. “Tell me you don’t love me as much as I love you, and I’ll leave.”

Kristin stared at him, not exactly sure of what she had just heard. He loved her? Had he actually said he loved her? David removed the clip from her hair, freeing it to fall haphazardly around her face. He wove his fingers through it and cradled the back of her head in his hand.

“Tell me.” He demanded the answer throatily. “Tell me, and I’ll leave.”

It would make things so much easier if she could do as he requested, if she could just tell him she didn’t love him, but Kristin couldn’t lie to him.

“I can’t.” Kristin’s voice fell to a whisper as she finally let go of the feelings she’d kept in check and gave in to the moment.

David growled, and his mouth crushed hers as he claimed her with his lips.

Kristin whimpered under the ferocity of his embrace, frightened by the intensity of the hunger he had for her.

Pressed roughly against the wall, the hard contours of his lean frame dug into her softer ones. The control she had so carefully kept on her passions slipped away, and she encircled him with her arms. Her body pressed back against him just as hard.

His mouth finally released hers, and she gulped for air. The pupils of his eyes turned black with the force of his desire. As Kristin stared intently into their depths, the thought of denying him and herself became an impossible option.

He roughly shrugged off his sport coat, and quickly pulled his shirt over his head, dropping it to the floor. Reaching out to touch his tight chest she found that the heat from his bare skin scorched her.

The muscles of his chest quivered where she touched him. She craved his hard and lean body, so full of strength. Kristin had wanted him badly, it seemed almost unreal that they were giving into it now. David’s hands moved swiftly to the edge of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head.

His hands slowly cradled her breasts, and the small buds of her nipples hardened. Kristin moaned and let her head fall back as his thumbs stroked the sensitive points. Her body throbbed in time with her pulse. It was such sweet torture.

David’s mouth covered hers once more, and muffled her soft cries of pleasure. His tongue darted past her lips into the dark recesses of her mouth. He tasted warm and spicy, as his tongue danced around hers in a slow, seductive tango.