SweetestSeduction (7 page)

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I just…don’t want this to end.”

Her own anger washed out of her, leaving a cold emptiness.
Her throat tightened but she forced it to work. “This is me, Keith. I’m
insecure. I don’t date. I don’t know how to handle it. I tried to keep you away
from that, but you wouldn’t let me.”

“You’re worth it to me. I want to learn these things about
you, convince you that you don’t have to be insecure around me because
I’m…well, I’m already half in love with you.”

“I…uh…I…” She was frozen. Unable to move, unable to think or
process or speak or… “Uh.”

His tense face transformed with a flash into a grin.

“I’m sorry I ambushed you with the date. I just…I knew, or I
thought…I was so sure we would be great together, I figured once I had you out
there, you would see it too.” He sighed again and she wanted to comfort him,
but was still frozen.

“Hey, did I ever tell you that my mother was an actress?” he
asked.

It was startling enough to let her move again. “Um, no, you
didn’t.”

He nodded, his face serious. “I don’t talk about her much.
Would you stay for a minute? Listen? If I give you coffee? I promise not to do
anything but tell you a little bit about her.”

“I could use the coffee,” she said with a wry smile. “And I
could sit down for a few minutes.” She narrowed her eyes at him, forced all
softness from her voice. “
After
you get my purse.”

He winced. “Yeah, yeah, of course.” Without bothering to put
on shoes, he grabbed his keys and opened the door, returning only a minute
later with her purse held out like a peace offering.

She accepted it, then set it down on the side table he laid
his keys on. “Coffee,” she reminded him emphatically. His obvious relief went a
long way to banishing the last of her anger. Anger she couldn’t quite remember
the purpose of.

Leading the way back into the kitchen, he pulled out a chair
for her. She sank into it while he went to pour them both coffee. He fixed hers
exactly the way she liked it and she forced herself to admit they had been more
than business associates for some time. She didn’t spend even close to the same
amount of time with her other clients as she did with him. Frequently he called
her over for silly little things that she could fix in a minute but stayed for
an hour.

She’d only charged him for the brief time they’d actually
worked, not even bothering to add in commute time since she lived so close. It
wasn’t something she’d really thought about before, happy to spend the time
with him. Clearly she’d been deluding herself, using their business relationship
as an excuse to be his friend without the pressure of being a good friend in
return.

He sat down across the corner from her and she wrapped her
hands around the cup he put in front of her.

“So, my mom was a not very well known but slightly successful
actress. Her whole life was about being in Hollywood, being in the movies. She
cared very little about her home, her child. My father was a director but he
ended up not being successful enough for her and she ditched him early on.” He
took a careful sip from his mug.

“I guess I need you to understand that to me, it’s very,
very important that a woman I spend any time with not be more wrapped up in her
career, in herself, than in her family.” He looked up, his brows furrowed.
“It’s different of course, if she doesn’t have a family. I’m not saying she
shouldn’t put herself…well, that she shouldn’t be…”

Val put her hand on his arm. “It’s okay, I understand.
There’s a big difference between putting yourself first and putting yourself
first, second, third and fourth.”

He relaxed and slid his hand down to twine his fingers with
hers. “Yeah, that’s about right. And I don’t mean to imply that all the women I
meet in my line of work are like that, but there’s frequently an uncomfortable
resemblance, enough that I’m just rarely even attracted to them. It might not
be fair, but there you go.”

“What about your dad?”

Sadness crossed his face but then he smiled. “He was a good
guy, but totally besotted with Mom, even after she left him. I lived with him
on and off until I was eight, when he died.”

“Oh, Keith, I’m so sorry. What happened?”

“Cancer. It was very fast. I think he was probably sick for
quite a while before he finally went to the doctor. Then he called my mom,
asked her to come get me and was gone three weeks later. He left me the money
to get my start in photography. It would have taken me a lot longer to become
successful if I’d had to support myself as well as build up the business, those
first couple of years.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again. “I really can’t even imagine
losing my mom.”

“It sucked but it was a long time ago. My mom died a few
years ago, basically from cirrhosis.”

“She was an alcoholic?”

“Yes, but in a quiet way. Like I said, she wasn’t really
interested in raising a child, so she didn’t bother me much, we just happened
to live in the same house for a while. I left when I was sixteen. Sometimes I
only saw her once or twice a year, even though we lived fairly close.”

“Wow.” Valerie’s heart ached for the little boy he must have
been and the strong man he’d become.

“My father left my mother for a younger woman,” she blurted
out before her brain could quite catch up to her mouth. She slapped a hand over
her mouth in horror.

His brows furrowed. “Was it a secret or something?”

She put her hand down and smiled sheepishly. “No, nothing
like that, it’s just something I don’t talk about. Ever. Besides, we were
talking about you.”

“Why don’t you talk about it?”

“I guess because it hurt my mother for so long every time
she had to hear about him or talk about him, we just got in the habit of never
mentioning him.”

“How often do you talk to him, see him?” he asked, his hand
tightening around hers.

“Well, never. He left.”

She probably shouldn’t have been as fascinated by the play
of emotions across his face as she was. Anger, compassion, anger and something
she thought might be exasperation meant just for her. Anger.

“So, he didn’t just leave your mom. He left his family. He
was a…”

“Putz is the word we eventually settled on, though that’s
likely because I was ten at the time.”

“And that’s when you left Seattle?”

“Right. We decided we wanted a whole new start. Mom totally
left the decision up to me, said if I’d rather stay with the school and friends
I was comfortable with, she was happy to do that. We came down here for a visit
and I decided it was a good place to start over and pretend we’d never been a
family of three.”

“Did he ever say why he left?”

She rolled her eyes. “Such a cliché, I’m almost embarrassed
to say it, but he left her,” she paused when he squeezed her hand, “us, rather,
for his skinny, young secretary.”

“Ah ha.”

She glared. “Don’t you ah ha me like that.”

His look said “give me a break” but he didn’t open his
mouth.

Her shoulders, which she hadn’t even realized she’d
tightened, dropped. His free hand came up behind her hair to rub gently at her
neck and she relaxed even further.

“All right, fine. I’m sure that’s partly where my bias
against beautiful skeletons comes from. My mom was never what you would call
thin. But damn it, he knew that! She didn’t change on him, she was maybe a
little skinnier before she had me, but not much. What the hell is wrong with
him?”

Keith scooted his chair in closer and hugged her to him.
“I’m sorry. Some men are scum. Hell, some women are scum too. It’s the way of
the world, I guess.”

With a sigh, she leaned into him.

“Did you ever try getting in touch with him?”

“No. Not interested.” She took a drink of her coffee.

“Not even curious?” he asked.

“He’s not worthy of my curiosity or interest.”

“You’re right.” He kissed her forehead.

After a minute of quiet he took her chin in his hand and
turned her to face him again. “You know, I’ve never once dated someone I met on
a shoot.”

Shocked, she sat back. “That’s just so…surreal. I mean, an
attractive guy, gorgeous women, it’s hard to believe. But,” she stopped him
when he would have spoken, “I do believe you.”

Nodding, he relaxed. “I was also going to say that you’re a
gorgeous woman too.”

Unable to help herself, she rolled her eyes. “Passably
attractive, I’ll buy. But I’ve got plenty of hang-ups that make up for it, I’m
sure.”

“Why do you say that? You’re a great catch. Beautiful,” he
said forcibly. “Smart, funny, you have a good job and a nice condo. You don’t
rely on men to do everything for you, but you’re not frighteningly independent
either.”

“Was that supposed to be a compliment?” she asked.

He laughed. “Yes, sorry. But come on, don’t you think you’re
being a bit ridiculous about this looks thing? It’s kind of insulting that you
seem to think I’d only date women who make money with their looks.”

Well, when he put it that way. She tried to hang on to the
security blanket, but felt him pulling it away despite her efforts. The image
made her realize she was acting like a two-year-old. “Okay, fine. I guess when
we first met I was very attracted to you.” She glared at his grin. “And I
didn’t want to get hurt, so I told myself you’d never date someone like me when
you were surrounded by women like that. As long as I believed that, it was fine
that you didn’t want me. Good, even, because I wouldn’t want a guy like that
anyway. It…sort of became circular, I guess.”

He frowned. “I don’t remember it taking very long for me to
express some interest in you.”

She took a drink before answering, trying to figure out the
best way to explain. “That just made it more important to really dig in, hold
on to the idea so I wouldn’t give in and get hurt. Don’t forget, you admitted
yourself that you weren’t exactly thinking relationship back then. Anyway, I
used that idea, and the mantra, to keep myself from falling for you so that I
could continue to work with you and remain sane.”

“The mantra?”

Oops.
She squirmed, then forced her body to be still,
waving only her hand as if she was brushing the question away. “Never mind.”
He’s
just a nice guy who really likes women. All women. That does not mean he loves
all women, just that he likes to make them feel special.
She repeated the
words in her head and realized she had comforted herself with them only at the
beginning of their date, had gone the rest of the day without thinking about
it. That seemed…important.

“Anyway, it was about saving myself from getting too
attached to you. Don’t expect it to make perfect sense. That’s sort of the
point. I was just…protecting us both from a…from what I thought was a bad
idea.”

“Why do you think you’re not good girlfriend material?”

“What, this conversation isn’t proof enough? It is what it
is.”

“Well, whatever it is, I like it. I like you. A lot. And I
want to go on another date. Or two, or ten. Will you do that? Will you give me
another chance? I promise I’ll try not to screw it up again.”

“Oh, Keith, you didn’t screw it up. It was a wonderful date.
The best date I’ve ever been on. Hell, it was two dates, the two best dates
I’ve ever been on.”

“Well, I was afraid you wouldn’t put out on the first date.”

She spit her coffee out as she laughed and laughed, not
stopping until he scooped her up and took her back into the bedroom.

The slow buildup of the night before, the surprise awakening
of the morning, neither left her prepared for the carnal onslaught that began
the moment he tossed her onto the bed. Her laughter died and her eyes went wide
as he ripped the buttons off the shirt she wore in his haste to get her naked.
Her heartbeat doubled at the hunger she saw on his face. Hunger for her. His
finger teased her sex for only a few seconds before he pushed it into her. But
she already needed more.

“Don’t make me wait,” she gasped.

He added another finger, leaned down to reach her breasts,
gave her a tiny nip.

She raked her fingers across his back. “Now, damn it!”

When he pulled away from her she nearly snapped, but he
lunged for the drawer he’d pulled a condom from the previous night. She almost
snatched it from him, but figured he’d be faster.

“Hurry.” She squeezed her breasts and he froze, his gaze
glued to her hands.
Not
the effect she’d wanted. “Keith!” It sounded
uncomfortably like a shriek, but got the job done. In seconds he had the condom
on and was over her, sliding into her as their mouths came together. She braced
her heels against the mattress, lifted up to meet his thrusts. It took them a
few beats to gain their rhythm, but when they did, she tore her mouth free and
shouted.

His hands burrowed into her hair and he cursed into her ear
as he came, hard, his hips freezing their movement. She grasped tight around
him and lost herself in release. Her legs dropped to the bed and Keith managed
to shift slightly to the side before collapsing on top of her.

Well
, she thought as her sweat-slicked skin began to
cool. Maybe she was going to need to consider sticking around a while, after
all.

Epilogue

“Happy V-Day, Sweetheart.”

“Hi, Mom.”

“I went to church this morning and lit a candle for you.”

“Great, Mom, thanks.”

“I lit one for Keith too.”

“I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to hear it.”

“Well, let me tell him then.”

Valerie’s eyes blinked open. Yes, her mother knew she was
living with Keith, but still.

“Uh.”

“Give him the phone, Val.”

She rolled her head and looked at Keith, sleepily eyeing her
distress with amusement.

“She wants to talk to you,” she said and nearly laughed when
his amusement turned to fear.