The Truth (6 page)

No way, she told herself. Her heart ached every minute of every hour as it was; getting sucked in deeper would kill her. And lamenting over him, wishing for what could never be and what never was, only made her more depressed. So she did what she always did when she hit an emotional wall: She ran. Two hours later, hot, sticky, hungry, more confused than when she had left her room, Katy dragged her feet as she climbed the staircase to her attic room on the third floor. Several steps shy of the landing she stopped short, shaking out her weary legs.

As she looked up she caught her breath. Leaning against the door jamb with his legs crossed at the ankle, a hand in one pocket the other hanging at his side, was Mr. Sex on a Stick himself. He was dressed in cowboy boots, body-hugging jeans and a soft blue denim button down shirt that exposed the hollow at his neck. His powerful presence filled the entire third floor.

When their eyes met, he scowled. “I tell you I killed my brother and you go for a run?”

“I—” She didn’t know what to say now and she hadn’t known what to say when he’d told her. “I’m not good at comforting, Simon. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not looking for comfort,” he snapped. But she knew by his anger and his rigid body language that that was exactly what he wanted. Why else would he be here? “You wanted honesty so I gave you the most honest piece of me.”

She swallowed hard, wanting to take him into her arms and press his head to her chest and soothe his hurt. But she didn’t know how. “I appreciate that you opened up to me. It’s what I have wanted, but you have a wife—” She knew she was being ridiculous, but it was the only ammo she had to shield herself from him. The truth was too embarrassing.

“I don’t have a fucking wife!” he shouted, unwinding.

She blanched.

“I’m. Not. Married,” he growled.

“Swear it?” she breathed as the last vestige of doubt fled her.

He moved into her space and said roughly, “I swear it on my brother’s grave.”

Katy’s legs trembled. Grabbing her hands, entwining his fingers through hers, Simon raised them above her head and pinned her against the wall. Then he kissed her senseless.

Katy’s body exploded with sensation and emotion, overwhelmed not just by his truths but by his relentless pursuit. A small spark of hope ignited within her.

Long, deep, languid strokes of his tongue as his lips clung longingly to hers, stirred her heart. His fingers tightened around hers as if she were his lifeline.

“I’m not going to stop until you can’t stand,” he whispered hoarsely against her bruised lips.

Her knees buckled. Catching her with his body he pressed her more fully against the wall. The hard angles and planes of his muscles imprinted her where she stood. This was Simon, the only man on the planet she could not resist, even if she wanted to.

Tearing her lips from his, Katy breathlessly said, “Simon, we need to talk.”

“No talking,” he murmured, nipping her bottom lip, then sliding his tongue across it to soften the sting. “I need to get inside you, Cinderella. Now.”

“But—I’m all sweaty!”

“I love you all sweaty.” His hungry lips took hers again, accepting nothing but full compliance from her. His tongue ravaged hers, slowly rolling, thrusting, and savoring. Her body warmed and strained, arching into him, wanting what he wanted. His kiss deepened, and when her legs could no longer support her, he swept her into his strong arms, kicked the unlocked door open, slammed it shut with the heel of his boot, and in three long strides crossed the room and tossed her onto the bed. He gave her no time to think about what he did next. He peeled off her sweaty clothes, dropped his jeans and was inside of her before she could catch her breath.

Bowing against him, closing her eyes, and exhaling a long deep moan of sweet pain, she could not recall a more perfect moment in her life. It was what she wanted more than anything and the one thing she feared would destroy her. “Simon,” she hissed, the sublimity of him filling her, overpowering.

Taking her face into his hands, he looked deeply into her eyes. “I’m sorry if I hurt you, baby, but you make me lose all control.”

“You’re not hurting me,” she breathed. “You could never hurt me.”

His lips caught hers in a fiercely possessive kiss.

Everything about Simon was overpowering. A force of nature. Only a corpse could resist him. And Katy was far from dead. Indeed, with just one look from those smoldering green eyes, she lit up.

Their starved bodies undulated urgently, their impatient need to give and take throwing them out of sync.

“Skin, Simon,” Katy demanded breathlessly. “Skin.”

She needed to feel his skin on hers. His heartbeat against hers. Unbuttoning his shirt, she shoved it off his shoulders then pushed his jeans down his hips and thighs with her feet. He kicked his boots and jeans off as she maneuvered her sneakers from her feet.

Gathering her up into his arms, she hung suspended like a rag doll. Her eyes were closed, her muscles clamped around his cock, the feel of his thickness throbbing with its own need inside of her was nearly her undoing. Unable to catch her breath, she licked her dry lips. Afraid that if she opened her eyes she would realize this was a dream, she squeezed them tighter.

His scorching lips nuzzled her left nipple and Katy gasped. When he licked the dampness along her cleavage, she moaned. “I love the taste of you, Cinderella.” He licked the other nipple in a long salacious swipe. “Every last inch of you.” His hips swirled in a slow deep grind against her pelvis. “I love your scent.” He moved into her and nipped a nipple. Sucking it deeply into his mouth he flicked it with his tongue, then licked a swath along her neck up to her jaw.

His hands slid down her slick back to her ass cheeks. When he dug his fingers into her skin, she cried out in pleasured pain.

“I love the way your juicy little cunt hugs my cock.”

“Simon,” she breathed, shocked but turned on by his dirty talk.

Holding her hips immobile, he thrust into her.

“Simon,” she begged.

“I’m going to make you want the way I have been wanting.” He ground against her, evoking decadent, soul stirring sensation. “How does it feel to want so bad it hurts?”

“It hurts so good, Simon. I can’t stand it,” she admitted.

“Do you know that since that night you were attacked, I have not been able to sleep?” He ground his hips into her again. It drove her wild that he kept her hips immobile as he had his way with her body. Simon brushed his lips across hers. She rose to kiss him back, but he retreated. “That I have not stopped for even one second to think about anything else except doing this to you?”

Clasping her ass cheeks harder, Simon slowed his tantalizing pace, and though she wanted to meet him thrust for thrust, he controlled her, and the pace. And the depth. When he teased her with short shallow strokes, her body fought his for more penetration. When he finally gave it to her, Katy’s body liquefied.

“Simon,” she breathed. The thick root of his cock caught her clitoris at just the right angle with just the right pressure. Sensation rippled through her. She was right there, the tension drawn so tight---

“Do you know that I have never felt this way about anyone but you?” He whispered in her ear.

His words triggered her body into meltdown. Bowing into him as a scream tore from her lips, the orgasm blazed through her. “Oh, God, Simon!” she panted, gulping for air, her body gyrating madly beneath his as the relentless waves pounded her senseless.

It was—it was—epic.

He caught her lips in a sinfully slow kiss, allowing the waves of the orgasm that racked her body to naturally recede. He never once stopped moving in and out of her, slow and deep. Deep and steady. Hot and wet. He was all things carnal and he cared about her.

Her eyes fluttered open and she gasped. His emerald eyes watched her with the intensity of a hawk. “The only thing I like better than watching you come is making you come.”

His words caused another avalanche of tension. He pulled her hair back, forcing her body to bend more deeply against his. “That’s it, Cinderella, come for me again. Hard. Fast. Faster.” He breathed heavily as his thrusts intensified. “Baby, you feel so damn good.”

He set his jaw and as his body stiffened, then ejaculated wildly into her, Katy choked back a sob, never having felt so desired as she did at that moment.

It terrified her.

What would it mean being possessed by a man like Simon? What would it mean possessing a man like him? It went beyond her comprehension.

aty slid out of Simon’s arms. “Where you going?” he murmured, his voice heavy, sated.

“I—um, I didn’t know if you like to—like to … hang around afterward …” Katy bashfully stuttered. She couldn’t actually say the word “cuddle” to a man like Simon, could she?

He pulled her back into his warm embrace, throwing his leg over hers and effectively pinning her against him. “I like you next to me like this.”

She smiled and snuggled against him. “Me, too.”

Since it didn’t seem to bother him that she was all sticky and sweaty, Katy didn’t let it bother her either. As much as she wanted a shower, she wanted this connection with Simon more.

“How did you get my new number? And how did you know where to find me?” she asked softly.

“That crazy lady down the hall from you told me. After she kicked me in the shins and told me to go to hell.”

“Rosie?”

“More like rabid Rosie.”

Katy giggled, turned, and lifted up on an elbow. “She thinks you’re married! How did you get her to tell you where I was?”

He shrugged. “I told her I was an ass and then I told her the truth.”

Katy smiled and could just see Rosie kicking Simon as she gave him a piece of her mind. Her smile waned as something she kept pushing away insisted on being addressed. “Simon?”

“Hmm,” he responded, kissing a pert nipple.

That simple touch sent erotic shimmers of sensation through her body. “Stop that, I want your undivided attention for a minute.”

He looked longingly at the pebbled nipple, then at her face. “I can’t make you any promises.”

“I’m serious,” she said, pushing out of his arms and sitting up.

He grinned, leaning up on an elbow. “Okay, you have most of my undivided attention.”

She pulled the soft downy comforter up to cover her nakedness.

He scowled. “That’s not nice.”

She snapped her fingers in front of him and said, “Look at my eyes, not my tits.”

“But I love looking at your tits.”

“Simon!”

“Fine. You have my undivided attention.” He stared intently at her eyes.

His brows rose in question. “What do you see in me?” she asked. “I’m a boring, inhibited, unemployed scientist.”

He smiled, showing his perfect white teeth, and traced a fingertip along the Cupid’s bow of her upper lip. “You are far from boring.” Leaning into her, he pulled down the comforter and flicked her nipple with his tongue. Katy moaned. “Inhibited is hardly a word I would use to describe you, especially in light of how we met.” Languidly, he trailed his tongue between her breasts to her belly button. “As far as your employment status, I couldn’t care less if you have a job or not.” He nibbled her belly. “Besides, when Veronica gets done with your two former employers, you’ll own them. And—” He pulled her foot, flattening her to the mattress, and moved over her. “Do you have any idea how much that scientist brain of yours turns me on?”

She shook her head.

“It’s almost as hot as your lush tits, your tight little ass, and that sweet little kitty cat of yours.” He leaned down and nipped at her full bottom lip. “And these succulent lips. Your beautiful smile.” He kissed her neck. “You’re funny and shy and vulnerable.” He nibbled at her chin. “And sexy. You make me want to hold you, spank you, protect you, and make crazy monkey love to you.”

“Even though I’m a sticky, stinky, sweaty mess?”

“Precisely because you
are
a sticky, stinky, sweaty mess.” His lips swept across hers. “Now I’m going to make you stickier, stinkier, and sweatier.”

And he did.

She must have fallen asleep, because the room had darkened when Katy’s eyes fluttered open. She’d dreamt … Simon’s man scent combined with their sex scent hung heavily in the air. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. As she did, she felt the warm body spooned against her back begin to stir. More specifically, a certain body part began to thicken. She smiled, loving the fact that she did that to him.

Strong arms tightened around her, drawing her snugly against his hard chest. “I thought I dreamt you,” he said huskily against her ear, his warm breath tickling her skin. He rubbed his nose along her neck and kissed her just where her neck met her shoulder. Delightful shivers ran the length of her body, stiffening her sensitive nipples.

“I love the way you feel, Simon.” Especially since he had come to her and opened up. She knew it was hard for him, but he had done it. It was a start.

“Mmm, I love the way you make me feel.”

He rolled her over and covered her with his big body, and as if they were always meant to be, he slid into her. “Oh,” she sighed, knowing there would never be anything or anyone who could make her feel the way Simon made her feel when he entered her. She would never tire of it, not even if she lived to be one hundred years old.

She lost herself completely to him as he made slow, unhurried love to her.

This time when she slid from the bed, he let her go. She had to pee. And get a shower. As she was closing the door, she heard the “Mandy” ringtone and instead of completely closing the door, she left it cracked. And instead of peeing, she hovered by the door and eavesdropped.

“Hey,” Simon answered, his voice husky and a little too lovey-dovey.

Katy did the pee-pee dance, refusing to move one inch until he hung up.

“Is she okay?” he asked concerned. Katy heard him sit up in the bed. “Why didn’t you call me when it happened? Damn it, Amanda, we’ve talked about this.” His voice, though frustrated, was measured and—intimate. It killed Katy hearing it.

Though not clear, the distinct sound of a raised woman’s voice echoed from his phone. “No. I can’t get away right now—”

Angry woman’s voice.

“I’m working.”

That stung.

What sounded like, “You’re always working.”

To which Simon responded, “It’s what gets me through the day, Mandy. You know that.”

More woman’s voice, but now it was calmer.

“Me, too,” he said. “Give Livy a hug and a kiss for me and tell her I’ll see her soon.”

Katy hurried and plunked down on the toilet before Simon caught her eavesdropping. “Everything okay?’ she called nonchalantly, trying very hard not to feel like Simon’s dirty secret.

The door opened and Simon stood there, naked as the day he was born. With his sleepy eyes and sex-mussed hair, he looked more sinful than a mortal had the right to look. A slow smile played along his full lips as he leaned into the jamb. “She pees like the rest of us.”

Too miffed to feel embarrassed, she asked, “You pee sitting down?”

“Never, but I do put the seat down when I’m done.” Unwinding his long muscular body, he reached over to the shower and turned it on, then grinned such a naughty I-can’t-wait-to-devour-you grin, she shivered. “I like taking showers with you.”

“I remember that you do,” she said softly, trying very hard not to be jealous and ask him about his conversation with
Mandy
.

So when he stepped into the shower and held the door open for her, she shook her head and turned to the bathroom door. “You go ahead, I need to check in with Veronica.”

Simon reached out and grabbed her, pulling her back into his wet embrace. “She can wait.” He bit her shoulder as he pressed his erection into her butt. “I can’t.”

The warm water sluicing down her body felt good. Simon felt better. If there had been no phone call, she would have raced him into the shower, but she turned in his arms and pressed her palms against his chest. “Simon, we need to talk.”

His lips caught hers as the last word left her lips. “Later,” he whispered. “I need you now, Cinderella, or I’m going to turn into a pumpkin.”

His teeth grazed along her neck, his hands sliding down her slick back to her ass. His erection jutted between them, demanding attention. “Simon …” she pleaded. “Please.”

Exhaling loudly, he dropped his chin to the top of her head and moved his hands to a more respectable place. “You’re upset about the phone call?” he asked.

Swallowing hard, she shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head again.

“Pick one, Cinderella. You are or you aren’t.”

Tilting her head up to see his face, she said, “I’m not upset. I’m confused by it.”

“My niece fell off her bike and sprained her ankle.”

“It was—” She hesitated, wanting to pick her words carefully and hating herself because of it. She shouldn’t have to feel like she had to walk on eggshells around him. They’d come too far for that. “More than that.”

“More how?”

“Your tone, your …” She felt foolish. “Your level of concern, not for your niece but for
Mandy
.” There, she said it.

“Amanda is my dead brother’s widow. I have a responsibility there. There’s nothing more to it than that.”

Nodding, Katy reached for the soap and began to lather herself. “Will you tell me what happened to him?” she softly asked.

When she reached to put the soap back on the holder, he took it and lathered himself up, his movements quick and jerky. He was irritated. “No.”

That hurt. He rinsed off and as he did, he pulled her beneath the spray and held her as the suds ran from them both down the drain. “Don’t take it personally, Cinderella. I don’t talk about it with anyone, not even Amanda.”

Wow, didn’t she feel special?

Not.

Apparently her status was just like anyone else’s.

Blinking back the sting of tears, she stepped dripping wet from the shower, grabbed a towel, and exited the bathroom. God, she did not want to feel this vulnerable when it came to him.

A few minutes later Simon came out with a towel wrapped around his waist. His hair was damp and his skin glistening. Eyeing him in the large oval mirror over the dressing table where she sat, she tried to gauge his mood.

For a long contemplative moment, he stood behind her, his gaze locked with hers. Finally, he leaned down and whispered, “Since you won’t let me ravage you, let’s go into town for some dinner.” He kissed her dewy shoulder. “I’m hungry.” Their eyes continued to hold in the mirror. Warmth swept through her as his fingers caressed her arms, and his lips pressed to the curve of her neck, his smoldering green eyes never wavering from hers in the mirror.

“I kind of like you jealous,” he softly said.

“I hate the way it makes me feel.”

“Then let it go, princess.”

She closed her eyes. He brushed his thumbs across her nipples. They responded instantly.

His lips pressed fervently to her skin, and his fingertips increased their pressure. A slow moan escaped her throat. When he bit her, her eyes popped open and she caught her breath. The predatory intensity of his eyes as he stared at her in the mirror thrilled her.

Tugging the towel, he pulled it from her, exposing her rosy skin. Watching herself in the mirror as Simon’s big hands caressed her breasts—stroking her nipples to stiff peaks, his simmering gaze challenging her to stop him—turned her on so much, desirous tremors racked through her.

“Touch yourself,” he commanded softly.