Falling for the Enemy, page 8
“That’s one of many things I like about you, Kit,” she admitted. She couldn’t remember dating before the coma. She had an idea that she’d probably been afraid to admit things back then. But having missed a decade of her life, she wasn’t going to let fear keep her from the things she wanted.
And she wanted Kit.
“What else do you like?” he asked.
She undid her seat belt and reached over to put her hand on his thigh. She did envy him his healthy body but knew hers was getting there. She squeezed his leg. “That you keep showing up despite the fact that I coerced you into it.”
“You didn’t force me to do anything I didn’t want to,” he said, his hand idly playing with a strand of hair that had escaped her braid.
She and Kit noticed people coming out of the store. “We can try letting you drive here,” he suggested. “Or we can go into the shop.”
“Do you like apple cider?” she asked him.
“I do. You?”
“I’m not entirely sure. I think so. I know I’ve never tried apple cider doughnuts.”
“Let’s go,” he said. “Afterward, I’ll give you a chance to drive my car.”
He came around to her side of the car and offered her his hand to get out. Which she took. She left her walking stick in the car because her legs weren’t tired and with Kit by her side... She stopped herself. She was supposed to be getting stronger on her own.
And she was.
But she also realized she didn’t want to be on her own all the time. She craved this kind of interaction. Perhaps he did as well? And while she wasn’t sure what he was struggling with, it was obvious he had some things going on, too. She wasn’t so self-absorbed that she’d missed that.
“Do you mind if I have to hold your arm while we’re walking around? Or I can bring my walking stick...”
“I don’t mind,” he said. “I’m sorry about earlier. I just feel bad that someone hurt you.”
“It’s not your fault,” she assured him. “But I don’t want to talk about it. I just wanted you to know what you were getting into with me. I hate lying.”
Elle and Dash had faked being married to help Rory’s recovery but when she’d found out the truth, she’d realized she couldn’t tolerate lies. It wasn’t that she thought they’d done it for a vicious reason, it was simply that she didn’t want to have to look at the people closest to her and have to watch her back.
“I’m not a fan of liars either,” he confided. “But sometimes white lies are necessary.”
“I don’t see how.”
“To save hurt feelings or sometimes when it’s not your secret to tell,” Kit said.
He’d given this a lot of thought, she realized. Should that concern her? “If I asked you for the truth, would you be honest?”
He took a deep breath and then tipped his head as he looked down at her. “I would.”
“Then that’s all that matters,” she said. Both Dash and Con had done things they regretted, so she knew how difficult it could be to revisit the past when Kit may have been a different man. But all that mattered was that she trusted him now.
He led the way into the shop, which smelled of fresh apples and cinnamon. They had a café in the back and Kit bought them apple cider doughnuts and hot apple cider. When they were done with their snack, he showed her how to drive and let her try driving around the parking lot.
Her legs didn’t give her any trouble, and though she’d only gone twenty miles per hour, she couldn’t help feeling triumphant when she parked the car and looked over at him.
“Knew you could do it!” he said.
Flushed with success, she leaned over, taking the kiss she’d wanted since she’d opened the door and seen him standing on her front porch. Whatever else she was unsure of in her life, Kit wasn’t it.
Eight
Kit dropped Rory off at her place and she invited him in.
“Sure. Do you need help with any projects?”
“Always. How’s your house coming along, by the way?”
“It’s in pretty good shape. I hired a company to redo most of it before I moved in. Want to see it?” he asked.
The house hadn’t ever been meant to be his permanent home. It was his base in Gilbert Corners so he could get the jump on Dash when it came to buying up property and figuring out what the Gilbert family was up to. Which right now made him feel slightly icky and his stomach to roil. The closer he got to Rory and her family, and the more he learned about his own, revenge seemed like overkill. He’d dedicated his life to avenging something that might have been a lie told by his father.
“I’d love to,” she said. “I’m curious to know more about you.”
“Like what?” he murmured as he parked in the driveway and turned toward her.
“Well, when we video-chatted, your couch looked so cozy. Gilbert Manor is always decorated for show and I want my place have a more homey feel, but I’m not sure how to create that. Maybe your place will give me some ideas.”
“Ah, my place is sort of a bachelor pad. I don’t think you’re going to find any inspiration here,” he said.
He got out and opened her door for her, offering her his hand as she got out of the car. “You never know...”
“Actually,” he said as he led the way up to his front door, “I’m thinking about getting some of the flowerpots like you have. To pretty the place up.”
His house had been completely brought up to code and modernized, like Rory’s had on the outside, and it stood out among the other places that hadn’t been redone yet. Kit had purchased three more on this street and was in the process of developing them with an eye toward offering affordable housing to his workers once he found a large enough property on which to build Palmer Industries’ newest work hub.
His front door had been painted black and was a nice contrast to the brick stonework on the outside of the row house. The accents had originally been more Victorian but Kit favored wrought iron, which gave the place more of a contemporary feel.
He opened the door, gesturing for Rory to step inside. “There’s a rug, so be careful.”
“Thanks,” she said with a smile. She stepped inside and then stopped after he followed her in and closed the door.
She shrugged out of her coat and handed it to him and then looked down at her booted feet. “Want me to take my shoes off?”
“It’s up to you. I have a cleaning service and they are due to come in tomorrow.”
He opened the coat closet and hung both of theirs up. Turning to find she’d sat down on the wooden bench to remove her flats, he sat down next to her with the intent of doing the same, but she put her hand on his thigh again and leaned into him.
Her breast brushed the side of his arm, sending a wave of want through him. He felt the warmth of her breath on his cheek, the smell of apple cider and then her silky soft hand against his jaw as she turned his face toward hers and kissed him.
He had told himself he needed more answers to the past before he let this thing with her go any further, but he was so tired of denying himself. He wanted her. More than he’d wanted anything in a long time, except revenge.
He slipped his arm around her waist and drew her close to him as the kiss deepened. She tilted her head to the side, her tongue sliding over his. God, she tasted so good.
Like everything he’d ever wanted.
Which jarred him because all he’d wanted for so long was to see Dash Gilbert fall. That once-clear dream was blurred. Now all he could see and think about was Rory, and this kiss sharpened the need in him that hadn’t been far from the surface all day.
Stop thinking, he ordered himself.
He lifted her onto his lap, she wrapped both arms around his shoulders and he pushed his tongue deeper into her mouth as he slid his hand under the hem of her skirt, just lightly caressing the tops of her thighs. Her fingers were still on his jaw but her little finger was rubbing his neck right below his ear. Making him harden under her hip.
She shifted, her legs parting as he caressed her thighs. He lifted his head, looking down at her gorgeous face. Her eyes were half-closed, her lips parted and swollen from their kisses and there was a flush to her skin. He used his other hand to touch her lips and she kissed his finger before he drew it down her neck. She shivered delicately in his arms and shifted on his lap.
As she arched her back, his gaze fell to her breasts. He lifted one hand to touch her but knew if he did, this would go beyond a few heated kisses.
She took his hand, putting it on her breast.
“Don’t stop now,” she murmured.
Her words stirred something in him. He wanted her with a fierceness that he was fighting so hard to keep in check, not wanting to scare her. But when their lips met, he couldn’t resist plunging his tongue deep into her mouth. Tasting her again, but also trying to tame her. Trying to find some way to overcome the need and want she was pulling so effortlessly from him.
He still had no idea what he was going to do to resolve his own conflicted emotions about the entire Gilbert family. But as Rory writhed in his arms, making him crazy with desire, he realized she was becoming more important than the past.
* * *
Spending the afternoon with Kit had been fun but she knew she wanted more. Her life at times felt like she moved through it in a fog. Talking to Elle and Indy helped her to mold herself into the woman she was trying to become, but the truth was, she spent a lot of time dreaming about life instead of living it.
When Kit had sat down next to her on the bench in his front hallway, she’d started to think of what she wanted him to do and realized that she couldn’t wait for that. She’d spent too long waiting. So she’d kissed him.
And it was...wow. Not at all what she’d expected but so much more. Her entire body felt alive in a way that she hadn’t ever experienced before. She loved the feel of his jaw under her fingers. Loved the slight stubble under his skin and how it felt when she rubbed her finger against it.
The skin on his neck was soft and his lips were firm and felt so good when she’d kissed him. And the way his tongue had rubbed against her made her wet and her breasts felt full and sort of achy.
When he’d stopped, she was sure that he was going to slow things down. She didn’t know why, maybe he thought that was what she wanted. But she didn’t. Her life was already going entirely too slowly. She wanted him, and unless he told her he didn’t want her, too, she wasn’t ready to get off his lap.
She felt the ridge of his erection under her hips and his hand on her thigh kept creeping higher and higher. She parted her legs as his tongue thrust into her mouth. She’d been binge-reading her favorite romance novels and she knew what she wanted to happen next: his hands on her naked skin.
But of course she had tights on, not that that seemed to stop Kit. His big hand glided over her thighs around to her butt and she felt his fingers flex as he cupped her and shifted her around on his lap.
She moved to straddle him and her thighs started shaking. They were still so weak at times. He lifted his head. His left hand still under her skirt, his other hand fondling her breast. “You okay? Still into this?”
“Yes. I just can’t sit like this on you,” she whispered.
“How’s this?” he asked as he moved her back to the position she was in before. Sitting sideways on his lap.
It was better, but she briefly hated that weakness in her body. She looked down at her legs, feeling upset with the fact that she still wasn’t strong, but there was no time to dwell on that. Kit’s hand was back on her thigh, moving up again as his mouth was on hers again.
Winding her arms around his shoulders, she held on to him as his hands moved over her body. She felt like she was on fire and that momentary quivering from trying to use muscles that hadn’t been used for too long was gone. In its place were a million little fires that were being started by Kit.
His hand under her shirt slowly moved around to her back, unhooking her bra and then rubbing between her shoulder blades as he brought her more fully into contact with him. He lifted his mouth from hers and she felt his kisses on her neck and then her shirt was up, the cool air in the foyer brushing over her heated skin.
She looked down at his hand on her ribs moving up toward her breast. Full and curvy, she liked the way it felt beneath his touch. Her nipple was hard and got harder as he swiped his finger over it. She wriggled on his lap, her hip rubbing against the ridge of his erection.
He lowered his mouth and licked her nipple, sending an arc of electricity through her body and a pulse of moisture between her legs. She shifted her legs against his hand. Feeling the roughness of his jeans beneath her and his fingers between her legs. Stroking her as his mouth feasted on her breast.
Surrounded by Kit, she had her hands in his hair, felt his hard-on beneath her as his fingers were rubbing against her, driving her higher and higher. Everything in her body was driving toward something, toward a mind-blowing climax, and then she was shuddering and shaking in his arms as it washed over her. Nearly delirious with desire, she pulled his mouth from her breast and began kissing him. Sucking his tongue into her mouth as her body kept spasming.
She felt wet between her legs but he kept stroking her. His erection under her hip had gotten bigger, harder. She wanted more. The orgasm he’d given her had been out of this world but she wanted his cock inside her.
He lifted her into his arms and stood, carrying her down the hall and placing her on a large leather sofa. He stood there for a minute, and she could see the outline of his erection against the front of his jeans.
“Do you want more or do you want me to stop?” he rasped.
“More,” she said, her voice sounding foreign to her own ears, filled with need and demand.
“Good. Are you on the pill?” he asked.
“I am not,” she said. She’d recently come out of a coma after all. Birth control hadn’t been the first thing on her mind.
“Let me get a condom. I’ll be right back.”
She lay there watching him go for a moment. Her shirt bunched up under her breasts and then she sat up and took it off, tossing it aside. She removed her tights and her skirt and her underwear. For a minute she worried about her body: it had scars from surgeries, but not too many, and she really didn’t have muscle tone.
But then Kit walked back in, and she noticed he’d also taken off his shirt. He looked down at her as he undid his pants and took his dick in his hand, rolling on the condom. “You are the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.”
* * *
Seeing Rory naked on his leather couch was making it hard for him to think about anything but being inside her. Her blond braid fell over her shoulder to her full breasts. She had her legs slightly parted and as he let his gaze move over her body he couldn’t help noticing the signs that were still present from her accident.
There were faded scars around her knees, and on her left hip there was a jagged one that looked like it must have been rough. He had also felt the scar at the back of her scalp when he kissed her.
Feeling her so alive in his arms a few moments ago made him so damn grateful that she was here now. These emotions weren’t easy to process and his dick said, forget about that for now. She was naked on his couch, waiting for him.
She’d pretty much told him she was a virgin and he wasn’t sure he’d ever been with one. He hadn’t had sex until college and his girlfriend at the time had been five years older than him. She’d been the one with the experience. Was there something different he needed to do? He wanted this first time for her to be exciting and one she’d never forget.
But then she opened her arms to him and he realized he was overthinking it. He knew there were unresolved things he needed to deal with, but those could wait. Right now he wanted to feel her silky limbs wrapped around his body and forget about everything except Rory.
Her deep blue eyes, sweet smile and the sexy sounds she made as she came, that was all he wanted more of. Kit wedged his knee between her legs and then settled onto the couch, carefully putting his body over hers. He used his torso to caress her, feeling the moistness at her center against his stomach as he slid up her body.
Her nipples were tiny points against his chest and then he settled his cock right between her thighs. He kept his full weight from her with his knees and his arms, which he braced on either side of her head.
Her hands were on him as soon as he was close enough. He shuddered at the feel of her palms sweeping up and down his back and then cupping his butt and drawing him closer to her. And when she arched her back, parting her thighs and rubbing herself against the ridge of his erection, he groaned.
Needing to be inside her now.
He shifted his hips, put the tip of his cock against the entrance of her body and stayed there. She lifted her head and their eyes met.
“Will it hurt?”
“I don’t know,” he said gruffly. “I’ve never been anyone’s first before.”
She shivered a little under him. And rearranged her legs again, wrapping them around his waist. “I’m glad.”
“Me, too.”
Then he brought his mouth down on hers, using his hands to cage her head between them as her tongue rubbed over his. He took his time with the kiss, building the passion in her so that when he entered her it would be more pleasure than pain.
She started moving against him, her body undulating under his and he repositioned his hips, taking his time before he drove himself deep into her body. He heard her gasp and her tongue sucked his deeper into her mouth.
She used her feet against his butt to push him deeper into her body as she arched underneath him. He pulled back and drove into her again and she moaned in response. After that, thinking became impossible. Instead, it was just the feel of Rory’s body under his as she writhed under him and made these cries in the back of her throat that drove him higher and higher until everything in him exploded and he came inside her. But he wasn’t through with her yet. He kept driving into her and felt her pussy tightening around him, milking him as he kept thrusting until he was empty.
