She bit her lip.
"Then I think it"s time you listened to mine."
He continued to swirl his finger in that languid way, keeping contact between them that did amazing things to her body but kept her head in a fog.
"You were right about why I went to your tomb that first time," he said. "About why I came back and why I asked you out. I asked you out because I knew you were an easy mark."
She stiffened, though she didn"t pull away, because she sensed-okay, hoped-there was more to what he was trying to say. Please let there be more. Please let there be more.
"You didn"t know," he said as his finger brushed over her forearm, "couldn"t know, what you did to me that night. For the first time in my life, I wasn"t thinking about money or what kind of deal I was going to haggle next. That night, all I could think about was you."
Regret tinged his husky voice, and Kat found herself listening, praying what he was telling her would somehow change things and make them better.
"After that weekend at the Mena House, I didn"t go back to the States like I"d told you. Instead, I stayed in Egypt a few days so I could back out of the deal I"d been brokering."
He hesitated, and a stillness descended between them, one that froze her pulse because she had a really bad feeling what he was about to say next was something she didn"t want to hear.
"Ramirez was right about one thing. I did know Busir-I"d worked with him before."
Kat went cold all over, and a sick feeling bubbled up from her abdomen and shot into her veins. That hope she"d clung to burst in an explosion that rocketed through her soul. Everything she"d suspected about him but never truly believed was confirmed in that one instant.
And the heart she"d tried so hard to keep safe shattered at her feet.
She wheeled on Pete so fast, she nearly knocked him over. "How could you!"
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.
"Hold on, now."
Pete grasped Kat at the wrists and jerked her against his chest before her fist made contact with his jaw. She barely heard his words or felt his strong grip. All she could focus on was a growing sickness at her naivety. After everything she"d done, how could he? How could could he? he?
She wiggled to the side, then jabbed an elbow in his sternum hard. When he doubled over and loosened his grasp, she broke away and raced for the door.
Two powerful arms engulfed her from behind and lifted her off the floor before she reached the exit. She kicked out and tried to wrestle free. "Let go of me, you son of a b.i.t.c.h!"
"Not until you hear me out!" He muscled her arms around in front of her until he had them pinned in both of his hands. Groaning from the effort of controlling her flailing, he walked backward and dropped onto the bed in a seated position with her held firmly in his lap.
"Let me go," she growled again, struggling once, twice more to no avail.
"Not yet." He tightened his hold, flipped his leg over hers so she couldn"t nail him with her heel. "Not until you listen to what I have to say."
"Go to h.e.l.l!" She thrashed against him again, even though she knew it was useless.
"You"ll probably get your wish." He shifted his head to the side so she couldn"t crack him with the back of her skull. "Until then the least you can do is give me five minutes of your precious time. I"ve given you way more than that over the last two days."
She ground her teeth together, twisted in his arms, and knew she was stuck. But the minute he loosened his grasp...
In the silence between them, she heard his heavy breathing, mirroring hers, felt the beat of his heart at her back and wanted to scream for him to just get it over with so she could get as far away from him as possible.
But he didn"t. He just sat there until she cooled down.
Which only p.i.s.sed her off more.
Long minutes later, he finally said, "That"s better."
"f.u.c.k yo-"
"Kat." He dropped his forehead against her back, and there was such pain in his voice, she closed her mouth instantly. In that one word-her name-he sounded distraught and...sad. And though she didn"t want it to, it softened her, just enough so she could listen to whatever it was he had to say without a brawl.
He heaved out a breath. "You don"t have any idea what you did to me. What that weekend did to me. It changed everything. I cut off my deal with Busir. I went home to Miami and started cleaning up my business because I didn"t want you to know what I"d been doing. I tried to stay away. G.o.d, I really did. But I couldn"t. Do you have any idea how hard it was to stay away from you for two d.a.m.n weeks?"
Yes, she did. Because at the time two weeks away from him had been like pure h.e.l.l for her.
"It was worse than h.e.l.l," he said, almost as if he"d read her mind. "I knew after we were together you were frustrated with me because I wouldn"t talk to you about the gallery, because I was traveling so much, but I was brokering deals, working my a.s.s off to get Odyssey on the level before your dig was up and you came back to the States. I didn"t want you to know the man I"d been. I wanted to be...better."
The fight rushed out of her at his words.
"I swear to you," he said, "I didn"t have anything to do with the smuggling ring or Ramirez"s death or what happened to your roommate. That day you came home from work early and I was packing-s.h.i.t, I screwed up, Kat. Busir contacted me just after you left that morning and told me he had some new relics. I shouldn"t have gone, but I went to see, and the next thing I knew, I had them. I didn"t know they were from your tomb. I swear it. I f.u.c.ked up. If I could go back and change that day, don"t you think I would?
"I"ve spent the last six years paying for that one mistake. Knowing if I"d done things differently, you wouldn"t have been in that car the day that bomb blew. You would have been with me. You"ve got no reason to believe me, but I swear to you, I cleaned up my act after that day. Even though I knew it wouldn"t bring you back. I cleaned up because I owed you."
Kat"s heart skipped a beat at what she heard. Then another. And another. And then it kicked in and started beating fast and erratic as the reality of what he was telling her took root.
He wasn"t a saint. But he wasn"t the sinner she"d pegged him as either. And she"d made her own fair share of mistakes, hadn"t she? Could she really condemn him if there was a chance what he said was true? If he"d really been involved with the smuggling ring or Sawil"s death, would he have been so upset with her accusations in Cairo? With her showing back up now? If he was being honest with her-and she sensed he was-then the only thing he was truly guilty of was poor judgment. Poor judgment and trying to clean up his life. For her.
"Oh, my G.o.d," she whispered as her eyes slid closed and a thousand memories of the two of them together hit her from all sides.
He released his hold and gently turned her in his lap. Blood rushed to her arms, but she barely felt it, didn"t struggle or try to move off him. Was too fixated on everything he"d just told her to consider going anywhere.
"All that stuff at the auction the other night," he said softly, "all of it was bought and paid for through legal means. You know I left everything I bought from Busir that day in your flat. The only thing I kept was the pendant you sent me. I swear it to you. Every time I"ve come across an Egyptian piece over the last few years I haven"t been able to pa.s.s by without buying it and sticking it in storage because it reminded me of you."
That admission was so sweet, it touched her heart in a place she hadn"t thought existed anymore. And when he brushed his thumb over her cheek in such an achingly tender move, tears threatened behind her eyes.
"Tell me why you didn"t walk away after the auction," he said. "You thought you had the pendant. There was no reason to follow me. Why were you driving my limo? Why were you outside this building? Why did you bother to step in when Busir had me in the alley? Those aren"t the actions of a woman who hates me."
"I...I never hated you."
"No?" A wan smile tugged at his mouth. "You sure didn"t like me very much there at the end."
Six years of worry and regret, hope and heartbreak, betrayal and beliefs swirled inside her. And sitting there, so close to him, bombarded with questions she didn"t know how to answer, it was too much. Hot tears filled her eyes. She covered her face with her hands to keep the dam from breaking.
She didn"t fight it when his arms circled her, when his legs opened so she could sink lower onto the mattress between his thighs, when he pulled her close so her face was against his throat and she was surrounded by the familiar scent and feel of him.
"Just tell me," he whispered. "Why now? I need to hear it from you."
"Because I messed up," she managed. "Because after Busir and Minyawi saw me at the auction, I knew they were going to come after you. I...I couldn"t let them do that. I spent too many years making sure they never-"
She closed her mouth tight when she realized what she"d been about to admit.
He tipped her face up. "You spent too many years making sure they never went after me," he finished for her. "You stayed away all this time because of me, didn"t you?"
She couldn"t deny it, not anymore. And part of her didn"t even want to. She closed her eyes as the first tear slipped down her cheek.
"Kit-Kat," he whispered. "Look at me."
She opened her eyes to look up into his handsome face, a face that had haunted her dreams for so long. A face that was still sporting a shiner from Busir and cuts from their run-in in Raleigh.
"You sent that crouching pharaoh to me instead of giving it to Slade for security. So that in case someone did ever come after me to get to you, you"d have a bargaining chip. Even when you knew it could possibly clear your name." When she couldn"t answer, he whispered, "Christ. Why the h.e.l.l didn"t you tell me this days ago?"
"Because I knew you wouldn"t believe me. And I..." She drummed up her courage and glanced at the open collar of his shirt. "No matter what happened between us before, I was afraid if you knew, you"d walk away, and then you"d be in more danger than I"d put you in originally."
"You did all that, even though you thought I could have been involved in that smuggling ring?"
She hesitated but finally gave in and nodded.
When he didn"t reply, she chanced a glance up. And saw eyes that went all soft and dreamy the way they had so many years ago in Cairo. In that one look her insides turned to Jell-O. Just liquefied, right there where she sat.
"I never got over you," he whispered. "You"re the only woman I want. The only one I"ve ever wanted-"
She didn"t let him finish. Through a rush of tears she kissed him hard, then nearly burst when his hands ran down her back to close around her. The kiss was so electric, her bones had no choice but to follow her insides and turn to b.u.t.ter. Had it not been for his arms wrapped tight around her, she was sure she"d have disintegrated into a puddle right there at his feet.
"You"re not leaving this apartment tonight," he said against her mouth. "You"re not getting out of my sight until I know you"re safe. I can"t go through what I did six years ago."
Her heart turned over at his words, at the vulnerability she heard in his voice. She lifted her hands to his face and kissed him long and deep, sliding her tongue into his mouth until she tasted his sweetness deep inside her.
"I want to stay with you tonight, Kat. No more running. Tell me you want that, too. Tell me-"
She nodded quickly. "Yes. Yes. I do. Oh, Pete. That"s all I"ve ever wanted."
Whatever restraint he"d been exercising before broke with her words, and a low growl of victory erupted in his throat as his arms crushed her tight against him and his mouth closed over hers with stunning force. She felt the strong, steady beat of his heart against her own, the slightest tremble in his body when he kissed her. And when he shifted there was no mistaking the arousal stabbing into her hip that proved just how much he did want her.
He rolled her to her back, never once breaking their kiss or loosening his hold on her. Her hands raced to the b.u.t.tons on his shirt, fumbled. When she couldn"t get to him fast enough, she gave up trying and tore the shirttails from his slacks instead. As her fingers made quick work of his belt, she was oddly aware that tonight she"d gone from being in the throes of despair, to heartbroken and betrayed, to so d.a.m.n happy she could barely breathe. But the how or why or when they"d gotten to this point wasn"t important. Not anymore.
She found the b.u.t.ton at his waistband and pulled him free of his slacks. He groaned into her mouth as her hands slipped over his back, ran lower to pull him into her.
"G.o.d, Kit-Kat. You have no idea what you do to me."
"Yes, I do," she whispered. "Because I ache inside from it."
He moved out of her grasp so fast she barely had time to react, leaned back on his knees and lifted her torso off the bed to tear the T-shirt from her body. She gasped at the rush of cool air, at the force with which he ripped her bra from her skin. Seconds later her jeans joined her shirt on the floor and his mouth was back on hers, kissing her hard as he lost his clothes and climbed back over her in all his naked glory.
This was so much better than the last time. Because now she knew how he felt. And it warmed the coldest s.p.a.ces of her heart. She wrapped her arms around him as he moved up her body. Shuddered as his fingers delved between them and found her wetness. Groaning at the slightest touch, she let her head fall back against the mattress as he stirred and stroked and she held on for dear life.
He slid one finger deep inside, used his thumb to circle and swirl. Electricity shot through every neuron in her body until she felt like she"d come out of her skin.
"You"re so tight," he said against her throat. His teeth found her ear, sc.r.a.ped across her lobe as he added a second finger and drove her to new heights. "That"s it. Squeeze me. I love the way you feel."
"Pete." He was quickly pushing her toward the edge. She groaned again, lifted her hips to his incredibly talented fingers.
"That"s it. Keep saying my name, Kit-Kat." He shifted, kissed his way south, slowly, inch by inch until she felt his tongue sliding over her most sensitive flesh.
Ooooh. She groaned. Arched as his fingers stroked deeper and flames ignited deep inside her. She groaned. Arched as his fingers stroked deeper and flames ignited deep inside her.
But it wasn"t enough. She loved what he was doing, but she wanted more. She wanted him. "Pete, please. I just want you."
Before she could open her eyes he was moving up her body. His mouth captured hers with an urgency she"d missed before. She tasted him, her, all the years they"d lost. When she heard the rasp of cellophane, she reached down to help him suit up only to discover she was too late. His hands raced to her hips as he pushed his way between her thighs. She gasped against his mouth as his pulsing erection brushed over her center, then groaned with pleasure when he sank into her in one mighty thrust.
Obviously, she"d said the right thing because he couldn"t get at her fast enough. And oh, she loved it. She wrapped her legs around him, held him close as he pumped into her and she met him thrust for thrust. All the while he was kissing her, driving her crazy with his mouth, he made love to her with his body like it was the first time. The last time. Like every time they"d missed over the years.
The importance of the moment wasn"t lost on her. Even as her o.r.g.a.s.m built, and though she knew it was cliche and common and that there was a much better time, she wanted him to know how she felt.
She hooked her leg over his hip, used her hand to push against his shoulder to roll him to his back. He took the hint easily, rolled with her and gathered her tight as she settled on top of him and took control.
Those half-lidded, smoky eyes were lit with an erotic light that pulled at her. She kissed him, tightened her muscles and met his upward thrusts. "Kit-Kat. What you do to me."
Warmth gathered in her center. She was about to peak, but she didn"t want to. Not until he did. With her hands braced on both sides of his head, she leaned down and rested her forehead against his. The medal around her neck fell over his heart, right where it was supposed to be. "I love you, Pete. I always have."
He exploded inside her on a long groan, and she held on tight as her own climax washed over her seconds later. In that moment, the past was finished and buried. Never to come between them again.
His mouth found hers, hot and wet and possessive. And she loved it. Loved those strong arms of his circling around to hold her close. Loved the way he couldn"t seem to get enough of her. Loved the steady beat of his heart in time with her own.
Still joined together, she collapsed against his chest and pressed her face against his neck as she took long, slow deep breaths. The whole time, he whispered sweet words and trailed his hand up and down her spine.
She snuggled in and closed her eyes. For the first time in years, she was filled with a hope she was almost too afraid to believe in.
Every inch of her body ached.
Hailey lay still on her side and held her breath to keep from crying out. Not an easy thing to do considering it hurt like a son of a b.i.t.c.h even to breathe.
The vehicle she was in bounced and jerked her to the side, sending pain lancing through her torso where she"d been kicked. So much for all that self-defense training. She"d let these creeps get the jump on her, and now she was in deep s.h.i.t. And no doubt black and blue from scalp to toe.
Okay, think.
She had no idea where they were heading, but the rhythmic whap, whap, whap whap, whap, whap filtering through her mind told her they were most likely on a bridge. filtering through her mind told her they were most likely on a bridge.
Bridge...bridge...bridge. h.e.l.l, that could be anywhere.
Her memories were vague from the moment Minyawi had knocked her out cold in Lauren"s house in Key Biscayne. She was pretty sure she"d been put on a plane, then stuffed into a car. She knew they"d called her by Lauren"s name several times, so they hadn"t yet figured out they"d f.u.c.ked up. At one point she remembered being in some sort of dingy motel with Minyawi-yeah, he was a sick f.u.c.k-eyeing her like she was the last hooker in a brothel. But now even that, along with everything else, including the beating she"d obviously taken, was a fleeting blur. And thank G.o.d for that little side trip into amnesia-land. On top of the rest of the c.r.a.p in her life, she seriously didn"t need the trauma from this f.u.c.ked-up nightmare.
With her hands tied behind her and a blindfold covering her eyes, she didn"t know what kind of vehicle she was in now, or how long she"d been on the road. One thing she had paid attention to, though, were the voices of the two men who"d abducted her.
Heavily accented. Middle Eastern. Cold. Hard. Bordering on inhuman. One was definitely Minyawi. The other? She was almost sure he"d responded to the name Busir.