Black Satin Page 16
Kira held the cold glass of iced tea against her forehead, then moved it down to the open throat of her shirt. She tilted her head back and let the sun beat down mercilessly on her closed eyelids while the moisture from the glass trickled soothingly between her breasts.
The gunning of a motorcycle engine made her start, but she refused to take the bait. It had been almost a month since she’d walked out of Cole’s life, and it was long past time to stop jumping up every time a bike roared by. The sound faded, and she turned back to her garden.
Heaving a sigh, she spared a glance at her weathered house, then knelt by one of the massive pilings that kept her house aloft and hopefully safe from hurricanes. Several cars and what sounded like a truck lumbered down the road out in front, but she ignored the intrusion into her day off. She’d just speared her trowel into the dirt when a shadow fell across her. She looked up, expecting a neighbor or lost tourist. She literally fell back onto the sandy grass when she saw who was looking down at her.
Cole reached a hand down to lift her up, but she was so shocked—and not too certain he wasn’t a mirage compounded from desperation and too much sun—that she simply sat there. After a minute he dropped his hand, then sat in the grass next to her.
“Hello, Kira.”
Now it was her turn to be wary and guarded. “Cole.” It was all she could say. He stared at her in a way that could only be described as hungry. But his casual position, knees bent with his arms resting on them, belied that look. So she didn’t let herself trust it. She only hoped she wasn’t looking at him the same way.
Finally, when the silence became uncomfortable, she asked, “Why are you here?” His throat bobbed as he swallowed visibly. Cole nervous?
“I’ve been talking with Reese.”
Her eyes widened. “Reese?” She didn’t know what she’d expected him to say, but it wasn’t that.
“Yeah. He told me to tell you that Juan Carlos’s wife, Magdalene, has begun to seek help for their son. I guess with her husband facing a long prison term, she’s been able to take some control. He thought you might want to know, you know … in case …” His voice faded away as the look in his eyes heated up.
There was no doubt now. He was hungry … and nervous. “Is that why you’re here? To pass on a message from Reese?”
He waited for an excruciatingly long time before answering. “No.” He stood up abruptly and reached for her hand again. “I want to show you something. Come with me?”
She didn’t answer, but she held up her hand. The contact of palm to fingers was like putting a match to a stick of dynamite. He pulled her up easily, until she stood only a few inches away. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but he turned and headed for the front of the house. She followed beside him. They rounded the house, and she saw a huge, shiny black pickup in the driveway. In the back, held with cross ties and surrounded by some packing boxes, was his bike.
“Yours?” She nodded toward the truck.
He shook his head. “Reese’s.”
He walked to the side of the truck, then turned to face her. She noticed his sax case and another large box with holes punched in it on the passenger seat. She remembered the box from his bedroom. It had been in the corner. But she was too curious by the entire setup to question it. She turned back to him, waiting for him to speak.
“You told me you loved me,” he began quietly, his gaze not quite meeting hers. “And you wanted me to fight for you.” His voice, fine moments ago, now wavered a bit. “In one morning you handed me my most desired wish and the toughest assignment I’ve ever been given. I thought I could handle you, Kira. But I think I was lost from the moment you walked into Repo’s bar.” He looked away for a moment, squinting against the bright sun. “After the explosion, I’d retreated into a dark hole to lick my wounds. Only somehow I never managed to crawl back out.” He looked at her. “I think now that maybe it was because I didn’t have a reason. I’d like to say I was man enough to come to terms with my life, my past and my future, on my own. But the truth of it is, I didn’t have the strength or enough of a belief in myself to do it.”
He studied her for a moment. “Not like you did. You came waltzing into my life and made me feel things … you made me want. I’d spent two years making damn sure I’d never want anything again. But I wanted you. I wanted you so badly, I burned with it. It scared the living hell out of me.”
“Cole—”
He held up his hand, but she reached up anyway and wiped away the tears from his cheeks with her thumb. He stepped closer and returned the gesture. She hadn’t been aware until that moment that she’d begun to cry.
He kept his thumbs on her cheeks, his hand cupping her face. “Then,” he said, trying to smile, but his voice choked, “just when I think I’ve been able to walk away, to let you go, you come storming onto my boat, throwing money at me and telling me you love me. And you did love me, scars and all. It blew me away. You gave me something no one else ever has. Your heart. Your whole heart. And all you asked of me was that I give the same care to yours that you were willing to give to mine.” His voice tightened. “It was the very least you deserved. And I wanted to take it, Kira. But it seemed as if that was all I was capable of. Taking from you. You seemed to think I had something to give back. Only, I knew that wasn’t true. Until you left.”
“And then?” she whispered tremulously.
“And then I knew I’d already given you the only thing I had. My heart.” He let his hands drop away and turned to face the bed of his truck. “But it wasn’t much of a gift at that point. You left me with a huge challenge. But you also left me with one hell of a motivation to achieve it.” He turned back to face her. Taking a deep breath, he said, “I sold my boat. I sent the money from that along with what you gave me to the refugee center for children in Miami that Felicia dealt with. I’d already been doing some minor security work for Sandy and Repo, so I put out the word that I was thinking about going into business. Reese contacted me and surprised me by offering a partnership of sorts. Seems he’s ready to toss in the federal towel, too.” He stepped closer to her. He tilted her chin up with one rough-tipped finger until their eyes met.
“I’m standing here with everything I own. My past is over. I have no present. I have only a future. I want to share it with you. On whatever terms you’ll take me. I love you, Kira. With my whole heart.”
Kira knew she’d be able to recall that moment in perfect detail for the rest of her life: Cole, standing proudly before her, laying his heart at her feet. The sun backlighting his dark good looks with an intensity that moonlight and shadows could never hope to match. But most of all, she’d remember his eyes. Once they’d been windows to the darkness that shadowed his soul. Now the walls were gone, the barriers he’d painfully erected shattered. There for her to see was all the pain, fear, and vulnerability that were the legacy of his past. But along with them now was fierce pride. And an emotion so powerful, she was almost afraid to believe it was all for her.
But it was. And it was love.
And she vowed, then and there, that she would give this man the very best that was her, love him with every breath that she took.
A warmth stole through her. Because she knew he would love her with every breath he took. But what made her heart fill, along with her eyes, was the realization that she already had the very best of him. She had his love.
She flung herself into his arms, and Cole locked them around her back, swinging her around and around. He finally set her down and kissed her. When he could, he pulled his lips from hers. “Is that a yes?”
She was grinning so widely, she could hardly speak. “That is a big, resounding yes. I love you, Cole Sinclair.”
“Lord, I’ve needed to hear that. I know it won’t be easy—”
“Yeah, you’re going into business with Reese,” she said, her smile tempering the sarcasm in her tone.
“Kira, I’ll do whatever it takes, but I promise you’ll never regret loving me.”
He growled, then scooped her up in his arms and headed for the house. A scuffling sound from the front seat of his truck stopped him.
“Cole?”
“Uh, Kira? There’s one other thing we need to discuss.”
“If you mean the ‘terms’ you spoke of, then I’ll let you know right now, I’ll put up with your chauvinistic Australian buddy, but be warned, I’m going to lobby real hard for an incredibly sexy white dress and a big gooey wedding cake.”
That earned her a down-to-her-soles, mind-blowing kiss. “Absolutely, sweet lips. But that wasn’t what I was referring to.” Glancing over her shoulder into the cab of his truck, he set her down gently and walked around to the passenger-side door, drawing her along with him. He turned to face her, and she wanted to laugh at the honest concern in his eyes.
“Cole, whatever it is, it can’t be worth worrying over.”
“You might want to hold judgment on that. You ever heard of the saying Love me, love my dog, or cat, or whatever?”
Thoroughly confused, she went along with him anyway. “Yeah, sure.”
“Well, I think I’ve got one you’ve never heard.” He reached in and flipped the lid off the large box. “How about love me, love my iguana?”
Kira peered into the box then looked back at Cole in complete shock. “Elvis?”
“In the scaly flesh.”
“But I thought you said Axe cooked him.”
“No, I said I gave him to Axe to hide. Axe dumped him on me, said he didn’t want to be the one to give him to Iggy, figured Iggy wasn’t going to be real reasonable about it. Then you and I got caught up, and I didn’t have a chance to get him back down to Repo’s.”
“You had him all along?” She remembered waking up to crickets the morning after they’d made love and recalled just where that box had been. “He was in the bedroom with us?”
“Well, I didn’t exactly have a chance to move him.”
“I can’t believe I never knew he was there.”
Cole shrugged, the defensive expression on his face completely endearing. “I guess I have a natural talent at hiding iguanas.”
A smile curved her lips. “I’m surprised a big bad guy like you didn’t just turn him loose.”
Cole actually colored. “I tried that. He came back.”
Kira laughed. “Well, you know Iggy has a reward for him, just take him back. By now he won’t care that you stole him in the first place.”
“I didn’t steal him. Not really.” He seemed to redden a bit further, then muttered something she couldn’t quite hear.
“What was that?”
“I said I already tried to give him back. Apparently Iggy has acquired a new pet. A ten-foot-long boa constrictor. He’s asking everyone to call him Snake now.”
Kira put a fist to her mouth, but couldn’t stifle the giggle. “He’ll need a new neck tattoo. What did he name the thing? Wait a minute, don’t tell me. Elvis Two.”
Cole finally cracked a grin, the confession finally over. “Worse. It’s a she. Iggy, or Snake, I guess, thinks it’s the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe.”
“He named a ten-foot python—”
“Boa.”
“Whatever! He named it Marilyn?”
“Yep.” He shifted his weight for a moment, then turned and replaced the lid.
“Will he be all right in there for a while?”
“Should be, why?”
“Now that I’ve seen our pet—which you will feed and keep away from my face at all costs—”
His grin was devilish as he stepped toward her. “If I promise you’ll never have to touch—or taste—a cricket, can we go inside?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
He pulled her into his arms for a kiss that bordered on public indecency, then swept her up and literally raced up the front steps. Once inside, he stopped, taking a moment to adjust to the dimmer light. “Where is your room?” he whispered against her lips as he kissed her again.
Minutes later, when she managed to drag her mouth from his, she answered, “Our room. And it’s upstairs. You’ll know it when you see it.”
He carried her up the short flight, covering her face and neck with hot, wild kisses. For her part, she couldn’t keep her hands—or mouth—off of him either.
Cole found the room immediately, a grin spreading across his face. “Ah, sweet lips, you have been waiting for me.” He let her slide down onto the bed. “You know how I feel about satin sheets, sweetheart. But red?”
Kira smiled a bit wickedly as she pulled off her shirt. “Yeah, but wait until you see the matching underwear.”
THE EDITOR’S CORNER
Welcome to Loveswept!
Happy New Year! Kick off 2013 with an e-original from Loveswept: debut author Wendy Vella’s sexy romance THE RELUCTANT COUNTESS – our second historical release! Set amongst the intrigues and scandals of London society, Sophie Countess of Monmouth is forced into playing a dangerous game to secure both her and her brother’s futures. She fears if anyone is to unmask and find the truth to her charade it will be the persistent Earl of Coulter, who is led to believe as well as the rest of the town that Sophie is recently widowed. Overly curious to the rumors that surround the Countess and even more enchanted by her beauty, Patrick is compelled to uncover the facts surrounding the mysterious Countess of Monmouth. I can’t wait for this release!
And we have more fantastic books for you to start the new year. Donna Kauffman’s exhilarating WILD RAIN, Karen Leabo’s passionate Brides of Destiny story MILLICENT’S MEDICINE MAN, and three absorbing books from Linda Cajio: SILK ON THE SKIN, HARD HABIT TO BREAK, and THE RELUCTANT PRINCE.
If you love romance … then you’re ready to be Loveswept!
Gina Wachtel
Associate Publisher
P.S. Watch for these terrific Loveswept titles coming soon: In February, we have another alluring e-original for you, Sharon Cullen’s THE NOTORIOUS LADY JANE, Patricia Olney’s touching and funny JADE’S GAMBLE, Linda Cajio’s sexy STRICTLY BUSINESS, Sally Goldenbaum’s wonderful A DREAM TO CLING TO, and two enticing books from Sandra Chastain, LOVE AND A BLUE-EYED COWBOY and MIDNIGHT FANTASY. March brings some classics you’ll want to read: Patricia Olney’s moving and funny STILL MR. AND MRS., Juliana Garnet’s compelling and sensual THE BARON, Jean Stone’s exceptional and heartwarming FIRST LOVES, Linda Cajio’s extraordinary UNFORGETTABLE, and beloved author Iris Johansen’s brilliant AN UNEXPECTED SONG. Don’t miss any of these extraordinary reads. I promise that you’ll fall in love and treasure these stories for years to come.…
Read on for excerpts from more Loveswept titles …
Read on for an excerpt from Samantha Kane’s
The Devil’s Thief
London, June 5, 1817
Chapter One
The faint, metallic screech sounded as loud as thunder in the oppressive silence of the dark bedroom. Julianna froze, silhouetted by the moonlight against the back wall, the sudden noise stealing her breath away.
“Unless you care to be shot this evening, I wouldn’t move from where you’re standing.” The deep voice was quiet but firm and it came from the shadows of the big bed.
Julianna remained still as a statue, her mind awhirl. For a moment all was silent, but then she heard the bedsheets rustle and the mattress groan. She cast her eyes toward the bed, afraid to move even an inch. She could see from the man’s outline that he was now leaning against the headboard. His arm appeared to be resting on his upraised knee, but it was too dark to tell whether or not he was actually holding a gun.
“You’re probably wondering if I do indeed have a gun,” he said nonchalantly, and Julianna had to suppress a gasp. How did he know?
She closed her eyes and pursed her lips in annoyance at herself. Of course he knew. It’s what any halfway intelligent person would be thinking if they were discovered in her position.
“Let me reassure you that the answer is yes.”
His reassurance was hardly necessary, since she had already concluded that to be the case. In her experience, gentlemen were alarmingly odd, at least in most respects, so it was no surprise that this one apparently slept with a gun. Given his wild and reckless reputation, it would perhaps be more surprising if he did not.
He snorted inelegantly from the bed, which amused Julianna in spite of the dangerous situation she was in. In that moment he didn’t sound at all like the Honorable Mr. Alasdair Sharp to whom she’d recently been introduced, but very much like an annoyed schoolmaster.
“Stand up, for God’s sake,” Mr. Sharp ordered from the bed. “You look like a caricature of a thief, hunched over and creeping along the wall.”
Julianna started to straighten and she heard another rustle from the bed.
“Slowly,” Mr. Sharp admonished, and she froze again for a moment before straightening very, very slowly.
“And now you must tell me what you found so irresistible in my bedroom in the middle of the night.”
Julianna heard the amusement in his voice and it irritated her. So he found her amusing, did he?
The slight weight in the secret pocket of her shirt burned into her side like a brand as she faced him. “Let me reassure you that it was the Stewart Pearl I found irresistible,” she retorted, “and nothing else.”
As soon as she spoke she could have bitten off her tongue. Why, oh why did she always open her mouth before thinking things through? Surely he would recognize her now.
“You’re a woman,” Mr. Sharp exclaimed in shock.
Julianna closed her eyes in despair at her own foolishness. If she had kept her mouth shut, he wouldn’t have figured that out so quickly, maybe not at all. She was dressed in dark trousers and a dark shirt, her hair pinned up. In the dark she was certain she could pass for a man. The waning crescent moon outside barely gave enough light for him to see her. Even though her outburst had given away her sex, she refused to confirm it by answering him. She was light-headed with relief that he had not recognized her voice.