Will wanted her to stay in Shelter Valley. Greg agreed that, for now, it was in the best interests of the case to have Addy there.
And unbeknownst to both of them, Mark Heber’s scholarship had just become a major red flag lawsuit in her investigation.
“I... There’s so much I need to say, but right now I’m not at
liberty to do that and...”
So much for being trusted with an undercover assignment.
Or maybe it was just that this was Mark.
And she wanted him to know.
* * *
MARK DIDN’T WANT to go to bed alone. Not with the sight and smell and sound of the woman next door so firmly ingrained in him that he couldn’t walk away.
She was involved in something she wasn’t at liberty to talk about. And she’d suddenly decided not to even finish out the semester. That didn’t sound anything but bad.
He was losing her so quickly. Not that he’d ever expected permanence. They’d made that clear from the beginning. He’d just thought he’d have more time....
“I want to make love with you tonight.” He put it right out there.
She didn’t gasp or run away. She didn’t even slosh her wine over the side of her glass. She sipped slowly, watching him over the rim, and then said, “We were going to wait until we were both in a position to do it right.”
She hadn’t said no.
“That was before.”
“There’d be so much more potential for us to get hurt.”
“I don’t know about you, Addy, but my body’s hurting so much now I can’t possibly see how waiting any longer is going to do anything but hurt more.”
His mouth was dry and his penis was hard. “Making love will create a bond between us, a deeper bond. Maybe it’s what we need to hold us together through whatever lies ahead,” he said.
Her eyes filled up. “Your timing is... You say the most incredible things.”
“I could just be trying to justify it because I’m horny as hell.” Reaching for her hand, he held it lightly. “If I’m wrong, please say so, but I’m worried that tonight might be our only chance at the ‘future someday’ that we talked about. If we let this chance go, we might never find each other again.”
“And you think that if we make love, we will?”
“I don’t know, but it makes sense to me that we’d have a better chance at it.”
“You might hate me at some point in the near future.”
There was no chance of that.
“I seriously doubt it. But even if I did, then at least we’d have made a great memory.”
She didn’t say a word. She didn’t have to. The tears in her eyes and the smile on her face told him all he really needed to know.
* * *
ADDY DIDN’T HAVE a chance to think about the situation. She leaned in to kiss him without giving it any forethought. His lips had been there and they’d needed her lips on them.
And then only sensation existed. His mouth, larger than hers, covering hers, tenderly coaxing her lips apart. His tongue, touching her lips softly, inviting and waiting. Her tongue met his and she became someone new. Someone stronger. Bolder.
Someone who wasn’t ashamed to spread her legs and straddle his knee, to open herself up to whatever he had in mind for her.