He lifted his other hand and held her face gently, as tenderly as he could manage between his large palms, when the overriding emotion within him was to strip her naked, sink inside of her and mark her as his. He inhaled deeply and tried to lock down his need to possess. “Sweetheart, I’m not going to hurt you. Don’t lie to me, babe. That’s all I ask.”
His expression became pained, introspective, and Katie knew he was thinking about the woman who had hurt him in the past.
But they didn’t have that kind of relationship. He was asking something of her that he didn’t have any right to. “I’m not lying to you.” She lowered her eyes and her voice dropped to expel on a sigh, “I’m just not telling you everything.”
His hands remained gentle on her. “That’s the same as lying to me.”
“No, there’s a difference,” she argued softly.
His grip tightened on her. “It’s the same damn thing, Katie.”
“It’s not.”
“Was the text from your mother?”
“Yes,” she answered quickly.
He studied her intently, and Katie held her breath until finally, he released her and turned away and sat back down in the chair he’d just vacated.
Chapter Ten
The next morning Katie was sitting at the breakfast bar sipping on coffee and watching the waves through the bank of windows when Zach came in fully dressed for the day in a business suit.
Throwing a desultory glance in her direction, he walked to the coffee-pot and poured himself a cup.
Her control was still shaken from the emotional turmoil of the night before, and she silently watched him until he spoke. “I’m sorry I have to desert you today, but something’s come up and I need to fly to Dallas. I know I said that I wouldn’t be working, but this can’t be helped. I’ll be back tonight and we’ll spend some time together. Will you be okay here by yourself for a few hours?”
His tone of speech was very formal and Katie wondered at his actions. “Yes, of course.”
He studied her silently for a long moment before giving her a quick nod. Shutting his briefcase and pocketing his keys, he walked over to where she sat on a barstool. He lifted her chin and began stroking her cheek with a long finger. “Don’t swim in the ocean by yourself.”
He held her chin and waited for her compliance. Even though she nodded her head in affirmation of his request, he continued speaking as if she had rebelled. “I mean it, Katie. The red flags are posted today. The riptide is treacherous, and you’re not used to the ocean currents. When we have a calmer day, I’ll take you out and teach you how to survive if you get caught in one. Until then, I want you safe and poolside where I don’t have to worry about you. Got that?”
“Okay. But I can go to the beach as long as I stay out of the water?” She felt like a child asking for permission.
He was silent for a moment, his eyes narrowing and his answer held reluctance. “If you feel like you must. Stay in front of the house or the strip of beach in front of the hotels. Don’t go wandering far.”
“Yes, sir.”
He looked visibly taken aback by her cheeky tone. He lifted one eyebrow. “You think it’s safe to get sassy with me?”
“I hope so.” Her words were so solemn that Zach stared at her a moment with a gobsmacked expression on his face.
He quickly recovered, and said, “Yeah.”
Then he leaned down and kissed her. He nipped her lips once, twice, then went back for a third time, opening her mouth with his lips and sinking his tongue deep inside.
Katie was held spellbound on the barstool as she received a kiss from him she wasn’t expecting. Did it make her feel this way because he was about to leave and she knew he had no intention of doing anything more than kiss her? His lips were firm but gentle, his hand on her face caressing her, running back and forth from her ear to her jaw line. It was a kiss that was simply a kiss; it carried a depth of feeling, but it wasn’t a precursor to anything more. She didn’t feel threatened by it, at least not physically. She reacted so quickly to the feeling of safety in his arms, that before she could stop herself, her hands went to his head and twined through his hair. She moaned softly, and was shocked to feel a tiny dart of arousal go from her breasts to the point between her thighs.
When Katie’s fingers tangled through his hair, Zach was totally unprepared by the physical move that she made toward him and what it would do to him. He stood transfixed as pleasure hit him between the eyes and slid down and gripped him in a tight vise around the heart. The feel of her lips clinging to his and her hands holding tightly as if she never wanted to let go were both new and so appealing to his senses that he wasn’t sure for a moment that he’d be able to leave her as he’d intended. He ached to have her naked against him, and he knew that she was feeling the invisible web of attraction that had always pulsed between them. His hold tightened around her; she felt so perfect in his embrace that he had the instinctive knowledge that no one else would ever feel the same to him. From the moment that she’d come into his life as a teenager on the cusp of womanhood, he’d wanted her with a fever that couldn’t be extinguished.
With a possession he couldn’t seem to control, he felt his hands tightening on her soft skin. He drank from her mouth; he needed this kiss like he needed the sunshine and wind on his face to feel alive. He drank from her mouth as if there was no tomorrow, he held her to him with the knowledge that the minutes away from her would feel like hours.
Stunned by the feelings within herself, Katie jerked her mouth from his but continued to hold his head in her hands and their gazes caught and held.
His warm brown eyes devoured hers for a moment, and with what looked and felt like great reluctance, he dropped his hands away from her and took a careful step back.
He cleared his throat. “Be safe, babe,” he ordered her again, reminding her of his earlier mandate. “I’ll see you tonight.”
And before she could completely recover, he turned and left the room.
****
Dallas, Texas
Zach walked swiftly through the underground car park toward the bank of elevators that would take him inside his Dallas office. His mind worked feverishly on how quickly he could solve the point of contention the consortium had with the lines running through Bosque County. He already had a handful of the most brilliant minds in the business working on the problem. And that was good. He wanted to smooth it over, offer a compromise that both parties could agree to, and then get back to Katie as quickly as possible.
It hadn’t been the most opportune time to have to leave her by herself. He wasn’t afraid to admit to himself that the emotion he was feeling in his gut was fear. Fear she would up and run while he was away; fear that if she did, he wouldn’t be able to push through his guilt and move forward with his plans for her. And that wasn’t acceptable to him. Being in her vicinity wasn’t cooling the heated need he had for her. Being in her company was only making his emotions stronger, sharper. He’d known for a long time that what he felt for Katie Turner was dangerous. But it wasn’t something that he could fight against. He wouldn’t fight against. He wanted her and it wasn’t something he wanted to delve into too deeply. With her, he was on automatic pilot, ready to do whatever it took to have her. Now that she was under his control, he would do whatever he needed to do to keep her that way.
And what that was at this moment, was to take care of his immediate business and get back to South Padre, where she waited for him.
He had thought briefly of taking her with him, but had quickly thrown aside that idea. He didn’t want her anywhere near Dallas anytime soon. He wanted to keep her away from what was familiar, keep her just a bit on edge, keep her mixed up in a way that left her vulnerable to him. He wanted her to lean on him, turn to him for her needs; he wanted to be the anchor in her world. For now and for the unforeseeable future. If she came to rely on him for those things, it would build a bond between them, a bond that he would quickly take advantage of by binding her to him before she was aware of what was happening.