That sucked the wind right out of Stone; he was unable to respond.
“I think about you all the time; about having dinner with you and Dino and Elaine; about living in your house; about making love to you; I think about that a lot.”
Stone put down his coffee and massaged his temples. This was pretty much all he had thought about, until recently. Now she was here. What was he going to do about it?
“Do you think about me?”
“Yes.”
She moved closer. “Do you think about making love to me?”
“Yes.”
She sat up on her knees on the sofa and ran a hand through his hair. With her other hand, she pulled loose the tie of his robe and ran her hand inside.
Stone took her hand and put his on her shoulder, then took her into his arms and kissed her face. “Don’t,” he said. “It’s too painful.”
“I want the pain to stop,” she said. “I want you.”
“You know very well that I want you, too.”
“Then I’m yours.”
Stone took a deep breath. “No,” he said, “you’re not.”
“I want to be yours again.”
“I can’t let myself want that.”
“Why not? We can have each other.”
“No, we can’t.” Stone could not believe he was saying this.
“I’ll come back to New York; I’ll get a divorce. I should never have married Vance.”
“But you did.”
“I made a stupid mistake,” she said. “Do I have to pay for it the rest of my life?”
“We both do.”
“I want to come back, Stone.”
“You can’t take Vance’s son away from him; I won’t be a party to that.”
“Then I’ll leave Peter with Vance. I can still see him.”
“Arrington, I saw you with that baby last night; you love being his mother, and if I came between you, you’d end up hating me for it.”
“I want you more.”
“No, you don’t.”
She sat up and pulled his robe open. “Make love to me,” she said. She ran her hands down his body and kissed him on the neck and shoulders. “Just this once; make love to me. Then, if you still want me to go, I will.”
Stone took her shoulders and held her away from him. “Listen to me,” he said. “I’ve done things in my life I’m not proud of, but I’ve never been an adulterer, and I’m not going to start now—not even with you, in spite of the fact that I’ve loved you more than any woman I’ve ever known. I just can’t do it.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Stone, I love you.”