Chance Encounter (36 page)

But McCall looked upon Kacie as family, so Brennan could understand his concern. Didn’t make talking about his fascination for Kacie any easier to discuss. In fact, it made it harder.

“I care about her, McCall. Of course I do. I just—”

Hell, he what? She was a model, heading toward superstardom. He was a hated has-been, a former celebrity with an ax to grind with the press. Brennan had no desire to step back into the limelight. Kacie was in the news constantly, whereas he wanted to smash every reporter’s face into a wall.
 

He and Kacie were like oil and vinegar. They blended well for a while, but once things settled, they would have to separate. It was only natural.

McCall’s eyes revealed an odd sadness, but he nodded. “I understand. So, since the doctor has released you, I have another job for you.”

The LCR leader stood, threw down several bills for their drinks, and said, “Be at the airport at six in the morning. I’ll send you the details.”

McCall disappeared, leaving Brennan staring sightlessly into space. A grinding, hollow sensation had settled deep in his gut, a feeling he feared would never go away.

She sensed something was wrong the moment he walked into the apartment. They’d been living with each other for weeks, and other than sleeping, had been with each other almost every moment.
 

Though they hadn’t made love since before his injury, she had slept beside him every night. And in the dark, before falling asleep, he’d held her and they talked…about anything…everything. She knew this man. His expressions, his body language, even the little twitch in his right eye when he wanted to say something but restrained himself. And now, though there was no discernable twitch, his eyes held a sadness she wasn’t used to seeing.

Standing in the middle of the foyer, she waited for him to tell her what was wrong. They’d come so far, been through so much in such a short time. She trusted him with every secret, every fear. He had to know he could trust her, too.

Instead, an instant after she sensed his worry, his expression changed to that wickedly sexy grin that made her knees weak and every erogenous place in her body come alive.

“Hello, beautiful. What did you do today without your giant shadow hounding your every step?”

Kacie took a breath. Okay, so he wasn’t ready to talk about whatever it was that was bothering him. He’d had a long day. While she’d been pampering herself, getting ready for a big date, he’d been doing some actual work. A good meal, a little wine, some sweet loving, and he’d be in a more talkative frame of mind.

Instead of telling him the truth, that not seeing him all day had made her feel empty and sad, she gave the smile that had earned her multiple million-dollar contracts. “A little of this, a little of that.” She added some sexiness to her smile. “Are you hungry?”

There was the heat and need she wanted to see in his eyes. “Famished,” he said softly and held out his hand.

She went to him. Aware that her feelings were written all over her face. She couldn’t hide them from him any longer. Even if he didn’t feel the same way, this man who had given her so much needed to know how much he meant to her.

Pulling her into his arms, he held her tight, almost too tight. Then, as if he realized it, he loosened his arms and looked down at her. “You look good enough to eat, but is that chicken Parmesan that I smell?”

Pleased to see the teasing light in his eyes, she grinned. “It is.”

“You managed chicken Parm on top of everything else you did today?”

“I can’t take credit for that, but I did toss the salad.”

“Amazing woman.” He dropped a tender kiss on her lips. “Is dinner ready, or do I have time to shower?”

“You have plenty of time to shower.”

His eyes roamed over her. “If you didn’t look so damn perfect and delectable, I’d invite you to shower with me.”
 

Remembering their last shower together, she almost said yes simply because she wanted a good memory to replace the bad one. Of course, what happened after that had been one of the most amazing nights of her life, so maybe it wasn’t too bad of a memory.

Before she could answer him, he dropped a quick kiss to her nose. “I’ll be back in a flash.”

Releasing her, he stepped around her and headed up the stairs, his long legs taking the steps two at a time.
 

Kacie stared up the stairway long after he had disappeared. The sad but resigned look in his eyes that last second had told her what was bothering him. A heaviness, along with a deep, aching hollow spot in her heart, settled inside her.
 

She knew what was coming, knew what was wrong. Now she just needed to figure out how to deal with it.

Chapter Thirty-six

She had gone all-out. The whole time he’d been showering and then dressing, he’d been gearing himself up to tell her he was leaving. In fact, he’d been set to leave tonight and grab a hotel room somewhere till morning. But that was before he realized how much she had done. She had wanted tonight to be special, and for the life of him, he couldn’t find the words he should’ve said.
 

Instead, he complimented the table setting, the wine, the candles, and music. She’d even bought flowers and placed them in the middle of the table. Sure, he’d had plenty of women do all sorts of things to try to impress him, but none had been so damn sweet or meant so much to him.

“How’d you know that chicken Parmesan is my favorite Italian meal?”

She blushed and dropped her eyes. “I looked it up online.” Raising her head, she said, “I know I said I wouldn’t snoop on you like that, but I just wanted you to have your favorite meal.”

He couldn’t resist teasing her. “I suppose that means we’re having pecan pie for dessert?”

Eyes wide with panic, she glanced toward the kitchen, where he figured a chocolate cream pie was sitting in the fridge waiting to be sliced.

“You know you can’t believe everything that’s online, don’t you?”

“I know that, but this site really seemed to know you. So maybe your second favorite is chocolate cream pie?”

He had to laugh, unable to keep up the pretense. “Actually, chocolate cream pie is my favorite. I just wanted to see how you would react.”

“Not nice at all. I was all set to run down to that new Southern restaurant ten blocks away.”

“So is anybody saying anything good online? I know there’s plenty of garbage.” He grimaced. “You already know all that, plus the truth.”

“Well, let’s see.” She grinned wickedly. “When you were a kid, you had a stuffed toy turtle named Mean Joe Green. You once walked naked down 5
^th
Avenue in December because your teammates told you the coach makes all new players do this. And, oh…” Her eyes went wide with delight. “In college, a girl tied you up and poured a jar of honey all over your naked body.”

He grinned, pleased that there were some fun things among all the bad. “Let me set the record straight. First, it was a stuffed rhino, not a turtle. Second, it wasn’t 5
^th
Avenue, it was Times Square, and I was allowed a jockstrap and a pair of shoes.”

“Oh my.” She exaggeratedly fanned herself. “And the honey?”

Leaning close, he took her hand and dropped soft little kisses on the back of it. “It was the other way around. I tied her up, poured honey on her naked body, and…” His tongue licked up her hand to her wrist as he said softly, “I licked it all off.”

“Oh…” She breathed out softly. “Really?”

He was elated to see the flush of heat in her face and the obvious interest in her eyes. He could almost guarantee that not that long ago she would have been appalled at the thought of something like that.
 

However, he couldn’t take credit for something that never happened. “No. If my parents had heard about me doing something like that, I don’t care how big or old I was, I would’ve had my ass whipped by both of them.”

 
“You had great parents, didn’t you?”

“The very best.”

There would always be a stab to his heart when he thought about his mom and dad, not just because he missed them so much, but because he hadn’t been the best son when they were alive.
 

He took one last bite of his dinner and pushed the plate away slightly. “That’s about the best chicken Parm I’ve ever had.”

“I’m glad you liked it. Ready for dessert?”

If he answered the way he wanted, he’d have her spread out on the table before him like a feast. But if that happened, then he wouldn’t be able to say the things he needed to say.

“Sounds good.” He stood and took both their plates. “I’ll do cleanup while you get that ready.”

 
Though they hadn’t eaten many meals at the apartment, other than breakfast, they’d gotten into a routine. When he’d been married, he had hated kitchen duty. Of course, except for the occasional salad, Vanessa hadn’t been one for the kitchen either.

Since there was very little to clean up, by the time he rinsed the dishes and loaded the dishwasher, she had sliced the pie and poured coffee.

Kacie felt like she was on a seesaw that might go wild any moment and fling her across the room. One moment Brennan was seducing her with a hot look or an erotic gesture, and the next he was acting like she was his friend and nothing more. She’d gone hot and cold so many times over dinner that she feared her body temperature would be permanently out of whack.

Taking a tray with two slices of pie and the coffee, she headed toward the living room. Before she got two steps out of the kitchen, he was taking the tray from her.

“Where to?”

Oh, how she wanted to be confident enough with him to grab the jar of honey out of her pantry, and say,
Follow me
, and lead him straight up to her bedroom. The conversation earlier had her thinking some delicious and wickedly sticky thoughts.

But since she was far from the confident sexual being she wanted to be, she said, “Follow me,” and led him to the living room instead.

Brennan placed the tray on the coffee table and waited until Kacie sat down before he handed her a piece of pie. She thanked him and waited till he’d served himself before she took a bite. The chocolate hit her tongue, and the sound she made would’ve made any porn star envious.
 

Judging by the heated look Brennan gave her, he thought so, too.

He raised a brow. “Good pie?”

Dark red wasn’t her best color, but she was sure it was the exact shade of her cheeks.

“Try it.”

He did and made a similar noise. Although his sound was decidedly masculine and, to her ears, much sexier.

“Told ya.”

“My favorite meal, my favorite pie. Are you trying to seduce me, Ms. Dane?”

“Are you seducible, Mr. Sinclair?”

“Darling, all you have to do is look at me to seduce me into doing anything for you.”

Like staying with me forever?

But of course she couldn’t say any such thing. She had no real clue how Brennan felt about her, beyond sexual desire. Did he want to continue seeing her? How would that work with his job as an LCR operative?

“Kacie, I—”

She stood, cutting him off. She couldn’t do it. By the look in his eyes, she was about to get a standard, albeit gentle,
Well, it’s been fun
shutdown, and she quite simply did not have the courage to face that tonight. Tomorrow would be soon enough to deal with the hard stuff.

Taking destiny into her own hands, she stood before Brennan and unzipped her dress. It slid to the floor, leaving her in a pair of white minuscule panties and nothing more.

“Holy hell,” Brennan breathed. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to seduce you.”

Turning her down never crossed Brennan’s mind. If he lived to be a hundred, he would never forget the sight of this lovely, courageous woman standing before him, offering herself.

He stood, bringing their bodies within inches of each other. She gave him the smallest of smiles…so incredibly sexy, and said, “Want to follow me somewhere else?”

Even though he’d much rather pick her up and carry her, this was her show, her seduction. “I’ll follow you anywhere.”

She took his hand and led him up the stairs to her bedroom. Wearing only those tiny lace panties and nothing else, she was like every dream, every fantasy he could ever have. Her skin almost shimmered beneath the lights, and her hair fell in soft, thick waves to her lower back. How could anyone be so lovely and still be mortal?

Brennan walked into her bedroom, determined to show her, if not with words, then with his body, what she meant to him. He couldn’t possess this dream forever, but he could have it tonight.

Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her, softly, tenderly, his mouth worshipping hers. He wanted to ravage her, savor her, devour her whole. Breaking away from the kiss, he looked down at her face. He had to make sure she was with him all the way. Only a short time ago, she’d been unable to let herself completely go and enjoy pleasure. Damned if he would push her into a setback by going too fast or being too demanding.