Cherry Adair - T-flac 03 (42 page)

She raised her hands in surrender when Delanie glared at her, then grinned and went to join the two men at the bar.

Narrow-eyed, Delanie briefly observed the people across the room, then turned back to Kyle. "She's that Savage woman, isn't she? I suppose those tourists over there are your people, too?"

"Did you really think I'd let Dare send you into danger?" Kyle headed straight for the table she'd vacated and sat down.

Delanie gave a broken laugh as she followed him and resumed her seat. "You knew I was coming."

"Of course."

Wasn't he pleasantly calm about it? "Then why couldn't we have got together at my hotel?"

"I wanted to see how far you'd go to find me."

"Obviously halfway around the world, and totally out of my element. Again." She met his eyes. The intensity in the pale green depths seemed to see right through to her soul. By walking away that day on Izquierdo, he'd accomplished what he'd set out to do all along. He'd turned her into a desperate, lovelorn female who not only hungered for his touch, but ached from wanting him any way she could get him. And now that he'd accomplished his goal, he seemed disinterested in the prize.

His smile made her throat constrict. "Is this the real you, Delanie?" As if he couldn't sit this close without touching her, Kyle reached out and brushed a gentle hand to her back-to-normal brown hair.

"Not blonde. Mousy," she said defensively, the withdrawal of his touch, as meager as it'd been, a painful loss. "I did tell you."

"Pretty mouse." His gaze traveled to her feet. "Those the Birkenstocks?"

"My favs," she told him sweetly, lifting her foot off the floor to admire the heavy sandals and pale pink
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nail polish on her bare toes.

Kyle laughed and Delanie wanted to fling herself into his arms and bury her face in the warm curve of his throat.

The door opened and shut, letting in half a dozen men talking animatedly as they headed for the bar.

Happy hour. They turned as one six-headed monster to stare at her.

Delanie ignored them. "I'd feel considerably more comfortable on my own territory."

"I know." He examined her glass. "Have you drunk any of this?"

Bewildered, Delanie shook her head. The longing she had to touch him was a physical ache. God. She needed him to kiss her. To hold her in his arms…

"Yo, Henry!" Kyle shouted across the bar, "Couple of sodas, heavy on the ice? Thanks." He turned back to her. "So, jungle girl, how's your sister?"

Her eyes widened. "My
sister
? Um, Lauren's doing much better. Still a long way to go, but much, much better. The doctors at the clinic are excellent. It's better for her if she concentrates on getting well without me hovering."

"Amazing. You figured this all out by yourself."

"I had some counseling while I was there," she admitted. "You were right about some of the things you said to me that night." He just sat there watching her, his expression unreadable. She refused to look away, but had to swallow before she could go on.

"But you were dead wrong about my wanting
you
to prove yourself. The challenge was to myself. Not you." A brittle laugh escaped the lump in her throat. "I didn't trust my own instincts."

God, what was he seeing when he looked at her like that? He was so damn inscrutable. "Would you please
say
something?"

"I don't see vulnerability as dependency. Loving, and being loved, gives us strength. We get that by trusting each other, by allowing each other the chance to take a turn being the hero. By growing together.

Being strong when the other needs it. By loving each other. It's a full circle, Delanie. But you'll have to meet me halfway."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Her voice caught and her palms began to sweat as Kyle continued to sit there with his arms folded in front of him on the table, his eyes hooded. She briefly closed her eyes, squeezing her hands together before staring at him from burning eyes.

"Why?" he asked.

Because I dream of you whether my eyes are closed or open. Because I think of you twenty-four
hours a day. Because I miss you
. "This is where you are," she said simply.

"I've been plenty of places. You weren't in any of them before. You going to drink that?"

She shook her head. "You're going to make this hard for me, aren't you?"

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He finished her cola and set the glass down on the table. His silence answered for him.

"Why?" she whispered.

"Because nothing worthwhile comes easy."

She closed her eyes for a second, then looked at him with her heart in her eyes. "I I—care about you, Kyle."

The look he gave her was indecipherable, almost sad. Which was ridiculous. She'd just told him what he wanted to hear.

"I don't need rescuing, Delanie. In two days I'm bugging out of here for home." At her puzzled look, he said mildly, "Since Lauren's taken care of, I presume you're between crises on the home front. I don't need you to bail me out of anything, jungle girl. You'll have to find another cause."

"Didn't you hear what I said?"

"Oh, yeah. Loud and clear." His eyes were cool.

Bewildered, and feeling the slow burn of irritation, she frowned. "Are you paying me back for lying to you?"

"Which lie was that?"

"When I told you—When I told you I didn't love you."

"Was it a lie?"

"I was wrong not to trust you," she said softly, a catch in her voice. "But when you said you l-loved me I was scared. Afraid to believe you. If I allowed myself to believe you, and it turned out not to be true, I couldn't've handled it. I had to protect myself. Look," Delanie said desperately when he didn't say anything. "Could we
please
go somewhere else and talk about this? Back to my hotel?"

"I don't want to be alone with you right now. Want a hamburger?"

"For God's sake why not?" Delanie demanded.

"Because," Kyle told her calmly, as he signaled for the bartender, "we'd be all over each other like white on rice. And we already know we're terrific in bed—I'll take the special, extra crisp on those fries, and another soda, better make that two. Delanie?"

She stared at Kyle incredulously as he gave the man his order. Both men looked at her expectantly.

"Nothing for me, thank you." Her voice was arctic.

To hell with him. She'd come halfway round the world to find the damn man, spent months coming to terms with her feelings and fears, and he didn't have the decency to listen to her. Pain and hurt turned into a furious, soul-burning rage.

She waited until the bartender was out of earshot, until she could gather her defenses. Until she didn't
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feel as though someone had punched her in the stomach. "I was a game to you, wasn't I? The words you spoke weren't worth the air it took to say them." She shook her head in disgust. At herself. "God. What a stupid, naive little fool I was to think—Lord, I made it easy for you, didn't I? First
I
picked
you
up, then I was conveniently served to you on a silver platter."

"There was nothing
convenient
about it."

"Whatever." Delanie stood and glared down at him. "Have a nice life."

His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. "Sit down. We're not done talking. Not by a long shot."

"Yes we damn well are. Let go of my hand. I have a plane to catch."

Kyle tugged and she tumbled back into her still-warm chair.

"Where would we live, Delanie?" Kyle asked genially, leaning back.

She glared at him, a strange, unfamiliar tightness in her chest. "Do you have a mouse in your pocket?"

"Sacramento? San Francisco? How far away from your family would you get before they tug you back into the spaghetti of their lives? Seattle?"

Delanie narrowed her eyes. He wasn't asking her to live with him. He was making a point. Damn. How could she have been so wrong? He obviously didn't give a rat's patoot about her. And despite knowing better, she'd fallen for his lines. Lock, stock, and barrel. She'd resisted this all her adult life. She'd
known
not to fall, and here she was. Twenty-seven, and in love for the first time.

Well, love sucked. It hurt. It was messy and unpleasant.

She hated being in love.

She didn't want to feel like this. She didn't want to need him like this. She didn't want to sit here three feet away from the warmth of his body. She didn't want to lust after a man who could so easily keep his own hands off
her
. Damn. Damn. Damn.

"Chickening out?"

"No. Cutting my losses," she told him curtly. It hurt to breathe. It felt as though a giant hand had reached inside her chest and was squeezing her heart in a tight, mean fist.

Kyle rubbed his hand over his face, then sighed. "I thought you claimed to be in—to
care
about me."

"Are you going to make me say it a million times?"

His lips twitched. "So far you haven't said it
once."

God. He wanted complete surrender. No safety net. No crying uncle. A total rout. Delanie looked toward the front door. Torn between running like hell to get away from him, and dragging him into a back room to remind him just how compatible they were. Damn, she was pathetic. Her throat closed up. She fished a piece of ice out of her empty glass and popped it in her mouth. He wasn't finished breaking her heart. He was obviously determined to humiliate her as well.

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And she was going to let him. Because to be with Kyle, on his terms, was better than being without him on her own. "Tell me what you want from me, Kyle." Her voice was quiet and sure, her gaze steady.

"Whatever it is, it's yours."

He continued to watch her. "Why?" he asked softly.

The pounding of her heart was deafening in her ears. "Because I love you with my heart and soul.

I—Why are you looking at me like that?"

His smile was brilliant, his eyes glittering. "You love me?"

"Of course. I just sai—"

"Say it again."

She scowled. "I love you."

"And again."

"I love you."

Kyle's hands were suddenly on either side of her face; his fingers tunneled through her hair.

"And I want you, Kyle, so much that I thought I'd die without you for all those months."

His thumbs brushed her cheeks. "You're damned pigheaded, you know that, jungle girl?"

"I can also be bossy. And judgmental, and—" Delanie racked her brain for all her bad points. There were plenty. She didn't want him to have any illusions.

"Trying to scare me off?"

"Can you be?"

"No. Because I know you too well. I know you'd carry me if I needed it, and you'd bop me over the head if I needed that, too. I know you love children, and animals, and are kind to people less fortunate than yourself. I know your eyes haze when I make love to you. I know where to touch you to make you go wild in my arms, and I know where to touch you to make you melt."

Kyle combed his fingers through her hair and held her face in both strong hands, his mouth an inch from hers. "I know that when I'm with you I'm a better person than I am without you. I know that no matter what, you'll always have a wide stubborn streak in you. I know that without you, my nights would be bitterly lonely, and my days forever dull. And I know—" Kyle smiled. "—
that's
just the tip of the iceberg."

God. He did know her.

"I also know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you love me," Kyle snuck in before she could speak again.

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"I don't have a job, and I'm homeless. I sold my house to Auntie Pearl. She's going to take care of Grandpa. I thought I'd better have a healthier cash flow in case I had to follow you all over the world like a camp follower."

"Did you now?" His eyes were hooded as he watched her. "How would you take care of your family if you followed me all over God's creation?"

"They're going to have to learn to take care of themselves." She smiled. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you at my side. Not in front of me, or behind me, but with your hand in mine no matter what."

"You're sure?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

"Well, then, I guess there's nothing left to do but get married, move to the suburbs, and start making our own baseball team." He stood up and dropped a twenty on the table.

The next thing she knew he'd swept her off the chair. There was a loud cheer from the bar patrons as Kyle lifted her in his arms.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking you to your hotel before I take you right here, woman."

Her heart soared. Laughter bubbled as she twined her arms around his neck and demanded, "Kiss me."

"Not until I have you naked." He strode to the door. "I have a research grant at Stanford. What do you think of living near San Francisco? Close enough to your family for
real
emergencies, and far enough away so they don't all drop in every Sunday for dinner?"

Her smile lingered as she touched his face. "I love you, Kyle Wright."

Kyle's grin broadened. "Damn right, you do, jungle girl. And about time you realized it. I don't think I could've delayed another moment not seeing you. I was going to give you another couple of weeks to realize what you were missing, before I went to Montana, or Sacramento, or wherever the hell you were, and kidnapped you. You don't think I'd let the woman I love hide from the future we're going to build, do you?"

"God, I hope not. What did you have in mind?"

"We're going to get married as soon as we get back home. I'm going to make love to you morning, noon, and night, and one of these days we're going to make beautiful babies together. We're going to love each other, jungle girl. We're also going to fight and make up. But we're going to know that no matter what, we'll love one another till our last breath, and beyond."