His Unexpected Lover (The Thorpe Brothers) (8 page)

Kiera smiled triumphantly and pulled her purse out of her bag, dug in and found her keys.  She’d just unlocked her apartment door and was turned around to tell him goodbye when he picked her up in his arms once again and carried her through the doorway.

“Axel put me down!” she commanded, grabbing onto her purse and her bag so it didn’t scatter all over the floor. 

He ignored her, carrying her through to her bathroom, looking around at her apartment.  “You haven’t decorated your place,” he commented as he put her down on the bathroom counter.  When she tried to slip off, he put a hand to her leg, holding her where he wanted her. 

“I haven’t had a chance yet,” she replied, irritated that her body started shivering once again with his touch.  She wished she could control her reaction whenever he was around but there wasn’t anything she could do to temper her trembling.  When he was near, and especially when he was touching her, she was jelly.  And trembling, googly-eyed jelly at that. 

He went through her bathroom cabinets and Kiera blushed painfully when he discovered all of her feminine products under the bathroom
sinks. 

“If you tell me what you’re looking for, I can tell you where it is,” she told him, her face blushing painfully.  She hated it when she blushed because her freckles stood out more, making her look ridiculous. 

But the man simply closed that one and opened the next, not even blinking an eye at such an obviously personal item.  When he found the washcloths, he pulled several out, laying them on the counter before he turned on the bathroom faucet, waiting for the warm water to flow.  When it did, he picked up one of the washcloths and wet it before carefully cleaning the rest of her scrapes and scratches. 

Kiera had thought that the cold water was difficult to endure, but she was finding she’d been very, very wrong.  The warm water against her skin was almost sensuous.  Paired with his strong, hot hand and she gasped, looking into his icy, blue eyes.  He looked up at her at the same moment and she knew he was feeling it too. 

“I’m fine,” she whispered, praying that he would just leave and she wouldn’t need to find the willpower to resist him.  Because she was seriously doubting her ability to do so. 

His eyes looked back down at her thigh, but his hands changed, his touch seemed softer somehow.  He was still cleaning all the dirt off, but it was more of a caress than anything else.  His hand smoothed over her skin, cleaning and exploring, tenderly
touching the tortured areas of her skin, his fingertips a light touch, which was even more beguiling. 

“You have beautiful skin, Kiera,” he said softly, his voice deeper, huskier. 

She took a deep breath, wishing it didn’t sound so shaky.  “I’m too white,” she argued, trying to think of anything to get herself out of this, to make him go away before she begged him to stay. 

“Tell me you miss
what we had together,” he demanded, his eyes capturing hers while his fingers continued to trail fire down her leg. 

Kiera wished she could deny his command, but the way he was touching her had eliminated all her defenses to him.  “I miss it,” she replied, trembling now as his fingers moved down to her knee, then her calf. 

With those words, he stood up and Kiera was painfully disappointed that he was no longer touching her.  But she’d been mistaken in his intentions.  He didn’t hesitate a moment before he took her head between both of his hands and kissed her, deeply.  His kiss caused her to moan with the contact.  Her mouth didn’t stop him in any way.  In fact, she encouraged him in the only way she knew how.  She kissed him right back, forgetting that she was supposed to resist him.  Forgetting that this job was only a stepping stone and he’d hurt her terribly the last time their careers had diverged. 

It was only Axel now.  His hands, his mouth, his tongue invading hers and she kissed him right back with every ounce of desire that had been stored up over the past six years for this man. She wanted him and all the remembered pain was hidden at the moment.  It was only the desire, sure and strong, that was on her mind now. 

His hands pulled her forward on the countertop and Kiera’s hands fisted on his shirt, trying to hold on even though her world was tilting precariously.  If he were to stop right now, she might just fizzle out in a spark of heat so intense there would be nothing left of her afterwards. 

Of course, if he continued, t
here was the possibility that the same thing could happen.  Her only option was to pull herself closer, to mold her body against his.  But that didn’t help her in any way either.  She needed him so desperately she was in pain with that desire.  She couldn’t wait.  Her hands slipped underneath his shirt, feeling the velvet steel of his chest and stomach covered by a light dusting of hair.  He was stronger, she realized.  Her fingers explored the angles under his shirt, needing to discover all the changes that had occurred over the years but he was pulling at her.  She didn’t understand and she almost growled when he did something to pull her hands away.  But she realized that he was only taking his shirt off, giving her better access and her hands immediately jumped right back to his chest, her eyes following so she could see the changes as well as feel them.  Her fingers moved over his skin, finding all those spots she remembered so well that drove him crazy.  When they weren’t making love, those spots were only ticklish but as soon as their touch heated up, those spots were an instant erogenous zone and she loved every one of them, touching them all and wishing she could send him as far over the edge as she already was.

He growled himself and lifted her up, carrying her into her bedroom and placing her on her bed.  “My turn,” he said and swiftly, efficiently, pulled the softball shirt up and over her head.  He didn’t even
hesitate, give her time to understand what he was doing before his hands had even released the clasp behind her back to free her breasts.   The ugly but effective sports bra was tossed away and his eyes were hot as he looked down at her bare breasts. 

“You’re beautiful,” he groaned before his head bent
, lowered to kiss the tip of her breast.  Her nipple pebbled underneath his lips and she arched against him, needing his body against hers.  She was frantic now, needing him inside her more than she needed oxygen.  She wanted him so painfully, felt empty and terrified that he might leave her before he moved inside of her. 

Her hands reached down for the snap of his shorts, wanting to feel his erection in her hands, to guide him to her so he could fill her up.  Axel was just as desperate and with swift fingers, her shorts and underwear were gone.  He lifted himself up and stripped off his clothes before grabbing a condom out of his wallet.  He sheathed himself with the protection a moment before he lowered himself down to her again.  Just to be certain, he pushed his hips between her knees, his finger sliding inside her heat.  The wetness he discovered there almost made him lose control but he closed his eyes and took a moment before grabbing her hands and holding them over her head while he pushed her legs farther apart
, sliding into her welcome heat.  “Damn you feel good, Kiera,” he groaned while he pushed himself deeper, watching her face to make sure he wasn’t hurting her in any way.

“Don’t stop,” she begged when she thought he might be about to pull out of her.  He was larger than she remembered him, but he was still filling her up and making her feel whole again.  She hadn’t felt this since she’d left that day and she couldn’t believe how wonderful it felt to be so intimately connected to this man once more. 

And then he started moving.  His body surged into hers and she lifted her hips, eager to match his passion.  Over and over again he slammed into her, both of them panting in a desperate need to fulfill the ache that had been inside each of them for so long. 

When Kiera thought she couldn’t take anymore, she started to push his hips away but he knew all her tricks and wouldn’t let her.  He shifted ever so slightly and that was all it took.  Kiera flew over the edge into one of the most mind-blowing climaxes she’d ever experienced.  She wasn’t even aware of Axel finding his own release because she was still throbbing, still seeing stars. 

When he finally stopped and pulled her close, she sighed with happiness.  “I remember,” she whispered, her hand reaching out and touching his shoulders, his back, anything that was part of Axel. 

Axel chuckled and nuzzled her hair out of his way with
his nose, kissing her neck and that spot behind her ear that never failed to elicit a giggle of delight.  It worked even now and he smiled at the memory as well as the present. 

He stood up and went to the bathroom and Kiera heard the water running for a moment but she was too content to try and figure out what he was doing.  She pulled the sheet over her as her eyes drifted slightly closed. 

“Still shy?” he asked, laughing as he slid back into the bed behind her, pulling the sheet away so that his hands could smooth over her skin.

Kiera gasped, but she wasn’t sure if it was because he took away the sheet or because he was touching her again and her body, so recently satisfied, was no longer content.  She reveled in the fact that just a simple touch from this man had her whole body tensing with renewed desire.  Never before had any man ever had this kind of effect on her.  Tomorrow, she might regret his ability to control her so easily.  But right now, she couldn’t do anything but enjoy the whole process over again, but this time at a much slower pace. 

Kiera woke up and instantly knew something was wrong.  She looked around, feeling the sheets for Axel and finding his side of the bed empty. 

She sighed and thought about that for a moment before she opened her eyes
, pulling his pillow close but knowing it would be a cold substitute for the man himself.  It was probably for the best.  She shouldn’t have fallen into bed with him again last night.  It was wrong and nothing could come of it.  They wanted different things in life and she would move on to the next job while he was settled in here in Chicago. 

Then she heard a noise in her kitchen and she jerked around, just in time to see Axel coming back into the bedroom. 

His eyes quickly moved over her body silhouetted by the sheet she continued to hide herself under.  “You never answered my question last night, Kiera,” he said, standing at the bottom of her bed and looking down at her. 

Kiera looked at him curiously, pushing her curls out of her eyes and sitting up, making sure to keep the sheet over her nakedness. 
She ignored his raised eyebrow and focused on what he was asking her.  Something about a question?  She didn’t remember any questions.  All she remembered was the incredible, wonderful heat of him as he held her close throughout the night.  Even though he’d woken her up several times during the night, she hadn’t slept so well since….well, for six years. 

“What was the question again?” she asked, not fully awake.  But even if she were, she wasn’t sure she would be able to concentrate.  Not with Axel standing there at the end of her bed in only
the pair of shorts he’d worn last night to the game and nothing else.  All those rippling muscles and broad shoulders were very distracting. 

“Why haven’t you decorated this place?” he challenged, his hands fisted on his hips.

Kiera leaned back against the pillows, trying to determine what time it was.  “Decorating?”  She glanced at the clock across the room from her bed.  “It’s before six o’clock in the morning and you’re asking why I haven’t decorated my apartment?”  She tried to remember what day it was but everything was off kilter at the moment. 

He looked across the room as well and smiled slightly.  “I guess your inability to wake up to an alarm clock hasn’t changed, eh?” he shook his head.  “Still need to put it across the room so you’ll get up out of bed?”

She blushed, remembering how he would wake her up when she was trying to shut off the alarm clock.  He used to laugh and tickle her, then make love to her until they were both panting and wide awake. 

She shrugged about her trouble waking up in the morning as if it were normal. 
“It works for me,” she said softly and shifted uncomfortably.  “What are you doing?”

He glared at her.  “You thought I’d left, hadn’t you?”  Her blush was all the answer he needed.  “Kiera, why haven’t you decorated this apartment?” he demanded. 

Kiera sighed and looked down at the comforter, pretending like she didn’t want him to come right back to bed with her and make love to her one more time.  “I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

There was a long silence while she waited tensely for him to respond.  She wasn’t sure what to say to him, how to explain the barrenness of her living area. 

“You’re not staying, are you?” he guessed.  But it wasn’t a question.  “You’re only here for a little while, just enough time to get The Thorpe Group on your resume before you move on to another job.”  He watched her carefully and, by the guilty look in her face, knew that he’d guessed accurately. 

She looked around, trying to think of some comment that would appease him.  But he was right.  And she knew she looked guilty. 

“How long were you willing to stick it out, Kiera?” he demanded, becoming angry with her lack of forthrightness. “A year? Two years?”

She shrugged slightly.  “Why do you care?”  She slipped out of bed and grabbed her robe.  “And how can you judge me when you were doing the same thing years ago?  When we first met, you didn’t bother to even unpack some of your things,” she countered, referring to the boxes he’d kept in his closet
that contained all the things he hadn’t needed and so he hadn’t bothered to find a place for in his apartment.  “Don’t judge me for doing the same thing you did.”

He was livid with her refusal to understand what they had together.  She was purposely being obtuse. 
“Except the position with the Supreme Court was just that, a temporary position.  I went into it knowing that I wouldn’t be staying with them.”

“So what’s wrong with me doing the same thing?” she yelled back at him, feeling defensive at being caught. 
She wished this conversation hadn’t happened, but she wasn’t going to lie to him.  Besides, of all the people she knew, Axel was the one person she thought would understand. 

Axel’s hand went through his hair, messing it up with his frustration. 
“The difference is that my position in Washington, D.C. started out only being a temporary position.  A job with The Thorpe Group isn’t temporary. Nor do we offer positions to people who think we’re just a stepping stone.”

That wasn’t fair.  She had no idea what could happen in the future but he was purposely being stubborn about admitting that anything could happen. 
“But you have people coming and going all the time.  It isn’t like The Thorpe Group is a be all and end all for employment.”

“It could be for you!” he came right back, furious with her for not investing more in
their relationship even though it had only started up again the previous night.  “You can’t tell me that you thought The Thorpe Group was offering you employment only for a limited time.”

She shifted uncomfortably, wishing he weren’t so perceptive.  But that was one of the reasons she’d fallen in love with him.  He was amazingly astute and intelligent and he’d seen things in her that even she hadn’t known existed.  He thought she was pretty, he liked her freckles and he’d made her laugh at the ridiculous things in life.  That didn’t help her now though. 
“No, but that isn’t the point.”

“What is the point?” He was so furious with her he could barely think straight.  She’d come back, but not to him.  He’d thought last night…but everything he’d hoped for as he’d made love to her, as he’d held her in his arms last night had been a lie.  “Am I just a stepping stone?” he asked
with an emotionless tone of voice.

Kiera’s neck snapped
around, shocked that he would ask that kind of question.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Am I only your next lover in a long line of stepping stone lovers?”

She
gasped.  “I haven’t ever…” she stopped herself and closed her mouth.  “Don’t…” she was so hurt that he would think that of her, especially when she hadn’t been with any other man besides Axel.  All these years she’d dated, but no man had ever made her feel the same kind of intensity that Axel could do to her with just a look.  “Get out!” she snapped.  She wasn’t going to admit that to him. Ever!  Let him think the worst of her.  He meant nothing.  He was just a jerk who thought the worst of everyone!

“Gladly!” he
growled back, grabbing his softball shirt and snapping it over his shoulders.  He didn’t even bother straightening it, just grabbed his shoes and socks and walked out of her apartment. 

Kiera watched him leave, furious and hurt and aching, wishing she ha
d the courage to call him back. But what could she explain?  He was right.  She had accepted this offer and considered it just a stepping stone.  All lawyers worked their way from one law firm to another, gaining experience until they had the ability and reputation to open their own law firm or made partner in a firm that was prestigious enough to keep them.  The Thorpe Group was the cream of the crop of legal firms in the United States, but that didn’t mean something might not come along that would serve her future better.  Only a stupid person would go into a job thinking they were there to stay.  Things happened, the world changed, opinions shifted and companies were bought and sold. 

He was wrong about the way she thought of him though. 
She never would have thought of him as a temporary lover much less a man who was one in a long line of lovers.  She whipped her robe off and marched to the shower, trying to scrub off the touch of him, his scent.  But no matter how hard she scrubbed, she couldn’t get the incredibly alluring scent of Axel out of her mind. 

She hurried to get ready for work, needing something to take her mind off of his hurtful words. 

Her thigh ached and she took some ibuprofen, stuffing the bottle into her purse, knowing she would need more later.  It was a work day and she didn’t have time to waste pining away about a man who had unrealistic expectations of her.  And unfair ones! 

She was fully dressed once again, feeling protected in her business suit
and heels.  She had a full day of client meetings today along with strategy meetings.  She had several briefings to type up and so many things to do that didn’t have anything to do with considering where she would be in a year or two.  She definitely didn’t have time to mess around with Axel Thorpe and all of his obnoxious assumptions. 

At the last minute, she remembered that she’d agreed to meet Autumn, Mia and Cricket after work for a workout
.  So she ran back and grabbed her yoga gear, slinging the duffel bag over her shoulder before storming out of her apartment.  Adding to her irritation this morning, she had to take a cab back to the softball field because of Axel’s overly protective actions of the night before.  Since he’d insisted on driving her back to her place, she didn’t have her car. 

She
could ask Autumn, Mia and Cricket what she should do, she thought.  After their workout, they would go out for dinner and she could explain the situation to them.  She thought about Autumn’s position in the Thorpe Group and bit her lip in indecision.  It might not be a good idea to tell the office manager about this.  But then shook her head.  Autumn was her friend.  They’d shared other things and this would just be one more.  She trusted Autumn’s advice and knew that her friend could separate herself from the situation and give her an unbiased opinion.  Besides, Mia was engaged to one of the other partners and Kiera suspected that there was something going on with Cricket and Ryker.  So they were all connected somehow to the owners of the law firm.

As she stepped into the cab and gave the driver directions back to the softball field, she considered her options again from their perspective. 
Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea, she thought as the cab made its way through rush hour traffic.  She didn’t want to put her friends into an awkward position.

The day was tough but she plowed through her work, getting kudos from several senior lawyers on the briefs she helped them with.  But she was relieved when it was
finally six o’clock and she could get out of the office.  She’d tried to stay in her office and out of sight as much as possible, not wanting to run into Axel today.  Her feelings were a bit too raw to see him so she avoided as much contact with her co-workers as possible. 

When she walked out with Autumn, sh
e breathed a sigh of relief that she’d successfully avoided Axel all day.  As she drove with Autumn to their yoga class, she found out that Axel had been out of the office all day in court.  Kiera was so relieved that she took several deep breaths, feeling instantly better. 

The four of them changed in the locker rooms of the gym, laughing and joking about the day.  Autumn and Mia had been friends for a long time, but Kiera already felt like these three
women were her sisters.  They’d laughed and dined together and she felt a kinship with them that she’d never felt with her other friends in the past. 

Axel had endured a miserable day, irritated with everything.  His client hadn’t followed his advice so there had been a potential lawsuit over some problems with materials coming into the country.  He’d fixed that, but it had required him to drive down to the waterfront, then to the courts again so he could defend his client in front of a judge. 

At least the day was over, he thought, rubbing the back of his neck to try and relieve the stress.  It might not have been such a horrible day, but the beginning had left him furious with the world in general and one lovely, irritating and stubborn woman in particular. 

Axel drove through the evening rush hour, still
furious over Kiera’s responses this morning.  Or her lack of the response he wanted to hear.  He couldn’t believe she’d curled up against him all night, knowing that she wouldn’t be here in a year or two. 

How could she react to him like that and all the while, know that she was going to move out of his life?  Didn’t she realize how precious this thing they shared was?  He’d dated other women, of course.  But none had ever touched him like she had.  Oh, they might have touched him physically but Kiera struck something deeper, more elemental and he knew that she felt it too.

He hated the idea of her moving on, of another man touching her like he wanted to touch her.  He’d had her at his house, in his bed and he was right back to trying to figure out a way to make her want to stay, to live with him forever. 

His phone rang and he
glanced at the caller.  Since it was his brother Ash, he pressed a button on his steering wheel to answer the call.  “What’s up?” he asked, wondering what Ash might need now that he had Mia in his life.  The man was besotted with her.  Axel was happy for his brother, but he couldn’t deny that there was a large chunk of jealousy that his youngest brother had found the love of his life.