MIND READER (38 page)

“See you in a little while, sweet stuff.” She pecked a kiss
to Misty’s cheek, then stood. Her legs wobbled.

“Come on, jelly knees.” Parker slid an arm around her
shoulder. “Let’s go home.”

Parker adjusted the heat on the stove, then cut the om
elet in two and slid it onto plates. He arranged wedges of
buttered toast around the edges, and put a plate in front of
Caron. “Eat.”

She grunted at him and dutifully picked up her fork. “I
don’t like the way this is working out.”

He slid onto a chair opposite her. “We’re done, Caron.
It’s up to the police now.”

She swallowed a bite of the eggs. Spicy tomato sauce and
melted cheese tingled her taste buds. “Hey, this is almost
as good as pizza.”

Parker grinned. “Thanks—I think.”

“I love pizza.” She took another bite and crunched down
on a piece of toast. “What I hate is the way this case is
working out.”

“Caron, we’re done, honey. Let it go.”

She sighed and stared off.

“Okay.” He put down his fork. “Let’s have it.”

Caron smiled. He really was such a nice man. “Okay. Logic tells me Forrester killed Linda. I
know
the man’s as guilty as sin. So why doesn’t it feel right?”

Parker pushed his food around on his plate. “Because
you’ve omitted Sandy’s part in this.”

“Yes.” Suffering again the sting of his betrayal, she
shoved a bite of omelet into her mouth and slowly chewed.
“But Sandy isn’t capable of murder, Parker. He— Oh God.”

“What?”

“Sandy
knew
where Misty was! He
knew
she’d been ab
ducted right from the start!”

Parker winced. She was fast on the uptake. Within minutes she’d have it all worked out. “I don’t think he did. He asked me to help you find her. Remember?”

“Yes,” she admitted, some of the excitement fading
from her voice. She swept back her hair and gave him a
pleading look. It was still damp from the shower. “You still
haven’t told me why you agreed.”

Parker looked her right in the eye and did what he’d vowed he’d never do again: He lied. “I told you. He and
Charley were friends.”

“Right.”

“Right,” he insisted, damning his voice for its wimpy
tone. But it was hard for a man to work up much righteous
indignation when he was dead wrong.

Caron saw despair in Parker’s eyes, and the truth hit her
like a sledge. She loved him, yes. She’d known that
since...well, she didn’t know exactly how long she’d known
it. It had crept up on her while she wasn’t looking. But love was there. And sitting here at this table, seeing him look at her with his heart in his eyes, she felt new stirrings join the
others. She loved him, and she was in love with him. That
truth scared her to death.

The unwelcome voice of reason intruded, telling her she
was crazy even to consider what she was considering. He knew she’d figured it out, and still he hadn’t told her the truth. He
was
like her father. He was a slick charmer who
wouldn’t blink at using her love for him as a weapon
against her. He was no different from the rest. He’d want her to “see” something, be it racing forms or—or what
ever.

Her head listened to the logical whisper of reason and
agreed completely.

But her heart ignored it.

As full as a swollen stream, it promised that Parker was
exactly the man he seemed—warm, loving, caring. He’d proven time after time that he was
not
like her father. The
night someone had left that god-awful message on her
door, Parker had arrived shirtless, frantic and terrified for her. He’d begged her
not
to image,
not
to return to Deck
er’s to touch Misty’s bike,
not
to touch the leash. He’d
acted on gut level instinct, on raw emotion, because he cared about her. That was the real Parker Simms. His methods at times were sinfully shaky, but weren’t there
times when a man had to follow his heart, and endure his
conscience?

Of course there were. And there were times when a
woman did, too. This was one of them. “You know kids lie
about being beaten and abused, because in their hearts they
can’t believe their parents really meant them harm.”

She paused, and when he didn’t say anything she went
on. “I’m not abused, or a child, Parker, but I can be hurt. I know you’ve never meant me harm.”

“Never,” he said on a rushed breath. “I swear it.”

The room stilled as if it were in the eye of a storm. Caron
stood and went around to his side of the table. He
scooted back in his chair and looked up at her, his gaze
burning. The cool gray she’d seen there the day they’d met,
and so many times since, was gone. Warmth and care and
so much more were in his eyes now.

Feeling powerful and humble, she just stared at him and
let the feelings soak in. Parker Simms was gorgeous and
gentle and the most virile-looking man she’d ever seen, and she loved him with all her heart. Now she had to trust him.

“One day you’ll tell me, Parker.” She dropped a kiss to his lips and brazenly settled on his lap. “Until then, I can
wait.”

He brushed her lips with his, drew back, then brushed them again. He lifted a strand of hair from her cheek and
smoothed it back with his big, rough hand. “You scare the
hell out of me, lady. You give so much.”

“Kiss me.” She parted her lips and pressed them to his.
The words were hard for him, but Parker could reassure her
without words. He could show her that the want and need
and desire she was feeling were there in him, too.

His mouth hot and hard on hers, he bore down, melding their lips, tangling their tongues. Desire flamed, grew
 
 
stronger, consumed.
         

He let his mouth slide over her cheek and whispered rag
gedly against her ear. “Caron?”

“Yes, Parker.” She understood his question. “Yes.”

The muscles in his legs and arms bunched and grew
thick. He held her tighter and stood. She nuzzled his neck,
placed tiny kisses along his collarbone, knowing this was
right.

He walked through the lit hall to her bedroom, then let her slide down his hard length to the floor. “Are you sure,
honey?”

One more chance to reconsider. More nervous than she’d ever been in her life, she clasped her hands and wet her lips.
A flicker of doubt lit in her mind. Taking risks that in
volved her heart was still so hard. She gripped his waist and
looked up. “I’ve never invited a man to my bed, Parker. There’ve been a few sexual experiences, but they’ve been rare.” That was true. They’d been heated encounters borne
from deep-seated cries for approval and acceptance. Acceptance that had faded as soon as the flush of desire had passed. Never before had she been the initiator, the one
who desired, the one whose body craved mating as it craved
food. And never before had she been the one left vulnera
ble to being refused and rejected.

“I need to know it’s
me
you want.” She forced herself to
look up from his chest and into his eyes. “Not just any
woman.”

He blinked, and the frown wrinkling the skin between his
brows smoothed. “I only want you, Caron.” He softened his voice and that darling curl tilted his lip. “You.”

A warm glow started deep in the pit of her stomach and fanned through her chest. She was in love. She wanted and needed this man. And she was going to be open about her feelings. If he didn’t love her back, if she suffered for tak
ing the risk later...well, she’d suffer. But she wasn’t going
to run.

Her hand trembling, she fingered the hair on his chest, unable to meet his eyes. “I’ve been hurt. And the
truth is, I’m afraid of you.”

“Why?” He cupped her face in his hands. “Don’t you know how much I want you? Can’t you see that I’m crazy about you?” He sank his teeth into his lip.

“I’m afraid because they only hurt me.” The single light burning in the hallway cast a stream of light across the bed
and his chest. His expression was hidden in the shadows.
“But you—you can devastate me.”

Parker dropped his hands to his sides. He stood rigid, his
hands balled into fists. There was nothing charming, no
resemblance to a womanizer, in him now; his expression
was darker than a moonless night. “Caron.”

He didn’t move, and she knew that until she looked at him he wasn’t going to move. For them, it was now or
never. She lifted her chin and met his gaze.

“You’re not alone in this.” He stroked her cheek with the
pad of his thumb. “My heart’s right here.”

He kissed her tenderly, gently, lovingly, caressing her back, her sides, her face. She lifted her hands, curled them
around his neck and felt a tiny explosion of desire deep in
side. This was right. So right. “I need you,” she whispered, stepping closer into his arms.

“I need you, too.”

“And after?” She risked a glance up to his eyes.
 
“Will you need me after?”

He lookd her right in the eye.
 
“Blessing or curse, I’ll need you forever.”
 
A flash a vulnerability streaked through his eyes.
 
“The question is, will you need me?”

“I will.”

He cupped her face, caressing it with tiny kisses that soon
became long, lingering ones. He whispered tender longings, gentle love words that she needed to hear, longings and words she deciphered not with her ears, but with her heart. In his arms she felt cherished, wanted, adored, the
way only a woman in love can feel.
 

Together they walked into his bedroom and closed the door.

Still a
wash in sensation,
Caron
wrapped her arms around him, and when he started to move away she held
him in place. “No, don’t leave me. Not yet.”

“Not yet.” He opened his eyes. Understanding bloomed
bright in their depths. “I’m not running, Caron. And I’m
not leaving.” He kissed her firmly. “I still need you.”

Facing each other, they nuzzled, and cuddled and whispered lovers’ secrets.
 
She lifted a fingertip to his lips, then pulled back to focus. Her heart was so full it threatened to burst, and when she told him, she wanted to see his face. “Parker,” she
whispered, her gaze sweeping his mouth, his hair, his twin
kling eyes, “I love you.”

Parker stiffened. He didn’t know what to say. Guilt invaded him. And more than he wanted to make love with her again, he wanted to tell her the truth. What had he done?
 
He’d had no right to make love with her. He’d lied to her, spied on her and deceived her. He’d had no right to take
from her.

Yet he had taken. He had...taken.

Angry with himself, he set her away, then hauled his body
into the bath. His image in the bathroom mirror taunted him. He couldn’t meet his own
eyes. He had to tell her. All of it.
 
Everything.
 
Right now.

Resolved, he crawled back into her bed. She stroked his
hair. He swore he’d never tire of the feel of her hands in his hair. It was the most nurturing gesture he’d ever felt, yet the
most arousing one. She’d given him so much, and was still
giving to him. He raised her hand from his chest and pressed it firmly against his mouth. “Caron, you know I—”

“Shh...” She pressed a fingertip to his lips. “You don’t have to say anything. I don’t expect it. I just wanted you to know how I feel. I just wanted you to know that I
love you. That’s all.”

He had a lot to say to her. But before he could respond, she yawned and turned onto her side, then nestled back
against him. If he told her tonight, she’d be awake cursing him and crying. She was exhausted. And so was he.

He pulled her closer. She was perfect. Everything he’d ever wanted in a woman, and
more. He wanted to give her the words, but first he had to give her the truth. It had waited this long; it could wait a
few more hours.