Unfinished Business (10 page)

He was a man who desired her, and naturally his sexual needs were rising. It had been a long time since he’d been with a woman. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to touch anyone, sleep with anyone, or think of anyone since that night with Christy. So for the past three years he had buried himself in his work trying to rid himself of the deep, intense desire he had for her.

Taking a step out of the shadows and into the light, he asked, “Are you ready to go?”

The sound of that particular male’s voice reverberated through Christy, causing sensations she’d rather not deal with at the moment. And when she swirled around, her gaze collided with clear dark eyes belonging to the one man she had wanted to avoid tonight. Being so close to him was unnerving, so she took a step back, needing to put distance between them. “Go where? I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Alex drilled her with a penetrating stare. “Diamond said you weren’t feeling well and needed to leave.”

“Yes, but Uncle Jake is going to take me home.”

“I’m the one taking you home.”

Christy shook her head. “But you got here less than an hour ago. I’m sure you want to stay and—”

“No,” he said, the word spoken strongly, his look compelling. He took a step forward, reclaiming the distance she’d put between them earlier. “The only thing I want is to make sure you’re OK.”

Christy pressed her lips together, deciding for the moment not to say anything, trying not to let his words that were spoken with such compassion and care touch her, send flooding warmth through her. She looked up at him, taking in his tall height as he towered over her, his shoulders massive, chest broad, and features as arresting as any male features could get.

“Come on and let me take you home, Christy.”

She drew in a slow breath, wondering how she could tell him that he was the reason she wanted to leave and that his very presence unsettled her. There was no way she could go anywhere with him. But when he reached out and took her hand in his, somehow his touch calmed whatever turmoil had been brewing within her. And when his fingers closed tightly over hers, he willed her his strength and his reassurance; of what she wasn’t certain, but she no longer felt ruffled and unsettled. And she remained that way as he led her out the door to his car.

 
The moment the car locks clicked in place, Christy glanced over at Alex and her breath caught when she found him staring directly at her.

“Are you OK?” he asked in a low and soft voice. “Should we stop somewhere to get you something? A soda for an upset stomach? Aspirin for a headache?”

She shook her head. “No, just take me home and I’ll be fine.”

He nodded and then she watched as he started the car’s ignition, resulting in a soft purring sound. It was moments later when they reached the interstate that she remembered this was how things had started out three years ago, on a car ride home. It was after the charity auction and everyone in her family had left to be with Trevor at the hospital as he waited for Corinthians to give birth to their baby. Christy’s brothers had asked Alex to take her home.

She shifted her body and leaned against the soft cushion of the leather seat. Now this was one thing that was different. The car. That night he had been driving a BMW. Tonight he had a Lexus sports car. It was fast, sleek, and he was handling it with unerring precision that appeared to come naturally to him. As natural as breathing. Kissing her. Or anything else he did well.

“Marriage agrees with Sir Drake, doesn’t it?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat, glad he had interrupted her thoughts, since they had been way out there. “Yes, it does,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so calm, relaxed, and human.”

Alex’s soft chuckle rippled through the air. It also rippled through her, the sensation headier than she would have liked. The inside of the vehicle was intimate, deliciously warm. “Yes,” he said. “Tori is definitely his perfect soulmate. She’s all the woman he needs.”

Christy nodded, tempted to ask him what type of woman he needed; definitely not one eight years younger. He had made the difference in their ages a big issue three years ago. She was curious as to what he thought about it now. A few weeks ago he had apologized and said he regretted the things he’d said to her, but still a part of her couldn’t thaw out a portion of her heart that his words had frozen. She couldn’t let go and get beyond the humiliating pain.

And you won’t let go until the two of you talk about that night
, a voice inside of her taunted.
He’s asked you to discuss it, but you’ve refused to entertain the notion there is unfinished business between the two of you like he says
.
You won’t risk him melting that ice in your heart
.

When the car came to another traffic light Alex couldn’t help but glance over at Christy and release a slow breath. The air-conditioning was filling the car with the warmth of her scent. She looked simply incredible and smelled deliciously edible. He wished he could use his mouth to taste her from head to toe.

His gaze moved to her hands, which were resting in her lap. For eight years she had worn his ring on her left hand. A ring that had meant nothing to him but everything to her. Now, more than anything, he wanted to place that ring back on her finger. He took a shaky breath, not believing he was thinking that way.

Christy had a way a making him not think straight, which was something no other woman could do. There was never a time when he hadn’t been in full control of any relationship he’d shared with a woman. Things were done his way or no way, on his terms and not theirs.

But Christy Madaris came with a whole set of rules. She could break through his primitive impulses without even trying. And she could make him desire her to the point where he would be tempted to say, “The hell with it,” and fill the sexual need she had the ability to arouse in him.

Deciding that silence had ruled the interior of the car long enough, he asked, “How’s the Patterson investigation going?”

Christy met his gaze briefly as he slowed down to exit the expressway. “I spent the first part of the week going through a ton of documentation, articles, and microfilm. Then on Thursday I took a day trip to Columbus where Bonita Patterson was last seen to talk with Clara Jenkins, the woman who owns a rooming house where Bonita had lived. Mrs. Jenkins is convinced Bonita just moved on.”

Christy sighed before continuing, “But I did talk to a guy at the car wash where Bonita worked. He said she asked him to take her home one night because she was afraid of walking. She thought someone was stalking her.”

Alex raised a dark brow. “What about those other runaways?”

Christy glanced over at him. He had brought the car to a stop at a traffic light. She tried concentrating on his question and not on the sensual lining of his lips or the mesmerizing look in his eyes. “There were three others, two girls and one guy. Only Holly Johnson’s parents are still convinced there was foul play. The others now think their runaways are somewhere alive and don’t want to be found.”

“What do you think?”

Christy swallowed thickly, trying to concentrate on their conversation and not on Alex. “I think just the opposite. In each of Morganna’s dreams, she provided some kind of clue as to each of their kidnappings. I can’t believe at some point she wasn’t taken seriously.”

Christy’s comment made a frown pucker Alex’s brow. If Morganna’s dreams and those kidnappings had been brought to the attention of the FBI, he wondered why they hadn’t picked up on the connection as well?

“It’s a beautiful night, isn’t it?”

He glanced over at her as he pulled into her parents’ subdivision, the same one where he’d also grown up. “Yes, it is,” he answered.

Moments later they were pulling into the driveway of a spacious two-story house. Alex brought the car to a stop.

“Thanks for bringing me home, Alex. And it was nice seeing you again and I hope that—”

He didn’t give Christy time to finish, since he had opened the car door and was walking around the passenger side of the car. He opened the car door for her. He met her gaze, tried not to notice the irritation in her eyes when she said, “You don’t have to walk me to the door, Alex. I know my way.” She made the statement firmly.

He flashed a smile. “Since you’ve lived here all of your life I’m sure you do, but that’s not why I’m walking you to the door.”

Christy gritted her teeth as he assisted her from the vehicle. “Then what is the reason?”

“You’ll know when we get there.”

The silence that followed as they strolled up the walkway was unnerving. At least Christy thought it was. A quick glance over at Alex indicated he was calm, relaxed. Nothing appeared to be bothering him at all, but on the other hand, she was dying of curiosity. What would she find out when they got to the door? She’d made this walk thousands of times, but never had it appeared so long.

“I told your parents you weren’t feeling well and that I was taking you home.”

Christy stopped. She turned to him. “Why?”

Alex raised a brow. “Why what?”

“Why would you tell them that?”

He looked at her as if the reason were obvious. “So, they wouldn’t be worried when they didn’t see you.”

“Diamond would have told them.”

“Yes, I’m sure that she would have, but
I
wanted to tell them. I wanted to assure them you were in good hands.”

Speaking of hands . . . Christy glanced down at his. Currently they were in his pockets, but she had a feeling he planned to take them out and use them in some capacity before she went into the house. She had always admired his hands, big, firm, with lean fingers. And as he and Christy began walking again she tried not to think about the fact that he was still wearing the ring she had returned to him.

And she didn’t want to think of all the history the two of them had shared on this patch of ground. Although he’d been one of the youngest of her brothers’ friends, since he was Trask’s brother, that had made him an automatic member of the group. It had never bothered him when she adoringly followed him around with hero worship gleaming in her eyes.

He had taken up so much time with her while they’d been growing up. And like her brothers, he had always been there for her. She had truly convinced herself that he was the man she would grow up and marry. He was her prince who had delivered the shoe that fit, the one who had awakened her from a deep sleep, all the things that those fairy tales’ true love and happy endings were based on. But in one single night he had snatched her out of fantasyland and made reality stare her cruelly in the face when he let her know he was not a prince and she was definitely not his princess.

“What time are you leaving tomorrow?”

She answered without looking over at him. “Tomorrow evening.”

“Then maybe we can have brunch at Sisters before you leave, unless you’ve made other plans.”

“I have,” she lied. “I thought I’d spend some time with Traci and Kattie before I leave.” He didn’t have to know that she had spent time with her sisters and their families on Friday when she arrived.

She and Alex finally emerged from the semi-darkness of the long, winding walkway to the doorstep. As usual, the porch light had been left on. “Thanks for seeing me to the door, Alex.”

“Let’s go inside, Christy.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“So I can kiss you.”

Struck by the force of his direct, cut-to-the-chase statement, Christy tried to fight back the shivery tingles that escalated down her spine, then moved to every nerve ending in her body. “No, I don’t think so,” she said, breathing deeply and looking levelly into his dark, mesmerizing eyes.

“I hate to contradict you, but I
do
. We can do it either out here or inside. Personally, I prefer doing it inside, but either way, I intend to kiss you.”

She glared at him. “And I won’t have anything to say about it?”

He smiled. “No. Your mouth and tongue will be way too occupied to say anything.”

Of all the nerve! As she tried to ignore the turbulent yet sensuous quake that was shaking her body, her glare deepened. “Don’t push me, Alex.”

Their gazes held. Locked. Dueled. Then he said, “I’m going to kiss you, Christy. The pushing comes later. Now are you going to open the door or will I have to? Have you forgotten that like you I have a key?”

She swallowed. She
had
forgotten. Alex was the last to move out of the neighborhood, and since her parents began traveling when they retired, it had made perfect since to leave a spare key with him so he could check on things while they were away. They had never felt the need to ask that the key be returned, since they considered him and his brother, Trask, family.

She breathed in deeply and decided to use another tactic. “You will force yourself on me?”

She watched his lips quirk. “I won’t have to do that. You’ll want my kiss, and if I recall, you once begged for it . . . as well as for something else.”

Christy pursed her lips. He was not being kind to remind her of that. “I was under the influence then.”

He nodded. “True. Are you under the influence of anything now?”

She lifted a stubborn chin. “No.”

“You’re absolutely sure about that?”

She wondered what he was getting at. “Of course I’m sure,” she snapped.

“Good.”

She didn’t see it coming or she would have dodged the attack when his mouth swept down on hers, stealing her next breath and weakening her knees in the process. The tongue that immediately plunged into her mouth was powerful, skillful, and hungry. It was also sensuously persuasive. In no time at all, her own tongue had succumbed, and it didn’t take long for her senses to follow.

This was a master kisser at work, an experienced seducer. He was a man with the golden touch and she was getting firsthand treatment. She felt the extent of his body pressed against hers, his powerful chest to the hardened tips of her breasts, his firm, solid stomach flattened against the soft contours of hers, and his muscled thighs cradling hers in one hell of an intimate squeeze. But it was the feel of his aroused body that both panicked and excited her.

She knew the safest course of action was to break off the kiss and demand that he leave. That was the logical thing to do. But then, her mind wasn’t thinking logically and was refusing to do so. How could it think rationally when his tongue was embedded deep inside her mouth, doing irrational things to it? And if the kiss wasn’t messing with her mind, then the scent of him, hot and musky, was taking control of her nostrils. He was pure male. Unadulterated. And when he intensified the kiss she felt hot, on fire, all the way to her loins.

Just as swiftly as the kiss started, it ended when he lifted his mouth but not all the way. He held his lips within inches of hers. “Tell me to take you inside and kiss you again. Tell me,” he murmured softly against her moist lips.

Her eyes were heavy with desire as she stared at him.
There’s nothing wrong with giving in to the temptation of his kisses
, she reasoned. After all, he wasn’t the only guy she’d ever kissed. But then she quickly concluded that he was the only guy who’d really ever kissed her in the full sense of the word. He made any other kisses seem obsolete. He had the adept technique of a man who knew what he was doing. Gifted, talented, cunning, and slick. And she wanted to experience it all over again with him.

“Take me inside and kiss me again, Alex,” she whispered. She watched his gaze lock on to her mouth and felt the heat of his breath against her lips when he whispered huskily, “Give me your key.”

She placed the key in his hand. The feel of their fingers touching made her heart thump wildly in her chest, and the heated sensation of something intense was making butterflies dance around in her stomach.