Hornet's Nest (13 page)

“Katherine, I don’t underst—”

“And how is it that you leave without even a note, and then I hear nothing from you all day?” I put my hands on my hips. It may have been to help with my balance more than anything.

“But, I—”

“And how is it that you made me think what we had together was special, when you obviously think otherwise?”

He fisted his hands as he stalked toward me. “Don’t you say—”

“And how come the only time I saw you today, you were holding another girl?” My heart broke as a sob escaped. I showed him what he made me into. The man I loved and hated saw the kind of messed up girl I really was. I was messed up over him.

“Baby,” he said as he tried to pull me toward him.

Recoiling, I glared at him through glazed eyes. With my finger pointed toward his face, I snapped. “Don’t touch me.”

“Katherine, you have to let me explain. It’s not what you think.”

“Sure, seeing you holding some chick affectionately is something that occurs often, right?”

He stood facing me, taking a deep breath. Good. I was glad I riled him up. He put his hands on my hips. For that one instant, between the tears, he looked like the cowboy I once knew.

“That was Heather, and she is just a friend.”

“Oh yeah, y’all looked pretty friendly.” I started to walk back toward Jack.

Before I could take two steps, he wrapped his hand around my wrist and pulled me against body. His hands held me in place. He caught my eye and repeated again, “Her name is Heather, and she is just a friend.”

I ripped my hands away from his hold while glaring at him and stepped away. “Okay, fine. She’s just a friend. We’ll go with that one for now, but can you explain to me why I haven’t heard a word from you today?”

He pulled me flush against his body. My hands fisted on his chest, and I did something stupid. I looked up into his eyes.

“I was in the file room all morning pulling out what we had to work on for the project so you wouldn’t have to get dirty. I was waiting at the bar for you and Josh because he told me earlier this morning about lunch. After neither one of you showed up, I went back to the office to look for you, and someone had said you went home sick.”

I searched his eyes for any sort of lie, but I couldn’t tell. I wanted to believe it was the truth, but the past made it hard to believe anything. “Why did you just leave like that this morning without saying anything?”

“Because I didn’t have clothes to change into for work.”

He rubbed my arm, trying to calm me down, but I pulled away from him again. He exhaled as his body tensed, and I asked, “Are you too good to leave a note or text me then?”

He groaned and stormed down my hallway toward my bedroom. I stared at his back as he clenched his hands into fists. I winced as he disappeared inside my bedroom. I was missing some big piece of a puzzle here. He stormed back waving his cell phone in the air and said, “It’s hard to text you when I leave my cell phone here.”

I squeezed my eyes shut until I heard a slam. I jumped as my eyes popped open to Lance moving his hand away from the table. “Here’s your damn note! It was on the floor between your nightstand and the bed.”

My eyes watered at his anger. I walked slowly over to the table and picked up the note.

I’m sorry I had to leave you.

I wanted to wake you, but you looked so peaceful.

Thank you for an amazing night.

I’m looking forward to many more.

I’ll see you at work, beautiful.

My mouth fell open. He did leave a note. How stupid could I be? I clutched it to my chest and covered my gaping mouth with my hand. Tears poured out from the exhaustion. He wrapped his arms around me and I buried my head into his chest. The tears subsided as I stared into nothing. Doubt still weighed heavy on my mind. I had to get it out. If Lance and I would ever work, I had to get it out.

“How do I know you’re not playing me?”

He pulled away from me as he sighed and walked to the middle of the living room. He rested his hands on his hips again, looking at the ground. Was he gaining composure or coming up with a tale? His emerald eyes caught mine. “I haven’t been with anyone since you.”

The drunk came out of me again, and I said, “Well, that’s good since it was just last night!”

“Damn it, Katherine. I haven’t been with anyone since I was with you a year ago!”

My jaw dropped with my sagging shoulders. He hadn’t been with anyone since me? The eternal womanizer swore off women? I shook my head as I slowly stepped toward him. “No one?”

His hands fell away from his hips as he shook his head and whispered, “No, Katherine. They don’t compare to you.”

Lance didn’t waste another breath. He closed the distance between us in two steps. Holding my face in between his hands, he pressed his lips to mine. My body broke under his touch. God, I wanted to believe him, but my heart was so invested that I couldn’t hand it over so willingly. I pulled out of the kiss and said, “No.”

He reached out for me. “No?”

“I can’t get hurt anymore, Lance. I just can’t,” I whispered.

He stepped toward me. I scooted back. His eyes saddened as he pleaded with me. “Baby, I promise you. I will never ever hurt you.”

I wiped a tear away and asked, “How do I know?”

“You have to trust me.”

“I don’t know if I can,” I whispered.

He stepped toward me again. I didn’t flinch away as I allowed him to cup my cheek. I closed my eyes, feeling immobilized by his simple touch.

“Katherine, look at me.”

My eyes flickered open into his. I exhaled.

He whispered, “If you think you can’t trust me, I will prove to you that you can.”

He brought his lips back down to mine and I willingly accepted them. I wanted him with me. I wanted him to be with me. I just couldn’t risk getting hurt anymore. I had enough of being a mess for one day. I had been a mess for more than a year.

He pulled back and said, “We’re going to start over. You have to allow me this. I can’t lose you, baby.”

I nodded as I let out a breath. “Okay.”

I couldn’t lose him either.

LANCE MUST HAVE been pretty adamant about starting over. Besides the times I saw him at work, I hadn’t seen him since he left my apartment Monday night. After I agreed to start things over with him, we just held each other that night. He kissed my forehead as he left and that was the last time I felt his lips on me.

There had been those moments, though, when I glanced up from my desk to see him resting against the doorframe with his arms folded across his broad chest, just looking at me. Those times when he cracked a smile at me, every organ in my body melted into mush. Those times when his eyes roamed over my body while I walked down the corridor, a seared path was left in its wake. When we met by happenstance in the break room, I was submerged in that emerald sea. When his hand brushed against mine while we were sorting various files, my heart thumped in anticipation for his hands to continue the journey. Yesterday while working together, a strand of my hair had fallen in my face, and he’d reached out to tuck it behind my ear. When he had touched my face, an involuntary gasp escaped from the back of my throat. He’d held my cheek with his hand, my breath catching. I’d stared into his eyes, and he’d cupped my other cheek, cradling my face. My body had scorched underneath his touch. I had wanted him to kiss me. I had
needed
him to kiss me. He’d taken a deep breath, closing his eyes. When he had opened them again, his gaze had searched mine as he whispered, “Please have dinner with me tomorrow night. I miss you so much.”

Thank God.

I was finally going to see him tonight. Since it was nearing the end of the day, I decided to get a jump start on my weekend. I walked into my apartment, forgoing the whiskey and poured a glass of Riesling. I filled my tub with bubbles, turned on my iPod, and sunk into heaven. As I sipped my wine, I tried to bring my nerves and anticipation down to normalcy, but the mere thought of Lance led my heart to pound under my skin.

The way he loved me last Sunday had me yearning for his touch again. The way he looked deep into my eyes as he gently thrust inside me. The way he whispered in my ear about my unnoticed beauty had me quivering just from his breath against my ear. The way he caressed my thigh as he raised my hips even higher pushed me over the edge. The way he buried his face in the crook of my neck and adoringly repeated my name over and over as he found his release had me lost in a dream. Sitting among the caressing bubbles, I momentarily pondered the thought of finding my own release, but thought against it. I wanted him to feel the release from the inner depths of my soul when he finally took me again.

My God, I was in love with that man.

In order to not ponder doing certain things in this tub, I raised myself out of the water and dried off. I pulled on my robe and walked into the kitchen to pour another glass of wine. I still had about two more hours until he was due to pick me up. That meant I had plenty of time to narrow down my wardrobe options.

After an hour of tearing through my closet, I found a one shoulder purple dress hidden in the back that I’d forgotten I owned. It was one of those impulse buys that was a size too small but I loved it anyway so I bought it, and thankfully, it fit. I spent the next hour meticulously applying makeup and curling my hair to perfection. As soon as I slipped on my shoes, I heard the sound of knuckles tapping on my front door. While trying to calm the nerves of the giddy school girl that resided within me, I calmly walked to the door. Taking one last breath, I grasped the knob and pulled it open. The sight standing before my eyes made my heart tick like a time bomb.

Black loafers, dark gray slacks with a black button down shirt adorned by the most gorgeous man God had ever graced us with. And he was standing in my doorway, smiling at me like I was the most beautiful woman in the world. I hoped I could make it through the date without jumping him. The back and forth between us this whole week made me nearly crawl out of my skin.

“Hey, beautiful.”

I smiled in response as the blush crept up my face. How a man like him could be interested in a woman like me was beyond all thought and reason, but there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to take all I could get from Lance Walton, regardless of the imminent end that would surely occur.

“I know this is cliché, but…” He pulled a bundle of pink roses from behind his back.

I gasped as I let go of the door. I shook my head as my gaze flickered between the flowers and his eyes, and I said, “Not cliché. Really sweet.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him against me as he put his arms around my waist. For the first time in days, I finally felt whole again. The things this man did to my heart were scary as hell.

He pulled away slightly as his lips brushed against my forehead. I looked up at him, smiled, and said, “Come in. Let me put these in a vase.”

I ushered him inside as we both walked over to the kitchen. “Do you want a glass of wine before we go?”

“Sure, that would be great. Our reservations aren’t for another hour anyway,” he said as he sat on a stool near my kitchen island.

I poured him a glass and refilled mine. “So, where are we going anyway?”

He smiled and took a sip of his wine. After he pulled it away from those kissable lips that I couldn’t stop staring at, he said, “That, my beautiful, is a surprise.”

I rolled my eyes as a smile lit up my face. I turned away to grab a vase below the sink. I placed it underneath the faucet to fill it up with water when I felt his arms wrapped around my waist.

I set the vase inside the sink. Resting my hands on top of his, I leaned my head back into his chest. He buried his face in the crook of my neck, and he whispered, “I’ve missed you so much, Katherine.”

“I’ve missed you, too, baby.”

He spun me around, still keeping our arms around each other. He searched my eyes and asked, “Am I still your baby?”

“Yes.”

His lips descended as mine rose to meet his. My body was on fire when his lips brushed against mine. What had started out as a slow and innocent kiss turned into something more passionate and needing. I wanted to claw through his clothes just to feel his skin next to mine. Goosebumps spread across my body as his hand brushed up my arm to my cheek. He tilted my head to deepen the kiss, deeper than I ever thought possible. The way his tongue danced against mine mimicked the sex we had once had. The sex I so badly needed again.

He pulled out of the kiss and rested his forehead against mine. We both slowed our breaths to an even pace. Softly, he said, “If we don’t leave now, we’ll never leave.”

I laughed and said, “Okay, let’s go, baby.”

He kissed my forehead. “I’ve missed the way you call me baby.”

I let out a breath as I looked into his eyes and smiled. He turned and spotted a forgotten treat. “Oh, the wine.” Then he proceeded to chug the whole glass.

“Thirsty much?”

“Well, we must have been a little too busy to realize that our reservations are now in a half an hour.” He went to my stash of red solo cups on top of the fridge and poured my wine into it. “We can take yours with us.”

I shook my head and laughed at him holding my cup. I grabbed my purse.

• • •

We made it outside my building and walked up to the familiar Jeep. He caught my eye as he reached for the passenger side door and opened it for me like a gentleman would. I hopped up as he handed me my cup and then closed the door behind me. I knew my face was turning a lighter shade of crimson remembering the first and only time I was in this car.

I took a big sip, trying to calm any last minute anxiety, and placed my cup in the holder just as he sat behind the steering wheel. I snuck a peek at him as he buckled himself in. He glanced over and caught me looking at him. I smiled, but it slipped from my face when I saw his intense expression gaze into mine.

“Lance? Is everyth—”

His hand wrapped around the back of my neck and he pulled our mouths together. He licked my lips, seeking permission, which I willingly allowed. Our tongues resumed the passionate dance that had occurred moments before in my kitchen. He pulled away as his hands held my face and looked deep into my eyes.

“I can’t stand to be apart from you,” he whispered. “I’ve missed you so much this week. Seeing you every day and not being able to touch you was pure torture. I need you in my life. Please be a part of mine. Be mine.”

I was hesitant for a moment as I searched his eyes. All those months when I assumed he played me, he never did. It was all a misunderstanding. He really wanted to be with me. This wonderful man sitting beside me with pleading eyes was asking for me to be his.

I lit up as I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me as I whispered, “For as long as you’ll have me.”

The biggest smile graced his face as his lips gently caressed mine. I had finally accepted the fact that I would forever and always be his and only his. He would be the only man that I will ever truly love. That scared the shit out of me.

He pulled away from our kiss and started the car.

“Let’s go to dinner, girlfriend,” he said, making me smile from ear to ear.

“Sounds good, baby.”