Kiss Me Kate (The English Brothers Book 6) (21 page)

“Oh, Kate,” he panted, leaning up to unfasten his pants with one hand, and grinning at her, “This is going to be fun.”

She laughed softly, feeling languid and hot, her body still convulsing gently with after-shocks as she heard his pants hit the floor. A moment later she felt his fingers on the button of her jeans, and she arched up so he could pull them, and her panties, down her legs. Completely naked, he rolled back on top of her, and Kate sighed as she felt the hot throb of his sex pillowed in the soft curls of hers.

“Do you want to go slow?” he asked.

“Later.”

“Are you on the pill?”

“Mm-hmm,” she murmured, spreading her legs, and drawing her knees up to welcome him.

“I want you so badly,” he said, his voice breaking as he leaning down to nuzzle her nose, repositioning himself just slightly.

“Me too,” she panted, biting his lower lip before sucking it between hers. “Please.”

She felt the tip of his sex rest at the entrance of hers, his hips rocking slowly and gently against her as if still giving her a chance to say no. Reaching down between them, Kate grasped the steel length of him in her fingers then looked him in the eyes.

“Now.”

He slid into her with a low groan, his eyes shuttering and his arms trembling as her fingers peeled away one by one so that he could impale her fully. When he was lodged inside of her to the hilt, he gasped like he’d been holding his breath, and then opened his eyes.

“Oh God, Kate.”

Leaning down, he kissed her frantically, urgently, her as their bodies recalled the rhythm from so long ago, how they fit together, the slick heat of her body sucking him forward as his throbbing thickness massaged the sensitive walls of her sex.

“I’ve missed you. I’ve dreamed of you,” he said with a sigh against her neck, the heat of his breath making her tremble as her body stretched to accommodate him.

“Me too,” she panted. “For too long.”

He found her hands on the mattress beside them, fingers twisted into the crisp white hotel sheets, and he pulled them away, entwining his fingers with hers, and gently moving both over her head where they remained joined.

Kate felt the stirring deep inside, the blessed relief, the growing swirling that told her release was imminent.

“Étienne,” she whispered. “Come with me.”

His eyes dark and heavy, he gazed deeply into hers and groaned the words,
Toujours, chaton
, before driving into her one last time and bellowing her name in ecstasy.

***

“What’s
toujours
?” Kate asked him, her blonde hair falling across his chest in waves as he stroked her back gently.

“Hmm,” he murmured. “It means forever.”

He felt the slight tremble of her laughter against his pecs and flexed one in warning. “Quit laughing at me, woman.”

She leaned up on his chest, blue eyes shining, bruised lips tilted up in a sweet smile. “You’ll come with me forever?”

“Absolutely,” he said without flinching. “I’d be crazy to turn down that invitation.”

She grinned at him again before laying her cheek back down on his chest. “I don’t remember it being like that.”

“In the hammock?” It was his turn to chuckle. “I still don’t know how we managed it.”

“I loved that hammock,” said Kate. “Even when my elbow or knee would slip through the mesh.”

“Friar died two years ago,” said Étienne quietly.

“No!” said Kate. “Our guardian angel.”

“I went to the funeral. I think the Winslows were shocked to see me there. Which is good, I guess. It means they never found out we used their backyard as our little haven.”

“He was good to us,” said Kate, pressing her lips to his skin. “Without him…”

“We still would have found a way,” Étienne said firmly, running his fingers through her hair. “It wouldn’t have been easy, but after I met you on the trampoline that first night, a pack of wolves couldn’t have kept me away.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I’d never met anyone like you. So innocent and confident and lovely.”

She leaned up again, raising an eyebrow. “Innocent, yes. Confident, not really. Lovely?”

“Kate, we need to have a serious talk about how you see yourself.”

“I have a mirror.”

“Then you should know how mind-blowingly beautiful you are. Blonde hair and blue eyes.” He reached for her probably still-sensitive breasts, placing his palms over the nipples, which puckered for him eagerly. “These.” He pressed lightly until she fell onto her back and he leaned over her, trailing the index finger of one hand over the softness of her belly as the other kneaded her breast. “Your curves are all woman. So sexy.” His finger continued its journey, his palm occasionally flattening as it dipped lower, probing the damp curls that smelled like him, and her, like recent sex. “Here. Where you’re so sensitive.”

She gasped softly and when he looked up, her head was thrown back into the pillow, her lower lip caught between her teeth.

“I’ve never tasted you, Kate,” he said softly, parting her lips with his fingers. “Another first for us.”

She whimpered as he dropped his head, the tip of his tongue touching down on her rigid pink clit as her pelvis bucked lightly into his face. He chuckled softly, and she murmured, “More” as his tongue made a lazy rotation around her swollen flesh.

“More,
chaton
?” he teased her, knowing that the breath from his mouth would caress her skin and make her tremble.

“Yes,” she moaned, fingers fisting into the sheets again.

Covering her mound with his mouth, he sucked strongly, his tongue laving over her slick, hot flesh, then flicking playfully as Kate’s cries of pleasure grew stronger and louder until her whole body tensed, then exploded in tremors.

Étienne sat back on his knees, wrapped his arms around her waist, and jerked her onto his lap, fitting them together as her forehead landed on his shoulder and limp arms hugged him. He pushed up into her hot, trembling sex, panting into her neck as her still-quivering muscles sucked him into her body. He thrust upward and Kate moaned, her teeth biting lightly into the skin of his shoulder.

“Is this okay, love?” he asked her through panted breaths.

“This
is
love,” she answered in a broken sigh, repeating the words she’d said to him the night they’d lost their virginity to each other.

“
You
are love,” he responded, thrusting up into the heaven of her body one last time before stars burst behind his eyes, and his body emptied itself into hers.

***

Eating beignets in bed is messy,
thought Kate, licking some powdered sugar from Étienne’s abs, which were serving as a makeshift table.

“I love these,” he said, grinning at her as he took another bite, which covered his lips in white.

Kate couldn’t resist. She leaned forward, running her tongue over his lips as he stopped chewing.

“Me too,” she answered with a flirty wink before grabbing another and popping it into her mouth. “Did you like going to school here?”

He shrugged, swallowing his mouthful of doughnut. “I guess. Amy was still up in Philly, so it was a long break for us…which was probably good. I sort of got used to the South while I was in Mississippi.”

Kate flinched and he reached forward to place a gentle hand on her bare thigh. “Don’t do that. Don’t feel bad when I talk about it. You had nothing to do with why I ended up there.”

“I’m angry that it happened. I’m so angry with Alex,” she said sadly.

“It was a long time ago, and honestly, Kate? He really believed he was defending your honor. He did. I could tell. My nose could tell.”

Kate thought about her cousins whose lives were so intricately entwined with hers. “How can this work? How can you date Alex English’s cousin?”

“Are you nuts? How could I not? I’m in love with her.”

Kate’s eyes filled with tears at the sweetness of his simple admission, but the words—while delivered with a firm certainty—still didn’t feel real.

“How is that possible?” she asked him.

He shrugged, reaching for another beignet. “Because I never stopped. I keep telling you that, counselor. At some point, you’re just going to have to believe my testimony.”

“Will you give me a little time?”

“Will you be my girlfriend while you’re thinking it over?”

“Thinking what over?”

“Letting me come with you forever.”

She was so surprised, she chortled, and a puff of powdered sugar showered them with white. Étienne dusted himself off, grinning at her. “Was that a yes?”

“You
really
want to be exclusive.”

He nodded, all trace of teasing gone. “Don’t you think we deserve that? More of this? More time? I don’t want any distractions…on either side. I just want to be together and see what happens.”

Kate took a deep breath then nodded at him. “Okay. But I get to tell my cousins.”

Étienne’s eyes narrowed and his mouth thinned to an annoyed line. “We’ll discuss that later.”

Sensing the discussion was going to be less playful than beignets and boyfriends, she relented. “Fine. Later.”

“Hey, I’ve been wondering…why do you have so many cats?”

Kate grinned, popping another beignet in her mouth. “After Shelby died, I felt really lonely for another one, but when I went to the local shelter, there were about a hundred that needed foster homes. HIV kittens. Babies with injured eyes or legs. I couldn’t go home with just one.”

“So you went home with two.”

She cringed. “Three. Annie, Oliver, and Cinderella.”

“Literary orphans,” he chuckled.

“Mm-hmm,” she said. “They’re all special needs, but I love them.”

“Who’s with them now?”

“Oh, I have someone come and tend to them. You know?” She bit her bottom lip wondering if he’d laugh at her dream of sponsoring a special needs feline shelter in Philadelphia. “There isn’t a shelter just for special needs animals in Philly. I was thinking…”

“About starting one? I bet my sister, Mad, would give you a hand. She’s a softie too.”

“I always liked Mad,” said Kate, loving it that he’d jumped on board without ridiculing her or second-guessing her plans. “Are you close to them? J.C., Mad, and Jax?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Étienne. “We have dinner together every other Friday night.”

“That’s right,” said Kate.

“Uh…that’s right? How do you know about my family dinners?”

Kate’s cheeks flushed red and hot. She knew because Jax often mentioned them on Facebook. “Jax, um, Jax is my Facebook friend.”

“Stalking me through my sister, huh?” he joked.

He has no idea how right he is.

She pinched his bare thigh. “As if! I can be friends with your sister without trolling for info about you!”

He grabbed her hand, shifting it from his thigh to his penis, which sprang to life, growing and thickening the moment Kate’s fingers touched the hot flesh. She wrapped her fingers around him, caressing lightly as his eyes seared into hers.

“What do you want, Kate?” he asked her in a low voice.

“I want…”

“You want me.”

“Yes. I want you.”

“Good,” he said, gasping as her fingers increased their pressure and speed. “Because I belong to you.”

Kate leaned forward, dipping her head to take him in her mouth, and lay claim to what was hers.

“The sun’s setting,” said Kate, walking back into the room after a hot shower. Étienne had started with her, then left while she washed her hair, taking her key card and heading to his room to get dressed quickly before returning a few minutes later.

“How about dinner in the French Quarter?” he asked, looking casual and delicious in jeans and a black T-shirt.

“I’d love it,” she said, pulling a brush through her wet hair before twisting it up into a chignon.

“Wear it down,” he said softly, staring at her from where he sat on the loveseat.

She smiled at him, pulling out two pins and letting the damp waves cover her shoulders. “I’m not used to wearing it down.”

“The first time I ever saw you, all I wanted to do was run my hands through your hair.”
“I know,” she said, opening her suitcase to find some fresh panties and pulling them on under her bathrobe. “You were always reaching out to touch my hair. Even before we kissed.”

“I still have that painting, you know.”

This surprised her and she stopped what she was doing, turning to face him. “You do?”

“Every so often, when I wanted to torture myself, I’d pull it out and look at it.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t burn it,” she said, overcome by the steadfastness of his heart during all of their years apart.

“How could I do that? I’d promised it to you. On the back of it, it says ‘Property of Kate English.’ Just in case anything ever happened to me, I wanted it to find its way back to you.”

“Why?” she asked.

“To remind you of that week. So you’d know that you were loved, no matter what came after.”

Kate crossed the room, straddling his lap and putting her arms around his neck. Her bathrobe loosened a little and he dropped his forehead to her bare chest, resting there. He didn’t reach for her breasts, or try to pull off her panties. Wrapping his arms around her, he breathed deeply, the soft cotton of his shirt pushing against her chest as they held each other tightly.

“Can you fall in love with someone when you’re fifteen and pick up where you left off twelve years later?” she whispered.

“I hope so,” he said softly, his lips moving against her skin. “Let’s find out.”

Taking his cheeks between her palms, Kate lifted his head and pressed her lips to his—a sweet kiss, undemanding and loving. And he responded gently, his tongue making a leisurely sweep of her mouth before sliding tenderly against hers. His arms tightened around her, his fingers kneading her back through the thick terrycloth of her robe.

“Yeah. Let’s find out,” she agreed, kissing his lips one last time before climbing off his lap.

Picking up the bra she’d left on the bed, she let the bathrobe drop from her shoulders, appreciating the way his mouth followed suit as she shrugged into the black lace, covering her breasts and clasping it quickly in the back with a teasing grin.

“How about dinner in?” he asked, frowning as she pulled on her jeans.

“Nope. You’re showing me Naw’lins.”

“You’re a tease,” he said. “And your accent is terrible.”

“I’m not the one who went to school here,” she countered. She glanced at him sheepishly. “Speaking of school, I’m sorry I didn’t say hello to you…at Harvard.”

He pulled his bottom lip into his mouth. “Yeah, that stung. It was like further proof that you’d never been as into me as I was into you.”

“All I could think was that you’d try to say hello and maybe offer some polite small talk after all we’d shared. I couldn’t bear it.”

“Honestly, I was so surprised to see you I have no idea what I would have said if you’d turned around.”

“We’re all about missed opportunities.” She sighed.

“We
were
,” he corrected. “You’re not slipping through my fingers this time.”

Kate grinned at him as she pulled on her blouse then grimaced when she realized he’d pulled off two of the buttons in his haste to get her naked earlier. She faced him, frowning. “Really?”

“Sorry. I wanted you bad, Kate English.”

She shook her head, rifling through her suitcase, but coming up dry, except for her work-out clothes, which included a clingy, hot pink and black lycra shirt. “Then this’ll have to do.”

Étienne raised his eyebrows, giving her a leering grin as it stretched over her full breasts. “No complaints here.”

An hour later, they sat at an outdoor table drinking Hurricanes, serenaded by the jazz band in the adjoining bistro. It hadn’t taken long for Kate to observe that every woman they passed, and every woman in the café where they sat, noticed Étienne. Their eyes flagrantly undressed him as their cheeks flushed with pleasure, but Étienne only seemed to notice Kate, which somehow felt like a miracle to her, since she’d never been the type of woman to attract a lot of attention.

“Tell me something,” said Kate, tilting her head to the side as she grinned at him. “Do you ever get sick of your adoring fans?”

He cringed, shaking his head at her. “It’s nonsense. They have no idea who I am.”

Kate nodded, remembering that he’d always felt just slightly out of step with his peers after being transplanted so abruptly to America. “So, who are you now? Who is Étienne Xavier Rousseau now?”

“Xavier,” he repeated in a thick French accent. “Was I drunk when I told you that, Kathryn Grey English?”

“We never got drunk together,” she said, taking a hefty sip of Hurricane. “And quit evading my line of questioning, counselor.”

He sighed. “Who am I? I’m a lawyer at my family’s firm. I paint when I’m stressed. I like fast cars. I don’t mind cats. Recently single.” He glanced at her and winked. “Even more recently…taken. And you?”

“Same, except for the fast cars and painting.”

“What do you do when you’re stressed?”

“Adopt cats, see friends, read…troll Facebook for news about ex-boyfriends.”

He pounded the table lightly with his fist. “I
knew
it!”

She chuckled. “Guilty as charged. When I heard about your accident, I…well, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. It’s not like I could call you or visit…but I couldn’t stand not knowing if you were okay. I friended Jax and thank God she posts on Facebook about twenty times a day. I followed your whole recovery.”

He reached for her hand across the table. “I tried to force myself not to think of you whenever you popped into my mind.”

She squeezed his hand before releasing it and relaxing back in her chair. “It’s so nice here. Let’s stay forever. Let’s not go home.”

“We can’t run away.”

“Why not? We’re grownups. We’re lawyers. Let’s move here and open our own firm.”

“Kate,” he said gently, “as tempting as that sounds, we have to go home.”

“I’m furious at them,” she said softly, her chin dropping to her chest as her cheeks blazed with heat. “I still can’t believe the part they all played…my father, Alex, Stratton…even Weston, Fitz, and Barrett must have known about everything. My uncle would have called my father to tell him about the fight, so he knew too. They
all
knew. They all manipulated me, ruined our chance to be together, conspired to drive us apart. I-I don’t know how to look at them, let alone what to say. They took away what I loved more than anything else in the world.”

“They thought they were protecting you,” he said, reaching for her hand again and not letting her pull away.

“How can you say that? How can you defend them when they did this to you, too?”

“I’m no fan of the English brothers, Kate. But I love you. As much as I hate what they did, I respect that they did it out of love for you.”

“So you’re just going to forgive them? All of them? Even your mother?”

His eyes hardened. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about my mother yet, but yes, eventually I’ll forgive her, too.”

Kate’s eyes swam with tears as she looked back at him across the table. “That’s too easy. What happened between us broke my heart. It shattered my confidence. It made me believe that I wasn’t worthy of love, that I wasn’t desirable. Did I go to a good school and become a lawyer? Sure. But a part of my life was crippled by their interference, and I can’t just blithely forgive them because they had good intentions. Not for me. And not for you.” She bit her lip as a tear made its way down her cheek. “I love them so much, but this will change things between me and them, and I hate that so much, too.”

“It will change things, yes, but maybe for the better,” Étienne suggested. “Maybe they still see you as their little cousin Kate, and it’s time for that to change. Maybe some good could come from this,
chaton
. Not just a second chance for us, but a better relationship with them, too.”

She thought about this…about the way they’d tried to protect her from this deal, from Étienne, from anything that might disturb delicate Princess Kate in her ivory tower. If she was going to remain in Philly, she didn’t want to live her life under that sort of protection. She needed for them to see her as an equal and as a strong adult woman who didn’t need to be shielded or protected or coddled, and if they couldn’t make that change, she’d need to find a new job.

“You’re right,” she said, taking back her hand as their waitress arrived with two steaming bowls of crawfish. “Things are
definitely
going to change.”

***

Morning light streamed into Kate’s room and Étienne’s eyes opened slowly. He was holding Kate against him—her back to his chest—but she was still sleeping deeply, her breathing even.

It’s a strange thing to suddenly have what you always wanted, what you always dreamed of. While Étienne’s life had been privileged in some ways—wealthy parents, beautiful mansion, creature comforts—it had been hard, too. Military school for over two years had taught him a harsh lesson in control and deprivation, but in a strange way, it had also been welcome punishment after hurting and losing Kate. In a way, he’d embraced it as the consequence of his stupidity in trusting the wrong people with important information. It made him grow up faster to be away from his parents and siblings. It taught him respect, discipline and teamwork, and made him more independent and self-assured than he’d been as a young boy and teenager in Haverford. Ultimately, military school had made him a man.

As an extension of the Rousseaus’ parenting philosophy, being a cadet had also reinforced the concept of punishment and reward, and somewhere in Étienne’s mind his betrayal of Kate—by talking about her with Dash and Kurt—constituted a punishable offence. And though heartbreaking, it made sense that he would lose her, because he hadn’t treated their love with the honor it deserved. He hadn’t flaunted it or disrespected it, but what he’d learned in the long years apart from Kate, was that he’d had no business to talk about her at all. Ever. What he’d shared with her was too sacred for beer-bathed confessions around a swimming pool with neighbors. He’d lost Kate because it was his punishment. And he deserved it.

So why, he wondered, was she his reward now?

His life hadn’t been so exemplary that he deserved another chance with her.

All he could think was that there must still be a debt to pay in order to be worthy of Kate, and he’d gladly pay it, for the rest of his life, just to wake up holding her every morning. She stirred in her sleep, pushing back against him, and he tightened his arms around her softness, burying his nose in her hair and breathing deeply.

They’d made love twice more last night after returning to her hotel room, but there was sadness behind Kate’s eyes after their conversation about her cousins. She was angry with them, hurt and betrayed and suddenly it occurred to Étienne that there
was
something he could do for her—something important he could do to deserve her: he could make his peace with her cousins so that his quarrel with them was neutralized.

He’d meant when he said that he respected Alex for defending Kate’s honor. At the time, as a raging, furious fifteen-year-old, he hadn’t understood, of course, but during his tenure at military school, he had come to value that respect and honor were of paramount importance. Alex acted hastily, yes, but Étienne truly believed he was acting in Kate’s interest, defending and honoring her in a way that Étienne had not.

Surely it would be easier for him and Kate to have a solid beginning if there weren’t in-fighting and old grudges between him and her family, right? He wasn’t some fifteen-year-old who needed to sneak around with her anymore either. He would confront the English brothers head-on without his usual sardonic smirks, and once
his
fight was over, he could support her in her own.

But before meeting with Kate’s cousins, he had one other very important piece of business to take care of in Philadelphia that didn’t include the English family, and for that he would need to go back early so it could be settled today.

Carefully moving his arm out from under her, he pulled away from the warmth of her body, kissing her shoulder as he slipped out of bed. Writing a quick note which he left on the bedside table, he dressed quickly and left her room without a sound.