her dark-chocolate stare. “I had to. It wasn’t healthy for me and I was tired of being invisible.”
“You weren’t completely,” he said.
“Yes, I was. Or you would have invited me up here a lot sooner,” she said, standing up.
She paced over to the railing and leaned back against it, facing him.
“Does it bother you that I didn’t?”
“Of course. But not for the reasons you think. It bothers me because I have wasted so many years of my life.”
“You’re not old, Kate,” he said.
“I’m old enough. And it took your engagement to another woman to snap me out of the trance I’ve been in.”
“My engagement?”
“I told you, I’ve wanted you for a long time,” Kate said.
“I’m sorry, Katie-girl. My engagement… it was done for political purposes.”
“Really? What about Lexi? Does she know that? Don’t you care for her at all?”
Lance stood up, as well. “She knows that we are engaged for our families’ sakes. And to be honest, tonight I realized that I can’t go through with the fake engagement.”
“Why not?”
Lance wasn’t the kind of man who liked to talk about his feelings but he knew better than to keep quiet this time. “It just didn’t seem right to marry her.”
He walked slowly over to Kate, stopping when barely an inch of space separated them. “Don’t you want to know why?”
Kate stared up at him. How could he have ever missed how beautiful her eyes were?
“Why?” she asked in a breathy voice.
“I can’t marry her when you are the one woman I can’t get out of my mind.”
“You can’t… Are you serious?”
“Serious as a heart attack, baby. And I’m not about to let you go until we’ve figured this out.”
Kate felt overwhelmed by Lance. She put her hands on his chest and leaned forward to kiss him, licking her lips the second before her mouth touched his. She kept her mouth open, feeling the exhalation of his breath against her. She closed her eyes and rubbed her lips over his.
She let herself make this moment into a memory that she’d remember for the rest of her life. If the last week had taught her anything it was that Lance was important to her. And that forever… well, forever might not be in the cards for them.
But now was. Right now. She curled her fingers around his arms and touched his tongue lightly with hers, stroking it into his open mouth. She tasted the beer he’d drunk earlier and something that was starting to be familiar to her. A taste that was just Lance.
She started to withdraw from his mouth and felt his teeth close lightly around her tongue. He angled his head and she felt his hand on her ribs right below her breasts. His other hand tangled in the hair at the back of her head.
He held her so strongly as his mouth moved over hers, as he took complete control of the embrace and of her body. Shivers spread down her body from her lips past her neck. Her breasts felt fuller as she continued kissing him. She leaned forward and felt the tips of her breasts brush his chest.
She moaned, and then was embarrassed and broke away.
He stopped her. “What is it, honey?”
She shook her head. How had she thought that she could be with this sophisticated man? Had she forgotten that the hair and clothes were just window dressing? Inside she was still Kate Thornton.
But this was Lance Brody and he didn’t take no for an answer. He pulled her back into his arms, his hands falling to the small of her back, holding her against his rock-hard body. His erection nudged the bottom of her stomach.
She glanced up and saw that he was watching her. And she realized she wanted to see more of him. All of him. How often did dreams come true?
If she walked away now, the makeover would be just what she’d called it—window dressing. Nothing more than a facade on her dusty old life. But she had changed.
She put her hands on Lance’s face, drew his head down to hers. “You are the best kisser.”
He smiled at her, just a little half smile that made her pulse race. “I’m just getting started.”
Kate let herself relax and stop worrying about the future, about everything other than this moment. She wanted Lance. He wanted her. Together, they were going to make this moment one of the most memorable.
Lance kissed her again and then lifted her in his arms. She realized she liked the way he carried her around. She loved the feeling that came with being in his arms. Since Kate was big for most of her life, Lance was the first man to carry her as an adult. And it made her feel beautiful, like the sexy girls that men always carried in the movies.
Lance carried her over the threshold, back into his bedroom. He kissed her so tenderly before slowly undressing her.
She crossed her arms over her breasts, knowing despite the weight loss that she still wasn’t perfect. This body… she glanced down at it. Her breasts had fine white stretch marks. And her stomach wasn’t flat. She wondered sometimes if it would ever be.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m not very good-looking naked,” she said.
He shook his head and drew her hands away from her body, holding her arms open so she felt so damned exposed. Too exposed. She couldn’t do this.
Just when she was about to turn away, he pulled her into his arms, hugging her close to his clothed body. “Kate, can’t you feel what you do to me?”
He took her hand and drew it down his body to his erection. It was hard and proud, pressing against his jeans. She stroked him through his clothes.
He traced his finger over her breasts, circling around the white fleshy globe before coming closer to her nipple. It beaded up and she bit her lower lip, waiting in anticipation of his touch.
“Katie?”
“Hmm?”
“You have one hot, sexy body,” he said. His finger rubbed over her nipple, making it impossible for her to remember her own arguments.
A moment later, his head dipped down and he suckled her, drawing her nipple into his mouth. She rubbed her hands over his short hair.
“Lance, take your shirt off,” she said. She surprised herself with her demand. But she wanted to enjoy every second she had with Lance, and she needed to see his chest.
He lifted his head and stood there in front of her. “You take it off for me.”
She reached for his shirt and drew it up and over his head. He tossed it aside and she couldn’t help but reach for his chest. She touched his muscles over his breastbone and then followed the line of hair that tapered down, disappearing into his waistband.
“I like you without your shirt on,” she said.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
She felt more vulnerable now than she had just a second before. She hadn’t meant to leave herself so open to him. Yet, at the same time, she knew there was no other way for her to react to him.
He didn’t say anything else, just bent to trace the line of her neck to the base. He licked her there and then dropped the softest kiss on her.
She couldn’t think as he stood back up and