He eased over onto his side, ran his hand up her shoulder, down her arm, his fingers intertwining with hers. He brought her hand back to his mouth and kissed her fingers one by one. Tiny threads of emotions coursed through her, the gesture so endearing, so tender.
She let her fingertips graze the scar on his chin. “How did you get this?”
“Mitch.”
“How?”
“We got into a fight.”
“About what?”
“You.”
She traced the curved line, feeling the worn ridge. “Why?”
“I’m not sure how to say this, but back in college, I was sort of…” He paused as if embarrassed. “Well, I dated a lot.”
She couldn’t help but smile. A player. “Like Mitch.”
He laughed. “Yeah. Probably why we got to be such good friends. Anyway, you and I had just started seeing each other, and you came to one of my games. Mitch and I played—”
“Baseball,” she finished for him. “And Mitch saw us together and got so mad he got ejected from the game.”
“How do you know?”
“Mitch told me the story. But not about the scar. He said he hit you when you came out of the clubhouse.”
One side of Ryan’s mouth curled. “He did. Man, he was pissed. And you…you were even more mad.”
“I was?”
“Yeah. Said we were acting like children. Actually, it wasn’t all that different from what you said to us after the press conference yesterday.”
She ran her fingers over the scar again. “How many stitches?”
“Four. I knew Mitch was right. He had every reason to be pissed at me. I went to break up with you that night. But I took one look at you standing on the porch of your sorority house, and saw how worried you were about me, and…”
“And what?”
“And I fell for you. Hard.”
Her heart thumped. She could imagine the scene. She just wished she could remember it. “You did?”
“Yeah. Plus, it didn’t hurt that you took me back to my apartment, doted on me, kissed all my wounds.”
She laughed, then glanced down at her hand in his. Her fingertips grazed the platinum band edged in gold. “Why do you wear this?”
“Because I’m married.”
“You were wearing it when we met. You didn’t know you were still married then.”
“I always wear it.” His fingers slid along hers.
“You’ve worn it all this time?”
“Yeah. Does that surprise you?”
She shook her head, fighting back emotions she couldn’t define. “Why? It’s been five years.”
“Because I got married, once, for better or worse. Forever. I found the woman I wanted to spend my life with. I have no intentions of getting married to anyone else.”
“You’d rather be alone? What if you’d met someone?”
“I’ve met lots of women. None of them ever came close to you.”
“Ryan.” Emotions flowed through her. Tears stung the backs of her eyes. Under that tender gaze, her heart was dangerously close to the edge.
His fingers tightened in hers, and he glanced down at her left hand. “I noticed you took yours off.”
She followed his gaze. “He wasn’t my husband. I couldn’t wear it once I knew the truth.”
He lifted her hand, kissed her naked fingers. “I wish I knew what happened to your ring. I need to get you a new one.”
She saw the determination in his eyes, and her stomach tensed in reaction. Loud warning bells went off in her head. She wasn’t ready for that. Wasn’t sure she ever would be. She tried to sit up. “Ryan—”
He leaned in and feathered his lips across hers with the most wicked of smiles. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t think. I don’t want you to worry about tomorrow or the day after. I don’t want you to overanalyze what I say. I just want you to feel.”
His mouth nibbled its way down her neck. She sank back into the pillows and closed her eyes. As his hands caressed her body, glided over curves and angles, she drew in a breath. Desire coursed through her all over again as his tantalizing fingers slipped between her thighs. Heat pooled in her core with each gentle stroke.
She couldn’t deny the tug she felt for him deep in her soul. It was more than physical, more than just blind attraction. It was so much deeper, so much more real than she’d ever expected or experienced.
And it scared her, more than she wanted to admit. The thought that it might be love, so soon after meeting him, made her palms sweaty, made her pulse beat faster. That couldn’t possibly be what she was feeling already.
He eased between her legs and kissed her as he slid deep inside. And her heart turned over as she pulled him close, as she opened her mouth and body and mind and soul to him.
“Are you thinking?” he whispered in her ear.
“No. Definitely not.” His slow, gentle strokes brought a sigh from her lips. She lifted her hips to meet him, ran her hands down his back, loving the texture of his skin, wanting to memorize every curve of muscle, each and every play of bone.
He smiled against her ear. “Good. I want your mind completely empty when I tell you that I love you.”
Her whole body tightened. “Ryan—”
“I do,” he said softly, drawing slowly out, pressing back in again until she gasped. “I can’t pretend that I don’t. What I love about you is deep inside. It’s there whether you call yourself Annie or Kate. It’s there whether you remember me or not.”
“This is crazy,” she whispered.
A smile twisted his mouth, and he kissed her again. Drew out and back. “No. Crazy would be denying what’s real. I don’t expect you to say it back, not yet, at least. I just want you to know it’s there. That it’s always right there.”
She trailed her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, pulled him close. Kissed him again and again as they made love. The words hovered on her lips, but fear held her back. Fear of what would happen in the light of day. Fear of how he’d feel about her when he got to know her better. If she allowed herself to fall all the way in love with him, and he woke up one day realizing she was different from the woman he remembered, she wasn’t sure her heart could survive the loss.
And she couldn’t give him all of her until she knew for sure she was what he really wanted.
Tonight, though, she could pretend like tomorrow didn’t exist. She might not be able to say the words, but she could show him what she felt instead.
Taking his face in her hands, she kissed him deeply, then rolled him to his back. “Let me love you, Ryan.”
Chapter Seventeen
“I don’t want you going up there alone.” Mitch stood in Simone’s bedroom, watching her toss clothes into a suitcase. “Did you hear me?” he asked when she didn’t respond.
She patted his cheek as she brushed by and headed into her bathroom. “Careful, sweetheart, you’re starting to sound a lot like your domineering brother-in-law.”
Her insult barely registered. He followed, stood in the doorway while she moved around gathering her things. “I talked to Ryan earlier. He doesn’t think you should go up there alone, either.”
She dropped cosmetics into her travel bag, grabbed her favorite shampoo from the shower. “Please. Like I’m going to listen to two men? Mitch, I’m going to Seattle on business. Besides, no one will know I’m even there. In fact, I’ll be safer there than I am here. Shannon’s staying with my parents. Everything’s fine. And I haven’t even decided if it’s worth it to go up to Vancouver yet. I’ll wait and see what my PI finds.”
Yet. He’d heard that little addendum loud and clear. She was too independent. Too stubborn. It was one of the reasons he’d never been attracted to successful women. She’d been dodging him ever since their night together, and he’d worked so late last night that he hadn’t been able to come by and see her until this morning. He was supposed to hop a flight up to Queen Charlotte Sound today to get the project back on track, but now that he’d gotten a whiff of what she had planned, he couldn’t leave until he knew she’d be safe.