Cormac had never dreamed he’d make love to Gia. He’d spent years blaming her for something she didn’t do and was shocked she didn’t hate him for the past, regardless of how he’d behaved in the present. But she seemed relieved just to know he finally believed her.
The thrill he felt touching her and being touched by her created such a stark contrast to everything else that’d happened since she returned to Wakefield that he could only close his eyes and enjoy the moment as he ran his hand up her bare leg.
She was even more stunning without her clothes. Tall, slender and firm in that tomboyish way of hers, with long limbs, she had the softest, smoothest skin he’d ever felt. Her breasts weren’t particularly large, only the size of his cupped hand, but he thought they were perfect. And her smile was mesmerizing.
“What are you doing?” she asked when he stopped and simply stared down at her.
He lifted his gaze from her wide, sexy mouth to her thickly lashed eyes. “Admiring you.”
This was a big step to take so suddenly. Living in a small town, it was especially imperative not to create romantic expectations he couldn’t fulfill—not unless he wanted the women of Wakefield to hate him—so he’d been cautious his whole life. There were things he should probably be saying before getting this intimate, things he always said. But he didn’t want to ruin the moment. What was happening seemed special, almost fragile, and he planned to treat it as such. There was no way he wanted to do anything that might break the spell that’d propelled them upstairs, dropping their clothes behind them as they went. She understood this wasn’t a commitment. She wasn’t even going to be in town for long. This was merely an escape, a welcome release for two beleaguered souls who desperately needed a time-out.
Besides, she’d already told him she had trouble falling in love, and that created an understanding of sorts. He knew the situation going in, and so did she. He didn’t need to worry that he was setting her up for future disappointment.
If anything, he was setting himself up for future disappointment. He was afraid that after today, he’d never be able to look at her again without wanting her.
“This is crazy, right?” she said, showing the first hint of uncertainty.
“It’s crazy,” he agreed. “Crazy good, in my opinion. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anyone quite so much. But if you’re asking me to stop—”
“No,” she broke in. “I just... I hope we don’t regret it later.”
“I have condoms, if that gives you any reassurance,” he said. “Or is it something else? Have you changed your mind about that guy you were dating in Idaho or—”
“No, none of that. Sex can make things complicated. That’s all. But it’s too late now.” After pushing him onto his back, she kissed his mouth, his jawline, his neck and his chest.
“Oh, God,” he said as her mouth continued to move lower and finally closed around him. “I don’t think you’d better do that. Not yet.”
She knocked his hands away when he tried to draw her up but lifted her head so she could talk. “What if I like seeing what it does to you?”
He laughed. “You can do whatever you want. But first, let me do what I can do for you, or it’ll end far too soon.”
Rolling her beneath him, he nuzzled her neck, then kissed her deeply while teasing her with the promise of penetration without actually pressing inside her.
“Are you ever going to do it?” she asked, growing impatient.
He grinned at her. “You bet I am. Just...not quite yet.”
Giving himself permission to really let go and make love to her as boldly and confidently as he craved, he kissed her as many times as he wanted—touched her, too, and entwined his limbs with hers. But the more he touched and kissed her, the more he wanted to touch and kiss her. He seemed to be chasing something elusive, something he couldn’t quite catch. It was that buildup, together with the anticipation, that made his time with Gia unlike anything he’d experienced before.
Lifting her legs over his shoulders, he licked his way up her right thigh, inhaling the musky scent of her as he went. Everything about her appealed to him, he realized. He wanted to continue to experiment and become more familiar with her body and figure out what she liked.
Eventually, he located the spot that would bring her the most pleasure. She jumped when his mouth settled there, so he knew he’d found what he was looking for, and that success brought him such an exquisite feeling. She was so engaged and responsive; it made their intimacy that much more fun.
Too bad this couldn’t last forever, he thought.
Maybe it was the fact that when it came to each other they had nothing to worry about except what happened tonight that made the sex so remarkable. Gia didn’t have to be concerned about getting into a relationship that might be difficult to escape, didn’t have to wonder whether she’d like Cormac next week, next month or next year, whether she’d hurt him in the end, or he’d hurt her. None of that played a role because they had zero expectations of each other. It had to be the absence of all the things that normally hung over her head that made it so good.
Their peculiar history made it more than a little surprising that they’d ended up in bed together, but making love with Cormac felt cathartic, as if they were dispensing with all the pain and negative feelings they’d had concerning each other in one big cataclysmic event. The emotional release added to the physical release; it was the combination that made it so powerful.
As the tension built, she tightened her legs around his hips and told herself to quit thinking. She wanted to be completely present in this moment, wanted to concentrate solely on the feel of him—his lower body pressing into hers, the muscles that stood out on his arms and shoulders as he bore the bulk of his weight to avoid crushing her, the smell of his bedding and the scent of his warm body, and especially the intense expression on his face.
When he closed his eyes, she knew he was getting close to climax and thought he might beat her there. Especially when her phone started to ring outside the room, somewhere on the stairs where Cormac had dropped her jeans after helping her peel them off. The sound caught her attention for a split second, but she resisted the distraction just long enough to achieve her release.
When she groaned, he said something unintelligible. She guessed it signified relief, especially when he stopped trying to hold back and drove into her more powerfully until his body jerked and he shuddered before slumping over.
“Wow,” he said, breathing heavily as he shifted his weight to one side.
She didn’t get the chance to respond. Her phone was ringing again. Apparently, someone really wanted to get hold of her.
Her first thought was of her mother. This wasn’t the moment she’d been dreading, was it?
Her stomach knotted at the mere possibility. But then another thought struck her, and this one somehow seemed more imminent and therefore more likely, despite her mother’s fragile health.
Margot.
“I have to get that!” she exclaimed and climbed over Cormac as quickly as he could let her go.
“Hello?”
Margot caught her breath when she heard her sister’s voice. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t reach out to anyone after she ran away. She knew it could ruin what she was trying to do by leaving clues as to where she was and where she might be going. Sheldon could find out she was in Spokane and start searching from there.
But she was leaving Washington in the morning. And she’d had to use her credit card again for the room. That would probably provide him with just as much information. So the fact that she’d use a stranger’s phone at this particular time seemed worth the risk, especially since she’d blocked the number. She’d felt she had to speak to her sister. The magnitude of leaving the way she had—what it would mean for her and her children—had become overwhelming. All she could think about was her family, especially her mother.
“Hello?” she heard Gia say for the second time. “Margot, is it you?”
In a sudden panic, she hung up.
Unsure and self-conscious, she looked over at the woman whose phone she’d borrowed to make sure she wasn’t being watched too closely. The kind-faced, middle-aged brunette was still checking in and didn’t seem to be worried that Margot might run off with her phone. But Margot didn’t have much time. When she’d come to the lobby to purchase trail mix—she’d been too riddled with anxiety to eat dinner—she’d left Greydon and Matthew sleeping in the room a few doors down the hall and needed to get back as soon as possible, just in case one of them woke up.
Margot told herself she should return the phone to its owner, purchase the trail mix and stick to her original plan. But the thought that her mother might die without any word from her prompted her to call back.
When Gia answered for the second time, Margot said, “It’s me.”
“What phone are you calling from?”
“A stranger’s.”
“A stranger’s! Margot, what are you doing? Where have you been? Please tell me you’re on your way back home.”
She ducked her head so her words wouldn’t echo across the lobby. “No, I can’t ever come back. And I can’t tell you where I am. I—I just wanted to check on Mom. I need to hear that she’s okay, and I was hoping you’d tell her that...that I’m sorry and I’ll always love her.”
“Why don’t you call and tell her yourself?”
“Because it’s too late for tonight. I don’t want to wake her. And I only have this phone for a few minutes.”
“What’s happening?” Gia asked. “Why’d you leave without saying a word? Is it Sheldon? Is he really having an affair? If so, you don’t need to give up the house, the town you grew up in and associating with your family. Divorce the bastard! I’ll help you do it. You know I will.”
“That’s just it,” she said. “I don’t want to drag you into this. It’s not your problem. Besides, you don’t understand. He’s not like you or me or most other people. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“I can take care of myself, Maggie,” she said.
Maggie had been her childhood nickname. Gia had called her that all through grade school and middle school, even after she’d asked everyone to call her Margot. Margot missed the trusting child she’d once been, missed the sheltered existence she’d known before she’d become responsible for children herself. “You don’t know that.”
“We can take him on together,” her sister insisted.
As Margot had expected, Gia was all for fighting. But she didn’t understand how vicious Sheldon could be or how far he’d go to avenge even small slights. “No, G. He’ll win in the end.”
“Win what?” she asked, sounding confused.
How did she explain what was at stake? That was the problem. The verbal abuse she’d suffered had been terrible, but no one considered verbal abuse debilitating—not until it grew bad enough that it finally turned physical. And she could feel it drifting in that direction, wasn’t willing to wait that long. By then it’d be too late. “The battle between us for...for the understanding and support of our family and friends. And for custody of the boys. He’ll use the money he makes, the business he owns and the influence of his parents to discredit me. Make me look small and insignificant next to him—unworthy of what’s rightfully mine. And if that would only cost me my reputation, I’d risk it. But I won’t risk my children.”
“You’re afraid he’ll take the boys?”
“I know he will.”
“But...how could he?” her sister demanded. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Doesn’t matter. He’ll paint me as unstable or unfit or unable to provide for them or...or something. It’s so hard to fight him on anything. He’s always right. And once he learns I’ve left him and won’t stay in the marriage any longer, there won’t be anything holding him back. He’ll let me have it any way he can. I had to get out, G, had to save myself. You understand, don’t you?”
There was a brief silence during which Margot imagined her sister being stunned as she tried to absorb this news.
“I understand that you married the wrong man,” she said when she spoke again. To her credit she didn’t say anything about having known that all along. “I need to help you get away from him. And I can do that. Come back. You and the boys can stay with me, Mom and Dad while we navigate this thing. We’ll look after you.”
“No! If Sheldon knows where I am, he’ll find ways to torture me. And since he can hurt me the worst by using the boys, that’s what he’ll do. I refuse to let him tell them terrible lies about me and try to destroy our relationship. I won’t put myself in that constant tug-of-war.”
“What’s your other choice?” Gia asked. “Hiding? Going off to live alone? Is that any better? You don’t even have a phone!”
“Maybe not. But I have Greydon and Matthew. There’s no way he can threaten my relationship with them if he can’t even find us.”
“How will you get by?”
“I took all the money in our checking and savings. I’ll be okay for a while.”
“You what?”
“I drained our accounts. Took it all.” Saying that both empowered her, because it was the punch she’d been longing to throw at Sheldon for years, and terrified her, because she knew how enraged it would make him.
“How much are we talking?” Gia asked.
“Nearly forty thousand. That should be enough to get an apartment and a car and carry us over until I find work.”
There was another long silence. Then Gia said, “Margot, he won’t let you run off with the kids.”
“I think he’ll care more about the money. But I’ve earned that money. I’ve worked so hard over years, and he’s been so damn stingy with me. I’m leaving him much more. Think about the equity in the house and business and all our furnishings. This money is mine and so are the boys.”
“Margot, come back! We can fight him.”
“You’d be able to fight him, G. I can’t. I’m not strong like you. I have to deal with this my own way. And that’s by getting out and disappearing.” Margot glanced up in time to see the hotel clerk hand the brunette her key. She was going to have to relinquish the phone. “I have to go.”
“Wait!” her sister said. “At least tell me where you are. Or how I can reach you. Or where you’re going.”
“I wish I could, but I can’t. Tell Mom I’m sorry, and I love her. Tell Dad I love him, too,” she said and disconnected.
Gia heard a creak behind her, alerting her to Cormac’s presence.
“Is everything okay?” he asked as he sat down beside her.
He was still naked, but she was, too. She hadn’t taken the time to so much as grab her panties. She’d merely stepped over them as she ran to find her phone. She was afraid Margot—or whoever was calling—wouldn’t try a third time. And she was glad she’d made the effort. At least she understood a little more about what was going on with her sister. She just couldn’t believe it. It was so unlike Margot to do anything this drastic. “I don’t know,” she said, staring off into space.
“That wasn’t about your mother, was it?” he asked gently.
She shook her head.
“That’s good, at least. Something with work, then?”
“No.” She turned her head to look at him. “It was Margot.”
“Your sister’s awake? Isn’t it getting late?”
“Saturday morning, she left town without telling anyone—just drove away as soon as Sheldon went hunting.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was.”
“I know Sheldon. I thought they were happy together.”
“So did I—until recently.”
“Then...what does it all mean?”
“She’s leaving him,” she said simply.
He seemed unsure of what to say next. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing overall?”
“He’s a douchebag. On that count it’s a good thing. But what a way to go about it. The situation inside their marriage must have been much worse than I ever dreamed. I feel bad for getting so caught up in my own life. I’ve sort of walled her out, I guess. Otherwise, surely I would’ve seen this coming.” It was self-preservation, a defense mechanism she’d perfected years and years ago that’d made her keep her distance. But she didn’t go into that.
“If she didn’t come to you for help, how would you know?” he asked.
She raked her fingers through her long hair. “We’ve always been different—never looked at the world in the same way, which has made it hard for us to be close. But... Jesus! With what’s going on with my mother and now my sister, it feels like the whole world’s burning down around me.”
He took her hand and curled his fingers through hers. “You’re strong,” he said. “One of the strongest people I know. You’re going to get through this.”
She drew a deep breath. “The fact that you’re the one sitting here comforting me is also nothing I ever would’ve expected.”
“Me, neither.” He made a clicking sound with his tongue as he shook his head. “The fact that we just made love and are both sitting here naked is also a little shocking,” he added, and something about his quizzical expression made her laugh in spite of everything.