THOMAS
Katie gasped. “Someone is coming after my family?”
Christ, she was beautiful, even as her shoulders drew tight.
I’d already moved beyond her deception. I had forgiven her, I realized.
She’s eighteen.
Age was a numbers game, as was everything else in life. But there it was, an obstacle standing between us, forcing me to consider what I would give up to save her from my ruin.
I’d kissed her lips. I hadn’t touched her. The legal age of consent in New York was seventeen, so if we had gone further, it would have been lawful.
If we’d both been ten years older, if she’d had time to live freely and discover what she truly wanted, the gap would have meant nothing to me.
A gray storm roused in her eyes. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Please tell me.”
“I can’t say why at this point, but a hit was put out on your father.”
She nodded, as if she understood the reason for it. “And my mom?”
“Is concerned about you.”
“How much do you know? I mean, do you know who it is?”
“It has come to a matter of life and death, but no one will hurt you, Katie, not while you’re in my charge. That’s all you need to know.”
Whispering again, she said, “Because you believe I’m a child.”
I lowered my gaze to her body, to the creamy-white skin between her breasts. “You’re anything but a child.”
Her gown was perfect, tucking in tightly at her waist before falling to the floor in a soft cascade of pale blue, leaving every man in her presence wondering what he might find beneath it, while exposing her neck, her shoulders, her chest.
No one else would get close enough to touch her.
Neither will you, arsehole.
“Then, kiss me,” she begged. “I need you to kiss me.”
Pacing round in the small space, I shook my head. “I can’t. Not anymore.” But I was mad with the desire to finally taste more than her lips. The erection I’d tried to tame strained against my trousers. I needed to touch her, mark her skin with my fingers, my mouth, push the hardness of my cock against her body.
“Nothing between us must change.”
“Everything has changed,” I snapped, stopping in my tracks to pin her with my eyes. “Being with me would ruin everything that’s exceptional about you, Katie.”
“That’s not true,” she said, stepping close. Her hands touched mine, and then she dragged her fingertips up the sleeves of my jacket until grasping on to my biceps. “You’re still calling me Katie.”
She was my Katie.
“You’ll never be Katherine to me. I’ll give you that. As for the rest of it, you don’t know what you’re asking of me, what you’ll see.”
She drew closer still, allowing her breasts to brush against me, the fire between us growing hotter, stronger. “I want to see everything, Thomas, to know all of you. I’m asking you to show me.”
My breath accelerated.
She was surrendering the trust I’d desired.
It was more than I could bear. Her loveliness and innocence, calling out for me to pull it into myself—it was mine; she was mine. There was no help for it.
With my body, I moved her backward, caging her in, her back to the wall. I gripped her waist and pushed my rock-hard length against her body.
Katie took in a small, sharp breath.
I pushed hair away from her neck, bending to kiss her below the ear. “This is what you do to me, Katie. You are so beautiful.”
As she stared into my eyes, she popped open the buttons on my jacket and slipped her hands inside, resting them on my abdomen.
Brave little bird.
“My mother doesn’t approve … of the dress,” she said.
“You don’t need her approval. You have mine.”
Christ, the dress. Her skin. The sheer top resembled a deeply V-shaped stringer, molded to her body, her breasts obscured behind the see-through fabric by pale blue coverings. So much delicate skin available to me, to my mouth.
She nodded, and I placed another kiss on her neck, lingering, tasting.
She slid her hands round my waist and pulled on me, increasing the pressure against my cock. An involuntary primal grunt rumbled in my throat.
An internal battle waged inside me. My compulsive, selfish nature to take what I wanted won the fight. It always fucking won. I claimed her, parting her lips with my tongue, allowing myself to finally taste her sweet mouth. There was no turning back.
Katie moaned as I explored every soft crevice of her mouth.
My kiss was brutal, not gentle, as it should have been.
For her sake, I reined myself in, trailing soft, apologetic kisses down her neck and over her shoulders. She panted and held on to me. I was quite lost in her, lost in the euphoria of holding her in my arms and controlling the movements of her body with mine.
She melted into me, her body taking on the shape of mine. That we fit together so well pushed me over the edge. I took her mouth again, fierce and hot as she writhed against me, my erection hard as steel against her stomach.
I wanted to bury myself inside her, make her come again and again.
Guilt abruptly overwhelmed me, and I stopped.
“Don’t stop,” she said, unable to hide her ragged breaths. “Please.”
Goddamn it.
It killed me to see her so deliciously responsive and breathless. But even if our circumstances were different, she deserved better than a quick fuck before her birthday cake.
I dropped my arms. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
Grabbing my jacket as I backed away from her, she used it to pull close to me again. “Don’t you dare say it. We’re still the same two people who shared that amazing day at Fort Tryon. We’re still free, still us.”
I shook my head and flexed my fingers at my sides, drawing them into fists. “We’re not. Don’t ask me for this, Katie. There’s nothing but hurt and pain down that road. I won’t drag you along with me.” I drew my thumb over her bottom lip and then to the corner of her mouth to wipe at a smear of lipstick.
Any excuse to touch her again.
Her hands went to her hips, and her shoulders straightened, reminding me of how spirited she’d been the first time we met at the coffeehouse. “I’m perfectly capable of choosing which road I’ll travel and with whom. I’m not giving up on us.”
“Quite right. You deserve to choose the life you want. Being in a relationship with me would be like moving from one prison to another. I’ll protect you, and when my job is done, make no mistake, Katie, I will leave.”
Like the damn prick that I was, I turned on my heel and walked away from her, away from the hurt in her eyes.
She was young, but quite worse was what a possessive motherfucker I was. She could never be free with me. I would own her. Ruin her.
“You have two hours to enjoy your party, and then we head for Manhattan,” I added over my shoulder as I waited outside the alcove while she righted her dress. I turned to catch a side-glance. It was compulsive. I had to see.
But I would keep my hands to myself, moving forward.
She pulled her fingers through her long blonde hair, untangling the locks where my hands had been, and a sudden tightness struck my chest.
Mine. Can’t let her go.