I'll Be Seeing You by Darlene Kuncytes Read Free Book Online Page B

arms, and tasting that sweet, sweet mouth of hers, but the sight of her sitting there in his clothes , was just about doing him in. He felt his body responding in a big way, and only hoped that she wouldn’t notice.
    He saw her stiffen slightly, but only a millisecond later, she straightened her spine and took a long, slow breath. The woman had strength, even after everything that she had been through…she damned well wouldn’t break. How could you not admire her?
    “I ran some errands today, had lunch, came home, and decided to soak in a hot bath,” she began quietly, and Cole had to violently shake off the image of her nude form in a warm, sudsy tub. Christ! That wasn’t helping his man parts to settle down in the least. In fact, it was only making matters worse. “I...I must have fallen asleep,” she whispered apologetically, and Cole wondered how she could even begin to feel guilt for falling asleep for God’s sake. “Something…something woke me…I don’t know. Maybe a noise, but I woke up and…” She paused, taking a sip of her wine, and he noticed that her hand shook. Cole moved over closer to her and took her trembling hand in his. Fuck professional, he thought with a grunt. He wanted to make her feel safe. In fact, he craved it, deep down in the recesses of his soul. He found that he absolutely hated that look of fear in her eyes. That haunted, lost look.
    ***
    Katherine timidly glanced down at the hand that he held as that ever present tingle crawled across her spine. God, help her…but this man affected her on so many different levels that it was making her head spin.
    She looked back up into his eyes and found the strength to go on. He just seemed to have that effect on her. She had never wanted to open herself up to anyone like this before. She had always kept herself closed off, but with this man, she wanted to tell him everything.
    “I thought that I had imagined it,” she continued, not breaking their contact. “On my pillow was the…lily. And, then I realized that damned song was playing. I knew that I needed to get downstairs. My purse was down there, and I needed you…”
    Cole felt his heart do a strange flip inside of his chest at her quiet confession. Christ on a crutch, he silently cursed, this woman was breaking down walls she had no business breaking down. He hadn’t spent the last thirty-three years on this planet only to let this tiny wisp of a woman walk into his life and turn it damn near upside down!
    “I mean…”she corrected herself with a reddening of her cheeks, “I needed to get to my phone to call you…for help.”
    He nodded, urging her to go on, when all he wanted to do at that moment, was to pull her into his arms and silence her with his mouth on hers. He wanted to make her forget absolutely everything. Everything but me.
    “When I was almost to the bottom, I heard him. He whispered…” She shivered and Cole gave her hand a gentle squeeze, silently letting her know that he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.
    “What did he say, Katherine?”
    She swallowed the very large lump forming in her throat. “ Mine,” she husked so quietly that he had to strain to hear her.
    Pure rage coursed through Cole’s body like a damned tidal wave. Not fucking likely he silently seethed. He’d make damn well sure that this son of a bitch never got near her again. He would move heaven and earth to make sure that she was safe.
    “I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he assured her, and she smiled sadly, her glorious eyes sparkling with moisture; which only made her all the more beautiful.
    “I know. I…I don’t know how I know it; but I do. Knowing that you believe me means everything.”
    She stifled a yawn with the back of her hand and Cole stood, gently pulling her to her feet, knowing full well that she was coming down from her adrenaline rush hard and fast and had to be completely drained.
    “Get some sleep, Sweetheart,” he murmured, and she felt that