Straight From The Heart by Janelle Taylor Read Free Book Online Page B

Stephen admitted.
    “Robert knew, and he still represented him?”
    “Robert had a client whom he couldn’t really trust. He suggested Alan give up the idea of custody. He knew he’d lose. But Alan was hell-bent on going to court.”
    “I hate hearing about it,” Kim said bitterly.
    “Then let’s not talk about it anymore. But for the record, Alan Harden deserves to be strung up.” Stephen was deadly serious.
    Kim gazed at him, her eyes burning with unformed tears. It wasn’t meant to be an invitation. It wasn’t meant to be anything. But her expression shimmered with gratitude, and Stephen, used to a woman who drank and belittled and trampled over emotions, couldn’t resist this trusting, sincere beauty. Before Kim could respond, she was surrounded by a pair of strong, sinewy arms, her face pressed against his muscular chest, her ears deafened by the thunder beat of his heart. Her mouth opened against his skin, a whispered “thank you” in her mind. But her tongue encountered warm skin and crisp whorls of chest hair, and her brain shut down completely.
    He kissed her crown. His palm caressed her face. One hand slid down her back and pulled her upward until she slid from the chair against him, and they tumbled together to the pine heartwood floor, neither conscious of anything but the feel of the other.
    For Kim, it was complete abandonment, something she’d never experienced before. She went with it, letting his hands discover her, letting her own wanton fingers travel over him, pulling him tight. One moment they were talking, the next they were writhing in each other’s arms, the transition so quick that conscious thought simply couldn’t catch up.
    His mouth found hers. Kim’s lips parted wantonly. His tongue discovered the warmth inside, stabbing delicately until small mewing sounds that would later bring a hot flush to her cheeks issued from inside her. Her fingers moved down the firm muscles of his back, reveling in the taut feel of sinewy flesh. The weight of his body was deliciously hard against her, and though her experience with men was limited, she reacted as if she were a slave to desire.
    Their kissing grew in intensity until Kim was breathless with aching need. She wanted to be totally possessed. She wanted to block out the world and wallow in sensation. And she wanted Stephen Wright.
    His hand traveled down the small of her back and over her hips. She was conscious of his heat and hardness and quickness of breath.
    And then fingers slid beneath her shirt and tugged upward, and his hand covered her breast, massaging through her bra. Melting with weakness, she would have given in right then and there if a spark from the fire hadn’t popped out, live and hot, landing on Stephen’s arm.
    He jerked reflexively, laughed, brushed it aside. “Damn,” he muttered, gently pushing Kim aside as he got to his feet and kicked the glowing ember back toward the hearth. Kim watched through desire-drugged eyes, but when he turned back to her, reason had returned.
    “I can’t do this,” she whispered again, pulling her knees up to her chin. Stephen stretched out beside her, an open invitation.
    “Why not?”
    “I’ve never been with anyone but Alan.”
    “Good grief, Kim. It’s high time you started living.”
    She looked at him squarely. At his sexy mouth and cool green eyes and burnished muscles. “By having an affair?”
    “Starting a relationship,” he amended. “I’ve been attracted to you since the moment we met,” he added softly.
    She wasn’t secure enough to admit she’d felt the same way. “I don’t want to do something I’ll regret.”
    “How do you know you’ll regret it?”
    “Oh, believe me, I know.” Her lips twisted as her mind spun ahead to various scenarios: Stephen, telling her how wonderful she was in one breath, breaking off their relationship with another; Stephen slowly stopping calling her; Stephen, another lovely beauty on his arm, catching sight of Kim and