Читать книгу Her Baby's Father - Katherine Garbera - Страница 11

Reese knew there were certain things in life that couldn’t be measured. The hours he spent on the Time Lapse were one of those things. His thirty-foot sailing yacht was his baby. His car was older and needed a paint job. His house was nice and had a great view of the bay, but he could afford better. His boat was in mint condition. There was no nicer sailing vessel in the marina. He spared no expense when it came to the Time Lapse.

The time he spent on the boat worked to counteract the stress of working fourteen-hour days—simply thinking about the boat soothed him. Now that he had left Los Angeles for Sausalito, he spent as much time in the marina and on his yacht as he could spare.

He didn’t know what had upset Sabrina. He only knew that he wanted to soothe her. He wanted to bring her closer to him, to bridge the gap she’d put between them when she’d seen the mother and child. He wanted to take her to some place private to explore her depths, and not just for his articles.

He motored out of the marina and headed for the bay. From her seat on the deck Sabrina watched him. Though her large designer glasses covered her eyes, he felt her gaze on him as he steered the boat. When they passed the last buoy and entered the bay, he throttled down and lifted the sails.

The work was hot and the sun burned through the layers of cotton and denim. He wanted to strip naked, to be at one with the elements, but he wasn’t alone. And he didn’t think the lady would appreciate an elemental male basking in his testosterone.

He removed his shirt and tossed it under his seat. He heard her breath catch and cursed silently. He’d forgotten about the old scars. Not totally forgotten, of course, they were a constant reminder of the past. It was simply that being at sea had lulled him. He pulled his shirt back out and put it on.

He motioned for Sabrina to join him. She moved slowly, as if unsure. Reese couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t been at home on the water. He crossed to her and guided her to the steering wheel.

“Reese—”

“Ever been on a boat before?” he asked, cutting her off. He wasn’t answering any personal questions. This was his interview. And it was just an interview, he reminded himself again. She wasn’t a woman he could seduce into his bed, no matter how badly he wanted her there. And he wanted her in his bed very badly.

“No,” she said.

Her hair whipped in the wind like living silk. If he leaned closer it would surround him. For a minute he was tempted to do just that.

But reality stopped him. Getting her to relax was one thing, indulging his senses another. Especially since once he lowered his guard she’d jump on him with a slew of questions. Women always did. No woman had ever stayed with him for the long haul. Starting with the death of his mother hours after his birth.

He squinted into the sun and forced his thoughts into the present, back to the lady standing so close to him he could feel the heat from her body.

“Are you relaxing yet?” he asked, leading her further away from the questions he sensed on her tongue.

She shrugged. “I’d be more relaxed if you’d stop interrupting me.”

He’d forgotten how spunky she could be. His tonic was working. It had never occurred to her to argue at the café, but here on the ocean she’d found her backbone.

“I know. But there are some things I don’t discuss.”

“You can leave your shirt off. I was surprised but not bothered.”

He was tempted to remove his shirt but knew he wouldn’t. Some shames ran too deep and those scars were one of his. In his mind they were as fresh as the day he’d received them.

Looking at Sabrina now, he thought she might feel concern, too. If he removed his shirt and she asked questions in her soft feminine voice, he’d be lured into answering them. And he didn’t want to sully the innocence in her eyes by revealing the ugly truth of his past.

“Want to learn how to steer?” he asked.

She sighed. He thought for a moment she wasn’t going to let him change the subject, but he could be dog stubborn when he had to.

“Sure.”

She pivoted to face the wheel and he stepped up behind her. She had a nice backside. Fully curved and feminine. He wanted to place his hands on her hips and pull her back against his body. But he knew that was foolish. And Reese Howard wasn’t a fool.

He placed her hands on the wheel and explained the rudiments of sailing to her. Then he relaxed behind her. The wind and sun played over his skin as he stepped toward her. An attractive woman in his arms, the sea beneath his bare feet, the sun all around him. Another fantasy come to life, thanks to this woman.

“This is great,” she said after a few minutes.

He smiled to himself. Finally, the tension eased out of his spine.

After thirty minutes she surrendered the wheel and he piloted them slowly back to the marina. Sabrina hovered next to him while he steered and docked the boat.

She perched nervously on the pilot’s chair and removed her sunglasses. She played with the stems. He wondered what was going on in her pretty head.

“I felt like Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic,” she said.

Weary but game, he asked, “As if you were going to sink?”

She laughed and he felt better for having amused her. She’d come a long way from the crying woman he’d brought to his sailboat. “No—as if I’m ‘king of the world’.”

Reese understood completely. There was something about being out in the elements. On the part of the earth that wasn’t readily habitable by man and surviving. He loved his boat, had wanted to live on it forever, but none of the women in his life had ever wanted to.

“Is that how you feel?”

“Sometimes,” he said.

“Why do you guard every answer?”

“Why do you ask probing questions?”

“I’m telling you the intimate details of my life.”

“In return for compensation.”

She looked out over the bay. The sun was setting and the breeze was cooler now. She shivered a little, but he suspected it wasn’t from the wind. “I feel cheap.”

Stay back, he warned himself. Stay away from her. Don’t touch.

Yet he moved toward her, anyway. Rubbing her arms with his hands and felt her fragility beneath his grip. He could crush her. How would she ever be able to protect the child she wanted?

“There is nothing cheap about you.”

“I’m selling myself for a child.”

“You’re not. You’re sharing yourself with the world for a chance at your dream come true.”

She looked up at him, eyes wide, mouth trembling—and he couldn’t stop himself. He bent to her, touching her lips lightly with his own. She tasted even better than he’d thought she would. He plunged his fingers into her hair and tilted her head for better access, then took her mouth completely.

Reese blocked out the sun and the sea and the painful memories she’d dredged up. His mouth on hers was sweeter than her first taste of champagne at sixteen and more forbidden. But she longed for more.

His tongue thrust past her lips and teeth and probed the depths of her mouth. Sabrina had never in her life been so thoroughly kissed. She held tightly to his shoulders, covered by his shirt.

She remembered his back and those faded scars. His flesh not movie-star perfect but well-defined—real. Much like the man, a man with facets to be explored. She wanted to touch his skin. To caress each imperfection because it made him seem more human.

Sliding her hands down his back, she slipped them under his shirt. He was warmer than she’d have guessed. So warm. The little notch at the small of his back invited her touch and she fingered him gently. Letting her touch expand slowly, she sought out and soothed each brutalized piece of skin. Each part of his back that had been hurt seemingly long ago. She wondered how he’d been injured.

She knew he didn’t want to discuss his past. She would have to have been an idiot not to notice the way he kept the conversation away from himself and solely on her, despite his promises that they’d be friends this afternoon and forget about the article. He couldn’t forget. It was his job, she reminded herself.

While his mouth moved on hers, she knew it was more than a job to him. Desire pumped through her body. Her blood pooled at her center and her skin felt so sensitized, the slightest touch from Reese sent shock waves through her.

He pulled her closer. At last, she thought. He held her body flush to his and she reveled in it. In the firm, muscled flesh that cradled her softer curves. He was man and she was woman, and on this boat in this time they were the only two in the world.

It had been a long time since Sabrina had stood breast to chest with a man while he kissed her senseless. Too long. She wanted more.

He nibbled little kisses from her mouth to her neck and bit her gently there. Sabrina let herself go. Let herself experience Reese Howard as she’d longed to from the very first moment she saw him.

Weaving her fingers into his hair, she held him to her neck. Felt his own fingers slide under her shirt, then slowly up the front of her body. Feathering a caress along her midriff, then higher, fondling her breasts through the thin layer of her bra. The functional plain white cotton bra that she’d be embarrassed for him to see.

Oh, God, his touch felt so right, so perfect. She wanted more, she needed more. She needed it now.

She leaned into him, and his touch intensified. She slid her hands around to his chest. Rubbing his hard stomach and following the trail of hair that narrowed down his body, disappearing beneath his waistband.

She felt his arousal press the juncture of her thighs and rubbed her body against his. Luxuriating in being woman to his man. In being the elemental answer to his quest. In being the fulfillment of his base needs.

The boat rocked, jarring them apart. Reese grabbed her shoulders to steady her. But Sabrina didn’t want him to let go. Her blood was pounding so hard she felt like her heart would leap from her breast.

“That went further than I’d planned,” he said, rubbing his hand across his face and through his hair.

She couldn’t focus. She could only stare at his mouth. His full, sensual mouth, which she wanted back on her own. Now, she thought.

“It did?” she asked. Her voice was low and raspy, sounding weird to her own ears.

He nodded.

Sabrina thought maybe he was playing with her but realized that their situation was delicate. He could only make the first move for so long. He could only be the aggressor for so long before she’d have to make a decision.

“I…”

“It’s okay. I know it went too far.”

He gathered up her things and led her to the side of the boat. Sabrina stared at the lonely empty slip next to his—a vacant space waiting to be filled. She thought about her life. About her cold, lonely apartment with its sparse furniture. She remembered her childhood home. The pictures and antique furniture. The Irish linens her mother had collected and her father’s classic cars. Her family had had more than the emptiness that plagued her. Her parents had shared intimacy, a life, everything.

And this was her last chance.

After she had the child, she wouldn’t be able to have a man in her life. Wouldn’t be able to make love to a man, sleep with him through the night and wake up to make love again. She’d been celibate a long, long time and that choice had been a smart one.

A girl doesn’t forget having to make a tough decision at a young age or the circumstances that led to that decision. But she was a woman now. With a woman’s needs and a woman’s desires.

She looked into Reese’s eyes. Into his darker-than-midnight eyes that made her breath catch in her throat. Into his dark gaze that peeled away layers she’d never let anyone reveal—and she made her decision. Tonight she would be woman to his man.

“Reese?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t want to go. I don’t think our embrace went far enough.”

In response, he pulled her back into his arms, and Sabrina rested there, hearing his strong heartbeat under her cheek and feeling his strength around her. This was the right decision, she thought. Please, let this be a smart decision.

Sabrina’s apartment looked much like the woman herself, sophisticated and understated. Yet like Sabrina it also held the air of emptiness. A certain sense of expectancy wafted through the open doors. The rooms, which were functional but not lived-in, made his heart ache, even though he’d vowed no woman would ever breach the stone wall behind which he hid his emotions. And he questioned what he was doing here.

The silence felt as heavy as the secrets between them. He had his. They involved more than the scars she’d seen on his back. He knew she had her own secrets, too.

It was evident from the way she’d reacted to the mother and child earlier this afternoon. But those things didn’t matter right now. She closed the door quietly behind her. Her wind-blown hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders. Her blouse was rumpled from where he’d had his hands under it earlier, and her long legs were encased in jeans. Blood pooled at the center of his body and his arousal strained against his denim jeans.

He hadn’t felt this randy since he’d been a teenage boy experiencing women for the first time. He’d played the game, he reminded himself. He was a lady’s man. None of that mattered when faced with Sabrina. Her fresh innocence drew him in ways more experienced women hadn’t.

He wanted her in a way that he’d forgotten wanting could be. Sharp, intense and tinged with emotion. He ignored the emotion and focused on the pulse pounding through his body. Demanding he take her to bed. Demanding he mate with her in a primal way. Demanding he move now.

Her pants molded to her perfect thighs and shapely calves. Her lips were still swollen from his kisses but her eyes were clear. Though she wouldn’t change her mind, he needed her to say the words aloud.

“Are you sure you want to make love with me?” he asked for his conscience.

“Yes,” she said with no hesitation.

His body screamed, Yeah, baby, let’s go for it, but his mind cautioned him to warn her. She meant more to him than a causal romp. She was the kind of woman who deserved a devoted guy and a wedding. He wasn’t that man.

In the back of his mind was the thought that this wasn’t the wisest decision. He had to preserve a little distance between himself and Sabrina if he was going to write a decent article. But Sabrina smiled at him from under her lashes in a way that made him want to fall to his knees and crawl to her. She wasn’t like the women in his past. She was his dream woman come to life, and he knew he was going to have her.