Authors: Kelly Favor
For His Forever (9 page)
Just be flattered he’s paying you any attention, she thought, and leave it at that.
Someone finally broke her out of her thoughts.
“Wait a minute,” the familiar male voice said. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
She turned around, somehow knowing it was bad before her brain even put together whom the voice belonged to.
Standing there in his pleated pants and fancy blue sweater, his hair perfectly coiffed, mouth sneering—was Brad Danvers.
Kallie couldn’t believe her eyes, nor her bad luck. What on earth was he doing here? She thought.
“I should go,” she muttered.
“Wait just a goddamn minute,” he said, his voice low enough not to draw unwanted attention. “You better not walk away from me.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“You don’t?”
“No.”
“How about an apology for quitting in the middle of a job, leaving our two children completely without care, and never bothering to even get your stuff or call to explain yourself?” he said.
Kallie was shocked that he had the nerve to pretend that he didn’t know why she’d left. But she didn’t really care if that’s the story he’d decided to tell about her. She just wanted to get away from him as far and as fast as possible. “I’m not explaining anything. Now, please leave me alone. Don’t follow me.”
She turned around and walked in the opposite direction, but she knew without even turning around that Brad was still behind her. “You better understand what you’ve done,” he said. “I am going to make sure your name is mud, okay?”
“Whatever,” she said, walking faster.
“You might be able to get in your little slutty bikini and shake your tits and ass around town for a little while, but it won’t get you far, honey.”
Kallie felt the tears sting her eyes and she started to break into a run. He grabbed at her and she felt his nails actually scratch her wrist and hand, but she kept going, wanting nothing more than to get away from Brad’s voice and the memory of what he’d done to her in the laundry room.
And then she ran straight into the arms of her stranger. “Hey, what’s going on?”
he said, grasping her shoulders and looking at her. He was wearing a white t-shirt now, but still wore his swim trunks.
Kallie couldn’t speak. She was shaking and crying and didn’t want to make an even bigger scene. The stranger looked up and saw Brad, who was standing there, trying to explain to someone nearby what Kallie had done.
“This girl totally left me and my wife in the lurch. Fucking pathetic, you know?”
Brad said to whoever would listen.
Kallie’s stranger left her side and started walking toward Brad. “The girl is crying, so just chill out and go back to the party.”
Kallie turned and watched, both terrified and also elated that someone was actually defending her.
“Whatever,” Brad said, turning away from the stranger with a shake of his head.
“These fucking nanny’s they bring in—I bet they never even did a background check or anything. Totally sick.”
“Seriously,” the stranger told him. “Knock it off, I’m warning you.”
Brad just rolled his eyes. “She might be cute and all, but I’m pretty sure she’s got more STDs than a Thai hooker.”
Suddenly, Kallie’s stranger grabbed Brad by the shirt and spun him around. And then he hauled off and punched Brad in the face. Punched him so hard that Brad fell into about five other people. The place erupted into pandemonium.
The stranger ran back to Kallie. “Are you okay?” he said.
People everywhere were talking and pointing at them.
He looked down and saw that her wrist and hand were bleeding from where Brad had scratched her. “Come one,” the stranger said, “let’s get that cut taken care of.” And then he quickly pulled her into the darkness of the grounds beside the pool, where they couldn’t be seen.
Once in the darkness, he held her hand and slowed to a quick walk. “I just wanted to get away from that scene,” he told her. “But I’m taking you back inside the house and getting something for that cut.”
“It’s no big deal, just a scratch,” she told him.
“That asshole actually laid his hands on you,” he said, still clearly infuriated.
They doubled back and managed to blend in with a group of partiers heading back inside, with nobody seeming to know that Kallie had been involved in any fracas.
Once into the house, it was easy to depart from the crowd and make their way to the stairway.
The stranger appeared familiar with the house. “There’s a bathroom upstairs where we shouldn’t be bothered and I can take care of your wound,” he said.
Kallie had to smile a little at his characterization of her scratch as a “wound,”
although it was stinging pretty badly now.
They climbed the stairs and then he led her down a huge, long hall that could have been endless for all she knew. “Okay, here it is.” He opened the door to an ornate bathroom with a large soaking tub raised above the rest of the room, on marble steps.
Everything in the room was white or gold.
“I could live in this bathroom,” Kallie said. “I’m pretty sure it’s bigger than my parents’ house in Ohio.”
“You’re from Ohio?” the stranger asked.
She nodded, suddenly aware of the fact that the two of them were now alone.
Really alone.
He made sure to close the door to the bathroom, all business. Moving next to the sink, he ran the water and checked the temperature. “Let’s get some soap and water on that cut,” he told her.
Kallie smiled. “I’m okay, I swear.”
The stranger just looked at her. “That douchebag’s nails were probably riddled with dirt and grime. I’m not chancing you getting an infection.” Although serious, she got the feeling he was definitely milking her “wound” for effect.
Well, she wasn’t going to complain about being pampered and taken care of. She thought back to yesterday when she’d watched the way Red took care of Nicole. Didn’t she deserve a little of that too?
The stranger gently took her by the wrist and put her hand under the water, scrubbing her scratch with soap. “Now dry it on that towel,” he said.
She patted her hand down with the towel. “All set,” she told him.
“No,” he said, crossing his arms and shaking his head. Up close like this, his eyes were even darker and more intense than she’d first thought. His lips were full and soft.
She could smell him—he smelled clean, like the pool water. But underneath that was another scent—manly and strong and somehow comforting.
“No?” she said, softly.
He shook his head again. “I don’t think we’re done here just yet.”
“Why not?”
Something about his demeanor had changed. His voice was lower now, deep and husky and smooth. “Let me look at your cut again.” He reached slowly to her hand with both of his hands, and his touch was firm but gentle. He leaned in and examined her skin, seeming to take in every pore.
“Look at that,” he whispered. “I think it needs a kiss.”
“What?” she asked, her breath practically caught in her chest.
“I need to kiss your hand for good luck,” he smiled seductively. “You never heard of that before?”
“No.”
She did want his lips on her skin. She didn’t care if it was weird and she didn’t know him well enough.
He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it softly. His lips were like silk, but hot, searing her flesh with desire. “Can you feel me bringing you luck?” he said.
“I don’t know,” she replied.
“Okay, then. Maybe another will do it.” He leaned down and kissed a little further up her wrist. And then again. He was moving up her arm and her whole body shuddered.
Kallie was aware now of just how close their bodies were, as his legs touched hers and his chest moved closer to her own. She was in nothing but a skimpy wet bikini and her nipples had hardened. She could feel them poking rather insistently through her top.
Beneath her bikini bottom, the situation was even more dire, if less obvious perhaps. She was absolutely dripping with desire.
His hands suddenly grabbed her hips and pulled her into him. “Maybe you need another kiss,” he said, “to show you exactly what I mean.”
She didn’t want to admit just how badly she needed another one, but he must have known anyway.
Suddenly, his lips were on hers, teasing at first, lightly brushing her lips as she leaned forward. Her hands were on his muscular chest, feeling the hardness of his torso.
He was so strong, his body firm and tight and beyond sexy. His every movement, gesture, the tone of his voice—she wanted him. She almost felt as though she needed him.
The way he’d protected her from Brad at the pool—however violent his means--he’d done something that no one else had done. He’d stopped that person from hurting her, from violating her further. And she was grateful for that, but she was also completely turned on by how easily this man had taken charge of the situation.
And now he was taking charge again, as he kissed her more deeply. His tongue slowly entered her mouth. His breath tasted minty—not a hint of alcohol could she detect.
His hands moved down from her hips and then slid up her bare back, holding her closely so that her breasts pushed into his chest. Now their pelvises came together as their kiss went even further. She could feel, quite obviously through the thin layers of clothing between them, that he was excited. He was hard, and he was very big. Big enough to even be a little scary, she thought—if it ever came to that.
But for now she just enjoyed his hardness pressing against her wetness through her tiny bikini, and thought about how it might feel if there was nothing at all between them.
Their kissing became more passionate, and then he pulled back, looking into her eyes. His hand caressed her cheek softly. “I feel like I’ve known you my entire life,” he said. “Which is totally crazy, I know.”
“I feel like I know you, too,” she admitted. And it was true—there was something shockingly familiar about him. Still, even now she couldn’t place it. “Have we met before?” she said.
He laughed. “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”
“I just—I thought I recognized you.”
His laughter faded a little and his dark eyes searched hers again. “Don’t tell me you’re putting me on.”
Now it was her turn to be perplexed. “Putting you on?”
“Do you know who I am?”
“I don’t know. I mean, you’re familiar, but…should I know you?”
He sighed and stepped back. “Maybe.”
Just then, there was a loud, staccato knock on the door that made Kallie jump.
“Is somebody in there?”
Kallie recognized that voice. It was Nicole’s husband. She put her finger over the stranger’s lips and then answered. “Yes, I’m in here!”
“Look, we should probably get going. It’s way late, I lost track of time.”
“Okay, coming right out!” she called, and then went and flushed the toilet. The stranger turned the faucet on and pulled her close so he could whisper in her ear.
“I want to see you again,” he said.
She nodded. Then she turned and whispered in his ear. “I don’t even know your name.”
“My name is Hunter.”
And then it hit her. It hit her like a ton of bricks and a bolt of lightning all at once and she nearly keeled over from the shock. Of course, she must have been a complete fool not to have put it together. He was Hunter Reardon, the writer of the book she’d been reading the last few days. He wrote Blue Horizon.
He’d looked just different enough from the picture in the book jacket—his hair was longer, a little more stubble on his face perhaps, a bit older—and she hadn’t conceived of the idea that such a person would ever be in the same place that she was hanging out.
Hunter Reardon had kissed her—wanted to see her again.
Was it really him, though? She looked at him furtively again, and yes. Now it was obvious, like one of those jumbled up pictures where you stare long enough and suddenly the image pops out at you and you can’t believe you didn’t see it all along.
“What’s your name?” he whispered.
She leaned in. “Kallie.”
“Tell me your number,” he said.
The knock came again, louder this time. “What’s going on? Are you coming out or what?” Red said, clearly not happy. Maybe he’d heard about the fight.
“I need to go,” she said, still whispering. And then she leaned in and told him her number, not knowing if he’d even remember it, or call her if he did.
Hunter nodded and seemed as though he was trying to commit it to memory for a moment. And then he kissed her again.
When the kiss broke off, she opened the door just wide enough to scoot out into the hallway. “Sorry,” she said. “I just need to get my things from Danielle.
Red’s expression was dismayed to say the least. “Let’s do it fast. Hopefully she’s not going to hold it against you that you started a bar room brawl at her pool party.”
Kallie’s lips tightened as she heard what he said, and registered that he wasn’t exactly happy with her behavior at this little gathering.
But despite Nicole’s husband’s disapproval, she couldn’t help but feel a soaring happiness in her chest. She’d met someone special. She’d met a man who seemed different from anyone she’d ever met—someone that had stood up for her.
It was something her brothers would have done, had they been here. It was protective, like family.
And on top of that, he’d written maybe her favorite book she’d ever read—well, almost finished reading.
So Kallie and Red found Danielle, and Danielle went and got her things.
And soon after that, they were driving home in silence.
“Can I ask you a favor?” she said, after a time.
“What?” he replied, not sounding particularly interested in granting favors.
“Could you not tell Nicole about the fight? I don’t want her to feel bad for sending me to her friend’s party.”
Red glanced at her, and for a brief moment, his eyes softened. He nodded slowly.
“Fine. But next time maybe you should just tell your buddy not to go around punching people, and then we won’t have this problem.”
***
Nicole was upset and she wasn’t sure she had a right to be.