Now and Forever 4, The Renovated Heart (16 page)

“I want you…God…I want you…oh please…”

Kit thought she’d pass out from desire. He
covered himself, parted her knees wider then raised himself above
her. Her palm rested on the side of his face. She closed her
eyes.

“Open your eyes.”

Her eyes flew open, looking back into his
only inches away.

“I want to see you as I make love to
you.”

Then he was on top of her, easing himself
inside. She gasped as he entered her. He stopped, lowered his head
and took her mouth with his. Kit clung to his chest then raised her
knee up, allowing him deeper penetration.

His head came up, his forehead rested on
hers for a moment. He groaned loudly and filled her completely. He
paused to catch his breath, then started moving inside her,
creating an agony of pleasure.

“Oh my God, Tunney,” she moaned, turning her
head to the side.

“You okay?” He stopped dead still.

“Amazing…”

He chuckled before continuing to take her,
slowly at first then picking up speed.

She arched her hips up to meet him, moaning
as the intensity climbed. Their bodies rocked in sync as their eyes
met and their fire raged. Kit cried out his name when physical
release took over her body, making her shudder as pure pleasure
shot through her veins. Tunney trained his eyes on her face as he
satisfied her desire. Then ecstasy claimed him as he erupted inside
her, groaning, his arms like iron bands crushing her to him.

They lay coupled, panting. Kit closed her
eyes, her fingers still gripping his shoulders. She had never known
such unbridled passion before. Tunney gave her the most
earth-shattering lovemaking experience of her life. He dropped his
damp forehead on her head and smiled, then planted small, feathery
kisses on her neck while her fingers caressed his back. After a few
minutes, Tunney rolled off to the side. She gazed lovingly at him,
running her finger across his jaw. Neither broke the magic with
words. He kissed her lips tenderly, taking her face in his hands.
She looked up at him.
It’ll never be like this with any other
man.
He reached over the side of the bed to retrieve his
shirt.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Home?”

“Stay. Please stay,” she said, stroking his
chest.

“Sure?”

She nodded.

He kissed her, and dropped his shirt to pull
her into his arms. Kit cuddled up to him snuggling her head into
his shoulder.

“You’re awesome. Just…fantastic,” he
whispered.

“So are you. I never…it’s never…love…” she
stuttered.

He put his finger on her lips. Then he
kissed her lightly.

“We’re good together.”

She laughed.

They stayed together until hunger drove them
downstairs where they called for a pizza and popped two beers. When
the pizza arrived, Kit put slices on plates then brought them to
the kitchen table.

Tunney pulled her onto his lap to feed her
pizza. He came up behind her when she washed the dishes and wound
his arms around her waist. He pulled her back into his chest,
nuzzling her neck while slowly sliding his hands up under her shirt
to cradle her breasts. Kit closed her eyes, leaned back against him
and shut off the water. She could feel his response to her body and
heat from his touch burned her skin.

He caressed her and kissed her neck. She
lost the power to move, her legs barely held her up as desire
rocketed through her body. He took her in his arms for a long
sensuous kiss, possessing her mouth—he wanted her again. His hands
moved down her back to squeeze her bottom, while she gripped his
powerful shoulders.

“Let’s go upstairs,” he whispered.

She broke from him and almost ran up to the
bedroom. She needed to put out the fire raging inside. They ripped
off what little clothing they had on and pulled each other down on
the bed with a frenzy born of overwhelming passion. Mutual
exploration was cut short as they were too hot to wait.

“I want you,” Kit breathed, her face buried
in his neck, her breathing ragged, her fingers digging into his
shoulders.

Tunney covered himself and took her quickly.
She fastened her mouth on the soft place where his shoulder met his
neck, lost in the intensity he was creating inside her. He made
love to her hard and fast. She cried out as glorious release spread
all the way to her toes. He melted shortly after.

Once every appetite had been sated, they
fell, exhausted, into a deep sleep, curled up together, wrapped in
the warmth of their unspoken love.

Kit rolled over at two o’clock, bumping into
Tunney’s warm, furry chest. She sighed with pleasure at finding him
in her bed. Slipping her arm around his middle, she cuddled up to
him, putting her cheek on his chest. He moved his arm across her,
and kissed her hair without ever fully waking up.

At six thirty, sunshine crept in the window,
waking her. When she opened her eyes, he was spooning her from
behind with his arm thrown over her rib cage, his hand resting on
her chest. Stretching her arms woke him up. He closed his fingers
gently around her breast before leaning down to kiss her neck. Kit
rolled over on her back and looked up at him. His hair was messed
up, his stubble was scratchy but he looked incredibly sexy.

“Good morning,” he whispered, not wanting to
disturb their coziness.

She reached up to smooth his hair. He caught
her wrist, placing a kiss on the inside. She stretched again, then
moved her body right up against his, putting her arm around him. He
pulled her as close as she could be, his hand on her hip.

“Good morning.”

“I thought I was dead.” He chuckled.

“Why?” Her brows knitted with concern.

“Because I woke up in bed with you. Figured
I must be in Heaven.”

She gave his shoulder a playful slap.

“Charmer.”

His hands wandered over her body, exploring
the same warm, places he became intimate with the night before.
Sighing, as a now-familiar ache for him began growing, Kit kissed
him, running her hand down his chest. Her hand continued over his
stomach and lower, surprised to find he was already fully
aroused.

“Wow,” she breathed into his ear.

“You. You do that to me. You have been
making me hard for months.”

She looked into his eyes before she hooked
her leg around his waist.

“I’m not exactly immune to you either.”
Desire pooled in her loins.

She had the same mind-blowing response to
Tunney’s lovemaking in the morning as the two times they made love
the night before. She rested in his arms, unable to stop smiling.
Peace mingled with satisfaction, desire with affection creating
potent love.

“The chimney sweep is coming at nine. We
need to be decent by then.”

“Food!” She said, sitting up in bed,
grabbing the nightgown on the bedpost and disappearing into the
bathroom as he put on his boxers. When Kit came out ready to head
for the kitchen, she wore the black nightie with the red bows.

“Whoa! I never thought I’d be lucky enough
to see that again,” he said.

“Oh, this…yes, this!” she said, touching the
nightie, remembering.

“If you don’t run down to the kitchen this
minute, I’m going to tear that thing off you…we’ll never get to
breakfast,” he said.

She fled the room chuckling. When he joined
her at the stove, she had eggs and bacon frying along with bread
waiting to become toast.

“The smell of brewing coffee, bacon mixed
with the sight of you…all my appetites are aroused at once.” He
shot her his lopsided grin before drawing her into a hug.

“Good morning…again,” she said, kissing
him.

“Good morning,” he said, returning her kiss.
He turned the hug into a long bear hug. Kit closed her eyes,
softening against him, disappearing in his arms, free from pain or
worry, floating in total happiness.

Finally releasing her, Tunney sat down to
breakfast. He tucked into his plate of bacon and eggs while she
sipped her coffee.

“How come you never married?”

“I almost did. About five years ago.”

“What happened?”

“She left me two days before the wedding…ran
off with her acting coach. He promised he’d make her a star.”

“Did he? Were you about to marry Angelina
Jolie?”

“No. Susan Fitch. Never heard of her, have
you? I guess he didn’t make good on his promise.” He buttered a
piece of toast.

“But it’s been five years.”

“Yup.”

“No one special in five years?”

“I’ve dated, but mostly been too busy,
building up my dad’s business, to get involved. The business grew
to ten times the original size and provided the money to make Mom’s
last few years great. Definitely worth it.”

“Can’t you still work and meet someone?”

“I guess. But you were living in New
York…and married,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

“Hmm. Married…” she said, looking down.

“Don’t you have something you want to tell
me, Kit?” he asked, pushing his empty plate away, picking up his
coffee, looking hard at her.

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“Yes you do.”

She looked at him quizzically.

“Come on…no phone calls, no text messages…a
closet full of men’s clothes in different

sizes…” He lounged back in his chair.

“Well…I…”

“Come on, Kit. Confess.”

This wasn’t how Kit envisioned their first
morning together.

“Okay…I’m not married.” She plucked at the
hem of her nightie.

“Knew it.”

“You did?”

“Yes…I suspected for a while. But as I was
putting in the new pane of glass in the parlor window, the wind
blew papers off your desk. When I put them back, I saw the divorce
decree.”

“You did? Why didn’t you say anything?” she
said, anger flashing in her eyes.

“I was waiting for you to tell me.”

“You’ve known for two weeks now…you let me
continue with this charade?”

“Yes…and you did. Why? Why did you lie to
me?”

“Because…because I was afraid. I didn’t want
to have to deal with men coming on to me.

So when I met you at Bon Appetit, I lied so I
wouldn’t have to deal with your interest in me.”

“But what about after? Why didn’t you tell
me then?”

“You were a stranger when I told you I was
married. But then you became… became…more…I’d lied to you. I didn’t
know what you’d think. Every week the lie seemed to grow…I couldn’t
stop. When I bought the clothes, everything got out of hand. I
couldn’t face you. I thought you’d hate me.” Blinking hard didn’t
keep the tears from spilling onto her cheeks. She wiped them away
with her hand.

“In the beginning, I get it. But you know me
pretty well by now.”

“I was wrong not to tell you. But why did
you let me continue driving myself crazy figuring out how to keep
this going when you knew all along? Why didn’t you confront
me?”

“I thought you had some reason to keep it
going, some reason to hide from me behind a bogus marriage.”

“My husband destroyed my life. I was afraid
to trust…anyone. The truth is...I got dumped. Dumped after twelve
years of marriage…left with no job, no apartment, no life,” Kit
said, tears cascading down her face.

“But now you do have a life. And me,” he
said, wiping her tears with his hand.

“Did I? Once you thought I was married, you
put up a wall between us.”

“I don’t sleep with married women.”

“Of course, by last night you knew
already.”

“I found out just as I was making plans to
have my men finish the renovation. I couldn’t continue to be around
you anymore and keep my distance.”

“You were going to leave me, too?” she
asked, her voice shaking.

Tunney pulled her onto his lap.

“I had to. As long as you were married,
there was no hope for me. But after I found out you weren’t
married; I waited two weeks for you to tell me. When you didn’t, I
almost gave up, figuring you weren’t interested in me since you
were still using the phony marriage to keep me at arm’s
length.”

“What happened to change your mind?”

“Yesterday, the way you were looking at me…I
thought maybe you wanted me…not as much as I wanted you, but
enough. So I took a chance and kissed you. You didn’t push me away,
you got closer…you responded. Then I knew you could be mine.”

“The farce about the wedding ring...”

“I had to do something, since you still
wouldn’t tell me. I couldn’t walk away any more, my resistance
broke.”

The doorbell rang. The chimney sweep had
arrived.

“I’ll get it. You might give Bruno a heart
attack. “He pointed to her nightie.

Tunney took the man upstairs. When he
returned, Kit had the kitchen cleaned up. She sipped the last of
her coffee watching birds at the bird feeder. Tunney came up behind
her, wound his arms around her waist and pulled her up against
him.

“Are there any more secrets you want to tell
me…like your father has three heads or you’re really an axe
murderer?”

She shook her head.

“Good. You got dumped. I got dumped. All in
the past. Now we have each other. One thing…”

“What?”

“No more secrets. No lies. Total truth…all
the time,” he said.

“Total truth, I swear,” she replied,
standing on tiptoe to give him a kiss.

Thanksgiving loomed ahead, only one week
away. Kit made a list of the remaining projects. Tunney transferred
her list to a calendar, parceling out tasks to be completed each
day to finish most of the renovation by the time Zoe arrived. He
abandoned his business for the week so he could spend every waking
moment with Kit getting the house ready.

“I love a woman who makes lists,” he said,
putting the final touches on the calendar.