One Night (9 page)

“Let me taste you,” he pleaded, lowering his mouth to her breasts. “There wasn’t enough time to do it properly before, but there is now.”

“But…”

The lone word seemed to be her only objection. Kyle’s lips closed over a nipple, savoring one and then the other. He continued for several minutes, lavishing attention on her breasts.

She breathed heavily and groaned his name. Kyle smiled to himself, realizing that what Carrie was asking for was exactly what he was looking to give her. The first time they’d made love it had been fierce, almost combustive. He hoped their second go-round would be slow and sweet.

But Kyle was wrong. The tension was so damned hot and powerful, coiling within him, that it exploded out of control far sooner than he’d anticipated, much sooner than he wanted.

Afterward they slept. Kyle didn’t know how long. He woke in the middle of the night. The alarm clock on the nightstand said it was just after two. Carrie had tossed off the sheet and slept on her back. Her
arms were positioned above her head and her foot was braced against the side of her knee.

For a long moment Kyle studied her, watching the even fall and rise of her breasts, the very ones that had tantalized him for days. The very ones that had filled his mouth only a few hours earlier. A man could grow accustomed to sleeping with a woman like this, he thought contentedly. Grow accustomed to loving a woman like this.

Unable to resist touching her, he ran his finger down the silky, fragile skin of her abdomen, stopping just short of the nest of curly dark hairs at the entrance to her womanhood.

Her eyes drifted open and, yawning softly, she smiled up at him. “Is it morning yet?”

“Not quite.”

She lowered her lashes until they brushed against the high arch of her cheekbones. “I should go back to my room.”

“No,” he said heatedly, then immediately lowered his voice. “Please stay.”

Her smile widened. “If I do, is it sleeping you have on your mind?”

“No.”

She laughed softly. Kyle had never heard anything more musical in his life. Lifting her arms, she tucked them around his neck and kissed him, amused still when their lips met.

“What’s so funny?”

“You.” Exerting pressure, she rolled him onto his back and braced her hands against his shoulders. “Who would have ever believed it would be like this for us? Not me!”

Kyle chuckled too, his eyes studying her, but the laughter soon evaporated when she pressed her hot little body over his erection.

“Carrie,” he warned between clenched teeth as she raised herself slightly and positioned herself above his turgid staff. Slowly, inch by incredible inch, she sank downward, lowering her body onto his, until she’d completely swallowed his member.

Kyle sucked in his breath, enveloped by the sweetest, hottest heat he’d ever experienced. Gripping her by the waist, he began working her up and down, straining his body upward to meet her thrusts. The pleasure was almost more than he could bear. Each time she lowered her weight onto him, Kyle trembled. His breathing grew shallow and weak as he gritted his teeth, yearning to prolong his release.

Kyle diverted his attention to Carrie, awed by what an incredibly sensual lover she was. Her eyelids drooped and she bit into her lower lip as she moved gently over him.

And then she smiled, that secret, womanly smile of hers. The sight of it sent him careening over the edge. Kyle forgot about control, he forgot about everything but the exquisite pleasure loving her gave him.

Afterward, sated, exhausted, they fell into a deep sleep.

When Carrie opened her eyes she felt as contented as a cat napping in the sun. Kyle was asleep at her side, and for a few moments she did nothing but
study him, reveling in the way his chest moved in the slow, easy rhythm of slumber.

Her head throbbed with the beginnings of a pounding headache. She’d definitely had too much to drink the night before. Then again, she’d drunk exactly enough.

The wine had given her the courage to confront Kyle, and the few sips of scotch had sent her inhibitions flying out the window.

If this trip had accomplished anything, it had helped her revise her opinion of Kyle Harris. He was definitely more man than met the eye. She didn’t know what he ate for breakfast, but there was definitely a tiger in his tank.

She’d lost count of the number of times they’d made love. It seemed they slept in fits and starts, waking after brief interludes to reach for each other once again. A dam of longing and need had burst wide open between them, and they’d done their level best to make up for lost time.

Carrie shifted onto her back and realized she was sore. With little wonder. Nibbling on Kyle’s ear, she whispered, “I’m going to take a bath.”

His arm inched around her waist, pinning her against him. “Now?” he asked, his eyes closed. “What time is it?”

“Eight.” The first session of the conference was scheduled for nine. If they wanted to attend the early workshops, they needed to get going.

“You want me to order breakfast?”

“Please.” She kissed the tip of his nose and moved off the bed.

Humming to herself, she ran the bathwater and
sank into the steaming comfort of the tub. Settling into the bubbles, she braced her head against the back of the porcelain base and closed her eyes. A couple of minutes later, Kyle knocked and padded barefoot into the room.

“I just came in to see if you needed anything,” he said.

“I’m fine, thanks,” she replied, smiling up at him. He’d put on his pants but left his shirt unbuttoned.

Now that he was with her, Kyle didn’t seem anxious to leave. Sitting on the edge of the bathtub, he reached for the washcloth. “Need any help?”

She eyed him speculatively. “I can manage, thank you.”

His shoulders sagged. “You’re sure?”

“Kyle, the first workshops start in less than an hour.”

“You want to go?” He sounded shocked.

“We paid for them, didn’t we?” she asked instead.

“Yes, but…” He paused, stood, and stuffed his hands inside his pants pockets. A slow, steady smile began to form and his dark eyes gleamed. “It’s been my experience that the first workshops aren’t of much interest.”

“They usually aren’t very well attended, are they?” Carrie asked.

“From what I can tell, the subject matter is downright boring.”

“Boring,” she repeated, and then sighed and eased herself down into the warm, muscle-soothing waters.

“You’re sure you don’t need me to wash your back…and other areas?”

Carrie closed her eyes and handed him the washcloth. “You’re incorrigible.”

He worked up a heavy lather, then ran it gently over her breasts. Soon the washcloth was discarded and his hands slid over her soap-slickened skin.

A knock sounded at the door. Kyle closed his eyes and groaned.

“Who’s that?” Carrie asked.

“Room service,” he muttered.

He left her and closed the door. While Kyle paid the waiter, Carrie climbed out of the tub, dried off, and wrapped herself in the thick terry-cloth robe the hotel provided.

She came into the room just as Kyle was pouring the coffee. “I’m starved,” she announced, lifting the silver dome and sniffing appreciatively. He’d ordered her a low-cholesterol meal, but she didn’t object.

“I’m hungry myself.”

Carrie giggled. “No wonder.” She reached for a half slice of toast and munched on it while Kyle set their plates on a small circular table next to the window. Then she sat down and took a second piece of toast. “Feed me, Seymour, then you can love me.”

Kyle grinned. “My plan exactly.” He reached for the miniature jar of ketchup. “All I can say is thank God for the Pill.”

Carrie froze. “What makes you think I take birth control pills? And what makes you assume birth control is a woman’s responsibility?”

Her questions gave Kyle some pause. “You came to my room, remember? It makes sense that if you wanted to make love you’d take care to prevent a pregnancy.”

“I came to
you
?”

“Yes,” he said. “Our making love was what you intended, wasn’t it?”

For one wild second, Carrie was afraid she was going to slap him. “No, it wasn’t. I wanted to apologize for what happened with Tom and explain that we’re only friends.”

Kyle set his toast aside and took a deep breath. “I can see our discussion is upsetting you. I apologize, Carrie. You’re right. Birth control is something we should have discussed before we became…involved. We didn’t, so we’ll just have to live with it.”

Slowly Carrie stood and started moving about the room, collecting her clothes. It wasn’t what he’d said that upset her so much as what he’d implied. Apparently Kyle assumed she had an active sex life, so active it was necessary for her to be on the Pill.

His implied opinion of her cut deep. With one careless statement, he’d left her feeling unclean. He took what had been a beautiful, special night and made it into something sordid and cheap.

“Carrie,” Kyle said, taking hold of her arms, stopping her. “What are you doing?”

She pressed the hard ball of her clothes against her abdomen. “I’m going back to my room.”

“But why?”

“We’re here for a conference, remember? And as I said earlier, we paid good money to attend these workshops. I think we should go to them, don’t you?”

“No,” he said emphatically. “Let’s talk this out.”

She looked up at him and bit her lower lip. “Not now. I need to think.”

Carrie was grateful that she didn’t meet anyone in the stairwell. The last thing she needed was to be seen wandering through the hotel, wearing a robe and carrying her clothes.

She sat on the end of the bed, attempting to sort through her feelings. Kyle was right. She had gone to his room for all the wrong reasons. Her sole purpose hadn’t been to entice him into bed, but to be fair the possibility had been in the back of her mind. It had started when they shared a bed in Paris, maybe even before then; Carrie didn’t know anymore.

She reached for the phone and used her calling card to dial her sister’s number. If she was lucky, Carrie might reach Cathie before she left for work.

Cathie answered on the fourth ring, sounding breathless and impatient.

“It’s Carrie,” she said, and immediately burst into tears. “I’ve been such a terrible fool, and now I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Kyle looked for Carrie most of the morning. He made a point of stopping in a number of workshops. One would think, after the fuss she’d made, she’d at least show up for one or two.

But he hadn’t so much as caught a glimpse of her all morning. He wasn’t entirely sure what he’d said that was so terrible. All right, maybe the comment about the Pill had been out of line, but they’d need to discuss it sooner or later.

As for her comment about responsibility being shared, he didn’t have an argument there. She was
right. The minute he realized what was going to happen, he should have made a quick trip downstairs.

Okay, so he’d made a mistake, but it wasn’t the end of the world. It was a hell of a shame for the most incredible night of his life to end with an argument.

Knowing Carrie, all she needed was a little bit of time and space and she’d work matters out for herself. He’d be patient and wait for her to contact him, although it was going to be damned difficult. He wanted this settled as quickly as possible.

Whether they could resolve their differences would be the true test of how strongly they’d bonded in the last few days.

It worried him a little. All right, it worried him a whole lot. He was willing to do whatever it took to make matters right between them.

When Kyle hadn’t heard from her by early afternoon, he couldn’t make himself wait any longer. Against his better judgment, he went to a house phone.

“Carrie Jamison’s room, please,” he told the operator.

“One moment,” came back the tinny voice. “I’m sorry, sir, our records show she checked out of the hotel this morning.”

“
What do you mean
she disappeared?” Clyde Tarkington bellowed.

“Carrie’s checked out of the hotel. I thought you might have some idea of where she might be.” Kyle was fast growing desperate, desperate enough to call KUTE, hoping Clyde might have heard something. That woman would be the death of him yet.

“You two still egging each other on?” Clyde asked.

“No,” Kyle said, and impatiently jerked his fingers through his hair. “We had a minor misunderstanding.”

“It doesn’t sound so minor to me,” Clyde said. It sounded as though the station manager was enjoying this.

“She’s got a sister living somewhere in the Dallas area,” Kyle continued. “Have you got any information about her?”

“Give me a minute. There might be something in the file.”

Kyle had never been more impatient in his life. Leave it to Carrie to drive him to this. He found himself clenching and unclenching his fist, needing to do something, anything, to alleviate this terrible tension.

“It doesn’t say anything about a sister in her employment file,” Clyde said, coming back on the line.

“She mentioned her casually, but for the life of me I can’t remember her name.”

“I’ve heard Carrie mention her myself. Seems to me her name’s Cathie,” Clyde supplied.

“That should be enough information,” Kyle murmured. “I’ll take it from there. But Clyde, listen, if you hear from Carrie, I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know right away.”

“No problem.”

“I’ll be in touch.”

“See you bright and early Monday morning.”

Kyle relaxed. All wasn’t lost. At least he still had a job.

For the next hour, he sorted through telephone directories until he located a Cathie Jamison in Euless, Texas. Not wanting to risk Carrie’s knowing he was coming, Kyle left Dallas, drove to Euless, and, with only minor difficulties, located Carrie’s sister’s apartment. If his luck held, Carrie would be there and they could sort out whatever was wrong.

The woman who came to the door might have been Carrie’s twin. Cathie Jamison possessed the same deep brown eyes and upturned nose, but her soft, dark hair was cut short, flattering her face.

“May I help you?” Cathie asked.

“My name’s Kyle Harris,” he said quickly. “I’m looking for Carrie.”

“You’re Kyle Harris?” Cathie said, and leveled her gaze on him. “I’d rather burn in hell than give you any information about my sister.” With that she slammed the door.

Apparently Carrie and her sister shared more in common than a strong family resemblance.

Kyle rang the doorbell a second time. Cathie must have been waiting for him to do exactly that, because his finger had no sooner left the buzzer when the door flew open.

Before Cathie could issue any dire threats, Kyle spoke. “In case you’re interested, I really care about your sister.”

Cathie’s shoulders sank as she released a long, deep breath. “In that case you’d better come inside.” She held the screen door open.

Kyle glanced around the compact apartment, hoping Carrie might be there, but if so she was hiding in the bedroom.

“I take it you’ve talked to your sister.”

“This morning.” Cathie motioned for him to sit down. “Would you like something to drink?”

“Nothing, thank you. Was Carrie upset?”

“You might say that. She babbled on about a number of things. To be honest, she wasn’t making a whole lot of sense.”

Kyle sat closer to the edge of the sofa cushion. “What was she saying?”

“Something about wearing nun’s clothes, and hocking Grandma’s opal ring because you’d gotten yourself thrown in jail. There was more about wishing
she’d left you in the slammer, but I don’t think she was serious.”

Don’t be so sure, Kyle thought.

“The part that completely baffles me is this felon she thought she saw on
Unsolved Mysteries
who took your traveler’s checks. Does any of this make sense to you?”

Reluctantly Kyle nodded. “Every word of it.”

“In between all this you two got involved?”

“Exactly.” He steadily held her gaze. “Did Carrie tell you about last night?”

Cathie nodded. “Carrie likes to give the impression she’s something of a free spirit, but beneath all the bold talk and the crazy way she does things, my sister has strong values. She isn’t nearly as different as she wants everyone to believe. You’d need to meet our father to fully appreciate what I’m saying.”

“What’s your father got to do with this?”

Cathie folded her legs Indian style beneath her. “He’s great, don’t get me wrong, but he’s got these old-fashioned ideas about women and what role they should play in society. Dad thought Carrie should be a nurse.”

“Carrie?” For the life of him, he couldn’t picture her in a white uniform. Kyle admired Carrie’s talent as a deejay. She was bright and witty and fun. Her personality was ideally suited to radio.

“I know. Carrie goes weak in the knees at the sight of blood, but Dad was convinced she’d overcome that in time. It came as a real shock to him that his daughters had minds of their own.”

“What about you?”

Cathie laughed softly. “He thought I should be a
schoolteacher. I’m not as strong-willed as Carrie, and I didn’t defy him quite as openly as she did. The thing is, Dad and Carrie might argue, but they’re close. He’s long since forgiven her for majoring in communication. And with Carrie blazing the trail for me, life was much easier.”

“So you’re a teacher, then?”

“Not exactly,” Cathie said, shaking her head. “I’m a nurse.”

The irony produced an involuntary smile. “Carrie told me once that I was a lot like her father.”

“From what she said about you, I think that must be true,” Cathie responded. “You’re like Dad in more ways than even Carrie realizes. But you aren’t here to listen to talk about our father. You want to know about Carrie.”

“Yes, please. Where is she?”

Cathie looked at her watch. “If the flight landed on schedule, she’s back in Kansas City. I dropped her off at the airport earlier this afternoon.”

Kyle was on his feet. “She flew back?”

“Yup. I don’t know what you said, Kyle, but I’ve never seen Carrie more upset.”

Carrie let herself into her house, picked up the mail on the floor, and sorted through it as she made her way into the kitchen. The red light on her answering machine winked at her, and she absently pushed the switch. Four days of messages played back one by one, interspersed with a number of hang-ups.

Then Kyle’s voice captured her attention. The
mail slipped from her fingers and spilled onto the countertop.

“Carrie, it’s Kyle. Listen, whatever it was I said, I apologize. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I know an answering machine isn’t exactly the way to be telling you this. God knows I should have said it much sooner.” He paused and she could almost picture him squaring his shoulders. “I think I love you, Carrie. I don’t know when it happened, probably when you pawned your grandmother’s ring to bail me out of jail. All I can tell you is that I’ve never spent a more miserable day in my life than this one.

“I drove out and met your sister. It took a little persuasion, but I finally convinced her I wasn’t a monster and we had a nice long talk. I didn’t get your note until I got back from Euless. It would have saved me a trip, but that’s all right, because I was happy to get to know Cathie.

“If you’d like to talk to me, and I’m hoping you will, I won’t be at the hotel. I’m checking out as soon as I’m finished here and will be driving directly to Kansas City. Maybe by then you’ll have had a chance to think matters over and will be willing to sit down and talk things out.”

Carrie slumped down into the kitchen chair and covered her face with both hands. She’d been impulsive most of her life, but it had been a mistake to leave Kyle like that. Her note had been brief and to the point. All she’d said was that she was flying home and hoped he enjoyed the rest of the conference.

The phone rang. Thinking it might be Kyle again, she leaped up to answer it.

“Hello.”

There was a pause, followed by a click. Carrie stared at the receiver and then slowly replaced it. With an unlisted number, she didn’t often receive crank calls. Yet there’d been a series of hang-ups on her answering machine. Odd.

Tired and emotionally spent, Carrie ran her bathwater and soaked for a long time in the scented tub. Then she climbed into bed, convinced she was exhausted enough to sleep for a week.

For the better part of the night, Kyle drove from Dallas to Kansas City, arriving early Sunday morning.

He started rehearsing what he intended to say to Carrie the minute he hit the Kansas state line. He didn’t want to fight with her, not when they could be making love.

Instead of stopping off at his house, he drove directly to Carrie’s. That might not be the wisest thing to do, but he couldn’t bear to wait any longer.

When she didn’t answer the front door, he walked around to the back of the house and found her squatting on the grass, sticking Martha Washington geraniums in a redwood planter on the patio. She was wearing cut-off jeans and a cotton shirt with the tails tied at her midriff. Her hair was held away from her face with a red bandanna. Kyle thought he’d never seen a more beautiful woman.

“Hello, Carrie.”

She glanced over her shoulder and froze. “Kyle.” She rubbed her forearm across the perspiration
that moistened her brow. “I see you got back all right.”

He nodded, his carefully prepared speech lost. “I just got in.”

She nodded and stood, looking uncertain, unprepared. “Would you like to come inside for some iced tea?”

“Please.” He followed her and removed his sunglasses, folded them, and stuck them in his shirt pocket. After driving for the last ten hours, he wasn’t inclined to take a seat, so he stood while she took a glass pitcher from the refrigerator.

“I realize I can be obtuse at times,” he said, smiling his thanks when she handed him the glass. He paused long enough to take a deep swallow. “That comment about birth control pills was stupid. You’re right, Carrie. The responsibility should be shared.”

“That wasn’t what upset me.” She inhaled deeply and raised her head so that their eyes met. “It was the implication that I’m routinely involved with men when you should know I’m not.”

“Carrie, don’t be insulted, but I honestly haven’t paid any attention to your social calendar. For all I know, you could be going out with four or five different guys.”

“Sleeping with them too, apparently,” she muttered under her breath.

“I wouldn’t know, that’s the point,” he argued. “What do you know about my love life? Nothing, right? I’m not holding that against you. Carrie,” he said, taking a step toward her, “I don’t care if you’ve had ten lovers—”

“You don’t care?” She stared at him as if seeing him for the first time and finding plenty to fault.

“I’d
care
,” he replied heatedly. “I only want you to have one lover. Me.”

“What kind of woman do you think I am?” she asked softly.

He’d been deceived by that calm, reasonable tone before. It spelled danger. Frantically he struggled for a way of combating her anger. “You’re warm, generous, loving—”

“Loose, immoral, unprincipled,” she concluded.

“I said nothing of the kind,” he said calmly. One of them needed to remain level-headed. “You’re putting words in my mouth.”

“You seem to believe I’d make love with you while involved with someone else.” Each word was spoken distinctly as if she wasn’t leaving room for misunderstanding. “Worse, you know how many hours I put in at the station. You’ve seen for yourself the hours upon hours that go into scheduling interviews, promos, and public service announcements, yet you think I can keep a handful of lovers happily satisfied on the side.”

“What I was trying to say is that it doesn’t matter to me how many lovers you’ve had—
in the past
.”

Carrie briefly closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. “How generous of you. Your previous lovers don’t concern me either.”

“You’re twisting everything I say into an insult. I didn’t drive all this way to fight with you.”

“This isn’t what I want either,” Carrie admitted. “But I swear, every time you open your mouth you make it a thousand times worse.”

Frustrated, Kyle stretched out his hands, palms up. “Tell me what you want.”

“I think it’ll probably be best if you left. We both need time to think this out.”

“All right,” he responded stiffly. He had his pride, and if she didn’t want him around he could accept that. Forget the fact that he’d driven like a madman to get back to her. “Answer me one thing,” he said.

“Okay.”

“Is there a chance you could be pregnant?”

Carrie blinked as if she’d never considered the prospect of there being consequences to their one night together. “Heavens, I don’t know.” She counted days and stopped when she reached the night she’d spent with him.

“Well?” he asked, anxious to know.

“On a scale of one to ten?”

“However you want to put it,” he said.

“One being no chance of my getting pregnant, and ten being the day I was at the peak of the fertility cycle.”

“All right, tell me on a scale of one to ten.”

Long before she spoke, Kyle saw her reply working its way up her throat. The word seemed to have to fight its way past some restriction.

“Ten.”

Kyle pulled out a chair and fell into it.

“That doesn’t mean I
am
pregnant,” she was quick to say, but he noticed that she promptly scooted out a chair and sat down herself. Bracing her elbows against the tabletop, she buried her face in her hands. “I wish you hadn’t asked. Now it’s going to worry me.”

Kyle felt the same way. “How soon will we be able to tell?”

“How am I supposed to know? A couple of weeks, I guess. I’ve never been pregnant before, and this might come as a shock to you, Kyle Harris, but I’ve never been at risk either.” She turned to him, her eyes wide and appealing. “What will I do if I’m pregnant?”

“You? We’re in this together. As I recall, I was there as well.”

“True, but as you so eloquently pointed out, I was the one who came to
your
room, and you were under the impression I’d accepted full responsibility for birth control.”