The Seraphina Donavan Collection: Contemporary (13 page)

CHAPTER THREE

Caroline sat huddled on the ancient couch that also served as her bed. There was a second bedroom in the apartment, but it had no bed in it yet. She'd exchanged her damp nightgown for a pair of yoga pants and a UK sweatshirt. Boone's hoodie was draped over her curled up legs, covering her bare toes. The kitten was tucked against her chest, huddling beneath her chin and purring so loud it was a wonder the windows didn't rattle.

“How can you possibly produce that much noise?” she asked.

The kitten responded by stretching out her front legs and arching her back, her claws scraping against Caroline's neck before she once again tucked herself into a tight, purring ball. The small kitten was content, at least. Which was more than could be said of her.

The scene with Boone replayed in her mind. She'd known about his crush when they were younger. He'd been fourteen to her sixteen and that had seemed like such a vast difference then, and honestly it had been.

It's not such a big difference in your thirties.
The little voice was at it again, chipping away at her arguments and making her question the safe distance she'd tried to maintain over the years.

“Lucy is my best friend,” she argued with herself “Right now, she's my only friend…and I'm living here on his charity, and I've already screwed up.” Just saying it aloud made her gut clench. After twelve miserable years of being married to William, she didn't have much pride left, but all that she still possessed was protesting. A job, she decided, would be the first order of business. As soon as Boone got back, she'd tell him she would only be here for a few days and she'd find some other solution.

“Where the heck is he?” Caroline asked. “He's been gone for hours.” Looking at the clock, she noted it was nearing midnight. The options for where he might be in Charlottesville were limited.

The kitten did not provide a pithy answer or any particular guidance. It just snuggled against her, warm and content, the unusually loud and gravelly purr reverberating against her chest. “You're no help at all,” Caroline said to it.

The door swung inward and Boone frowned at her. “That's really stupid. We have locks for a reason.”

“It's Charlottesville,” she pointed out.

“Really? You're going to tell me there's no crime here? Where is your soon-to-be ex-husband right now?”

“Out on bail,” she admitted reluctantly.

“You should have locked the door,” he said, placing the bags on the counter of the small kitchenette.

“I didn't know if you had your key with you,” she replied. Staring at the haul he'd brought in, she asked, “How much do you think she's going to eat.”

“A lot…every two hours. I'm not even sure how old she is. I bought formula and kitten food…I know she's got teeth,” he remarked. “She's a biter.”

She's not the only one.
The mental image of sinking her teeth into the thick, heavy muscle that curved between his neck and shoulder had her salivating. It had been more than a year since she'd had sex. Even though it had only been four months since she and William had separated and filed for divorce, he hadn't touched her in ages, and even then it had been sporadic. He'd blamed it on her weight gain when all along he'd been screwing around with his secretary.

Those thoughts doused her ardor quickly. William had sported thinning hair and a slight paunch, his own body far less than perfect, yet he'd criticized hers. The idea of getting naked in front of someone as fit, and lord was he fit, as Boone was terror inducing. Stretch marks, cellulite, and to be perfectly honest, she'd passed from muffin top to full blown pop-over years earlier.

“Earth to Caroline.”

She jumped, realizing that he'd been talking to her while she'd been mentally cataloging her numerous flaws. “I'm sorry. What?”

“Bring her over here and let's see what we can get her to eat,” he said. “I know she's gotta be hungry.”

As he said it, Caroline's own stomach growled. “Yeah, she's not the only one.”

Boone shot her a concerned look. “Haven't you eaten?”

She shook her head. “I went to the grocery store earlier, but people just kept staring…so I wound up just leaving the cart and running away.”

He opened one of the cans of kitten formula and filled a bottle with it. Turning on the hot water, he held the small baby bottle under the stream, letting it warm. “I don't mean to be nosey, but what are you doing for money, Car?”

Hearing the shortened form of her name made her smile. It was like putting on old, comfy clothes. “I've got a little money in the bank but not much. We're close enough to Lexington that I might try to get a job there. There's not a lot I'm qualified for, since being First Lady of Charlottesville pretty much involved smiling and not saying anything when my husband was an ass.”

With the bottle warmed, Boone took the kitten from her. It protested with a loud grunt, which made him smile and made Caroline's heart leap. “Let's see what this little girl likes,” he said.

Caroline looked at his large hands, callused and scarred, cradling that tiny kitten with such gentleness it made her ache. Then the kitten began to eat, greedily, and thoughts of Boone's manly, sexy hands faded. She had to suppress her squeal at the cuteness when the kitten's ears began to wiggle as she suckled the small bottle.

“Thatta girl,” he encouraged. “You know just what to do.”

It didn't take long for the kitten to finish. She protested loudly when the bottle ran dry. “She's still hungry.”

Boone took a baby wipe from the package and began rubbing her bottom. “Yeah, but I don't want to feed her any more right now. I don't know how long she's been without food, and too much too soon might make her sick.”

Caroline watched him with concern. “What in the world are you doing?”

“Caroline, didn't you ever have kittens or puppies at your house growing up?”

She laughed. “In that mausoleum? Please! The only time I ever got to play with kittens and puppies was at your house.”

He nodded, but his expression was full of pity as he explained, “Mama cats clean their babies' bottoms after they eat…it stimulates them to go to the bathroom. And since this one doesn't appear to have a mama, that'll be your job from now on.”

“What?”

“I have to get the shop opened,” he reminded her. “Since you're not working anywhere at the moment, you get to be the kitty mama.”

Caroline watched as he put the kitten on some kind of waterproof pad where it promptly peed. “How do you know when she's about to pee?”

He laughed. “You don't. It's going to get messy, princess.”

“Don't call me that!” The protest was more heated than his teasing tone had warranted. But William had always taunted her about being a spoiled brat, being a princess that couldn't do anything but take up space and look pretty. Then he'd add the last part was getting harder and harder to manage as her ass kept getting wider. Of course, he'd always attacked when she'd made suggestions about spending more time at home or going to marriage counseling, or asking if he'd be home for dinner.

“I should have known,” she muttered.

~*~*~

Boone knew instantly that he'd said something wrong. “Hey, I didn't mean anything by that.”

She looked up at him, her big blue eyes full of hurt, and it was like a punch in the gut. He wanted nothing more than to make that look go away.

Shaking her head, her reply was soft. “I know. I'm sorry for being…overly sensitive, I guess.”

As she started to move away from him, Boone knew he couldn't let that happen. Capturing her hand, he tugged her back. “No. If something hurts you, Caroline, you need to tell me…That way I won't do it again.”

“It wasn't you…just, William always called me that, and not in a nice way.”

Boone wanted to kick his ass. It wasn't the first time he'd felt that way, but it was the first time prompted by protectiveness and not jealousy. “Well, I'll never call you anything in a not nice way. You deserve a man who appreciates you, Caroline, who would look at you every day and know just how lucky he was to have you.”

God, he wanted it to be him. He'd never wanted anything so badly in his life.

The question burned in his mind, and he had to ask it. “Why did you marry him, Caroline? I never understood that.”

She looked down, a flush staining her cheeks. “It just seemed like the best option at the time…Every time I questioned whether or not it was a good idea, my dad would remind me that no one else was beating down the door to ask me.”

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. She had to know she was beautiful. “That's bullshit. You know you're beautiful.”

She looked up then, her lips parted and a look of surprise on her face. “I know you think that, but not everyone agrees.”

Standing so close to her that he could smell the sweet scent of her shampoo and see the tiny freckles on her nose, his eyes roamed further to the gentle curve of her lower lip. She looked up at him then, wide blue eyes flaring with awareness.

It was as simple as breathing. Leaning in, he settled his lips on hers, savoring the softness, the resilience of her flesh as he staked a claim that had been burning inside him for decades. She tasted like heaven to him, sweet and tart at the same time, like the apples he used to steal in the spring.

She stiffened against him, shock and surprise battling against the sweetness of a kiss he'd waited eighteen years for. There was no question the kiss would win out. To be certain of it, he poured everything he had into it. His lips moved over hers, firm but gentle. Insistent but never harsh.

She sank against him, her body softening, her lips parting. There was no victory dance, only the headlong rush. Taking her bottom lip between his, he nipped it gently, then soothed it lightly with his tongue. Her answering sigh sparked the need in him, the hunger for something more primal.

Tracing the soft curves of her lips with his tongue, he delved inside. A shallow thrust and retreat, something to make her yearn for more.

As much as he wanted her, he needed her to want him more, to be mindless with it. Maybe it was pride, or maybe it was the desperate fear of being crushed by rejection from her, but he needed her to go wild for him. He needed to see the girl next door turn into something dark and edgy because he drove her to it.

Sliding his hand up her back, twining his fingers in the golden strands still damp from the rain, he tugged her head back. It was a dominant gesture, one that stated emphatically that he was in charge. A soft moan escaped her, along with a little shiver that told him she liked it.

The softness of her body against him, the hardened points of her nipples pressing into his chest, was driving him wild. With one hand still tugging at her hair and his lips playing on hers with single-minded determination, his other hand roamed freely. From her rounded shoulders, down to the curve of her waist, and then to the swell of her hips. A dozen images played in his mind, each one involving his fingers digging into that soft flesh as he buried himself inside her again and again.

A tiny yowl from the floor brought reality crashing in on them. The kitten clearly felt like she had been ignored for long enough and began to climb his pant leg, one needle-like claw after another.

Caroline pulled back from the kiss, gasping, her damp lips parted and her eyes wide.

“Why?”

He blinked at her, his brain unable to process anything because all the blood in his body was still rushing south. Bending to scoop up the kitten wasn't easy since he was stiff as a damned poker. “What the hell does that mean? Why?” he repeated to her as he rubbed the kitten's chin. It immediately began to rumble out a purr that could shake the windows.

Caroline pinned him with a hard, assessing stare. “Do you want me, or do you just feel sorry for me?”

He dropped his head, his chin resting against his chest. “I feel a lot of things right now, Caroline. And I imagine most of them are going to send me back out for another jog in the rain…but not a damn one of them is pity.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Caroline awoke from a night of lust-fueled dreams. Well, they hadn't all been lust fueled. Some had involved the tiny kitten that had saved her from making a mistake of epic, disastrous proportion. Kissing Boone—no, she corrected. Being kissed by Boone, because he'd very clearly been the one in charge of everything, including her, had been an eye-opening experience.

Holy hell! That boy could kiss! Man. He was a man. Not a boy. He'd made that abundantly clear. In seconds, he'd robbed her of the ability to think, much less speak.

His strong arms had closed about her, his hard body pressed against her. Just remembering the heavy ridge of his erection pressed against her belly made her hot all over again. Then he'd done that thing…pulling her hair. Not enough to hurt, just enough to put her where he wanted her. Oh yeah. Boone was a full-grown man alright, and there was no going back to seeing him as anything else.

Sitting up, she caught a whiff of Boone's cologne. He hadn't let her sleep on the couch, insisting that she take his bed. Not that smelling the intoxicating scent of him on the sheets had helped her out with all those naughty dreams. Forcing herself to get out of the bed, she rose and quickly straightened the covers before walking out into the living room.

The apartment was empty. A note on the table told her Boone had taken the kitten to the vet. Caroline hoped the little thing would be okay. She'd snuck in a few cuddles during the night. It was the rumble/purr/growl combo at impossible decibels that sucked her in. It was irresistible.

Leaving the note on the table, ignoring the little voice in her head pointing out just how thoughtful he was, she headed for the kitchen. She'd just poured a glass of orange juice when she heard the door open. Glancing up, she caught her reflection in the microwave door. Yeah. That was not her best look. Nowhere to hide, Caroline simply hung her head.

“Good morning, sunshine,” he said.

She glared at him. “Don't tell me you're one of those morning people?”

“This isn't morning,” he replied. “It's practically lunch time.”

She glanced at the clock. It was only half past nine. “You are,” she said accusingly.

He chuckled again as he pulled the kitten from the small box he'd used to transport her in. “You'd never make it in the army, baby.”

“What did they say about her?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Worms. Fleas, though she's been treated for both now. The eye infection is a little worse. There's ointment in the box…three times a day,” he said as he placed the kitten in the makeshift pen he'd created for her.

“Where are you going?”

“To sand and paint a countertop. The grand opening is in three days.”

Caroline stared at him. He was seriously going to act like nothing had changed? Like he hadn't kissed her senseless in that very same kitchen the night before? “That's it? You're just going to leave me here and go to work?”

~*~*~

Boone took in her disheveled appearance. Her hair was crazy from tossing and turning all night, hopefully because she'd been thinking about him. She was sleepy-eyed and grumpy, her yoga pants and sweatshirt askew. It shouldn't have been sexy, but then it was Caroline and she was never not sexy to him.

Sometime during the night, as he'd lain awake hornier for her than he'd been as a sixteen-year-old kid, he'd realized that she had no idea. Somehow, over the course of her marriage, her asshole of an ex-husband had whittled her self-esteem down to nothing. It didn't surprise him. William had always been a bully, picking on anyone weaker than him. He'd apparently found Caroline's weak spot and had hammered away at it until she was just lost.

All the things Lucy had said to him at the bar had run through his mind on a loop. He wanted Caroline, but how she saw him wasn't the only obstacle. How she saw herself was going to be the biggest hurdle.

“What should I do instead, Caroline? Is there some reason I should stay here with you?” As he said it, he moved toward her, backing her against the door of the refrigerator. Their bodies were barely more than a breath apart. “Give me a reason to stay.”

She licked her lips nervously. Her breath was coming in soft little pants. She was nervous, yes, but he knew there was more to it. Placing his hands on the freezer door, on either side of her head, he leaned in. But he didn't kiss her mouth, as badly as he wanted it. Instead, he placed a gentle kiss on the end of her freckled nose. “Just one reason,” he urged.

“I can't,” she whispered.

“Can't or won't?”

She shivered softly. “You don't really want me, Boone. You want the me of twenty years ago…I'm not that girl anymore.”

“I'm not that kid anymore, either. I'm a grown ass man, Caroline. I've done things you can't even imagine…things I'd never dream of telling you because I couldn't stand to see how you'd look at me once you knew. I know what I want. I don't need you to make that decision for me.”

She started to protest, to say something else, but he was done talking. It was getting them nowhere. She didn't think he wanted her? He'd give her all the proof she could handle.

With a slight shift of his weight, the space between them ceased to exist. He pressed his body against hers as his mouth settled over hers. Their first kiss had been gentle, but the second one was something else. He didn't seduce. He took.

Sucking her lower lip between his teeth, he nipped it hard. She let out a startled cry, and he swept his tongue into her mouth. Bold, demanding. With every glide of his tongue against hers, with every scrape of his teeth, he showed her just how much he wanted her. Pressing his hips against her, feeling the softness of her flesh cupping his raging hard-on, neither had any doubt just how much he desired her.

Boone had stopped thinking. The point he'd been trying to prove was lost in the storm. His hands roamed over her body, sliding beneath the hem of her sweatshirt and encountering soft, warm skin. He didn't stop there but continued his journey until he could cup her bare breast in his hand. The soft weight of it in his palm coupled with the temptation of her pebbled nipple was too much.

Gripping the hem of her shirt in his other hand, he tugged it upward until it bunched beneath her arms. But her perfect breasts were completely bared to him. Pulling his mouth from hers, he took just a moment to savor the glorious sight before dipping his head and tasting each one. Closing his mouth over the hardened peak, he sucked gently, then teased with his tongue. But when he used his teeth, scraping against the sensitive tip, she screamed.

His Caroline. His quiet, well mannered, always well behaved Caroline let out a scream that was worthy of any one of the thousands of pornographic fantasies he'd ever had about her. Sliding his hands over the generous curves of her hips, cupping her ass in his palms as he finally tasted the sweetness of her skin, it was literally his dream come true.

Her hands clutched at his shoulders, holding onto him. One slid into his hair, holding his head in place. It was a small victory, but it was enough.

Pulling away from her, he rose up. Looking her directly in the eyes, he said it firmly, leaving no room for doubt. “I know exactly what I want…and it's you. Nobody but you.”

She stared at him for a few seconds, her eyes wide, pupils dilated, breath ragged. Then her chin lifted, and she offered him a slow, sexy smile. “Show me.”

Boone didn't waste a second. Picking her up, he tossed her over his shoulder and headed straight for the bedroom.

~*~*~

Caroline was too stunned to protest. Before she'd even realized what he intended, he'd tossed her over his shoulder and was packing her off. The only time William had ever picked her up had been on their wedding night. He'd carried her over the threshold and then complained that his back hurt. It had been a mood killer to be sure.

Boone didn't seem to think her weight was much of an obstacle. He moved swiftly, offering her a perfect view of the well-defined muscles of his perfectly sculpted ass shifting beneath faded denim. He kicked the bedroom door closed behind them and then dumped her on the bed. He was on top of her before she could think. His hungry mouth was everywhere, stoking the fire he'd lit inside her.

His hands roamed, stripping away clothes with an ease that would have alarmed her if her brain were still functioning. Instead, she could only feel, lost in a whirlwind of sensation and need.

Her shirt vanished, her pants followed, and a tiny part of her brain inched toward panic. She was completely naked before him, no protection, no armor. It was broad daylight, and every flaw was on display. But the rational part of her brain was clearly not in control. Instead of reaching for the covers or hiding from him, she just gave herself over to him, to the skilled heat of his hands and the play of his mouth on her skin.

His hands coasted over her thighs, parting her legs. Callused fingers touched her intimately, sliding over her cleft, teasing, taunting, and then slipping inside her. Each stroke, every subtle movement had her aching for more. But he refused to hurry, refused to rush toward the finish she so desperately wanted. Instead, he coaxed her along a slow, steady climb.

“Boone, dammit! You're killing me,” she finally managed.

He only chuckled in response. “But what a way to go!”

“More,” she said, her voice pitched somewhere between a plea and a demand.

A slow smile spread over his face, and he slid lower on the bed, pressing hot kisses over her ribs, down to her navel. Just as he dipped below it, the roughness of his beard teasing her skin and spiking her desire ever higher, the front door slammed.

“Boone! Caroline!”

It was Lucy.

Boone dropped his head onto her and against the soft flesh of her belly and uttered a filthy word.

He rose up quickly, though, as Lucy began making her way through the apartment. “Do not move,” he said. “I will get rid of her, and we will finish this.”

Caroline watched him walk away, the door closing softly behind him. Naked, shivering in the cold without him there to distract her, reality intruded. One word kept flashing in her mind, over and over. Mistake. Reaching for her discarded clothes, she dressed quickly before she could talk herself out of it.

~*~*~

Standing behind the couch, hiding a raging hard-on from his big sister, Boone wanted nothing more than to kick her nosy ass out the door. But Lucy was never cooperative. If she thought he wanted her to leave, she'd dig her heels in and he'd never be rid of her.

It was a treacherous balancing act. Every second he was away from Caroline allowed her to think, which only increased the likelihood of her changing her mind and leaving him in his present, miserable state. “What are you doing here, Luce?”

She pulled a face at him. “What? I'm suddenly not welcome?”

“Luce, you never let yourself in without knocking.”

“I did knock. And I don't want to know what you were doing that you didn't hear me!”

Boone prayed for patience. “Lucy, you put Caroline in my house because you wanted us to be thrown together. Interrupting whatever it is you think is going on kind of defeats the purpose.”

“Not necessar—good god! What is that?” Lucy screeched as she pointed at the small box and the kitten that was attempting to climb over the top of it.

“That would be a cat.”

“That is not a cat,” she said. “It's like someone shrunk a werewolf mid-phase.”

Boone didn't argue. The fact was, it did look kind of like a werewolf. Cute and fluffy it wasn't. But Caroline was. And she was naked in his bed, or she had been until his damned sister showed up. “She's malnourished. Her fur will come in and she'll fill out once we get enough food in her. Don't you have a bakery to run?”

Lucy leaned forward and gingerly picked the kitten up by the scruff of its neck. Its body went limp and compliant, but it had murder in its sickly eyes. “No. It's definitely not a cat…and I can't believe I'm saying this, because it is as ugly as homemade sin, but bless its little heart!”

Boone watched Lucy cuddle the kitten, scratching its chin. Earlier indignities were forgiven, and the kitten began to purr loudly. If purring could ever be labeled as aggressive, that cat would have accomplished it. He also accepted the fact that he was never getting laid.

Caroline was undoubtedly fully dressed and compiling a list of all the reasons what they'd been about to do was a bad idea. Since turning around and beating his head against the wall would undoubtedly raise questions, he just leaned over onto the couch and placed his head in his hands.

“You'll thank me later,” she said.

He looked up at Lucy as if she'd grown two heads. “Thank you for what?”

She smiled. “Delayed gratification.”

He shook his head wearily. “I am not talking about my sex life with you…and my gratification has been delayed long enough, dammit!”

“Not yours, dumbass! Hers. You've wanted Caroline forever. Let her want you for a while. It'll be good for her.”

“I won't survive it,” he said sadly. “It will literally be the death of me.”

Lucy walked over to him then, the kitten batting playfully at her earrings as it snuggled against her neck. “Boone, she's got no job. She's got no place to live except here with you. Let her get on her feet before you try to put her on her back.”