Reunited(23)

Before she could grab a tissue from the box on the end table, Brett leaned forward and licked the ice cream off her warm skin. Tingles shot through her. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around his neck and brought his mouth to hers.

Chocolate dreams…His tongue found hers and danced around it. His mouth hurt, she knew, but it didn’t seem to faze him. The kiss was raw and pure. Raw emotion and pure need. Pure love.

At eighteen, could she really be in love? With the Italian Stallion?

When his lips trailed kisses down her neck, licking up the last of the ice cream, she closed her eyes and sighed.

Yes, I love him. She loved Brett Falcone.

Her hand shaking, she reached toward the crotch of his jeans and touched the bulge underneath. It pulsed against her fingers.

He moaned. “Kath, are you sure?”

“Yes, Brett,” she said, her voice a raspy sigh, “I’m sure.”





Chapter Nine


Nerves. Tingling nerves. Kathryn swallowed as she shut the door behind Brett.

He turned to her and smiled. “I love you, Kath.” He cupped her cheeks. “I want you.”

How easy it would be to surrender to him again, to let the lust take her away from what she faced.

But no. She shook her head. “We need to talk first.”

“Really?” His lips turned slightly downward. “We talked a lot at the restaurant. I want to be with you. Isn’t that what you want?”

God, yes, it’s what I want, what I’ve always wanted. But she had to clear the air before she succumbed again. He deserved that much. “I do want you, Brett. I want to be with you in every way I can, but—” she choked back a sob “—there’s something I have to tell you.”

“What, baby?” He caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. “What is it?”

“Let’s sit.”

She led him to the living room, sat down on the couch, and patted the seat next to her. He sat down, his handsome face racked with concern. “Kath?”

She swallowed again. “Please don’t hate me.”

He touched her arm gently. “I could never hate you. Believe me, I tried. I wanted to hate you when you disappeared. I couldn’t.”

Oh God. Queasiness seized her tummy. He had wanted to hate her for leaving, and he didn’t know why she left. When he found out…

Could she put it off? Have one more night of passion with him before facing the piper?

No. She braced herself and steadied her emotions. He had to be told.

“I loved you then, Brett, and I love you now. I wouldn’t have given you my virginity if I hadn’t—” A sob caught in her throat. She cleared it.

“I know that now.” His deep voice soothed her. “It’s okay.”

“But it’s not okay.” She shook her head. “I’m afraid it will never be okay, what I did.”

“Just tell me, Kath. I love you. That won’t change.”

She didn’t doubt he thought he spoke the truth. But he had no idea what was coming. “I left town for a reason, and I started college late for a reason. The reason is…his name is Michael. He’s my son.”

Brett’s eyes widened. “What? You were pregnant?”

She nodded. “Our son, Brett.”

Brett sat, immobile except for a slight tremble in his full lips.

“I love you. Please say something.”

Several minutes passed. Kath fidgeted, afraid to touch the man she loved.

“Please, Brett.”

“Michael. You know him?”

She shook her head. “He just found me. I haven’t met him yet.”

His features softened for a moment. Did he understand? Would everything be all right? Her hopes dashed when he came to life, his dark eyes blazing.

“Don’t you think I deserved to know?” His handsome face reddened. “Or did you think at all?”

Kathryn gulped. “Of course I thought. All I did was think.”

The anguish so long buried slammed back into her as though it were yesterday. The yearning for a child she’d never know by a man no one knew she loved. The stigma of being the girl in trouble. Not just the girl in trouble, the class valedictorian in trouble. The heartache, the loss, the absolute fear.

“You deserved a chance to play baseball. God knows you had earned it. I had no idea you were going to run and marry Michelle.”

“I wanted you, Kath. You. We could have made a life together with our child.”

“What kind of a life? You had a scholarship to Ohio State, and I had one to Stanford. That’s a heck of a commute, Brett.”

“I would have given up baseball.”

She shook her head. “That’s not what I wanted.”

“What you wanted?” He paced, rage staining his face. “Did you give a thought to what I might want?”

“A child? A child at age eighteen? Who would want that?”

“I had one the next year, anyway. What would it have mattered?”

Kathryn balled her hands into fists. “Maybe it’s not what I wanted. Did that occur to you? Maybe I wanted to go to Stanford, then to medical school. That had always been my dream. Do you have any idea how hard med school is on married people? Over half of the ones I knew ended up divorced. Would you have wanted that?”