“Me either,” she whispered.
She certainly hadn’t been a saint or celibate all these years, but no man made her ache with need the way Kyle did. And now that they were alone and he had managed to put her at ease, she wanted to do all the things he just described.
Raking her hands through his hair, she leaned in and kissed him with everything she had and was rewarded by a sound of pure need emanating from him. It was crazy how much she wanted him. Five minutes ago, she would have sworn she was fine sitting here and talking for a bit, but right now, all she wanted was to get naked with him. Then they could start at the front door and work their way through his list.
So that’s exactly what she started to do.
Slowly, she shimmied off his lap and got to her feet. At his look of total confusion, she crooked a finger at him and pulled him off the sofa. “I believe there was mention of the front door.”
That was all it took for him to spring into action. In the blink of an eye, her back was pressed against the door and he was kissing her—devouring her. It was a struggle to breathe but totally worth it. When his lips left hers, he kissed her cheek, her jaw, and then started working his way down until he was on his knees in front of her.
Oh, my…
Her hands gripped his hair as he began sliding her jeans down her legs.
It was one thing to think about him doing this.
It was quite another to be living the fantasy.
She whispered his name as he kissed her hip bone and his hands came around and squeezed her ass. It was all so decadent and a little hedonistic, and it was a side of her she never knew existed, but she wanted more—more of everything he promised.
And like a man on a mission, he didn’t stop until he’d given it all to her.
“Do you remember our trip to Myrtle Beach?”
Twisting slightly to look over her shoulder at him, Sydney smiled. “I do. That was right after I graduated, and we went with like…what…twenty people?”
He laughed softly. “Something like that. We had a caravan of about eight cars, and we stayed at that crappy hotel because it was cheap and we were all practically broke.” He shuddered. “I can’t believe I took you someplace like that.”
“Oh, my goodness, are you kidding me? To me, it was like staying at the Ritz Carlton because we were away from home and had a room we didn’t pay for by the hour.” She smiled up at him. “Plus, it was right on the beach.”
“I remember you wearing a white bikini and very little else for most of the weekend.”
“Oh, my goodness. The white bikini.” She groaned. “I wouldn’t dare wear anything like that now.”
“Why not? I think you’d look incredibly sexy in one. Particularly that one if you still have it.”
That made her laugh. “I don’t think I do. That was ages ago. But it was perfect for that weekend.”
“I don’t know why we all thought it was such a great idea for a trip. We went from one beach town to another.” He laughed again as he shook his head. “It was so crowded and we spent all day out on the sand and then ate cheap crappy food.”
“Hey!” she said, elbowing him lightly. “I take offense to that. I distinctly remember making us some great sandwiches and salads and packing them in our cooler.”
“Oh, yeah…”
“Although, when we finished with that stuff there were some questionable places where we ate. But when you’re young, you don’t mind that sort of thing. It was the adventure of it all. Our first grown-up trip.”
“I guess. I just never went back.”
“Me either, but not because I thought it was such a bad place. And we thought it was a great idea because it wasn’t our beach town. No one’s parents were around, no one knew us, and we were free to do whatever we wanted. If you ask me, it was a great trip. I’d gladly go back. Maybe stay at a nicer hotel or rent a condo or something. That could be fun.”
Kyle kissed her shoulder and nodded. “What would you think of taking Haley there for a weekend?”
Now she totally rolled over in his arms so she was facing him. It touched her heart how much he was taking her niece into consideration and that he wanted to do things with Haley too, rather than without her. “I think she’d love it, but we’re getting ready for gymnastics season—there will be competitions and meets on the weekends, so I’ll have to check her schedule and look at the dates.” She kissed his chest as she hummed softly. “What made you think of that?”
Shrugging, he said, “Just thinking of stuff we can all do together.” Hugging her close, he added, “I’ve got another two weeks here tops, and then I’ll be on some other site that Jake assigns me to. It’s going to be weird not seeing the two of you every day.”
“I know. This was all such an unusual set of circumstances.” Pausing, she didn’t even think before her next words were out. “Who knows if we would have reconnected if it hadn’t been for this whole house thing.”
But there it was.
A hard truth.
“You don’t think we would have…I don’t know…run into each other?” he asked, sounding slightly hurt.
“I don’t know. It’s not like it happened any time I came back to visit my folks or when I was here helping Tracy and Daren when they moved in.” Hating the direction of the conversation, Sydney opted to wiggle a little closer and place some more kisses on his chest.
“I went to the funeral,” he said flatly, effectively ending her kissing.
“Um…what?” Looking up at him, she shook her head as if she didn’t believe him. He couldn’t have been there. She would have seen him.
“Yeah, so I was there. At the church.”
Lifting up a bit, she stared at him because it still didn’t seem possible. “But…I didn’t see you.”
“I know,” he said quietly, reaching up to caress her cheek. “I didn’t think you’d want to see me so I stayed in the back of the church and paid my respects. Tracy was always nice to me back when you and I dated and I had to go and say goodbye.”
“I don’t even know what to say to that, Kyle. I mean…thank you. That was very nice of you.” Frowning, she didn’t know what else to say and seriously wanted to change the subject.
“It wasn’t until Jake told me about the house that I knew you’d moved back. I didn’t really know anything about Haley or that you were her guardian. It was all too much to take in that the accident even happened.” Another pause as his eyes scanned her face. “But whether there was this job or not, if I had known you were living in Magnolia again, I would have sought you out.”
Was it wrong that her heart did a little skip at his words?
In a perfect world, she’d like to believe him. Maybe he would have reached out to her, but she had a feeling she would have been just as hostile toward him as she was when he first started working on the house, and it would have taken them months to get where they were right now.
If they ever did.
Carefully, Kyle guided her back down so her head was resting on his shoulder and they lay in companionable silence for several long moments. She felt him kiss the top of her head before he said, “I hate like hell the circumstances that brought you back here, Syd. And I hate saying I’m thankful for us to get a second chance because it makes it sound like…like I’m grateful for something so heinous, and…”