Fifteen minutes later, they’d parked in the city center, catching a lucky spot on the street.
He reached out and took her hand as they walked down the wet sidewalk. Victoria tensed, unused to the sensation of hand-holding in public. She cast a few nervous glances at passersby, who ignored them. She slowly relaxed. His hand was warm and strong. Something about having a man reach out and claim her in such a casual yet powerful way gave her goose bumps. It hadn’t been like this when they were younger. Perhaps she’d taken too much for granted. They’d almost been kids. Romance at her age was a whole new experience.
“I had some news I wanted to share with you earlier, but since that letter showed up, I’d put it out of my mind.”
“What happened?
“I mailed off the signed divorce documents to my lawyer today.”
“You didn’t tell me you had them.” She glanced at him, scanning for any sorrow in his face. Shouldn’t a divorce be a sad time? Hers had been depressing. Even though she’d known it was the absolute right thing to do, it’d seemed like a big symbol of failure. Seth didn’t look the slightest bit sad. In fact, he looked very relaxed. “How do you feel about that?”
Seth smiled. “Jennifer and I have been working toward this for a long time. Everything has been pretty amicable, but the legal part took forever. In my head, we’ve been divorced for a long time. This made it real.” He abruptly stopped in front of the Italian restaurant where she’d eaten with Lacey and Dr. Campbell. “I’m staying here.” The restaurant occupied the bottom level of one of Portland’s finer boutique hotels.
“Great hotel.”
“It’s old. But they’ve got fantastic rooms. The windows in mine are incredible. They look like they belong in a large sun room.”
He’d understood when she’d said she didn’t want to go back to work. He’d driven straight to downtown Portland, neither of them speaking, but knowing exactly what they both needed.
He gripped her hand. He hadn’t let go. The space in the elevator seemed to shrink as they silently waited for the upward trek to finish. She studied Seth out of the corner of her eye, her heart expanding sight of the rugged profile. Right now, she felt like she’d spent the last ten years with him at her side.
He made her relax. It’d been a roller-coaster of twenty-four hours. Her house was fire, smoke, and water damaged. She’d met a horrible woman who was possibly her birth mother. But being next to Seth made it all bearable.
They stepped off the elevator and moved down the hall to his room.
“Don’t let me forget to grab my cell phone,” Seth said.
“How on earth did you forget one of your phones? I’d feel like I left my right arm behind.”
“That’s exactly what it’s felt like all morning. It’s driving me crazy. I should know better. I’ve been carrying a work phone and personal phone for about five years, but somehow I will leave one behind sometimes.” He held his key card to the lock and pushed the door open, holding it for her to walk through.
Light beckoned to her and she moved forward, dropping his hand, her eyes wide at the sight of the windows that wrapped up and over a portion of the ceiling. “It’s like staying in an atrium.”
Seth laughed. “I feel like the whole city can see me in here. But I really don’t care. Who’s going to recognize me?”
“It is really exposed.” Victoria studied the buildings across the street. “Their windows look straight in here. At least there’s a good distance. They’d need a telescope for details.”
“I’ve given them a few shows.”
She whirled around to face him, an exclamation on her lips, until she saw he was teasing. An image of him parading naked for the viewers crossed her mind. A laugh bubbled out of her chest. How long had it been since she laughed like that?
He watched her carefully, a big grin on his face, but his eyes reflected a soul-deep level of adoration. “God, I’ve missed you, Tori.”
She held his gaze, her stomach warming and trembling in a good way. He moved closer, taking both of her hands and squeezing tightly. His heart was clear in his gaze. He meant every word. Abruptly he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms firmly about her, burying his face in her hair, and she felt a shudder go through him. “It’s been too long.”
Her insides dissolved and absorbed into his heat. She moved her lips against his neck and nestled her face against the roughness of his skin. His stubble stimulating the most sensitive skin on her body. She inhaled his scent, and a calm flowed through her. It was a masculine scent, one she wanted to breathe forever.
She didn’t notice her tears until she tasted them.
Seth noticed. He pulled back and lifted her chin, his gaze considering her face. “Aw, Tori. Why do you cry? Was it that awful woman? Don’t think about her.” His voice was a low rumble, a sound she knew meant his emotions were very, very close to the surface.
“I didn’t know I was.”
He wiped at her tear tracks. “Don’t cry. Nothing makes me cry except the sight of your tears. Should we not be up here?”
She shook her head at him. “I want to be here.”
“Are you sure? We don’t have to do this.” He held her gaze, his blue eyes earnest. He’d given her the ability to stop it. Tension radiated from his body. He wanted her. Badly.
She laughed, choking on the salty moisture in her swollen throat. Stop? Now? At this very moment there was nothing more she wanted more than to feel his warm skin pressed against every inch of hers. She craved it. She needed it. She needed to make the morning disappear and lose herself in Seth.
She moved into him and pressed her mouth softly against his. He hesitated a fraction of a second and then wrapped his hand around the base of her skull and moved hungrily into the kiss. His mouth was hot, and she tasted her tears as her tongue moved against his. Fresh tears spilled from her closed eyes.
He brushed at her tears, keeping his mouth against hers. His hand stroked down her face, his fingertips wet. “I’ve dreamed for years about this,” he muttered against her mouth. “Ever since I kissed you in Denver, I knew my life would never be complete without you in it.”
She pressed her forehead against his. His words echoed in her heart, chipping away at the walls she’d created when he left her. Protective walls. But now they no longer had a purpose and they were crumbling.
“I’d accepted that I’d always have a space in my heart in which only you would fit. I was prepared to go through life simply learning to live with it.” His voice dropped. “I’d believed I’d destroyed everything beyond repair. You were married. I knew I needed to move on.”
He pushed her coat off her shoulders and let it drop to the floor. She was instantly cold and shivered, moving her body against the length of his. She wanted his body against her from her toes to her lips. She tucked her arms under his coat, wrapping her arms around to his back.
“Take your clothes off,” he whispered in her ear. His lips trailed the arch of her ear, his teeth biting gently at her earlobe. Lightning shot through her.
He didn’t need to ask twice.
She pulled back and held his gaze as she ripped her sweater over her head. His eyes widened, his gaze locked on her unsexy T-shirt bra. She took a deep breath as power filled her chest. That’s right. Take a good look at what you’ve been missing. She gave a slow smile, reveling in the need on his face. Yes, he wanted her.
She kicked off her boots and slid off her jeans, all while holding his gaze. Seth stood motionless, and she wondered if he held his breath. His stare moved down her body, stopping on the simple white thong. She tilted her head, giving him a minute to look his fill. She didn’t have doubts about her body. She rowed. She ate well. “Long” and “lean” were common adjectives used to describe her. Seth appeared to approve.
“Strip,” she ordered, biting back a laugh at the elated shock that crossed his face. It was instantly replaced with a smug grin.
“Yes, ma’am.”
He stripped.
She hungrily watched him work off his layers of clothing. She glanced out the wall of windows, wondering if they were providing lunchtime entertainment for the office building across the street. Looking at Seth dropping his last layer, she didn’t care. Let them watch. Why not give them something to tell their neighbors about?
With a rapid move, Seth tackled her onto her back on the huge bed. She wrestled the down comforter out of the way, loving the cool sheets on her skin. Her skin temperature had shot up in the last minute, her body craving the man.
“My God, you’re gorgeous.” Seth lay beside her, propped up on one elbow as his gaze traveled her body. He was pressed against her from toes to shoulder, just as she’d wanted.
He was beautiful, too. Was that an appropriate word to describe a man? Subtle hints of muscle showed everywhere. She liked that he wasn’t jacked like some men. He was just Seth. A memory prickled, and she reached up to trail her nails through his hair, tracing his scalp, and his eyes closed, bliss on his face. Yep, he still likes that.
He abruptly pulled her face to him and kissed her. His mouth moved from hers, up her face, to her hairline, and then down to her neck. She squirmed as her skin tingled under his lips. His hands were everywhere, stroking and pressing, finding all the places he’d once loved to touch her. She sighed. She simply wanted to spend the rest of the day here in bed with this man. The office was gone. Bones were gone. Stress was gone.
“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do this again,” he muttered as he worked his mouth down her stomach. “I can’t be in the same room with you without being bombarded by need for you. Do you know what the last few days have been like? Seeing you at work? Christ. I thought I was going insane.”
She sank her hands into his hair, gliding her nails along his scalp and making him moan. He kissed his way across her belly and released the front clasp to her bra. Her breasts spilled out and he exhaled as he gently stroked one and then the other. He slid off her thong and flung it behind him.
“Hang on.” He sat up, and she missed his body heat. He stretched over to the nightstand and removed a condom from the drawer.
He has condoms? Victoria stared at him.
He gave her a sheepish look. “I was looking ahead.”
“When did you buy those?” Her mind froze. Should she be happy? Scared? Insulted?
“The day after I saw you.”
“What?”
“Let’s say I was cautiously optimistic.” He gave a sexy grin and further scrambled her brain.
“Well, I didn’t… I didn’t give you… Why—”
He cut her off with a deep kiss, and she no longer cared why or when he’d done it. The sight of her had driven him to buy condoms. She should be flattered, right?
“If I had the slightest chance with you, I wasn’t going to blow it by not being prepared,” he whispered.
She reached down and wrapped her hands around his hard length. He hissed and closed his eyes. “Yes, touch me, please.” He was silky and smooth under her fingers. She watched the alternating agony and pleasure dance across his face as she handled him. He pressed the condom into her hand. She opened it and rolled it on him, as he watched her with a dreamy look. She ran one hand up his chest, massaging with deep pressure. Her other hand pleasuring him, keeping that lustful look in his eyes that made her feel like the most powerful woman in the world.
She’d buried herself in her work, seeking that sort of power. Wanting her colleagues to admire her skills and leaning on her successes to give her satisfaction in her life. It didn’t matter how anyone else saw her, she knew. It was about what she meant to one man, and what he meant to her.
She moved on top of him, sitting on his stomach, and his eyes lit up. Seth made her feel sexy and female, a feeling she didn’t get very often. She arched her back, making her breasts lift. Could anyone across the street see them? A naughty part of her hoped so. She felt a bit like showing off. It was safe here, just the two of them. The expanse of gray wet skies filled the room with light, exposing everything.
Seth ran a hand up one of her thighs. “You’re beautiful, Tori.”
Her heart swelled. She shifted her weight and pressed his covered tip against her opening. And then met his wide eyes. His jaw was locked, one hand gripping the sheets. The other dug into her thigh, almost hurting her in his excitement. She pressed down, watching him. His lids fell closed as his chin lifted, digging the back of his head into the pillow. His legs and stomach tensed.
She looked back to Seth, a wide smile on his face. He met her gaze and clamped his hands on her hips, grinding himself in deep. She gasped for breath, small fires shooting up her backbone.
“I love you, Tori,” he forced out from clenched teeth.
She froze, her hands on his. “I’ve always loved you, Seth.”
He stopped moving beneath her. “I’m not going to let you get away again. This is it. You and me. Moving forward from here. Together. Agreed?”
She tried to shift her hips beneath his grip, but he held her tightly in place. Part of her wanted to leap off and hide. But that urge was rapidly smothered by an overwhelming need to stay with him permanently.
“I won’t leave you,” she said softly. She felt the last bit of her walls dissolve.
Seth rolled them over, his hands tighter on her hips. Suddenly she was on his pillow with his eyes inches from hers, his look fierce. He was still deep inside her and he pushed harder, emphasizing his words as he spoke. “You and me. We’re going to live out the rest of our lives together, driving each other crazy, okay?”
Moisture filled her eyes. He was giving her exactly what her heart had ached for. She nodded through her tears.
She was lost in his eyes, feeling his hands touch everywhere on her body. She wanted to let him take every inch of her that she offered up before him. His words rang through her head. The rest of our lives. They’d been said before, but they’d been nearly children at that time. Now the words held a power, a truthfulness. They were coming from a man who knew what he wanted.
She surrendered to Seth’s pleasure. In her heart and in her body.