Afterward, she drove him to the airport in the Lexus. He insisted that she park and come inside with him. She could go no farther than the security gate, where he set down his carry-on. He drew her into his arms to kiss her good-bye. She did not know what she expected, but it certainly wasn’t the gentle, thorough kiss that he gave her. Just like what any man would give to his wife or his girlfriend, she thought vaguely.
She felt herself melt against him, her pliant body fitting close against his. She curled her hands around his strong neck, burrowing her fingers in the short hairs at his nape. Breathing in his crisp, masculine scent, she clung to him until he released her.
One of his hands smoothed her riotous curls back from her face before slipping down to cup the side of her face. His thumb brushed her cheek then slipped away. “I’ll call you when I get back into town,” he said softly. He bent to pick up his carry-on and briskly walked away to join the queue at the security gate.
Cathy let him go from her without uttering a word. Her heart beat heavily in her breast. She waited and watched to be certain. He did not look back at her.
Cathy left the aviation building and returned to the Lexus. She unlocked it and got in. She pulled the seat belt across her chest, latched it, and started the vehicle. Her hands were not quite steady. His parting words beat a rhythm in time with her heart.
“I’ll call you when I get back into town.”
Heaven help her, but she would be waiting.
Chapter Fifteen
While Michael was gone, Cathy had time to think about some things. For two whole days, she grappled with the question of what she should do about her transportation, even while she drove the Lexus and reveled in the confidence she felt that she wouldn’t have car trouble. Her choices were clear. She could continue feeling sick with worry about how to pay for her car to be repaired, a temporary fix at best if the mechanic was to be believed, or accept the use of the Lexus.
The Lexus was a mammoth symbol of Michael’s growing impact on her life, as well as her increasing dependence on him. Accepting the means of her transportation from his hands, something so basic to survival, made her feel even more vulnerable, even more exposed.
What if their arrangement should fall through? What would she do about getting to where she needed to go then? What would she do when she needed someone to make love to her and make her forget the burdens of her life for a little while? What would she do now, today, if she didn’t accept the use of the Lexus?
Cathy was apprehensive of the power that he already wielded in their physical relationship. She had refused to admit how much her body would miss him, but he had known it anyway and proven it to her. Then he had underscored the lesson by the way he had kissed her when she dropped him at the airport. She had responded mindlessly, passionately.
When he walked away without glancing back, he had once more driven home a harsh point. He held the power in their relationship. He had branded her as his as thoroughly as if he had used a hot iron on her backside. At that point, her reflections became tinged with some slight self-disgust.
She was afraid of what else he might guess. That defining moment, when he had demanded her admission that she would miss him, had ripped through much of her self-delusion. Michael’s words had struck like a blow against her psyche. Sudden fear had splintered her. She didn’t want him to own her. He had already taken so much of her. She didn’t want him to have ascendancy over her emotions, too. Instinctively, she had known it would be a final surrender.
She knew that she was beginning to feel something for Michael beyond their physical relationship.