“I can’t. You yanked me out of the restaurant and my purse, which contains my phone, is with Brenda at our table,” I explained dryly.
Keeping his eyes on the road, he pulled his cell from the pocket of his dress shirt and handed it to me. I shot a quick text to Brenda. I made up a story about an emergency situation and told her I had left with a friend. I also asked if she would keep my purse with her until I could retrieve it later.
While handing back the cell, I glared at Kean’s side profile.
“You were watching me?” I asked.
“You are kind of hard to miss.”
I wasn’t sure how to take his response or where to go from there. The questions I had for him about Dr. Duarte and about what Stuart had just told me didn’t seem appropriate for the moment. Nor did inquiring if he was aware someone may be out to ruin his life.
I straightened in the seat and looked out the windshield. “Kean, where are you taking me?”
His only answer was the placement of his hand on my bare leg. His fingers stroked against my skin sending prickles of heat along my inner thigh. I began to feel dizzy.
His next words were soft. “You think I can’t see it, don’t you? You think you have it bottled up so well it isn’t noticeable. I hate to tell you this, sweetheart, but you’re wrong. I can see it. I can feel it. It’s buried deep, but it’s there.”
I began to feel dizzy. I knew what he was referring to. About what he saw. I knew what he connected with. He didn’t need to explain in any more detail. I had tried so hard to keep it buried and I thought I had, but I was a fool.
“What do you see?” I asked, keeping my focus out the front window.
“You tried to hide it behind those sunglasses in the café but it radiated off you. When you grabbed your keys from my hand I felt it. And in the reflection of the mirror at the gym when you were lost somewhere in your thoughts as you ran, I could see it on your face. At the French restaurant, every time you glanced in my direction I felt it beckoning me to come closer. I couldn’t ignore it any longer.”
I had always believed darkness inside people attracted other darkness. I believed when people who had those shadows within them crossed paths, that inner darkness called out to each other, recognizing what it was. I had slipped up. I identified with Kean’s darkness and I was moving towards it at a speed I couldn’t control.
My heart pounding, I grabbed the hand that was playing with the skin on the inside of my thigh and made an attempt to push it away but Kean spread his fingers and clamped down.
“Ciaran, you can try and deny it all you want but I see it. You’ve built a wall to protect yourself but a voice behind it is calling my name. Your body is begging for me to rip down that barrier. Every inch of you wants my mouth to expose all its secrets.”
Before I could utter a word, his fingers were under the skirt of my dress. Like a heat-seeking missile, they hit directly over my burning wet center, which dragged a moan from my lips. Keeping his hand on the outside of my panties, he pushed a finger against my swollen bundle of nerves and rubbed, sending a tsunami of shivers racing through me. I cried out loudly as my hands squeezed the sides of the leather seat.
“Fuck, Ciaran, all this wetness better be for me,” Kean growled.
His fingers kept rubbing and pressing, pushing me closer to the edge. “Tell me it’s for me.”
“It’s for you,” I gasped.
“Louder, Ciaran. I want to hear my name. Who makes you this fucking wet?”
“You. It’s for you, Kean,” I yelled, spreading my legs wider as I lifted my hips. “Oh God. More. I need more.”
With a sudden jerk, Kean pulled his hand away from my body. My mouth flew open, emitting a cry of protest.
My gaze shot to his, looking for answers as to why he stopped. He shifted the car into park and graced me with a beautiful smile I felt unworthy of. “We’re here.”
Here where? Had the car even been moving I thought, as I tried to find my bearings. The man wielded some kind of magic that made me completely clueless as to what was happening outside my body.
Through the passenger window, I saw we were in a parking garage of a building. Kean got out and walked around to my side of the car, giving me a couple of seconds to yank my skirt back over my drenched underwear. Extending the same hand that had been torturing me minutes before, he helped me from the seat. With it pressed it to my lower back I was guided into the structure and straight towards a bank of elevators. He seemed to be on a mission, not even pausing when he called out a curt hello to a kind looking doorman on the way.
Before the elevator door shut, his mouth was on mine in a needy kiss. I pushed up on the tips of my toes and wrapped my arms around his neck. He groaned once and lifted me off my feet so that my legs were able to wrap around his waist. His erection pressed into the divide of my legs, its massive size causing me to feel like I was plummeting instead of rising.
Much too quickly, the elevator pinged twice, announcing the doors were about to open.
I wiggled, a silent request to be let down, but Kean had his own ideas. With his palms slapped to my ass, he walked off the car and took several steps forward before stopping at one of two doors that faced each other across the wide hallway.
The door unexpectedly opened from the inside revealing a man dressed in an impeccable suit. He was as tall as Kean but had short hair and silver gray eyes. I could tell by the way his suit jacket pulled tight across his shoulders, he was also slightly more broad than the man who was carrying me in his arms.
Embarrassed at how intimately I was being held I looked pleadingly at Kean but he only grinned as he carried me past the suit.
“Kean, I already checked the security camera feed. I will update you tomorrow. I’ll be heading out if you and Ms. Thompson don’t need anything,” the suit sternly said as Kean finally set me down in the middle of a spacious living room.
“We don’t need anything, Thad. Thank you. Have a nice night.”
With a brisk nod, Thad walked out the front door shutting it behind him. I turned towards Kean, curious as to what security camera feed the man was talking about. I also wanted to ask how Kean knew the stranger and how the stranger knew my name. The troubled look on his face caused me to inquire, but indirectly.
“Family?” I asked, sounding like I wasn’t really interested.
“Something like that,” he muttered.
Based on his vague response, I decided to let him off the hook for the time being and assessed his apartment. A huge dark leather sofa with matching side chairs were the main pieces of the room. They were centered around a wide flat screen television mounted on a wall. I smirked. I had a hard time picturing a casually dressed Kean kicking back while watching a basketball game. It seemed in total contrast to the person I knew.
Giving Kean a sideways look, I walked over to a row of windows that overlooked downtown Dallas. The view itself was beautiful; however, it was the large patio with several potted trees and plants I fell head over heels in love with.
“There were only two doors in the hallway and one of them was yours. Am I to assume your apartment takes up half of the entire floor?”
Kean walked to where I was standing, wrapped his arms around my waist and once again lifted me off my feet. “Your assumption is correct, Ms. Thompson, but you’ll have to accept my apology for not giving you a tour right at this moment. I kind of have other things taking priority.”
I didn’t have time to give it further thought because his tongue stroked into my mouth as he began to walk. The next thing I knew we were in his bedroom where he broke the kiss and set me back on my feet.
“Ciaran, before we take this further I need to explain something,” he said, bending some at the knees to meet my eyes. “I’m not looking for a commitment. My life is too complicated to get into a serious relationship. I need to know you are okay with that before we take this further.”