Torch (Take It Off #1)(50)
Author: Cambria Hebert

“I’m doing well. Thank you for asking. I’m calling to let you know that the transfer of your funds has finally been approved. All the money has been deposited into your account and is now available for your use.”

“Wonderful, thank you very much.”

“It’s a pleasure banking with you, Miss Parker.”

“Did the other transfers to the other accounts go through as well?”

“Yes, ma’am, everything went through according to the way you set up your accounts.”

“Thank you for the call, Mrs. Caldwell.”

“If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to come into the bank or call me directly.”

“I will.”

When the call was disconnected, I tossed the phone toward the end of the bed, hoping it would get lost in the covers and never be seen again.

I felt a gentle hand stroke up the inside of my thigh and I smiled, glancing over at a still “sleeping” Holt.

“That was the bank,” I told him as his fingers crept higher, lingering on the edge of my panties. “The money went through.”

“So you’re filthy rich?” he rumbled, his voice still heavy with sleep.

“Guess so.”

He grunted. “I thought it would take longer.”

“It’s been a couple of weeks.”

He didn’t say anything, instead slipping his fingers beneath my underwear and teasing the sensitive skin there. My body reacted like it always did when he touched me. Desire pooled deep in my belly, my nipples tightened, and moisture gathered between my legs.

I lay back down, opening up for him, for his touch. “You’re trying to distract me,” I murmured as one of his fingers slid inside me.

“It’s working.”

He knew it would. It always did. I knew he didn’t want to have this talk—the talk where we decide where our relationship was going. He had kept his word. He’d told me he wasn’t trying to pressure me and I didn’t have to answer him right away about what I wanted. But every time since then when I tried to bring it up, he silenced me some way or another.

“I know what’s going on here,” I murmured between a lustful moan.

His reply was to slip yet another finger inside me.

“You’re scared.”

He stilled and lifted his head off the pillow. “Excuse me?”

I thrust myself against his fingers, which were no longer doing what I wanted them to do.

Very carefully, achingly slow, he pulled them out, tugging my panties back into place and pulling his arm from beneath the sheets. Hooking me around the waist, he towed me closer so he was partly lying atop me, tucking his arms around me and playing with the ends of my hair. “You want to talk, Freckles? Let’s talk.”

I took a breath. “I think you’re worried I’m not going to stay here now that I have more than enough money to leave.”

I saw the acknowledgement behind his eyes, the insecurity. “I just haven’t wanted to push you. You’ve been through a lot.”

“So have you,” I whispered, reaching up to lightly trace the slight scar above his eyebrow. Six stitches, that’s how many the cut on his head required.

He caught my hand and pressed a kiss to my fingers.

“For as long as I can remember, all I wanted was a solitary life, a life where I only had to worry about me and I wouldn’t have to worry about someone leaving me or hurting me.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but I shook my head and he fell silent.

“But then my house caught on fire and everything changed.” I smiled. “It wasn’t really in your job description to come visit me every day at the hospital, was it?”

He shook his head. “I couldn’t stay away. I hated seeing you lying there like that.”

“I love you, Holt.”

He sucked in a breath, staring down at me with those incredible blue eyes. “Katie—”

“I have for a while. I was just too afraid to tell you. But I’m not scared anymore. I love you and I want a life with you. I hope you still want that too.”

His mouth was on me before I even finished saying the words. He crushed me against him, holding me so closely I wasn’t sure where my heartbeat ended and his began. I gripped his shoulders, holding on as sensation after sensation rippled through my body as his mouth moved over mine again and again.

Then he was between my legs, burying himself inside me with one great thrust and making me cry out with need.

“Look at me, Katie,” he demanded, holding himself above me with his elbows.

I forced my eyes open and looked up. “I love you.”

And then he began to move—slow, sinful strokes, in and out, in and out—until I was panting with anticipation.

Neither one of us lasted much longer, both tumbling into ecstasy at the same moment. I felt him pumping into me, and the intimacy of that single act had my heart squeezing with joy. He collapsed on top of me but caught himself and stiffened, trying to roll away so he wouldn’t crush me.

I made a sound of protest and pulled him back, wrapping my legs around him to keep him close. I wasn’t quite ready to break our contact just yet.

“Shit,” he swore softly into the pillow beside my head. “I forgot to use a condom.” He gazed down at me. “I’m clean, I swear.”

I smiled. “Guess it’s time to get on the pill.”

“Just the thought of my child growing inside you thrills the shit out of me.”

“Me too.”

“Yeah?” he said hopefully.

I nodded. “But I’d like to have you all to myself for just a little bit longer before we start thinking about that.”

“Deal,” he said and moved in to kiss me, but before he could, he drew back. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“I don’t want you to move out.”

“Me either. I talked to your dad. He’s going to rebuild my house and then I’m going to sell it. This is my home now.”

The look on his face made my heart turn over.

“But,” I warned, “I am going to be buying some more furniture for this house.”

“I don’t care. You can paint the whole place pink if it makes you happy.”

“You make me happy.”

This time he did kiss me.

“Holt? There’s something else I want to talk to you about,” I said when he lifted his head.

“What?”

“I want to use some of the money Tony left me to open up some sort of home or program for foster kids. I don’t ever want them to feel the way I did when I was moving through the system.”