Unfinished Business

time.”
    “Why are you here, Van?”
    She bent to stroke the dog. “That unfinished business you mentioned. It’s been a long day, and I’ve had plenty of time to think.”
    “And?”
    Why didn’t he just sweep her away, carry her upstairs? And shut her up. “And I… About what you said this afternoon.”

    “That I’m in love with you.”
    She cleared her throat as she straightened. “Yes, that. I’m not sure what I feel—how I feel. I’m not sure how you feel, either.”
    “I told you how I feel.”
    “Yes, but it’s very possible that you think you feel that way because you used to—and because falling back into the same routine, the same relationship—with me—is familiar, and comfortable.”
    “The hell it is. I haven’t had a comfortable moment since I saw you sitting at the piano.”
    “Familiar, then.” She began to twist the necklace at her throat. “But I’ve changed, Brady. I’m not the same person I was when I left here. We’ll never be able to pretend those years away. So, no matter how attracted we are to each other, it could be a mistake to take it any further.”
    He crossed to her, slowly, until they were eye-to-eye. He was ready to make a mistake. More than ready. “Is that what you were waiting here to tell me?”
    She moistened his lips. “Partly.”
    “Then I’ll have my say.”
    “I’d like to finish first.” She kept her eyes level. “I came here tonight because I’ve never been able to get you completely out of my mind. Or my…” Heart. She wanted to say it, but couldn’t. “My system,” she finished. “I’ve never stopped caring about you, or wondering. Because of something we had no control over, we were cheated out of growing up enough to make the decision to move apart or to become lovers.” She paused, but only for a moment. “I came here tonight because I realized I want what was taken away from us. I want you.” She stepped closer and put her arms around him. “Is that clear enough?”

    “Yeah.” He kissed her gently. “That’s clear enough.”
    She smiled at him. “Make love with me, Brady. I’ve always wanted you to.”
    With their hands joined, they walked upstairs together.

Chapter 9
    S he had already been upstairs while she had waited for him to come home—smoothing and straightening the covers on the bed, fluffing the pillows, standing and looking at the room and wondering what it would be like to walk into it with him.
    He turned on the lamp beside the bed. It was a beautiful old rose-tinted globe that sat on a packing crate. The floors were unfinished, the walls spackled with drywall mud. The bed was only a mattress on the floor beneath the windows. It was the most beautiful room she’d ever seen.
    He wished he could have given her candles and roses, a huge four-poster with satin sheets. All he could give her was himself.
    And suddenly he was as nervous as a boy on his first date.
    “The atmosphere’s a little thin in here.”
    “It’s perfect,” she told him.
    He took her hands and raised them to his lips. “I won’t hurt you, Van.”

    “I know.” She kissed his hands in turn. “This is going to sound stupid, but I don’t know what to do.”
    He lowered his mouth to hers, testing, tempting. “You’ll catch on.”
    Her lips curved as her hands slid up his back. “I think you’re right.” With an instinct that was every bit as potent as experience, she let her head fall back, let her hands glide and press and wander.
    Her lips parted for his, and she tasted his little groan of pleasure. Then she shivered with pleasure of her own as his strong, clever hands skimmed down her body, his thumb brushing down the side of her breast, his fingers kneading at her waist, his palm cupping her hip, sliding down her thigh, before its upward journey.
    She pressed against him, delighting in the shower of sensations. When his teeth scraped lightly down her throat, over her bare shoulder, she murmured his name. Like the wind through the trees, she sighed for him, and swayed. Pliant and willing, she waited to be molded.
    Her absolute trust left him shaken. No matter how hot her passion, she was innocent. Her body might be that of a woman, but she was still as untouched as the girl he had once loved and lost. He wouldn’t forget it. As the need flamed inside him, he banked it. This time it would be for her. All for her.
    Compassion and tenderness were as much a part of his nature as his recklessness. He showed her only the