Not-So-Secret

Chapter fifteen

Kelly turned away, unable to look at James. God, had she made it all up? Had this man ever truly been kind to her?

She ran her hand over the cold relief of a standing screen, her fingers tracing the edges of a reclining jaguar as she ran through a dozen quick memories, James gentle in all of them. He'd been tough in front of Jones and Lee, of course, but when they'd been alone...

She remembered the first time he'd kissed her. They'd been in her bathroom, of all places, standing by the Jacuzzi. He'd found a narrow window where Jones's hidden cameras couldn't see and he'd led her there, positioned her just so. They'd had to whisper, although the sound of the bubbling water had masked their voices and in that tiny space of freedom, that narrow gap between the nightmare of her life and the promise of something too good to be anything but a dream, he'd caressed her hair with trembling fingers, searched her gaze for secrets, then leaned down and touched her lips ever so softly with his own.

He'd lingered there, just brushing lips to lips, breathing his breath into her, filling her with desire. He'd been patient, maddeningly so and finally she'd been the one to deepen the kiss, to open her lips and take a forbidden taste of this man who was her protector and her prison guard.

He'd moaned, so loudly she'd been afraid, but then the fear didn't matter. Nothing mattered but his arms around her, the hard warmth of his chest, his tongue doing wicked, wonderful things that made her forget reality.

It only lasted a few minutes. A few precious, dangerous minutes. But in that time, she'd felt a connection that had given her the strength to do the unthinkable. She'd decided, at that moment, when she couldn't distinguish between his breath and hers, that she would escape and someday, when they were both free of the monster in the other room, they would meet again.