Katherine Garbera - Secrets Of The Night - A Case of Kiss and Tell

Her apartment revealed a woman who had deep roots and connections to the people in her life. Every photo was genuine. No staged smiles, no fake emotions. He wanted to trust her, but the desire he felt for her made it harder for him to do it.

Was he giving her a free pass because he wanted her in his bed or was he seeing the signs of a woman he could truly trust? He just didn’t know, and he was afraid to make the wrong choice.

He had no problems acknowledging his own fears. He knew that he had weaknesses; if you pretended you didn’t, you were only fooling yourself and headed for a big fall.

He turned to look over his shoulder at her. She chewed her lower lip and stared pensively at him. He should just let go of the mistress thing, but he couldn’t. He wanted her to be his completely and only as his mistress would he have the freedom to make their every meeting about sex.

In his head it seemed like sex was the way to go. The one thing that would make a relationship with her manageable. Otherwise, he’d be tempted … hell, he already was tempted by everything about her. And he knew that he didn’t want to allow her to mean too much to him.

“You haven’t answered my question,” he said.

She shook her pretty head, the red hair brushing over her shoulders and her bangs falling forward to cover one eye before she tucked the hair back behind her ear again.

“I’ll do it,” she said, “but only if you agree to let me capture my own observations about your family and that dynamic. I think that will add a personal touch and that’s what my readers expect.”

He turned back to look at the wall of photos in her apartment. If he agreed to let her observe his family, he’d leave them all vulnerable. That wasn’t acceptable. How could he manage it?

He was so close to having Nichole and everything he wanted. And he was a damn smart man at the bargaining table, no matter who sat on the other side of it. He knew there had to be a way to make this work.

“How would you observe my family? With me present?” he asked.

“Yes, when we went to functions they were also attending. I assume you’d bring your …”

“Mistress,” he said. “If you can’t say it, how can you agree to be it?”

“I’m going to say girlfriend . We can both pretend it means mistress.”

“Don’t do that, Nichole,” he said. “Make sure you know that what we are going to have will be temporary. It’s stamped with an end date.”

She nibbled her lip again.

“You’re going to chew your lip raw,” he said.

She stopped. “You’re right. Why does it matter what I think about our arrangement?”

“Despite what you might think of me,” he said, “the last thing I want is to see you hurt.”

“That makes two of us,” she admitted.

“Good,” he said.

“So you’ll do it?”

He would be able to control the amount of access that Nichole had to his family. He didn’t know for sure if that would be sufficient, but in the end he knew he was going to agree to this. He would manage her and her access to his life. He’d been doing that with the media since he’d turned seventeen, so he wasn’t too worried about that.

“Yes,” he said.

“Okay … now what?”

He laughed at the way she said it.

“Well, we have to seal our deal.”

“In writing?”

“I don’t think so. That kind of document could end up in the wrong hands,” he said. “How about with a kiss?”

“A kiss … just one kiss?” she asked, standing up and walking over to him. “One kiss is never enough.”

“No, it’s not. So let’s say a kiss, but take whatever we get,” he said.

She nibbled her bottom lip again when he opened his arms to her. She just stood there staring at him and he wondered if now that he’d agreed she was going to back out.

“Second thoughts?”

“Yes,” she said softly. “And third and fourth thoughts. It all comes back to you and the story. I want you both. But a part of me is sure I’m going to regret this.”

He closed the gap between the two of them and pulled her into his arms. He hugged her gently, trying to reassure her, yet he honestly had no idea how this would turn out. He hoped by making her his mistress he’d be able to control the influence she had over his life and ensure that his emotions didn’t get engaged. But this was Nichole and nothing had gone according to plan since she’d shown up uninvited at his family’s Fourth of July party.

“I will do my best to make sure you have nothing to regret,” he said.

She tipped her head back and stared up at him with that pretty gaze of hers. “That’s the worst part. I know your intent isn’t to hurt me, just as mine isn’t to do any damage to you, but I’m not sure that as much as we are trying to make this a business arrangement that we’ll succeed.”

She had a point, but he’d made up his mind and she’d agreed to his terms. He wasn’t letting her go or giving her a chance to back out.

“We’ll both just have to do our best,” he said, lowering his head and taking the kiss he’d wanted all evening.

Nichole was glad to stop thinking and just enjoy Conner’s embrace. Tonight hadn’t gone exactly the way she thought it would but she’d gotten the one thing she’d set her mind on. Why, then, wasn’t she happier?

She was in Conner’s arms, enjoying his ravishing kiss, but her mind was reluctant to let her relax and just enjoy it.

“I can tell you’re still thinking,” he said. “I’m insulted that my kiss hasn’t distracted you.”

“You shouldn’t be. I’m just … oh, I don’t know. This is crazy. I spent my entire adult life building my career and trying very had to expose the truth, and I’ve just agreed to do something that feels like a back-alley deal.”

“There’s nothing back alley about it. It’s inevitable that you and I are going to have an affair. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel this kind of chemistry with every woman I meet.”

She had to admit that was true. “I guess that’s part of why I’m so shy about seeing this through. I know you said by making it a business agreement we could mitigate the possibility of both of us getting hurt, but I don’t know—”

“You can’t worry about the ending right now when we are just at the beginning,” he said.

He’d kept his arms around her and his words were dissolving her fears. She tipped her head back and he lowered his mouth to hers once again. This time, as their lips met, she let her fears melt away.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, as his hands slid down to her hips, drawing her closer to him. They were pressed chest to chest, hip to hip, and she wished they were even closer.

His tongue thrust into her mouth. She sucked on it and then let her hands find the buttons of his shirt. First she loosened his tie and then she undid the first few buttons so she could slip her hand under the cloth and touch his warm flesh. There was a faint dusting of hair on his chest and it tickled her fingers as she caressed him.

His hands were busy cupping her butt and drawing her closer to his groin. She felt him hardening against her as he thrust his hips into the notch at the top of her legs. She moaned in the back of her throat.

He tore his mouth from hers and she felt his lips against the side of her neck. He dropped nibbling kisses down the column of her neck, lingering to suckle the spot at the base where her pulse raced.

She tugged his shirttails from his pants and wrapped her arms around his bare torso. She wished she was bare-chested as well, wondered what it would feel like to have him pressed against her right now. She lightly scratched a pattern down his back along the line of his spine, touching him with growing passion as his mouth found hers again.