She continued to cling tightly and the moment was surreal for him. He fully expected her to come to her senses and let go, but she didn't. Her grip only tightened and she chanted in a tiny voice as if reassuring herself, "Zach . . . Zach . . . Zach."
The way she said his name sounded peculiar, but Zach put it down to the nightmare she'd just had and waking up in a place that wasn't her own home. His head fell to her neck and he breathed in the scent of her hair as he let her take what strength she could from him. "Yeah, it's me. You're okay."
He lightly kissed the brown silk of her hair and lifted his head. "Are you awake now? Everything okay?"
She pulled a bit away from him but didn't let go and he could feel the fine trembling of her limbs. She looked into his eyes, and in a move that stunned him even more, she put her lips on his and pressed a firm kiss on his mouth. It wasn't a sexual kiss; her lips stayed tightly closed, and after holding them there for a couple of seconds, she pulled away from him and untangled her hands from around his neck. With his heart beating wildly in his chest, he watched as she fell back to the pillow and pulled the covers up to her chin.
He stared at her intently for a few seconds before he could think straight enough to get his voice to work. "Answer me, Katie. Are you all right now?"
Her fingers began working the piping on the sheet. "Yes."
Zach glanced around the room until his eyes found hers again. "What was that all about?"
She licked her lips. "What do you mean?"
"I mean . . . do you have a lot of nightmares?"
She hesitated. "No."
"So, what were you dreaming about?"
Her expression looked haunted but her voice had regained its strength. "I don't remember exactly." When he looked as if he didn't believe her, she bit her lip and continued, "I saw something upsetting yesterday morning and that was probably it."
He frowned at her answer. "What did you see?"
"It's not a pleasant thing to talk about." She looked away and Zach felt as if she was shutting him out and he didn't care for it.
"I think I can handle it."
"I was watching the sunrise from my bedroom window and I saw . . . " her voice trailed off.
"What'd you see?" he nudged her.
"I saw a coyote take down a fawn not fifty feet from my window."
The bloody, graphic image exploded in his head. But as Zach watched her expression, for some reason, he wasn't sure she was telling him the truth. But what she was saying very well could be true, and if she'd witnessed something like that, it no doubt would have been upsetting to her. "I'm sorry, baby." He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and as he made the move, he was fully aware he only used it as an excuse to touch her. "But that's the circle of life, you know?"
"I know, but I didn't expect to see it outside in the yard in all its gruesome glory. Maybe on the Discovery Channel, but not in my backyard."
"Yeah, well, that's what you sometimes get when you have acres of pasture and farmland around you. You'll forget about it soon enough."
"I guess so. I never thought I'd forget how it is out here, but after living in Arlington for so long, I kind of do."
"Yeah. It's two different worlds. I know exactly what you mean."
Her eyes came to his before darting away again. "I thought you were in the Middle East."
"Just got back."
"Is Hannah asleep?"
"Nope, she's in the media room watching television and texting some kid." Zach thought that was an innocuous enough statement, but when he said it, Katie flushed and looked away. Or was it his imagination?
"I'm sorry I disturbed you," she said in a raspy voice.
Zach took a deep breath and slowly blew it out. She always disturbed him. "It was no trouble."
"I guess I better let you go to bed now."
Even though he understood that she was excusing him with a subtle hint, Zach made no move to stand up. "If you say so."
Katie was silent as she stared down and continued to rub the corner of the sheet between her finger and thumb.
Zach studied her for a moment, trying to see inside her head. "Why'd you kiss me?"
Her eyes flew up and crashed with his. "I didn't kiss you."
"You didn't?" He was fairly damn sure that she had.
"It wasn't a kiss. It was an. . . embrace. A hug. That's all."
He raised a single eyebrow. "I'm not so sure. I seem to recall your lips against mine and that's the definition of a kiss, not a hug."
She shook her head. "It wasn't a kiss."
Of its own volition, his hand reached out and lifted her chin. "Katie?" He felt the quiver of her body as her gaze clung to his. Heat traced down his spine.
Her eyes were enormous but she stayed silent.
"This is my definition of a kiss . . . just so you'll know." Without waiting for her agreement or disagreement, he lowered his head over hers and took her mouth under his.
As Zach's lips landed on hers, Katie felt a jolt to her midsection. Added to her already-shot nerves from the nightmare she'd just escaped from, her mind was a spinning mass of confusion. But one thing beat loud and clear in her bloodstream, and that was the fact that this was Zach. She was safe. She was okay. Zach would never physically hurt her. He wouldn't.
As his tongue slid along the seam of her mouth and began pushing inside, a wave of heat slid down her spine and settled in her stomach. Stunned, her body frozen, she realized immediately that this kiss wasn't anything like the last kiss he'd given her, all those long, long months ago. That kiss had been angry and full of animosity; what she was experiencing now was a gentle assault on her senses.
Her mouth opened slowly, and as he slid inside to taste her, Katie felt a deep rumble come from the back of his throat. It was a vibration of heat and passion, and it contained an urgency that for the moment at least, enthralled her. His tongue swirled around hers, and after a few seconds of trying to conquer the whirling in her head, she breathed in what oxygen she could manage and very slowly, joined him in the kiss.
Hesitantly, she began swirling her tongue with his, and the second she did, his arms came down and encircled her within his embrace, lifting her from her pillow. One arm landed at the small of her back, where he pushed his fingers into her spine and began rubbing her there, his fingers moving in a slow circle, massaging her lower vertebrae. His other hand slid up to her neck, and held her captive.
His kiss became more aggressive, and Katie knew she was experiencing only a small taste of what his primal heat would be like. A thousand emotions took off in her head: she was beguiled by his sexual need, she was fascinated by the feel of his masculine touch, and she was alarmed by the twin feelings of terror and desire that were unfolding within her.
As his tongue dueled with hers, her eyes closed and she felt his hands reach around and grasp her face, as he made a small adjustment of his mouth on hers. He could taste her deeper this way, and he began taking more than she thought she was ready to give. Katie shuddered as tension accelerated in her already confused mind.
In the back of her mind, she was aware that his touch was pleasant; it was more than pleasant, it begged her to let go. She felt safe in his embrace. His hold on her was hot and persuasive, inviting her to join him. She tried to go with it, this was Zach, after all, and how many times had she seen him from a distance in her pre-teens and young teenage years and dreamt about a day he might kiss her?
Too many to count.
Zach was her secret, hidden crush. In her younger teenage years, she imagined herself in love with him. He was the man who was too old for her, already married, and in her mind, totally beyond her reach. But that never stopped her from dreaming about him.
But now here he was, not angry, not married, and so within her reach that she could feel every ragged breath he took. She could taste the essence of his hunger; she was becoming intoxicated by the male pheromones that radiated from his skin.
He wanted her. She'd known for a long time that he wanted her. She'd known it deep down, in her subconscious, for the longest time, even if she was only now admitting it to herself.
What once would have thrilled her to death was now too frightening to contemplate.
She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and tried with everything she had to think of nothing but his kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, she kissed him back, she tried to temper the fear that beat through her bloodstream.
He must have felt the change in her, because his hands tightened on her skin and a low growl came from the back of his throat. His mouth slanted over hers again; his fingers felt as if they wanted to crush her skull. His muscles corded under her hands and oxygen rattled in and out of his lungs as he took rasping breaths.
The motivation for his kiss seemed to change and a dangerous sizzle filled the air around her. Katie could feel the sexual need that poured from the large frame that held her and when one steely hand dropped from her face and enclosed her breast with a possessive grip, she gasped and reared back.
Their eyes flew open at the same time, and Katie could see the raw fervor that smoldered in his gaze. She sucked in oxygen as he did the same, and as they stared at each other, each breathing raggedly, no words were needed. But Katie knew in that instant that nothing would ever be the same between them again.
Gone was the Zachary McIntyre of her youth, gone also was the man who mostly ignored her in his anger. Somehow, they'd crossed a line and Katie suddenly knew that the subdued heat she'd always seen in his eyes when he looked at her would be manifested in a new way. She was something he wanted, and Zach McIntyre always got what he wanted. Her pulse shot up to the stratosphere as fear congealed in her stomach.