Almost Like Love(68)

After what seemed like a long time, he realized he was pressing kisses against her throat and murmuring her name like a prayer.

He wanted to stay inside her forever. But when their breathing finally slowed, he gently disengaged their bodies.

He searched her face for some sign of what she was feeling, but her eyes were closed. Then she gave a long, low sigh.

“That was incredible,” she murmured.

His heart tightened in his chest.

“You’re incredible,” he whispered. “And we’re incredible together.”

She opened her eyes. “Sexually, yes.”

He shook his head. “Not just sexually. That’s not all I want from you.”

She took in a deep breath and let it out. “Oh, Ian . . . you don’t know what you want. And I’m not going to be your emotional punching bag while you figure it out.”

There was finality in her voice, and it was like a knife in his chest. He wanted to argue with her, to tell her he did know what he wanted. But how could he? He hadn’t given her any reason to trust him. She had too much reason to be gun-shy where he was concerned.

“That’s fair enough,” he said. “But someday—”

She shook her head. “No. That door is closed. The fact that we had sex doesn’t change anything between us.”

There was a pause, and then her voice softened a little. “It’s not like we’ll never see each other again. I’ll still be spending time with Jacob.”

“Sure,” he said, striving to sound reasonable.

“Would you like me to pick him up on Friday?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, then. Friday it is.”

She looked down as she tugged her skirt into place and ran her hands through her hair. “Take care until then.”

His cue to go. He straightened his clothes, grabbed his overcoat from the floor, and headed for the door.

He looked back at her for a second, wishing he had her gift for expressing feelings. If he did, he’d say something now that would explain the pain and confusion and longing churning inside him. Something that would fix everything between them.

But he didn’t have her way with words. So he’d just have to earn her trust with his actions.

And the first action he could take was to respect her obvious desire to get rid of him right now.

“You take care, too,” he said, his hand on the knob.

“I will,” she said softly.

And that was that.





CHAPTER TWELVE

Thursday’s tea had turned into a movie and drinks with Simone, Maria, and Vicki. When Kate had rolled into bed at 3:00 a.m., she’d been planning to sleep in till noon the next day.

But an insistent buzzing woke her up earlier than that. She cracked open an eye, realized it was her cell phone, and glanced at the clock.

It was 11:00 a.m. She might feel like death on a cracker, but it was a perfectly reasonable hour for a call. She looked at her phone and saw Ian’s name on the screen.

As usual, thoughts of him led to thoughts of his hand under her thigh, holding her in place as he thrust inside her.

She shivered.

But she’d had a week of practice at quelling those memories, and now she lay back on her pillow and answered his call.

“Hi, Ian.”

“Have you seen Jacob today? Has he been in touch with you?”

Kate sat straight up in bed. “No, of course not. Why are you—”

“He’s gone,” Ian said, his voice cracking.

For a moment she couldn’t take it in. “What do you mean, gone?”

“I mean he’s gone. As in nobody knows where he is.”

Her hand tightened on the phone. “My God. What happened?”

“The school had a field trip today—I signed the permission slip a week ago and dropped him off this morning. The buses were all lined up. A little while later, I got an automated message from the school informing me that Jacob was absent. I’ve gotten those before, when he’s been out sick—it’s the school’s way of confirming that the parents know about the absence. I assumed it was a mistake and called the school. It wasn’t a mistake. He never got on his bus. He must have waited until my car was out of sight and then taken off.”

“You don’t think he was . . .” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word kidnapped.

“No, thank God. The police already checked the security footage from in front of the school, and they saw him leaving on his own. He was heading south, but of course that doesn’t mean anything. He could be anywhere by now. We tried the GPS on his phone, but he didn’t take it with him. He left it at the apartment.”

“Oh, Ian. Where are you now? Are you at home?”

“No. I couldn’t sit still and do nothing. I asked a friend to stay at the apartment in case Jacob calls there or comes home, but I had to go out and look for him. I’m in my car right now.” He hesitated. “Can I come get you, Kate? Will you . . . will you look for him with me?”