Identity Crisis(101)

‘Don’t ask people to make promises they can’t keep.’ Her voice was a low growl. But that was about as calm as it got. ‘You sonovabitch!’ She slapped him hard enough to make his ears ring. ‘You left me! You left me without so much as a fucking word!’ She would have slapped him again, but this time he caught her arms and pulled them in close to his chest.

She jerked away and stood with her fists tight at her side, chest heaving with rage. ‘Look, if you absolutely feel you want to tell the press Tess’s secret, I can’t stop you, but goddamn it, you pulled me into this in the first place to protect her identity.’ She shoved a pointed index finger at his chest. ‘You don’t back out without telling me. Do you understand? If you want to fucking fire me, then do it, damn it! Just do it. But until that happens I’m in charge and we do it my way.’

‘Kendra, Kendra! This has nothing to do with who’s in charge and you know it.’ He reached for her, but she jerked away. ‘I don’t give a fuck who’s in charge and I don’t care how angry you are, I’m not putting you at any more risk. I’m going out there to tell the press who I am, and then, even if I fucking have to hogtie you, I’m going to take you someplace safe, someplace away from here.’ He reached for her and she jerked away so hard she fell back against the table.

‘I quit, Garrett.’

She could have kicked him in the gut and he would have felt it less. ‘Kendra, wait. Listen to me, please.’

‘I said I quit!’ She hoisted her bag higher onto her shoulder and jerked open the back door before he could jerk it away from her and slam it shut, then she slapped him again.

And he kissed her. He pressed her up hard against the granite counter, holding her wrists none too gently, ignoring the painful nip of her front teeth, grunting hard as a loose elbow hit him in the ribs. ‘Damn it, Kendra, stop it. Just stop it and listen to me.’

‘Fuck you,’ she said, her voice nothing more than a breathless hiss before she grabbed him by the hair and pulled him into a kiss he wasn’t sure he would survive. Then she was shoving and ripping at his fly, growling and cursing like fury itself. ‘Damn you, Garrett Thorne. I hate you! I fucking hate you!’

He hoisted her onto the counter top, forcing the short denim skirt up over her hips and pushing the crotch of her panties aside. ‘No, you don’t. You don’t hate me.’

She grabbed at his hair again, fingers curled so tight it felt like he was being scalped. ‘I hate you, I hate you.’ She forced the words up through her chest that heaved as though it would explode. With the other hand she brutalized him in her efforts to get to his cock, and how he could be erect right now made no sense, but he was. ‘I hate you,’ she gasped, as he gripped her buttocks and pulled her onto him so hard that her gasp was surely one of pain.

‘I’ll do what I have to, Kendra, so just deal with it.’ This time he pulled her hair, forcing her to look him in the eyes, forcing her to face him and not look away, and he thrust as though he would split her in two, as she kicked him hard in the kidneys with her legs locked around his waist. ‘Get over it, because I’ll do what I have to. I’ll keep you safe.’ Each thrust was painful, each thrust felt like it would gut him, felt like it would break her in half, felt like it would tear the world apart.

She sobbed her orgasm as though her heart were broken, in hot tears of rage and frustration and who knew what else. God knew she would never tell him.

He felt like everything he was he suddenly spilled inside her, and there was no going back. There’d never be any going back. ‘I love you, Kendra,’ he whispered against her ear. But he wasn’t sure she heard him when his BlackBerry was ringing from where he’d tossed it on the kitchen table when he’d come in earlier this morning.

‘Get it,’ she managed between efforts to breathe. ‘It might be important.’

He settled her onto the floor and grabbed for it. ‘It’s Wade.’ He put it on speaker phone.

‘Wade, it’s Kendra. What’s going on?’

‘I’m here.’ Garrett spoke before Wade could ask. Then he settled onto the chair next to Kendra.

‘Glad you’re together,’ he said. ‘I figured you would be. We’ve found the stalker.’

The sound that came from Kendra’s throat was like someone had wounded her. Quickly she covered her mouth and swallowed back a sob, and Garrett thought his heart would break for her.

‘Police have taken him into custody. His name is Bill Gleason. He works over at Web-Z.’