She mashed the next to last piece in its place.
It had been difficult to love a god. That was the way she had loved Thomas. She could admit that now. He had been her knight in shining armor, just as Pinkie had said. In her eyes he had been perfect.
But it was intimidating to live with perfection. Hadn’t she always been afraid that she would do something not to his liking? Had she ever felt truly free to express an opinion contrary to his? Hadn’t she always strived to win his approval and felt that she fell short of the mark?
Would she ever have had the kind of physical and emotional release in front of him that she had had with Hunter that afternoon? Never. Thomas might have had prostitutes, but he would never expect that kind of passion from his wife. Instinctively she knew that. They simply hadn’t had that kind of relationship.
Loving Hunter would involve no such constraint. She had loved Thomas, but now she loved again and it was different and wonderful. It was time to give her old love a special place in her memory but focus on the new.
She pressed the last piece into the puzzle and completed the picture.
Her fingers skimmed over it. She studied it for a long time, then she raised her eyes to the man who was silently watching her from across the table.
“All the pieces fit.” Her voice was husky with emotion.
“Is it all right now for me to tell you that I love you? I have since the day you first walked into my office, Kari.”
“I think I started to love you soon after that. That’s why I was so angry with you.”
“I know.”
She looked at him in bewilderment. “You knew? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You weren’t ready to hear it. Now you are. You love me and I love you.”
Trancelike, but still knowing exactly what she was doing, she got out of her chair and went to him. He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her.
Their mouths met in the sweetest, tenderest kiss, with just the tips of their tongues touching.
“Oh, sweet, so sweet,” he murmured against her mouth. The kiss intensified. His tongue stroked and darted. He took delight in her mouth and gave as much in return.
His hand was warm on her breast as he fondled it through the silk sweater. The tip hardened beneath the gentle plucking of his fingers. Whispering endearments, he straightened and put space between them. He slid his hands beneath her sweater.
“I’ve wanted to do this all night.” His hands coasted over her warm flesh.
“Don’t let me stop you,” she said raggedly as he cupped her breasts, lifted them, and teased the peaks with his fingertips and thumbs.
“Take off your sweater. I want to see my hands on you.”
While his hands stayed where they were, she raised the sweater over her head and pulled it off.
“God,” he sighed.
The sight of his large and tanned and hair-sprinkled hands against the smoothness of her flesh was purely erotic. She gasped softly when the pad of his finger finessed her nipple into a tight bud.
Then she saw his open lips close over it and felt the loving of his tongue. She watched his jaws flex as he sucked tenderly. His eyes were closed and his lashes left fan-shaped shadows on his high cheekbones. There were red glints in his hair. She ran her fingers through it as she held his head fast, hoping that the pleasure would never end.
It became almost unbearable. She ground her forehead against the top of his head and heard herself chanting words she had never thought she would say. Outrageous words. Sexual words. Words that made him leave her breast and recapture her mouth in a searing kiss.
He stood and swept her into his arms. He had never been in the bedroom, but he went to it unerringly and deposited her on the bed. He spread her hair out behind her head, combed his fingers down her breasts and stomach, then stood.
“If you have any reservations about looking at a naked man, you’d better turn your head,” he warned with a smile as he began tearing off his clothes.
“I don’t have any reservations about looking at you naked. In fact, I’ve fantasized about it.” She flung her arms over her head and stretched in anticipation.
He groaned. Her position only made her back arch and her breasts strain toward him. “Are you doing that on purpose?” he asked as he grappled with his belt buckle.
A laugh rippled through her. “Yes.”
“I thought so,” he grated as he tugged at a suddenly inoperable zipper.
“It’s your fault. You told me what to expect.” Her voice dropped in volume to a sexy whisper. “I can’t wait.”
His oaths were heartfelt as he pulled down his pants and kicked them free. Then, hooking his thumbs in the waistband of his briefs, he peeled them off.