She met his eyes to find intense desire darkening their depths.
She was in trouble. Deep, deep trouble.
He closed the small gap between them, his lips taking hers. Anger, frustration, and pure need mixed as his tongue delved into her mouth, claiming her as his as if no time had passed.
She grabbed his hair, intending to push him away, stop the seduction. But when his hand gripped her bare leg, desire shot through her, and she started falling into an abyss of pleasure. She couldn't fight him. It was impossible.
His kiss turned from angry passion, to tender seduction and she was gone. Her body melted against his, and she caved. She'd lost the second he'd shown up at her door, so what was the use of fighting it anymore?
"I could have saved a lot of arguing had I just kissed you immediately. Your body knows what it wants. It's your mind that's trying to confuse you. We're meant to be together," he gasped before all talking ended and he kissed her again.
She didn't know how it happened, but soon she was lying on the couch with him stretched out above her. It felt right. Everything was perfect. Just one night, she promised herself.
Just as his hand was reaching for the tie on her robe, the doorbell rang. Katherine tried to acknowledge it, but she couldn't think past the haze of desire swarming her.
It rang again and suddenly Joseph was standing, several inappropriate words leaving his mouth. He stomped to the door and yanked it open.
It took Katherine several moments to realize she was spread out on the couch while he was opening her front door.
"Is … Katherine home?" a voice asked. She tensed as she sat up.
Her humiliation was complete. Her brother was there, and she knew her hair had the just-climbed-out-of-bed look. Heck, her neighbors had probably still been in the hall and filled him in on the whole scene already.
"She's busy," Joseph snapped. She knew he recognized Aaron.
"I'm here, Aaron. Come on in," she called as she dashed toward her bathroom. She was going to take a few minutes to compose herself. Hopefully, Joseph would be gone when she came back out.
When she finally did reappear she was wearing wool slacks and a thick sweater. She was geared up for protection. She entered the living room to the sound of laughter. Her brother had his head thrown back at something Joseph had said, and Joseph was smirking.
When she approached, Joseph's eyes pierced her own, desire still simmering underneath the surface.
"Walk me to the door, Katherine," he commanded. She followed him on auto pilot. He said goodbye to her brother, then bent down and whispered in her ear.
"This is far from over," he promised. With that, he turned and strode away. A shiver of trepidation raced through her. She had a bad feeling he was right …
"I don't know whether to be appalled at or smitten with my father-in-law," Jessica said with a horrified laugh.
Katherine once again returned to the present and looked around the room. She agreed with Jessica. Thinking back to those days, she didn't know how the two of them ever managed to come to an agreement of any kind.
Their early days were full of passion and anger. Misunderstandings and assumptions. It was so long ago, but it was the beginning.
The beginning of the greatest love she'd ever known.
"We'll have to continue the story later. Thank you for listening. It actually helps ease the pain of missing him so much," Katherine said.
"It helps us, too, Mom. It's hard to imagine the perfect couple as ever having problems, but wow, just wow," Mark said.
"Your father was a stubborn man. He still is. But that stubbornness is what will help him come home to me," Katherine sighed.
The family all left the hospital together. Katherine would return soon, and once again, lay beside her husband and draw on the immense strength he carried even while in a coma.
Chapter Nine
"I think we have enough information to agree it's time to fire Jack. The question is, are we going to press charges?" Max asked.
"Fire him, yes, but I think we're wasting everyone's time if we press charges. Yes, we know it's him, but it's all eye witness reports and suspicions. He's done well at covering his tracks," Trenton said.
"I agree with both of you. We'll let him go, but I think it's already going to be messy, and pressing charges is just going to drag too many people into it, who would rather he just leave, so they can get on with their jobs," Austin said.
Austin despised dishonest employees. His family treated their staff with the utmost respect, gave them good benefits, time off, helped their families and invested time and money into them. That's why, even though it was business, it felt more personal to him when an employee stole from them.
Jack was paid well, and had been with them for years. There wasn't a good reason for theft other than pure greed.