Killer Summer, Lynda Curnyn [books suggested by bill gates .txt] 📗

“What happened? That is—if you don’t mind my asking.”

He shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. I went to China to set up manufacturing for Luxe, and Gabriella couldn’t hack it there. She packed her bags and left after two years. Said she missed her family. I was under the impression that I was her family. We had just had Sophia together, but she said Sophia was the reason she was going home. She didn’t want our daughter raised in that environment. But Sophia was only a baby. She wouldn’t have known the difference. I planned to get us back before she started school.”

I frowned. “You didn’t consider going back with them?”

He paused, but only for a fraction of second.“It wasn’t so simple. I had signed a contract to work there—”

“But surely Tom would have understood.”

His mouth firmed, and I saw a flash of something close to anger in his eyes. “Whether or not Tom understood was not the issue. Gabriella should have stuck by me. I was working hard to build my family a future. When she left with Sophia, it felt like a betrayal. I got angry. And when I get angry, I get stubborn. It’s the Sicilian in me, I guess.”

I smiled. I liked the Sicilian in him. That sense of loyalty. Though I worried about it, too. He had, after all, chosen loyalty to his work over his wife and child. Though I was sure he didn’t see it that way.

“I stayed on another two years,” he continued. “By the time I came home for good, the rift between us was too great. I don’t believe in divorce. Never did. But that was the only option she gave me.”

I thought about that, realizing that on this point we were in agreement. I didn’t believe in divorce either, which was probably what kept me from making the leap to marriage. I didn’t believe it worked for everyone. And I wasn’t sure I could make that kind of commitment.

Then Vince stopped, his gaze moving out to the ocean, before he turned to look at me, his eyes filled with weariness and something else I couldn’t fathom.“I guess you never really know someone, do you?”

I licked my lips, feeling, for the first time in my life, afraid. Because I realized in that moment that I now wanted to know someone well enough to take that leap. Wanted to believe…

I’m not sure who started it, but suddenly we were kissing, and I nearly groaned with relief. God, he tasted just as good as I’d imagined, I thought, pressing myself against him as the wind came off the ocean. Wondering, as I did, if the rest of him tasted as good.

And just as I was thinking I might get that taste, Vince broke off the kiss.

“I better get you home,” he said, “before I do something we both might regret.”

I smiled, knowing I would never regret a minute in this man’s arms.

I looked at him. “What do you say we go to your home?”

His eyes searched mine, glittering in the darkness. “Are you sure, Sage?”

“Very.”

I couldn’t tell you whether Vince lived in an A-frame or a ranch. Okay, maybe I did get a vague impression of a low-lying structure as we flew up the wooden walkway together, hands clasped. And I might even have spotted a Ficus tree looming in the moonlight that spilled through the windows in his living room. But the moment he shut the front door behind us, pressing my back against it, I saw nothing but Vince’s gaze, searing into my eyes as his mouth moved hungrily against mine. Felt nothing but the rasp of his beard against my face, his hands moving restlessly over my body.

“Come with me,” he said, pulling back, before he grabbed my hand and practically yanked me toward the bedroom.

Within moments, I was on my back on the softest mattress I had ever felt, breathing hard as he pushed my tank and bra down in one shot, his hands moving a bit roughly on my breasts, a groan rumbling through him as his mouth met mine.

I heard an answering groan come up through my throat as I pulled at his shirt, sliding my hand beneath it until my hand made contact with that delicious place where his hip met his hard lower ab.

I needed more. I needed to see him. And apparently Vince needed to see me just as bad, because he leaned away from me, pulling my tank back up again until he succeeded in getting it over my head.

I helped him out on the bra, which was still wrenched beneath my breasts.

“Sage,” he practically hissed at me, before he locked his gaze on mine, his tongue moving hotly over my breast.

I almost came right then. I wasn’t even sure if it was his mouth on me, or the look that came into his eyes. Like he wanted to devour me whole.

Moving restlessly beneath him, I yanked at his shirt again until he got the message, standing up briefly to pull it over his head before pressing that hard chest into mine once more.

Then he gave me that look again, sliding both hands up my skirt until it was up around my waist, and slipping a finger inside my thong.

Not that he needed to know whether I was ready or not. He knew. I could tell by the way he smiled at me, just moments before his fingers made contact.

I moaned, and in answer he slid down my thong, then stood to drop his trousers and briefs, kicking them to the side.

Within moments, he was on me again. Not only on me, but in me, I realized, feeling the hot tip of him slip inside.

“Vince,” I said, not sure what I was asking for, that’s how insane I was. Then he slid in farther, and I remembered the question, shifting my body so that he slipped out once more. I looked at his glittering eyes, and prayed he had a good answer.

“You