Page 35 of Canyon Killer
He kissed her, and in that moment she did feel beautiful. Desirable. His every movement communicated how much he wanted her. She relaxed and focused on enjoying the moment—on giving and receiving pleasure with a man who was helping her to trust again.
Ian told himselfnot to rush. They had waited for this moment. He wanted to enjoy it. One thing he had already learned about Bethany was how much she could surprise him. She was so open with her feelings—so willing to laugh and to risk being awkward or different from everyone around her. In lovemaking, that translated to a contagious enthusiasm. As they moved together and came to know each other’s bodies, he found himself feeling more sheer joy than he had in a long time. He didn’t have to impress her or live up to some myth of the perfect partner.
With her, it was enough to caress and hold, to give and receive all the pleasure they could find. When he finally moved into her she accepted him with an openness that pulled at him, somewhere deep inside. Though his instinct was to close his eyes, to keep her from seeing how much she moved him, he forced himself to keep them open, to keep looking into her eyes, seeing his own desire and need and satisfaction reflected back at him.
Bethany’s climax shuddered through him, and she cried out her pleasure, uninhibited and delighted. His own climax overtook him, and he shouted her name, something he had never done before. She had vanquished his famous reserve, tearing aside the aloofness that had earned him a reputation as someone who was hard to get along with.
“Do you know how special you are?” Ian asked as he cradled her to his side moments later.
“I’ve always been different,” she said. “I used to think it was a bad thing, then I decided every one of us is set apart from others in some way. When I started to embrace my quirkiness I felt better about myself, even if not everyone understands me.”
“I don’t have to understand you to appreciate you.” He’d almost saidlove—but that was too soon. Ian couldn’t remember using the word with anyone, even his parents.
But here with her, in this moment in the darkness, hearing her heart beat against his side, feeling the sigh of her breath across his chest, he felt closer to knowing the meaning of love than at any other time in his life.
CHAPTER TEN
Bethany awoke to the insistent jangle of her phone. She groped for it on the bedside table and levered up onto one elbow, squinting at the bedside clock as she did so—7:00 a.m. “Hello?”
“Bethany?” her mother asked. “Where are you? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Mom. Why are you calling me?”
“I came in to open the office and went upstairs to your apartment to say hello, and it was obvious you hadn’t been home all night.”
She sat up, suddenly a lot more awake. “You went into my apartment?”
“I had to make sure you were okay. You could have fallen in the shower and hit your head. Your bed was still made and yesterday’s breakfast dishes were still in the sink.”
“How do you know they were yesterday’s breakfast dishes?”
“Because they were there when I went up yesterday to borrow a cup of rice. You really should transfer your rice from the plastic bag to a glass jar, you know. Mice or bugs can get into the plastic.”
“Mom! You can’t take things from my cabinets without asking first.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m your mother. And don’t try to change the subject. Where are you?”
“I’m at Ian’s.”
Long silence. “You’re sleeping with him now?”
“Mom!”
“I’m just trying to determine how serious you are about this man.”
“When I’m ready to share that information, I promise I’ll tell you.”
“I don’t think it’s safe for you to be there with him.”
Because of Ian, or because of other people?But she didn’t ask. She didn’t really want to know the answer. “I’m fine, Mom.”
“When are you coming home?”
“My work shift starts at ten. I’ll be there then.”
“Your father isn’t going to like this.”
“Then don’t tell him. I have to go, Mom.”
