drawing him down and claiming his mouth. And she did. She burned for him. Wanted him so much she could hardly breathe.
‘And practise makes perfect,’ she whispered.
Tahlia watched Case sleep in the soft light from the streetlights outside. Wow. She couldn’t believe this— how nice he was, how amazingly lucky she was to wake up next to him.
She trailed her fingers down his chest, wondrous at the ripples of muscle, the light scatter of chest hair, the perfection of him.
He caught her hand. ‘Hey, that tickles.’
‘Sorry, did I wake you?’
‘Yes, but it was the nicest way anyone has ever woken me.’
She couldn’t help but smile. Gawd, she felt amazing… He’d given so much, shared with her so much. She wanted more, so much more, craved to be closer, know everything about Case Darrington. ‘Last night was—’
‘I know,’ he said, his voice deep.
‘No regrets?’ she whispered.
‘How could I have regrets?’ Case leant up on his elbow, looking down at her. ‘Not a chance.’
‘So, can I ask you something?’ she asked tentatively, tracing his jaw with the tip of her finger. ‘About your last serious relationship—you mentioned it last night.’ She needed to know how long ago it had been, that she wasn’t a rebound girl to patch some wounded ego.
Case cupped her face. ‘It wasn’t just a serious relationship… I was married.’
Tahlia froze. Oh, gawd.
‘It’s okay. I’m divorced—’ He frowned. ‘I’m not defective… Okay, maybe I am, but I can promise you I won’t make the same mistakes again.’
‘Should I ask what they were?’ she whispered softly, drawing her hand back and placing it on her chest over her heart.
‘I wasn’t blameless,’ Case forced out. He needed to face it, needed to say it. He’d spent far too long blaming Celia for the whole disaster. It was time he accepted his part in it. Needed to, so he could move on and embrace a future with Tahlia.
‘I was away a lot, working my butt off to reach my dreams, my goals, and I lost sight of the fact that Celia had dreams and goals too.’
‘Celia was your wife?’
Case swallowed hard. ‘Yes. Much as I didn’t want to be a trophy husband, my neglect and my obsession with work made her feel like a trophy wife. I regret the pain I put her through. I regret that I turned into my father.’
‘And?’ she said softly, looking up at him with wide eyes. ‘Are you still your father?’
‘No, thank God.’ He pushed her long fringe back from her face. ‘I learnt.’
‘Too late,’ she whispered softly.
‘Yes. While I worked like a maniac she filled her life with things, jewellery and men. By the time I realised what I’d done it was too late; nothing I tried could fix it.’
‘Did you love her?’
Case ran his hand down her cheek. ‘I thought I did. It was a kind of love, but nothing like—’ His voice broke. Like what he was feeling for the woman in his arms.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘I was too, for a long time, but not now.’ He shook his head, drinking in Tahlia’s creamy smooth skin. It was time to come clean. He couldn’t keep anything from her now. ‘Tahlia, I—’
She touched his mouth with her fingers. ‘Enough talking.’ She drew him down to her, taking his lips with her own, smothering the memory of Celia with the magic of her kiss.
It could wait. They had plenty of time. It was probably something he shouldn’t just blurt out anyway. It was something to prepare her for.
At least now he knew for sure. His heart wasn’t broken. It was finally alive with the magic of love. He’d found exactly what he had been looking for. Tahlia.
Chapter Fifteen
Keely’s rule number seven: face your fears and seize the moment.
FROM: [email protected]
RE: Chrystal and that look on your face
First, tell all. You haven’t looked like this since… ever. What’s up? Are you in love? Has it got something to do with that man in your chair who fits your original criteria or have you found a tattoo-wearing, glass-munching man to turn you on?
And Chrystal is floating around extolling advice about wounded men like a Florence Night-in-love. Has Cupid hit?
Em
IT WAS ALL Tahlia could do to sit outside Case’s office and not go inside and taste the magic of his lips again and again and again.
He was like a drug and she couldn’t get enough of him. Last night had been magical in so many ways and she couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid to deny herself this.
Thank heavens that Case had come along and opened her eyes to life, to sharing, to him.
Was this what Chrystal was after by chasing every pair of trousers in the building and what her mother had found in the man she wanted her to meet?
FROM: [email protected]
RE: Chrystal and that look on your face.
I’m not saying anything that will later incriminate me, especially where the ‘office playboy’ is concerned. I will figure out what I’m feeling and in due course share my adventures with my two closest friends.
Definitely not shot by arrow-wielding midget.
T
No way was this love. Her mother and father had had something far more sensible than this craziness she was feeling. Besides, she couldn’t be in love. She wasn’t going to love anyone.
She’d decided when she was twelve that love wasn’t for her—about the moment her mother had told her what had happened to her father, that he wasn’t ever coming home again.
Love was for suckers, for young, naïve romantics. She was a professional and this was just another necessity to attain her true goal in life—a perfect career, because you could rely on work, you couldn’t rely on men.
All men were liars; they didn’t share their feelings or their fears and consequently left
