Read Online Code Name Desire by Laura Kitchell - Free Book Online Page A

understand.”
    “You do?” How could he understand when she didn’t?
    “I see your vulnerability.”
    Damn it!
    “You know nothing about me,” he said,
lowering the robe enough to expose the round of her shoulder.
    She made to stop him, but he bent and placed
licking, sucking kisses to her skin. She went weak. It felt so
good. “I know a little, but not enough.”
    Teague traveled to her throat, but instead of
moving up, he tilted his head and worked his way across her chest
where the V in the robe exposed skin. “I’m an only child,” he said
between kisses. “My father worked in finance. I learned a great
deal from him. He’s retired. My parents live on an estate in
Yorkshire.” Leaning across her now, he nuzzled her neck before
gently sucking.
    Jaeda gasped with pleasure and combed her
fingers into his hair. Her gaze went to the bed where the curtains
on this side stood open. The corner of a brown damask comforter
with a curlicue design in gold thread folded over, offering a peek
at tan sheets. “Tell me more,” she whispered.
    “My best friend in the world since we were
boys grew up down the road from me – Mrs. Wilson’s son, Benjamin.
He’s a filmmaker now.” He lowered the robe from her other shoulder
and made his way toward it.
    Cool air breezed across her nape. “First
love?”
    “Lenora Leffel. We were thirteen. She was my
first kiss – behind the village bakery when I was on holiday from
school.” He chuckled.
    “Education?” Was that her breathless
voice?
    “I attended the village school to learn my
primary rules. I went to a private boy’s school when I was eight,
then Cambridge.”
    Aha! She’d gotten the accent right. “Have you
ever had your heart broken?”
    He froze. “Yes.” Stopping his kisses, he sat
straight. “At University. There was a young widow who lived nearby.
She befriended me. The more time we spent together, the more we
grew attached. I think she thought I would marry her when I
graduated, and maybe I entertained the idea myself on occasion. But
she had two young boys, you see, and I wasn’t ready for that. I
couldn’t give her what she wanted. I had to leave her, and it broke
my heart to tears.”
    His story moved her more than she cared to
admit. “I’m sorry.”
    “It was a long time ago, and I’m quite over
her. She married a nice bloke who manages a pub there in Cambridge.
Now, I told you something very personal I’ve never shared with
anyone. I would adore it if you’d afford me the same courtesy.”
    “Share something profoundly personal?”
    “Yes, please.” Teague entwined his fingers in
his lap and waited.
    Shrugging the robe onto her shoulders, Jaeda
let her mind wonder to the only event in her life that could
compare. She didn’t want to share it, but he was right. How could
she capture his heart if she refused to bare her soul? She
sighed.
    “It was summer in Virginia and I was sixteen.
I took a job watching two young girls, and we spent a lot of our
days at a swimming pool at their father’s apartment complex. A boy
came from Tennessee to visit with his mother at the same apartment
community, and he was a competitive diver, so he spent most of his
days at the pool, too.” She swallowed against the memory of the
heartache. “He was the most beautiful boy I’d ever seen. And he was
the most interesting, too. He was athletic, smart, drove a
motorcycle, and his Tennessee accent made him exotic to me. I was
so young.” She shook her head.
    “And very beautiful, if your looks were
anything like now.”
    She liked that he considered her beautiful.
Hearing him say so actually took some of the discomfort from the
telling of her tale. “The attraction was mutual. Strange thing was,
we never got physical beyond playing in the pool. Never even
kissed.”
    Teague arched his brows but didn’t
interrupt.
    “The first time he ever expressed an interest
in seeing me away from the pool, he asked me to take a ride with
him on his motorcycle. He