Read Online Straight From The Heart by Janelle Taylor - Free Book Online Page A

tell me. She said it was your story.”
    “Well, it’s not much of a story.” Stephen snorted. “It’s just a sad statistic.”
    “How’s Pauleen now?”
    “Most of the time—better. But she does have bouts when she’s out of control. That’s why Jason spends so much time at the Reeds’. He can’t be with Pauleen. It makes him, and me, too nervous. They can visit each other, but Pauleen is not responsible, and Jason’s an impressionable sixteen.”
    “I don’t talk to Alan,” Kim revealed. “I mean, yes, we communicate necessary information. Like ‘I’m picking Bobby up at six for Little League practice,’ and ‘Bobby cut his finger and I ran him to the emergency room,’ but otherwise, it’s best if we don’t talk to each other.”
    “When I think of him hitting you  . . . ” Stephen took a breath. “I want to kill him.”
    “You’ll have to take a number, because I’m ahead of you in line,” she said lightly.
    She shot him a soft glance out of the side of her eyes, and it was too much for Stephen. Gently, very gently, he drew her into his arms. She didn’t resist, and after a long, long moment she let her head fall to his chest, her breath escaping on a sigh. Stephen closed his eyes. This is what he’d missed with Pauleen. This tenderness. This love.
    His heart skipped a beat. Love? He hadn’t thought in those terms in years. Not romantic love. Not the hearts and flowers and stars-in-your-eyes kind of nonsense that he’d felt once during puberty over Jennifer Dalton, the most popular girl in the seventh grade. And, of course, that had been puppy love.
    Instinctively he started assessing his feelings, digging deep inside himself to make some kind of rational sense of this. At some level he’d always thought of Kimberly Harden as the kind of woman a man could spend his whole life with; she just came off that way. But on another level, he hadn’t really thought of her for him.
    Why not? he asked himself now.
    He had no answer.
    She stirred in his arms. “I’ve spent a lot of time being mad at you,” she admitted.
    “I know. You had just cause.”
    “Actually, no I didn’t. I blamed you for Alan hiring an attorney to take Bobby away.”
    “Alan did come to me first.”
    She lifted her head. “What? Are you trying to play devil’s advocate now? Hey, counselor, just agree with me, okay?”
    He was enchanted. “Okay. I agree with you.”
    His capitulation brought a mischievous light to her eyes. “And you’ll keep agreeing with me, right?”
    “This sounds dangerous.”
    “Just keep agreeing.”
    Stephen eyed her thoughtfully. They’d reached a new plateau in their fledgling romance. An element of trust had sneaked in. “Okay,” he said.
    “You are my slave.”
    “Oh, no.” Stephen started chuckling. Her scent rose upward. He breathed deeply, filling his head, reveling in the abandonment.
    “You are my slave, and you will do as I ask. You will not add another log to the fire when it’s just embers, otherwise we shall all swelter to death.”
    He could hear the laughter in her voice. His arms tightened around her. “The slave would like to kiss the master.”
    “Forget it. You will also refrain from asking favors.”
    “What would you have me do, O Powerful One?” His hand, exhibiting a will of its own in direct opposition to her commands, reached up to cup her chin.
    “I think  . . . you should  . . . stop that  . . . ”
    “Now?”
    “Immediately.” Her voice caught on a breath.
    His hand slowly slid down her cheek and neck, one finger lightly touching the pulse at the base of her throat. Passion beat there. For a moment they stood in silence, Kim gazing at the floor. When she reluctantly lifted her eyes again, Stephen bent down to touch his lips to hers, lightly at first, then with deep need. Kim didn’t resist. She let him hold her and kiss her, and her mouth meshed with his hungrily.
    It was too much. They were too attracted to each other. They