Read Online The Way They Were by Mary Campisi - Free Book Online

toward her. “Not since that night at the lake. I want to get to know you again.” He closed the distance between them, lifted a hand and traced her jaw with his fingers.
    “We live in different worlds now. Perhaps we always did.” She blinked hard and leaned her face into his hand. “You’ve been all over the world. I’ve never even been to Disneyland.”
    “I’ll take you there.”
    “You know what I mean.”
    He cupped her chin and tilted her face to his. “All I know is that traveling the world can’t erase what we shared.” He lowered his mouth to hers and murmured, “It can’t even dim the memory.”
    When their mouths met, she whimpered. Rourke eased his arms around her waist, careful not to frighten her, but it was Kate who urged his mouth open, Kate who plunged her tongue inside with desperate need. She was the one who thrust her arms around his neck, pressed her breasts and hips against him.
    “Rourke,” she breathed into his mouth.
    He wanted her with the ferocity of the young man he’d been at eighteen. Without reserve. Without a past. Without a dead husband between them. This was what he’d been waiting for all these years. He slid his hand along her spine. This—
    The jingle of his office door slashed through the intimate moment. “Rourke?” Abbie’s voice drifted to them. “You here?”
    Kate tried to jerk away but Rourke grabbed her wrist. “Nothing happened. Understand? Pull yourself together.” The pain of regret splashed across her face as she opened her mouth to speak. “Nothing,” he repeated under his breath. Then he released her and moved to the other side of the desk where he sank into a chair just as Abbie bounced in the doorway. “Hey! Hi, Mrs. Maden. What are you doing here?”
    “I—”
    “She had some documents she wanted me to look over,” Rourke interjected, flipping over a clipped pack of papers. Damn Kate, she wouldn’t even look at him.
    Abbie scrunched her nose and glanced from one to the other. “Didn’t you two know each other in high school or something?”
    “Yes, we did.” Look at me, Kate.
    “Long time ago, huh?” Abbie let out a squeak of laughter and added, “Very long time.”
    “Funny.” He dug in his wallet and fished out a ten dollar bill. “Here. Go get lunch.”
    Abbie snatched the bill and stuffed it in her shorts pocket. “Thanks.” She turned to Kate. “Julia said she had some chores to do, but do you think she could go to Subway with me?”
    “If her work’s done, she’s welcome to go. I’ll walk with you.” Kate darted a glance in the direction of Rourke’s forehead. “Nice to see you again. Thanks for looking at the papers.”
    “Right.” If Abbie hadn’t intruded he’d have been looking at a lot more than her papers. And he still would. Soon.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 9
    “ You know that was a very bad time in my life, Katie and I would just as soon not dredge up the past.”—Georgeanne Redmond
     
    “What is he doing here?” Georgeanne Redmond tried to hide the agitation in her voice but it clung to her like cigarette smoke.
    Kate shrugged and placed a tuna on rye alongside a kosher spear and a scoop of German potato salad. “He said he’s here for his niece.” She handed her mother the plate and sat down.
    “You spoke to him?” Oxygen seeped from the room in big gusts, rendering speech and thought nearly impossible.
    “He came to the shop. I really had no choice.”
    Georgeanne forked a hunk of potato salad and said, “He’s after something, I know it. That man’s never done anything for the pure sake of doing. There’s always been a motive.”
    Kate looked up from her sandwich and frowned. “Mom, you don’t even know him.”
    “I know what I read.” And what I remember.
    “He’ll be gone soon.”
    He better be. “Don’t forget the pain he brought you, Katie. If Clay hadn’t been there for you, what would have happened? Can you imagine the disgrace?” She didn’t mention how or