‘I didn’t realise she’d actually died. What happened?’
Abby let out a long breath, wondering if she was wise to reveal any more. People were funny about drugs and prostitution. Would it make him see her differently? Make her appear even more unacceptable to him than she already felt? But in the end she decided to tell him because of the trust he had shown in telling her about his guilt over his ex. ‘Drug overdose. Heroin. She stuck the needle in her arm and died in the next room.’
Shock rippled over his features like wind through leaves. ‘How old were you?’
‘Five. But I remember it as if it were yesterday. I’ve always blamed myself. What if I was a difficult child? Too much for her to handle. What if I drove her to take that overdose?’
‘You were five years old, for pity’s sake,’ he said. ‘It was her responsibility to look after you. What could you have done anyway?’
‘Maybe checked on her earlier…’ Abby blinked, trying not to think of that day. Even though she had been so young, the image of coming out of her bedroom the next morning and seeing her mother lying on that threadbare-carpeted floor was imprinted on her brain.
Luke came over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. ‘Look at me, Abby.’
Abby slowly brought her gaze back to meet his. ‘Even though I was young, I remember a lot about the night before she died. I was tired and hungry and my mother was agitated and insisted I go to bed earlier than usual. She would often lock me in there when… Anyway, she must have injected herself while sitting on the floor by her bed because that’s where I found her the next morning. I would have got help earlier if I’d realised what she’d done. That’s what I have to live with. I could have saved her but I didn’t. The irony is my bedroom door wasn’t even locked. I just thought it was, like it had been so many times before. I went to bed and went to sleep, thinking it was better than having a big showdown with her where she would hit or slap me. When I came out in the morning, I thought she was asleep but she wasn’t…’
‘Oh, Abby.’ He gathered her close in a hug, his arms warm and supportive and protective as if he were holding that small, terrified child and comforting her.
That was all he said: Oh, Abby. But within those two words was a message of understanding and empathy that she hadn’t realised until now she had been waiting all her life to hear.
After a few moments, he eased back to look at her with a soft and tender look that made her heart swell like bread dough. ‘You mustn’t blame yourself.’
‘Ditto.’
He made a rueful movement of his lips and stepped away from her again. ‘Yeah, well, do as I preach but not as I do. Hypocritical of me, I know, but that’s the way it is.’ He walked into his en suite bathroom and came out with his bathrobe. ‘Here. Put this on for now.’
Abby took the bathrobe from him and went into the bathroom to put it on, expecting when she returned he would have left the bedroom, but he was back over by the window, staring at the dappled sunlight coming through the leaves of the tree outside.
‘Luke?’ She took one step towards him and then two and then four until she was standing with her arms wrapped around his waist from behind.
His hands came down on hers and she braced herself for the moment he would push her away but it didn’t come. Instead, he turned and his hands went to her hips, holding her close enough for their bodies to brush. ‘This is crazy.’ His eyes went to her mouth as if he had no control over his vision. ‘Stupidly, irresponsibly crazy.’ And then his mouth came down and covered hers.
CHAPTER SIX
A THRILL RUSHED through Abby at the undercurrent of passion in Luke’s kiss. His lips moved with increasing urgency against hers, drawing from her a response that was equally passionate. Her body came alive at the determined thrust of his tongue, sending an electrifying shockwave of lust through her, making her bones shudder with the force of it like someone rattling a loosely assembled cage. His tongue found hers and played with such blatant eroticism her inner core contracted with greedy, hungry need.
This was why she hadn’t made love to anyone before. No one had ever made her feel this level of arousal. No one had made her feel wanted for her. Not just for her body. He made her feel safe and understood. Desire shot through her with hot darting arrows, making her aware of every secret crevice of her body in a way she never had before.
The hollow ache between her legs became unbearable. A pulsing ache that begged for the possession of his hard body. An ache that could not be satisfied by anyone but him.