Her laughter faded. She wiped her fingers on a linen napkin, blotted her lips. And she gathered all the courage she possessed.
“Everything I told you is true.”
Kaz put down his sandwich.
“I didn’t say I—” His cell phone rang. The last thing he cared about right now was answering that phone. He pulled it from his pocket, shut it off and set it aside. “I didn’t say I doubted you.”
“I would doubt anyone with a story like that. It sounds like a modern version of a fairy tale. Rapunzel, locked in the tower. Snow White, under a spell cast by a witch—”
“Sleeping Beauty,” Kaz said in a low voice, “waiting for the kiss of the prince.”
Their eyes met, and he said her name. Rose to his feet. Reached for her hand.
The world stood still.
There was nothing but the two of them and the falling snow and then—
And then, she was in his arms.
CHAPTER SIX
The bedroom was all gold and white. A crystal chandelier hung over the bed.
There was no reason to turn it on.
This was a moment that deserved soft shadows. The falling snow, the glint of street lamps that had just come on, lent the room all the light it needed.
Kaz lowered Katie to her feet. Her eyes were wide and dark, the color of amethysts. Her mouth was the palest rose. He could see the pulse beating in the hollow of her throat.
The need within him was hot and urgent. He had never felt anything like it. He wanted to strip her bare. Ravish her.
Every instinct he possessed warned him against it.
“Katie.” His voice was low. Rough. He framed her face with his hands. “Are you sure?”
Katie stared at him. Her head was spinning. Was this what it felt like if you’d had too much champagne?
She didn’t know. She’d never had too much to drink. Never had too much of anything. Safety lay in being cautious.
“Sweetheart. Tell me what you want.”
She looked into the face of this stranger.
“You,” she whispered, and she rose on her toes, lifted herself into his kiss.
He groaned as he swept his arms around her. She felt delicate. Fragile. And yet he knew her strength, understood that in her own way she had overcome what life had dealt her just as he had.
He slid one hand into her hair, tilted her face to his and captured her lips.
There it was again, the taste of honey and vanilla and cream, the satin softness, the sweetness that was her mouth.
She moaned.
He deepened the kiss.
She whispered something. His name. She shifted against him, and he caught his breath.
“Easy,” he said.