Reluctantly, he pushed to his feet. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Thanks.”

She smiled when he didn’t move. Not a seductive, made-for-him grin, but a forced, uncomfortable curl of her luscious lips that said it was way past time he left.

He pulled the bedroom door closed behind him, then gripped the handle for support. And alone in the empty hall, he closed his eyes and rested his head against the door. Everything he’d ever wanted was inside that room, and he didn’t know how to get it. Every move he made was the wrong one. Each step he took seemed to push her further away instead of draw her closer. Was he fooling himself into thinking he could ever win her back?

He sure the hell hoped not. Because he knew for certain he’d never survive losing her again.

Chapter Fourteen

Simone sat upright in bed when she heard the crash.

Glass breaking. From somewhere downstairs. Someone was in the house.

She threw back the covers, reached for the baseball bat she kept under her bed, then opened her bedroom door as quietly as she could. Nothing moved in the hall. The only light shone from a nightlight in the bathroom. She padded soundlessly across the hardwood floor, pushed Shannon’s door open. Her daughter lay on her belly, arms over her head, dead to the world in deep sleep.

Her pulse pounded hard as she moved for the stairs. Two steps from the bottom, the wood creaked, and she froze. Her heart lurched into her throat. From the direction of the kitchen, she heard the sound of broken glass being scraped across the ground.

She swallowed hard, lifted the bat above her shoulder, and inched her way toward the kitchen. Steve had always talked about getting a gun. She’d told him he was stupid. But right now…now she wished she’d listened. She was five feet two, and even though she could swing a bat with the best of them, against a home invader, her measly DeMarini was nothing. She just hoped she got in one good shot that scared the bastard away before anything bad happened.

“Dammit.”

She froze just outside the kitchen door at the sound of the voice. Shit, she needed to call 911. What the hell was she doing trying to handle this alone?

She took a step back just as the kitchen door pushed open. Without thinking, she lowered the bat and swung.

A muffled oof echoed to her ears, followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor. Hard. Adrenaline surging, she rushed into the kitchen, lifted the bat again, ready to strike out. Mitch held up a hand to block her.

“Dammit, don’t hit me with that thing again!”

“Mitch?”

“Who the hell did you think it was?” He gripped his stomach as he lay on the floor, his upper body twisted in on an odd angle against the island cabinets. “The tooth fairy? Dammit, woman, I think you cracked a rib.”

She let go of the bat. Oh, shit. Mitch. Wood clattered against the floor. Stepping over to him, she dropped to her knees and lifted his face to hers. “What are you doing in my kitchen?”

“I was hungry. Chinese food always leaves me hungry in the middle of the night.”

The Chinese takeout. Ryan’s office. Kate asking Mitch to stay with her and Shannon tonight because she was worried about them. She’d been so freaked out when she’d awoken, she’d forgotten everything else.

“Oh, my God. I’m sorry,” she said, helping him sit up. “How bad is it?”

“Bad enough. But my ego’s bruised more than my body. I just got my ass handed to me by a girl.”

He was cracking jokes. He couldn’t be hurt that bad. A little of her anxiety eased. “I heard glass shatter. I thought someone was breaking in.”

In the dim light she watched a nervous expression creep over his face. “Yeah, that was me. I dropped a pitcher of lemonade trying to get to a beer in the back of your fridge.”

“You—” She eased back onto her heels and laughed.

“Now you’re laughing at me? Great. My manhood is shot.”

“It’s not you,” she said between giggles. “It’s this. All of it. This entire situation is completely nuts.”

“Tell me about it. And what the hell are you doing coming down here when you hear a suspicious noise anyway? We need to have a chat about you not being the too-stupid-to-live horror-movie chick.”

She shot him a look. “While we’re at it, we’ll discuss your caveman tendencies.”

He rubbed his ribs. “Damn, you hit hard.”

“Here, let me look at it.”

He pushed her hands away when she reached for the hem of his shirt. “What are you, a doctor now too? No way.”

“I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“You already did that.” He shifted out of her reach.

“You’re being a total baby. Just let me have a look.”

He deflected her touch once more.

“Mitch.”

“Simone,” he tossed back, staring at her.

There was just enough light coming from the panty that she could see the intensity in his eyes. “Why won’t you let me touch you?”

“Because you said it wasn’t a good idea. These are your rules, not mine, sweetheart.”

“I don’t—”

“Understand? Yeah. I get that. So let me spell it out for you.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “If you touch me, I’m gonna touch you back, how about that?”

“Oh.” Her skin grew hot. Her hands stilled on her knees. The temperature in the room seemed to jump ten degrees as they stared at each other. Sparks of awareness arced between them.

What was it about him that called to her? It was more than his good looks. More than his silly sense of humor. It was something else. Something she wasn’t ready for.

Long seconds later, he broke the eye contact, then grunted as he pushed himself up from the floor. All long legs and sculpted muscle. “Yeah, you know, I’m just gonna clean up the mess I made.”

She rose, reached out to him. “Mitch—”

He captured her wrist so fast, she didn’t expect it. Heat gathered beneath his fingers, and when he turned to face her, she saw the hunger in his eyes. A hunger that radiated all through her body and lit up her skin like an electrical current had been turned on.

“Okay, here’s the deal, Counselor. I’m crazy about you. In a way I’ve never been crazy about anyone else. Ever. I realize you’re representing my sister. I realize I’m a conflict of interest to you. But if you touch me again, I’m gonna forget all about your irritating ethics and take you right here against the cabinets. No ED drugs needed. And trust me when I say, you will enjoy it. We both will.”

The air choked in her throat. Desire coursed through her body. A desire she hadn’t felt in years. The carefully constructed life she’d created since Steve’s death hovered as if on a precipice.

“Mitch…”

A muscle twitched in his jaw. “Yeah?”

“Kiss me before I have a chance to say no.”

His mouth was on hers before she even heard him move.

* * *

Water beaded on Kate’s skin. Bubbles slid down to pool at her feet. She closed her eyes and drew in the fresh, clean, soapy scent, the same one that lingered close to Ryan’s skin, the one she’d smelled when he’d pressed that muscular body of his against hers last night.

She turned her face under the hot spray in his guest bathroom. After a sleepless night, she was more exhausted than she’d been yesterday. Had he slept in that guest bed recently? She’d been sure she could smell him on her pillow, all but feel him on the sheets.

The muscles in her stomach bunched as she ran the bar of soap down her skin, over her abdomen, imagining his hands doing the same…his lips. A sharp ache pulsed between her thighs. Heat shot straight to her center.

He’d said he wanted her, that he’d been dying to touch her. But that was before they’d discovered her records at the nursing home, before he’d realized what this was all about. Since then, he’d been gentle and caring but somewhat withdrawn. Almost as if he were afraid to get too close.

Her fingers skimmed her breasts, and shards of desire ricocheted through her body. For some crazy reason, she didn’t want him to back off. What she wanted was his hands on her like they’d been before, that sensuous mouth devouring hers, to feel him deep inside her body. That burning ache grew to fiery levels as she imagined him in the shower with her, imagined tracing the hard lines of his body with her fingers. With her tongue.

He was just down the hall. All she had to do was go to him, to ask for his touch. Shaking with need, she braced both hands on the tiled wall of the shower and drew in gulps of air. Technically, he was her husband after all, wasn’t he? That wouldn’t be asking too much.

Common sense seeped in, dampening the fire. Yes, he was her husband, but she didn’t know him. Not in any way that mattered. All she knew was she was wildly attracted to a man she barely knew. That they had some incredible connection she couldn’t comprehend. That she wanted him with a passion she hadn’t experienced before.

Would wild sex solve any of her problems? Would it make her remember a life that seemed foreign to her? Would it help her understand what had happened? Would it make him see her as Kate?

That was the most important question.

She hadn’t missed the fact he had yet to call her that, that he avoided saying her name altogether. She knew when he looked at her, he saw Annie. He didn’t see the woman she was now. Would sex change that?

Probably not. But, oh, it would be good. And it would crush the pulsing ache she felt now and whenever he was close.

The sharp knock at the bathroom door brought her head up. She flipped off the water and ran unsteady hands over her hair, squeezing out the moisture to run down her body. “Um…just a minute.”