Текст книги "A Pound of Flesh"

Автор книги: Sophie Jackson

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Текущая страница: 17 (всего у книги 27 страниц)

Carter simply couldn’t stop fucking the beautiful woman in his arms. He didn’t want to stop. He wanted this forever. He wanted her forever. He wanted to have this moment on loop for the rest of his life. Her taste. Her smell. The small cries of pleasure she was breathing in his ear. The shouts for more and the sounds of their bodies slamming together.

He gasped when their mouths met again, teeth and tongues everywhere at once.

And then Carter felt it.

Deep in his stomach as his balls tightened again, and his thighs took on a life of their own.

He was coming.

He tried to tell her. But Kat merely held on to him and rode every thrust. Carter buried his face into her hair and grunted in sync with the delicious sound of slapping skin. But suddenly, Kat’s body changed. She became rigid in his arms.

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh God. It’s … it’s right there.”

Carter clenched his teeth, willing his orgasm to hold off. This was what he’d dreamed about: Kat, in his arms, coming all over him. And he’d be damned if he’d miss a second of it.

Her head fell back and her hips swiveled, seeking out any kind of friction. Carter’s thumb was immediately on her, flicking, pinching, and rubbing the pleasure out of her. She was so slick. Carter gasped out her name.

“Please,” he begged, biting down on her shoulder. “Please. What can I do?” Carter’s thrusts started to become sloppy and out of rhythm. “Goddammit, Kat, tell me.”

She lifted her head. Her eyes hooded, dark, and full of passion. “Kiss me.”

So he did. With his nose crushed against her face, Carter smashed his mouth to hers, sliding his tongue in and out, fucking her in every way possible. She responded almost instantly. Her arms tightened around his neck, and her legs jerked at his sides as her thighs held his waist in a bone-crushing grip.

“Yes. Yes,” Carter growled, trying like hell to keep his erratic pace.

Kat’s head fell back and Carter watched her take a huge breath and cry out at the top of her lungs as her orgasm crashed into her. “WES!”

At the sound of his name ripping from her throat, Carter’s spine snapped, and he exploded inside of her with such force that he fell over, landing on Kat’s body. Waves of euphoric release crashed over him, leaving him breathless, groaning, and crying out for his Peaches while she mumbled unintelligible words into his sweat-covered neck and shoulder.

Nothing had ever felt that fucking good. Nothing would ever come close. No woman would ever come that close. With a strange feeling of contentment, as he rode the best orgasm of his life, Carter realized he’d been ruined. Kat had ruined him. And he couldn’t have been fucking happier.

“God. God. I can’t.” Carter slowly returned to Earth, not entirely sure all his limbs were attached and in working order. He did realize, however, that his full weight was pressing Kat hard into his bed, and that was just unacceptable. He made to lift off her on shaking arms and knees, but she held him fast, crushing him to her.

“Not yet,” she murmured. “Don’t leave me yet. Just stay a while longer.”

Carter was without the energy to argue. “Mmkay,” he managed into the pillow at the side of her head, to which Kat laughed, a sweet, high sound.

Her hands and fingertips danced lazily across his back. He fought the urge to fall asleep. With a sigh and a small kiss to her neck, Carter slipped his softening body from hers. Despite still being on top of her, he was instantly bereft.

“Damn, woman. That was …” His mouth came to a grinding halt. He opened his eyes, needing inspiration.

“It was,” she finished for him. She was lovely in her postcoital glow. Carter kissed her again.

“You know,” he said, releasing her lips and gazing down at her. “Maybe Donne had it right.” He let his index finger trail down her nose to her gorgeous beestung lips.

Kat tried to suppress her smile, clearly recollecting their session in Central Park. “Oh yeah? About what?”

He tucked her curling hair behind her ear and traced her lobe with his thumb. “About being with someone,” he murmured. “About it being like heaven.” Kat’s eyes closed at his words. “Too much?” he hedged with caution in his voice.

She shook her head. “No,” she replied. “It was exactly like that.” She reopened her eyes.

Carter let his gaze wander from her forehead to her chin, taking in every line and soft edge. He realized that her smile had widened.

“It’s rude to stare,” she chided.

He chuckled at her using his words from earlier that day and rubbed the tip of her nose with his own. “I’m not sorry.” He watched her carefully for a while, looking for any signs of regret. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I mean, about what I told you? About who I am.”

“I’m more than okay.” She pulled his lips to hers and kissed him.

Carter’s eyes closed and he exhaled in contentment. Their tongues touched briefly, tenderly, and Carter’s lips were still moving when she pulled away. His eyes fluttered open to see her gazing adoringly at him. His heart halted for one beat.

Physically and emotionally exhausted, Carter shifted down Kat’s body and rested his ear against her damp chest, smiling when he heard her heart thumping behind her ribs. Her fingers moved leisurely from his shoulders to his scalp. He was almost asleep when he heard her whisper his name.

“Carter?”

“Yeah?”

Her hands stilled. “Thank you.”

He frowned. “What for?”

She didn’t reply or move.

He lifted his head and rested his chin on her sternum. “Sweetheart, what are you thanking me for?”

A lone tear slipped down her temple. She swallowed hard before answering. “For saving my life.”

23

Carter froze, his rough chin resting on her smooth, soft skin. His lips twitched with a response, but, for the life of him, he had no clue what to say. With a soft sigh, he moved back up her body and cupped her face in his hands, resting his weight on his forearms at either side of her head.

“Kat,” he whispered with his nose inches from hers. He waited for her to look at him. “You’re here.” He let his thumb trace her pink cheek and watched the color deepen under his touch. “That’s all that matters.”

There was conflict in her eyes: fear, affection, hurt. Carter felt a sharp twist of unease. He knew she didn’t regret what they’d done. The way she’d held him, ridden him, whispered delicious words into his ear assured him of that. But he was hopelessly aware of the dangers surrounding her because of their actions.

The fact that he cared for Kat would make no difference to how people, her mother specifically, regarded him. He was an ex-con and, as such, was an untrustworthy bottom-feeder. No pretty words or fancy declarations could change that shit. She would never see him as anything else. Her fear and narrow-mindedness would blind her to what he truly felt for her daughter.

Carter’s heart squeezed. He had to pray that whatever the two of them had found together was enough to keep Kat with him for as long as possible. He wanted more with her, from her, and he was willing to step up to get it. She was worth all of the shit that would come his way, and he would be there to protect her as best he could.

Once Kat had been to the bathroom, giving them both a chance to clean up, she crawled back into bed, allowing him to wrap his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. She held him snugly around the waist. His palm rubbed across her back in comforting circles while her fingertips danced around his nipple. As new as the sensation was of cuddling a woman in his bed, the familiarity of it with Kat was as warm as the blankets around them.

Carter pressed his lips to her scalp. “Where did you go tonight?”

He didn’t want to upset her, but he was aching to find out what had led her to his doorstep after she’d screamed such hatred. What had triggered the realization that he had saved her rather than holding her back from helping her father?

“I wandered for a long time.” Her fingers gripped Carter’s side. “I didn’t know what to do. I was just– I just hurt. Everywhere.”

Carter held her closer.

“I eventually got home.” She paused. “I think I got a cab.” Her lips moved against his skin. “I called my mother.”

Carter’s hand halted its movement against her shoulder blade. “What?”

Kat scoffed. “I know. I must be fucking stupid to call her, huh?”

“Peach—”

“As soon as she heard it was me,” she interrupted fiercely, “she started telling me how disappointed she was about what happened at my grandmother’s. She said I was ungrateful for the people around me, the people that cared about me. That she only wanted what was best for me and I was too self-involved and caught up with you to see it.”

He swallowed. “She knows about me?”

She lifted from his shoulder to look at him. She was so close Carter had to shift his head back into the pillow to see her better.

“She knows I care for you.” Her index finger moved along his bottom lip. “She knows that we kissed.”

A cold shiver darted down Carter’s spine as the last seven days began to fall into place. “That’s why you left your family and friends. That’s why you came back from Chicago.” He smiled wryly. “They know.”

Kat shook her head. “They think they know what’s going on, but they don’t. They have no fucking idea.” The anger was clear in her voice. “Carter, you have to understand, my own mother thinks my choices are wrong and that I’m still a kid who knows nothing. She doesn’t know how much I love my job, how much I love what I do every day, how much I love—” Her eyes burned with fury. “You’re the only person who treats me like I’m me, who makes me feel like what I’m doing is right and meaningful. There’s no bullshit, no hiding with you.”

Her lips twitched with the beginnings of a smile. “And I began to see how hard it must’ve been for you to tell me about who you are.” Her palm slid down his jaw. “Carter, I know the only reason you didn’t tell me was because you were scared. You’re the only person on this planet who knows what I went through. And do you want to know something really ironic?” Her eyes blazed. “My family, my friends, the cops, my fucking therapist, they all said you weren’t real, that you were a figment of my imagination, a result of post-traumatic stress.” Kat nuzzled his cheek. “But you’re the most real thing in my life.”

Carter couldn’t answer. He was speechless and crazy for her touch. “Kat” was all he could utter before their mouths met. Three little words whispered relentlessly through Carter’s psyche, bubbling furiously, whipping away his breath. Swallowing them and the fear that forever accompanied them back down, Carter rolled Kat onto her back and settled at her side, lifting one of her legs over his hip. Although she moaned, the movement was not sexual in its intent. He wanted her again, but he wanted to reassure her more that he was real and that he would always be that way with her.

“Stay with me tonight.” He pushed her hair back, needing to see her whole face. “Please, Kat, just … just for tonight.” He searched for an answer in the depths of her eyes. “But don’t stay because you’re upset. Stay with me because you want to.”

The pleading words came from nowhere. All Carter knew was he meant them, and he needed her to say yes.

The smile that appeared on her face could have lit up Broadway. “I’m not going anywhere.”

* * *

The lobby of WCS Communications was just how Carter remembered it: pretentious, repugnant, and reeking of money. Even the damn furniture looked uncomfortable, as if the shit had been stolen from a torture chamber. Carter scoffed at the irony of that particular thought. The fact that he was in the building at all was torturous in itself. Fuck’s sake, he was ready to crawl out of his skin.

With a deep breath, he walked toward the raven-haired woman at the reception desk, hating the loud sound of his booted steps on the shiny wood floor, and waited patiently for her to finish her call.

“I have a two o’clock with Austin,” he grumbled when she did, rubbing his hand across his jaw.

“Mr. Ford.”

Carter blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Mr. Ford,” she repeated. “You have a two o’clock with Mr. Ford. Not Austin.” She smiled contemptuously.

“Whatever,” he snapped. “Just do your job and tell the prick that Carter’s here, will you?” The sound of her mouth dropping open bounded around the large room. “Thanks, Buttercup.”

He turned toward the heinous cream sofa situated ten feet from the desk and slammed down onto it. He adjusted himself to try to get comfortable, but the postage-stamp-sized cushions were about as cozy as having glass up his ass. The whole place appeared constructed just to make its occupants feel uneasy, and it was working. No wonder the receptionist was so fucking uptight.

“Wes.”

The hair on Carter’s neck stood on end and his lip lifted into an animalistic snarl at the sound of his cousin’s voice. Fucker knew Carter hated his given name, but he still insisted on using it frequently whenever they were in each other’s company.

“We’re ready for you,” Austin said, his poker face in full play.

Carter followed Austin into his office and immediately tried not to vomit at the elaborate artwork on the walls, the ostentatious desk, and the ridiculously incredible view over the rest of New York’s Financial District.

Fucker was totally compensating for something.

There were three other men standing in the room: Adam, who nodded cordially at Carter when he entered, and two others he’d never met before.

“Take a seat,” Austin said, gesturing to the high-backed leather seat situated by the humongous desk.

Carter sat down ungracefully, placing his ankle onto his knee. He blew out an impatient breath and tapped his fingertips against his thighs.

“So,” he drawled, glancing around the room. “Who are you?” He pointed to the suits standing by the window.

“This is Steve Fields, WCS’s lead attorney, and David Fall,” Austin answered. “He’s head of accounting and finance.”

“’Sup, Dave?” Carter smiled when he got no response. “I’m Carter.” He pointed to himself before whispering loudly, “Your boss.”

Austin coughed. “Well, actually, Wes—”

“Save the ‘Wes’ shit, Austin,” Carter barked, losing his patience. “Just explain to me why the hell I’m here so I can leave as soon as humanly possible. There’s only so much pretense and dick-sucking I can handle.”

Anger flared in Austin’s eyes. “Fine,” he replied. “You’re here so we can discuss the immediate dilution of your shares in WCS Communications.”

“Is that right?” Carter asked with a backward tilt of his head. Austin raised his eyebrows in reply and walked around his desk to take his leather-and-wood throne. “And just how do you think that shit’s gonna fly, Austin?” Carter continued. “The shares are in my name. They were given to me by our grandmother. The contract that was drawn up is legally binding on a scale that even your pathetic excuse for a law team can’t change it.” He waved his hand indifferently toward the lawyers. “You can’t dilute the shares because of the provisions on them. Granddaddy tried for years. It ain’t gonna happen.”

Austin looked at Steve and David. The two men sat down at Carter’s right. Adam remained standing to his left. Carter was being cornered. They were using blatant intimidation tactics.

“That’s why you’re here.” Austin smiled tightly. “So we can discuss the provisions in detail.”

Carter smirked. “You mean you wanna discuss how much it’s gonna cost you assholes to get rid of me, right? Can’t have an ex-con owning a billion-dollar company, now, can we? What would the papers say?”

Carter shook his head and turned to look out of the window. “It must really bug the shit out of you that I have the biggest share-holding in the company you were primed to take over, huh?”

“Not as much as it must bug the shit out of you that we have control over your money every month.” Carter’s head snapped back to Austin, whose face was pinched and hard. He sat forward. “I’d bear that in mind before you start with your sanctimonious bullshit, Carter. I kept your ass out of prison once; I can sure as hell get it back in there.”

Carter became very still. “You threatening me, Ford?”

“No,” Austin replied, “just reminding you that you’re not the only one with a set of cards to play.”

Carter was silent for a considerable amount of time before he continued in a low, even voice. “The money I receive, I have every right to claim. It’s mine. In fact, I should get more—”

“You would, if you didn’t have a criminal record.”

Carter hid the flinch of rage that pricked at his throat when Austin interrupted him. In truth, Carter couldn’t have given two shits about the money. He never had. What he cared about was that he was the rightful owner of the shares of which Austin spoke. Adam, who placed a very formal-looking document in front of Carter, broke the game of stare-down between Carter and Austin.

“You haven’t brought any legal representation,” Adam said pointedly. “It would be better if—”

“I can read, Adam. Just explain what it says and cut to the chase,” Carter barked, making his cousin flinch. “My lawyer can peruse that shit at his leisure.”

Adam fiddled with his cuffs and exhaled. “Upon dilution of your current shares, the money you receive monthly would be tripled. For life,” he said. “Instead of paying for an acquisition with shares, we’re offering you new shares in the firm. Shares worth in the region of five million—”

Carter snorted in derision. “Five million? Are you shitting me?”

He looked incredulously from Adam to Austin and back again. Both men remained silent. Carter rubbed his face in disbelief, aching for a smoke. “We all know the shares I own are in excess of five hundred million,” he scoffed. “I was expecting to be impressed with your offer, not insulted.” Carter pushed the papers across Austin’s desk and slammed back in his seat. “Try again.”

Austin visibly bristled and took a deep breath that made his shoulders lift. “For someone who claims to not give a shit about the business, you sure seem to be protective and knowledgeable about it all.”

“Austin,” Carter fumed. “There is a huge fucking difference between not giving a shit and not appreciating being handled and played by an asshole who thinks he’s God’s gift because he wears an expensive suit. I went to prison, not fucking dunce school. Your offer is shit. You know it. I know it. So, like I said, try again.”

The silence was deafening. “Fine,” Austin murmured. “I’ll get my law team and finance team to reevaluate, and we’ll get back to you.”

“Can’t wait,” Carter retorted. “May I be excused?” he asked with his hands on the arms of his chair.

Austin didn’t answer but dipped his chin minutely, his stare fierce and angry.

“Thank fuck,” Carter grumbled. “I have a literature session to get to.”

As Carter stood, he noticed both his cousins react instantly to his words. Adam, who was still standing to Carter’s left, shifted nervously, while Austin rubbed his palms together.

“Oh yes,” Austin said as Carter began walking across the office. “How is Kat?”

Carter froze with his hand on the door and gripped the cold steel in his fist. The question hung around the room like a putrid smell. It was, to anyone who didn’t know better, a simple, polite question. To Carter, the question reeked of a possessiveness that nobody but him had any right to feel. How the fuck did he know Kat?

Carter’s heart pinched. He turned slowly, attempting to keep his expression neutral. Still, as soon as his eyes met Austin’s, Carter knew he was on thin ice. Asshole knew. What exactly wasn’t clear, but he knew something. Carter’s eyes darted to Adam, who was now apparently fascinated with his shoes.

Carter took a breath. “Kat,” he replied through a tight throat, “is just fine.”

Like a snake ready to strike, Austin smiled. “Oh, good,” he said with too much enthusiasm. “I was hoping she was.”

“Were you?” Carter seethed. His right eye twitched and his nostrils flared.

“Absolutely,” Austin replied, standing from his seat. He moved around his desk. “Oh, didn’t you know? Adam’s engaged to Beth, who’s known Kat for years. We’re friends, Kat and I. I knew she had family to see in DC and Chicago, so I haven’t seen her since her birthday party.”

Carter swallowed and bit his tongue so hard he could taste blood. “Birthday party?”

It was then that Carter noticed the absence of Austin’s wedding ring.

“Oh, yeah,” Austin answered. “We had dinner. Then I drove her home. We had a great time.” He fucking grinned. “She loved my gift. She’s a great girl. Beautiful, too, but I guess … you know that.”

Carter shook with ferocious violence.

Austin and Kat had dinner? She’d been with him. In his car. Alone? Had she invited him up to her apartment? Did that mean they’d …?

Bile rose in his throat at the same time an agonizing pain hacked through him.

Austin continued. “I’m planning to take her out again, you know, go on a date and get her mind off work and less important matters.” Austin gestured toward Carter and grinned. “Like her students.”

Through the furious red haze, Carter could see the son of a bitch was goading him, taunting him, like a kid with a stick through the bars of the lion’s cage, waiting for the inevitable snap, wanting him to lash out and play right into Austin’s greedy fucking hands.

Sure enough, the rope of sanity Carter was holding on to within himself was thinning rapidly, while the grip he had on it was tenuous at best. He wanted nothing more than to grab Austin by his neck, rip off his balls with his bare hands, and throw him out of his office window.

But then, where would that leave him? Where would that leave Kat? His ass would be sent back to prison quicker than he could say, Fuck you, Ford. Parole would be a thing of the past. He and Kat would be a thing of the past.

With Herculean effort, and with the image of his Peaches the night before, writhing and begging for him as he fucked her in his bed, Carter took a huge breath.

“Well, Austin,” he said through clenched teeth, “I’ll be sure to let Kat know you were asking about her.”

Austin was instantly perplexed. Carter turned back toward the door.

“But I wouldn’t hold your breath for that phone call,” Carter added, glaring over his shoulder at his cousin.

“Oh, really?” Austin spat, no longer hiding the aggressive jealousy in his voice. “And why’s that?”

“Well, as you pointed out, she’s busy with her students. And with me”—he glanced down at his own crotch before looking back at Austin with a smug-ass grin on his face—“her hands are always full.”

Without waiting for a response, Carter yanked the office door open, causing the hinges to squeal in protest. The inevitable slam behind him was all that Carter heard as he stormed through the lobby, past the raven-haired bitch at her desk, while lighting a cigarette and flipping a finger at the No Smoking sign above the WCS exit.

* * *

As the clock struck five after four, Kat found herself alone in the reading room of the library, playing on her newly purchased iPhone. She’d had a free couple of hours between leaving Arthur Kill and her session with Carter, and had managed to make it home to upload all that she needed onto it. She couldn’t live without her music. Not for another day.

She’d been more than a little hesitant about putting the rescued SIM card from her old phone into it, and as the phone began to beep incessantly with missed calls, voice mail messages, e-mails, and texts, she suddenly realized why. She scrolled through them slowly. Beth’s name, her mother’s, Ben’s, Adam’s, Austin’s, and Carter’s all made appearances. After listening to the fifth voice mail from her mother, she deleted the remaining six, not wanting or needing to hear her abhorrence one more time.

The one name she did pause at was Carter’s. He’d sent a number of texts on the days she’d been driving from Chicago back to New York, and each one seemed more frantic than the last. The texts from Beth, on the other hand, were short and succinct:

Call me.

We need to talk.

I’m so sorry.

Kat didn’t allow herself to get mad. Beth wasn’t worth it, and besides, anything she had to say was worth shit at this point.

Austin’s messages, as always, were charming and concerned:

Hey, Kat, hope you’re well. Give me a call.

Kat, Adam called. He and Beth are worried about you. I am, too. Regardless of what they’ve told me, I’m here if you need a friend. X

Thinking of you. Austin. X

“Fuck,” Kat muttered, deleting every one before throwing her cell into her bag.

Despite his omitting his link to Carter, Austin was a polite, handsome, charismatic guy. She’d enjoyed his company and enjoyed the kiss they’d shared. It was … pleasant.

In retrospect, Kat realized that there was never the burning passion with him that she felt every time she was in Carter’s presence. The small flickers of attraction she had for Austin were nothing compared to the all-out inferno that occurred each time Carter touched her, kissed her, fucked her.

Her insides clenched at the memory of his large, solid body between her thighs, his heavy breaths and moans of more in her ear, his unrelenting hold on her hips, and his exquisite face as he chased and rode every orgasm. God, he was glorious. He’d obliterated every past lover she’d had, leaving her feverish with her want and hungry for more. The aches of pleasure he’d left in the muscles she hadn’t known existed were luscious.

Her skin blushed with the recollection of his stubbled kisses and the sensation of his silver rings, which had pinched her thighs as he’d slammed home, leaving vivid red marks that he’d licked in apology. Fuck.

She glanced at the empty doorway of the reading room. Where the hell was he? Kat knew Carter had “stuff” to do, and, as far as he knew, she was still without a cell phone, which explained the silence.

Nonetheless, Kat was hit abruptly with a worrying thought. Would Carter start to take liberties with their sessions now that they’d been intimate? Would he really think she wouldn’t kick his ass all over Manhattan for being late just because he’d given her numerous orgasms?

Kat’s leg twitched as her anger increased. He’d be in for one hell of a surprise if that was the case. Punchy and agitated, Kat rose from her seat and began to wander around the reading room, heading for her favorite section: poetry.

With the tip of her index finger placed against the spines of the books, Kat meandered down the aisle between two huge mahogany bookshelves. The smell of the leather, ink, and wood was rich and comforting, and reminded her of her father’s library at the house they’d owned in Westchester. Her father would read Rossetti and Blake to her when she was very young, and always when she was upset or hurt. She stopped when she came to the romantic poets, specifically Wordsworth, immediately needing his imagery of an English countryside and swaying daffodils to ease her mind.

Suitably calmed and incredibly nostalgic after reading three of his poems, Kat replaced Wordsworth and pulled down a small black book with gold-leaf font filled with sonnets, poems, and declarations of love. Holding the book in one hand, she leafed through the yellowing pages with the other when suddenly every single hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

Someone was behind her.

Before she could think about who it was or what they were doing, a large hand clasped her shoulder and swung her around, backing her into the shelves of the bookcase. The book she’d been holding fell from her hands to the floor with a loud slap.

Dizzy from being spun at speed, it took Kat a moment to find her bearings and focus on the face before her, and when she did, she wished immediately that she hadn’t.

The tip of Carter’s nose was inches away, while his breath washed over her face in strong heated waves. His broad chest pressed firmly against her.

But that wasn’t what made Kat’s throat close in panic. It was the expression on his face. His eyes were so dark the blue was almost indistinct, and the edges of his perfect mouth curled up into a hateful snarl. He was ferocious. She opened her mouth to speak, but Carter’s hand was at once covering it, holding her words tightly in a palm that smelled of smoke and mint.

“Don’t,” he rasped. He closed his eyes and shook his head. His nostrils flared and his hold on her tightened. “Just don’t speak.”

Kat’s eyes widened, but she nodded in compliance, causing the metal of his rings to rub against her skin. She watched him, fascinated by his jaw as it clenched and twitched along with the small beads of sweat scattered along his hairline and buzzed sideburns. She knew what that sweat tasted like.

He blew air out from between his pursed lips before he finally began to speak. “I just came from a very … interesting meeting.” He spoke every word quietly to his large boots.

With his right hand still covering Kat’s lips and his left hand squeezing her hip, Carter gradually lifted his head and let his stare rest on hers. His eyes filled with every conceivable emotion. The overwhelming urge to hug him and take away the pain lacing his words struck Kat in the gut.

“Do you know who my meeting was with?”

Kat frowned, shaking her head. Carter’s smile was grim. He moved forward, stopping only when his lips were by her cheek.

“My cousin,” he whispered. He stood back so he could see her face. “Austin Ford.”

A shiver ran through Kat’s body when the fury in his eyes ignited with his words. She knew her face had paled with nausea. What the hell had Austin said? Carter’s response was immediate. His jaw loosened at the same time that his hand dropped from her mouth. His left hand remained holding her, his fingers pushing deeper into her hip.

“It’s true?” Carter murmured through lips that barely moved. A small V appeared between his eyebrows as his gaze flitted questioningly over her face.

Kat took a breath. As caught off guard as she was by his behavior, she had to remain calm for both of their sakes. “Is what true?”

The slam of Carter’s fist connecting with the mahogany shelving at the side of Kat’s head echoed around the room like a nuclear bomb.

“Don’t play with me, Kat!” Carter thundered. “Don’t you fucking dare!”