The Complete Red-Hot Collection. Kelly Hunter

visit.’

      Kate’s breaths were heaving in and out and she’d started to shake with the fury of it.

      ‘My client ended up so desperate he kidnapped his own child to protect him. And what did he get for caring like that? No more visits. At all. That’s what.’

      Her throat was clogged and swollen. The injustice of it was raging out of her, even though she’d won. Why? Why did it still get to her? No answer—it just did. And it was all too much. The case… Scott…her damned life.

      ‘So you want to know why I didn’t tell you, Scott?’ she asked as the tears started. ‘Because you didn’t sign up for deep and meaningful, remember? And that’s deep and meaningful to me. I needed you. But how could I tell you? What could I say? When you said—made it clear— Oh, God. I can’t. I…can’t. I…’

      But she couldn’t go on. She was choking on tears. And suddenly she gave in to them, sobbing into her hands.

      And then she was in Scott’s arms, held tightly against his chest. ‘Shh, shh, Kate… I’m here.’

      ‘No, Scott, you’re not,’ she sobbed into his shoulder. ‘You’re not here. Your body’s here—that’s all. Just your body.’

      She tried to pull away but Scott held on. ‘I’m not letting you go, Kate, so stop struggling.’

      ‘And if I do? If I stop struggling?’ She looked up at him. ‘Then what? You’ll ask me to spit out a few legal terms and take me to bed?’

      ‘Yes,’ he said simply.

      ‘That’s not enough,’ she cried, and buried her face in his shoulder again. ‘I want more.’

      ‘So do I. That’s why we’re rolling it over.’

      ‘No, Scott, we’re not.’

      ‘You just said you wanted more.’

      ‘Not more sex! More…more.’

      ‘I don’t— I don’t—’

      ‘No, you don’t’ she cut in, half-despair, half-rage, as she pulled out of his arms. ‘That’s the problem. Well, I’m not hanging in limbo any more, like a suspended piñata, waiting to have the crap beaten out of me.’

      ‘A piña—?’ He stopped. Incredulous. ‘I’m not beating anything out of you. I would never hurt you.’

      ‘Oh, you’re hurting me, all right.’

      ‘I’m not hurting you,’ Scott said furiously. ‘I won’t hurt you. You won’t hurt me. That’s the whole point!’

      ‘And I’m telling you—you are hurting me. Because I love you. And you don’t love me back.’

      The shock of it was plain on his face. ‘You don’t love me. Kate, you know you don’t.’ Pleading, almost. ‘You can’t. You don’t want love.’

      She laughed, shrugged, helpless.

      Waves of panic were emanating from Scott. ‘You said you’d never give someone that kind of power over you.’

      ‘Except that now I would give it to you.’

      ‘Cynical. We’re both cynical. It’s what made us perfect. Makes us perfect.’

      ‘I’m not cynical, Scott. Or if I am it doesn’t last—not if I have someone…’ she swallowed ‘… someone who’ll say to me, “Shh, I’m here”, like you just did. Putting things right for people is what I do, what I want to do, even if sometimes it gets too much. And perfect…? I don’t want to be perfect. And I don’t want you to be perfect either. I want to be imperfect—with you. I want children who are perfect or imperfect—who are anything as long as they’re yours. And I want to say to you, Shh, I’m here, when things get too much for you. Because I’m in love with you. And I would do anything—anything—for you to love me.’

      His eyes were wild. ‘I…can’t do this.’

      ‘Why not?’

      ‘I don’t. Do this.’

      ‘You loved Chantal. Why can’t you love me?’

      ‘I didn’t love Chantal, Kate. And I don’t blame her for choosing Brodie. I never did. Anyone would choose him.’

      ‘Not me. Because I chose you. I’m choosing you. No—it wasn’t even a choice. It just happened. Love. I didn’t even know I was waiting for it. But I was. I was waiting for the right man to come along. Then there you were. And suddenly you were mine. The perfect imperfect man. The right man for me. Uptight…beer not cocktails…hell, no, to dancing…sport and poker games…with a kitten on your backside…wearing a blue tux and driving a red Mini…baking for two little girls. How could I not love you? And now, Scott, I want us to just…just be.’

      He was shaking his head. His face was white, stark fear in his eyes. ‘I’m not the right guy for anyone, Kate. I’m the “friends with benefits” guy, with a bulging black book. I’ve never had a relationship—don’t you see? Never! And there’s a reason for that—because I know what I’m good at. Sex—no strings. My speciality. I’ve got more tail than I know what to do with. That’s me. And I’m fine with that.’

      It was like a punch direct to Kate’s heart, killing it—that was how it felt. As if her heart was dead. A swollen lump she wished she could rip out of her chest.

      ‘T-T-Tail?’ Kate stammered over the word, her teeth chattering with reaction.

      He looked at her, all hard-eyed. ‘Tail,’ he repeated.

      God, the ache of it. Crushing. Ravaging. ‘So here I am, opening myself to you, telling you I would move heaven and hell and everything in between—everything—to have you—you, Scott. Not Brodie, not Hugo, not Phillip, but you. And your response is to tell me I’m a piece of tail?’

      He stood there like a block of granite, silent.

      ‘Right,’ she said, and swallowed. ‘Right.’ She looked blindly around, head spinning. ‘Right.’ Was the blood draining out of her? That was what it felt like. ‘Saturday is the twenty-eighth of February. End of contract. We’ve had one session this week—Sunday. And we have tonight. We’ll make this the last one, because I’m not inclined to negotiate any extras for the week. Cadit quaestio—a settlement for our dispute has been reached. Sex—once more—and the issue is resolved.’

      ‘It’s not resolved.’

      Agony twisted through her. He didn’t love her, but he wouldn’t let her go either. ‘What more do you want from me?’

      ‘I want… I want…’ His hands were diving into his hair again. But no more words emerged.

      Kate took an unsteady breath. ‘Well, given everything you’ve just said to me, and all the things you can’t seem to say, I finally know what I want. I want out. I’m saying no to the rollover option. No to everything.’

      ‘You can’t do that.’

      ‘Now, you see, you should have read the contract when I told you to. Because I can do that. I am doing that. I’m not going to turn into one of those bitter people I see in court—hating you, trying to punish you because you don’t love me or need me the way I love and need you. If you don’t love me then I don’t want you.’

      ‘You do want me. I know you do.’

      Kate started removing her clothes.

      ‘What the hell—? Kate, what are you doing?’

      ‘Getting undressed.’ She was down to her underwear in record time. ‘I’m taking back my “Hugo” and we’re restarting Play