CHAPTER 5: Twice Met

Kathleen

Leaving the banquet, I walked straight to my hotel room 1021.

I tried to suppress my shaking hands, I took a bottle of red wine from the fridge and poured myself a healthy glass. 

Rotating it gently to aerate the liquid before taking a sip. My nerves receded and I felt more like myself. It had worked for four years, taming the overwhelming anxiety that threatened to drown me.

I thought this would be easier. I thought I could handle it. But, when I saw his face, it took me right back to when I couldn't help myself.

I walked into the banquet, determined to be collected, but my wolf had other ideas, she began to grow incredibly excited, and I felt him immediately.  He sat at the far side of the room, at a table toward the front. He’d shaved for the occasion, his tailored black suit giving him a mysterious air. He was sexy as hell, as usual. I got a thrill of satisfaction when I noticed he had a shocked expression on his face.

I chose to ignore him, but as I passed by him, that damn desire swept through my entire body again. I had to struggle with my wolf, reprimand her. Being attracted to him was a damned damn mistake, he didn't deserve it.

I don't know how he reacted when he heard my new name, or how he felt that I won his project, but I keep reminding myself that this was all just the beginning.

Party over, I heard his voice. He followed me, and called me Kathleen in the corridor. I smiled because everything went according to my plan. But when my hand touched him…I looked down at my fingertips, squeezing my hand into a tight fist and then releasing it. I could still feel him. I poured myself another drink to clear my head.

I walked over to the floor floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the buildings of the city, the cars, like tiny insects rolling by,  nerves twisting my guts into little pretzels. Everything had changed, I just didn't know how my old friend had changed. 

I glanced at the clock on the wall. He’d be there any minute now.

Knock, knock. 

There was a knock on the door, and I startled back into the present. As I expected, he came.

I turned around, taking in the city once more, and took a deep breath, then I looked back and waited for the door to open. A soft scraping and mechanical bleep announced the swiping of the room card, light passed through the doorway, and he walked in.

"Thou'rt come at last." As he came in, I picked up the glass on the table and poured him a glass of red wine. 

I couldn't see even the slightest surprise on his face. Like he’d always know this would happen, like he had waited for this for so long. He sat down on the sofa, holding the glass and took a sip: "I needed to come."

I laughed, before handing him his glass of wine and sitting down on the couch next to him. "I guess the woman at the party is your fiancée. Does your fiancée know about Mr. Charles Wilson coming to my place?"

His lips lifted, lighting his features into a sexy grin. "Kathleen," He lifted a hand, his fingers brushing my hair lightly. 

""Do you like it?" I asked him and then frowned because I hoped those words would remind him of the old days when we first met at a party. 

That was, he said, his favorite thing about me was my silver hair. 

He couldn't help himself and moved a little closer to me, and I knew he'd taken the bait.

I was wrapping my arms around him. I grabbed his hand, running it along my shoulder and down toward my elbows, guiding him to the hem of my shirt and under. 

I could feel his dismay, he must have been completely unprepared for our reunion. But his body's reaction couldn't lie to me; his skin was on fire.

"Relax," I whispered by his ear.

I pushed him toward the bed until we both toppled in. 

I kissed him eagerly, encouraging him to follow the pace.He accepted, beginning with gentle kisses, working his way all over my body.

"Kathleen" he muttered near my ear.

l stopped moving when he called my name. There was a second of silence. 

"You found me, eventually." I pulled away from him some and looked at him.I knew he had a lot to say, but I didn't really want to waste time.

"Why did you kill my parents four years ago?" I asked him.