After the Storm (All I've Ever Needed) by Jewel Moore Page B

but her love had been like a river bursting its banks, unstoppable.
    Women shared men all the time, she knew, but she was greedy—she wanted all of him, or none at all.   She couldn’t share him.   Tonight as he touched her, reverently like she was a fragile piece of glass, all she could think of was him touching that other woman in the same way.   She wondered if the other woman’s scent was more intoxicating, if she was tastier on his tongue.   Stephano didn’t seem to notice or mind that she hadn’t gone down on him.   She couldn’t help thinking that the other woman was probably miles better at it than she would ever be.
    “Do you know a few of the guys would kill to be where I am right now?” Stephano breathed in her ear, his arm tightening possessively around her waist.
    “Eh?” She was so surprised she let out the inelegant sound her mother detested.   She and Nathan took great pleasure in saying it to each other in private, but occasionally it slipped out unconsciously.   “I mean, pardon?”
    “None of them ever asked you on a date because they were scared you would refuse and then it would be awkward to work together afterwards.”
    “I hope you guys don’t have some kind of bet going!”   The disquieting thought sudden reared its ugly head.
    “What?”   Stephano sat up and stared down at her, looking so offended, she instantly regretted the words.
    “Sorry!”   She tried to pull him down for a kiss, but he resisted, his eyes narrowed and his square jaw clenched tightly.
    “Natalie, we’ve worked together for fifteen months.   You should know me better than that by now.”
    Natalie took a deep breath and tried to contain her surprise.   He had been with the agency for four years, but she had started fifteen months ago.   Did the date she’d started have some significance for him?
    “I’m sorry,” she repeated, taking his hand and kissing his palm as she lay it against the side of her face.   “I’ve been hurt in the past and it’s hard for me to trust easily.”
    He turned his hand over and gripped hers tightly.
    “I’m not going to hurt you, cara .”
    It was a foolish promise.   She knew he meant ‘deliberately hurt’, but it was strangely comforting to hear him say the words.   There was something so dependable about him.   It wasn’t just his physical strength—he gave the illusion he could move a mountain if it stood in his way.
    “I must go,” he said abruptly.
    “Of course you must.”   Natalie was surprised at the bitterness in her voice.   It was still early enough for him to claim that he’d been to a nightclub.   Some of the more decadent ones didn’t end until noon.
    “What do you mean by that?”
    “Aren’t you going to shower first?” she taunted as he slipped his shirt on.
    “I’ll grab one when I get home.”
    Stephano spent more money than he cared to admit on a range of men’s toiletries that kept his skin in top condition.   He didn’t doubt that Natalie had a similar or even better range—she had perfectly clear skin—but it was easier to go home, have a shower and change into fresh clothing.
    “Aren’t you afraid that she will smell my scent on you?”
    “I’m a grown man.   My mother…”   Natalie watched Stephano’s hands still in the act of fastening his belt.   If that wasn’t an indication of guilt what was?   “Which she are you talking about, exactly, cara ?
    “The woman you kissed outside the office the morning after your father had taken ill.”
    “Woman?”
    “I only got a glance of her, but she definitely looked like feminine to me.”
    “Is that why you’ve been acting the way you have since then?”
    “I played second fiddle to another woman once.   I wasn’t ready to do that again.”
    Stephano sat on the stool in front of her vanity mirror and calmly pulled on his socks and then his shoes without responding.   His movements as he tightened the laces of his formal shoes were precise and