Heartthrob by Suzanne Brockmann

Author:Suzanne Brockmann [Brockmann, Suzanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780307530721
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2011-10-11T13:00:00+00:00

Kate turned off the light and climbed into bed.

“I was wondering what happened to you in eighth grade …” Jericho’s warm voice slipped quietly through the darkness. “You never got around to telling me.”

Kate wanted to scream. She didn’t want to lie here in the dark, talking quietly with this man. She didn’t want this deceptive sense of intimacy.

She wanted to watch him act, and to cut his paychecks. Period, the end. She didn’t want him to smile at her, she didn’t want him to talk to her. She didn’t want to follow him around and supervise him.

And most of all, she didn’t want to feel him watching her, to know that he wanted more.

He wanted sex.

He’d said as much to her today at Brandall Hall.

And if she were the kind of woman who had casual relationships—well, then, she’d want it, too. But she wasn’t. At least not anymore.

But every now and then, like this morning when he’d brought Jamaal into the cabin and spoke so eloquently about slavery, like in the van when he’d told them the way his father had purposely scarred his face, like when he went in front of the camera and transformed himself into Laramie, like when he caught her eye and smiled—not one of his movie star smiles, but that little rueful lifting of one side of his mouth … At those times, Kate caught herself watching him. And wanting him.

She didn’t want Jericho, she corrected herself. She wanted Laramie. And those were two very different things.

It was stupid to want him, no matter who he was pretending to be. Yes, he was sexy. There were few who disputed that. But Kate refused to want him simply because of the way he looked. She refused to be that shallow. She’d engaged in casual sex only one dreadful two-week period of her life, and it had been awful, terrible, miserable. She’d felt bad for months after. Years. She wasn’t going to do it again.

Especially not with a recovering alcoholic and substance abuser. True, Jed had been clean for more than five years, but he’d told her today that staying sober was painfully difficult. Who in their right mind would want to deal with that on an ongoing basis?

Add into the equation all that she’d learned about his childhood—his abusive, alcoholic father, and the fact that lying and stealing were not against his moral code. At least it hadn’t been when he was young.

And while she could certainly forgive Jed Beaumont for his “survival at all costs” mentality, and while she could even admire his determination and endurance, she would be insane to even consider starting a romantic relationship with him. Because he wasn’t Laramie. He wasn’t some fictional character who could be saved by the power of love.

So why was she lying here, thinking about him, dwelling upon the possibilities, and—God help her—considering giving in to the subtle sexual pressure he gave her simply by looking in her direction?

“Kate, are you awake?” he asked quietly.

She breathed slowly and steadily, praying that he’d think she was already asleep.

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