A Kiss Remembered Read Online Free PDF Page B

ten years ago.
    “I want to kiss you again, Shelley. My career is blown to hell. I’ve seen how fleeting success and happiness are. So what if someone disapproves of us? I’m tired of trying to please other people. The payoff’s not so good. I’m going to kiss you, Shelley. I’ve got absolutely nothing to lose.”
    He trapped her jaw between his thumb and fingers, cradling the underside of it in his palm. Her hands came up to fend him off, but ended up clutching his shoulders. For a long moment, he stared down into her wide, apprehensive eyes, then he lowered his head.
    His lips were warm, firm, confident, but soft. They slanted over her mouth, moving in such a way that she never knew the precise instant her lips opened to the light pressure of his tongue. She heard a whimper of satisfaction as he took complete possession, but didn’t realize that she had made the sound.
    His tongue rubbed along hers, mating with it, exploring her with meticulous care. He tickled the roof of her mouth with the tip of his tongue, dragged it along her teeth, penetrated as far as he could to leave nothing undiscovered.
    The manacles of ten years of depression dropped from her limbs. Her hands went to the back of his neck to touch the dark strands that brushed his collar. Ten years of longing, of fantasies, went into the kiss. Her heart expanded to the bursting point with a rush of pent-up emotion.
    He sipped at the moisture shining on her lower lip. “Shelley, Shelley, my God,” he whispered against her mouth. His tongue delved into the sweet vault again, greedier this time. It was met with equal fervor.
    He released her jaw, lowered his arm and encircled her waist. The other hand slid down her spine to the small of her back, pressing, urging her closer. With such an intimate positioning of their bodies, she knew at once the hard evidence of his maleness and was shocked.
    The feel of it startled her back into consciousness. The stark reality of their situation broke through the passion that had robbed her of rational thought. She pushed against his chest and jerked her head backward.
    “Let me go, please,” she said in panic.
    He released her immediately and took a step backward to give her the space she obviously needed. Her fingers were shaking as she massaged her forehead with them. The tortured expression on her face and the agitated way she shook her head plainly indicated her distress.
    “Thank you for walking me home. I have to go in now.” She turned, but was caught by his hand clasping her upper arm.
    “Shelley, please don’t run from me again.”
    “I’m not running.” She avoided his eyes. “I have a lot to—”
    “You’re running,” he interrupted. “I couldn’t pursue you before, but I won’t let you go this time without an explanation. Did I come on too strong, too fast? Are you still in love with your husband?”
    She laughed then, but it was an ugly sound. Unhealthy mirth. “No. I assure you that is not the case.”
    “Then what?”
    She looked at him, defeated and dispirited, her shoulders slumping. “Grant,” she whispered half angrily, “you know why we can’t … why this must never happen again. I started thinking of you as my teacher the first time I walked into your classroom ten years ago. In the course of a few hours I can’t change the image I formed of you then. In my mind you’re still off limits to me. And whether you want to admit it or not, I am to you.”
    His eyes fell away from hers to her mouth, then to her shoulder. His reluctance to hold her gaze told her he knew she was right. He relinquished her arm and shoved his hands into his pockets.
    “You have a chance now to make a new career for yourself. This,” she said, sawing her hand back and forth between them to indicate the entire situation, “isn’t worth risking your reputation.”
    His eyes swung back to hers. “I’ll decide that.”
    “I’ve already decided. We can’t let this go any further. It would spell