Forbidden Read Online Free PDF Page A

held her spellbound. It was like watching the tide pulling out to sea and being sucked deeper into the water.
    “I…my mother isn’t part of my life, hasn’t been for quite some time.” For some reason, admitting that out loud stung. Thinking about the woman who’d abandoned her hurt, but saying it aloud made it too real, too painful. She and her father never talked about her mother and how empty her leaving had left Kat feeling. No one to talk to, bake with, laugh about boys with, see mushy romantic movies with…those were all the things mothers and daughters were supposed to do. But not me .
    “I didn’t mean to open old wounds, darling.” Tristan’s eyes softened, the colors changing yet again, and she was lost in their depths. The way he’d called her “ darling ,” that intimate word surrounded her heart with a cottony warmth. This beautiful stranger was offering her comfort, and she wanted it, wanted him. And that need scared her. She’d needed her mother, and her mother had left. The only person who hadn’t let her down was her father. Kat couldn’t let herself need Tristan, not when it might lead to more heartache.
    He cupped her cheek, the gesture tender. How could he be such a contradiction? Bold and seductive, then tender and compassionate.
    “They’re divorced?” he asked. That focused intensity only seemed to deepen as the snowfall muffled the world around them. Like they were cocooned in the shelter of a snow globe holding only them and the falling white flakes.
    She licked her lips. “Yes. For a long time now.”
    Tristan nodded. “My parents are divorced, as well. My father is an overbearing, pompous arse.” He chuckled, but there was a bite to the sound that caught her attention.
    “You don’t like your father?” she asked.
    The flash of cold in his eyes made her shiver more than the snow falling around them. He continued to stroke her cheek with one of his hands, which softened the hard look in his eyes.
    “I don’t like to talk about him.” It was clear from the steel in his voice that she wouldn’t get anything else from him about his father. But she wanted to know more about this mysterious, seductive stranger whose kisses burned straight through her. There were hidden depths to him, dark, deep, flowing underground rivers and she wanted to dive in and discover who he really was.
    “What about your mother?”
    The defensiveness evaporated as he grinned. “One of the best, as far as mothers go.”
    “That must be nice, to have a mother around, I mean.” A part of her still felt like maybe she had been the cause of her parents’ breakup. Maybe she’d been too much for her mother to handle.
    “It’s not your fault, you know. Sometimes it feels like it is, but it isn’t.” His hand on her cheek moved to her hair, threading through the wild strands that were slightly damp with melted snow. The heat in his eyes burned slowly, like a fire in a hearth.
    Kat’s body responded, her thighs clenching together and her nipples hardening. From a single hot, tender look, she was melting for this intense, handsome stranger. A shiver racked her, and he chuckled. Did he know how much he was affecting her? He had to, with that pleased look gleaming in his eyes, and his lips twitching in bemusement.
    “Let’s get you inside so you can warm up and eat your birthday cake.”
    She came back to herself and realized they’d been standing inside the courtyard, unmoving, just standing so close, breaths mingled and almost whispering as they opened up about their lives.
    They walked up to the front of the red brick dormitory, and he followed her up the small set of steps to her door on the first floor. She turned, ready to thank him for walking her home, but he caught the door, preventing it from shutting.
    “May I come inside?” He tilted his head toward the door, and she saw he was still carrying the cake.
    “I…” She swallowed down the nervous lump in her throat. She wasn’t ready to