Always Been You

Katherine didn’t move. She couldn’t. She felt frozen. The faint sense of disorientation she’d felt when she’d first woken up seemed to be paralyzing her ability to speak. For some reason she felt like she needed time to pull herself together.NôvelDrama.Org: text © owner.

After making a fool of herself the last time they had talked, she had assumed that the next time they talked, it would be on her terms, not his.

“Damm it, Kat” She heard him swear. “Kat, I know you’re in there. Your mother was kind enough to tell me you’d be home today.” His voice was becoming more impatient. “Come on, open the door. Do you want me to be arrested for soliciting or some such thing?”

Anyone less likely to allow himself to be arrested for soliciting Katherine could hardly imagine. Jensen Packard was far too sure of himself for that. Besides which, that was just an excuse to get her to open the door.

“I’m not even dressed yet, Jensen” she blurted at last, aware that her voice had a breathy sound to it. It was all she could think of to say, but it wasn’t enough.

“Kat, seeing you naked is nothing new to me,” he reminded her drily. “Come. I’ve been trying to reach you for the better part of a week. We can’t all spend half the day in bed”

That got her juices flowing again. “I’ve just flown over four thousand miles, Jensen,” she told him tartly. “And if I remember correctly, you don’t do jet lag very well yourself.”

“Ah, yes. Kat. Sorry.” But he didn’t sound it. “I guess that was thoughtless. Put it down to frustration. I’m not very good at that either.”

“Tell me about it.” Katherine tried to sound sardonic. “How are you, Jensen? Still as impatient as ever, I see.” she said.

“Kitty Kat, I have been patient, damn it. I think I have given you enough time. Now, are you going to open up, or must I break down this-” there was a pause while he obviously endeavored to control his anger “-this door?”

Katherine’s jaw took on a stubborn curve. She badly wanted to call his bluff. Only the embarrassment she would suffer if he made good on his threat deterred her, and without another word she unlocked the door.

She unlocked it but didn’t open it. She simply retreated to the far side of the living room.

She heard the heavy footsteps as he opened the door and although she told herself she didn’t care what he thought of her, it occurred to her belatedly that she hadn’t even brushed her hair since she’d tumbled so unexpectedly out of bed.

She was finger-combing it behind her ears when Jensen appeared in the doorway. Tall and lean, with the thick dark hair of his ancestors, he too looked stressed too, she reassured herself. But despite the threads of that, his face, with its familiar trace of dark stubble, was tougher, harder, but just as attractive.

His presence had lost none of its impact.

Now he paused in the doorway, and then stepped into the apartment.

He looked around, and then at her. But for all his irritation at the way she’d kept him waiting outside, it was to Katherine that his eyes were irresistibly drawn. She stood the width of the room away, her arms wrapped protectively about herself. She was wearing a silk robe that she was holding tightly around her. As if he’d threatened her, he reflected, disliking the notion. For pity’s sake, what was she expecting him to do? Jump her bones?

“Kat” he said, before that idea could take hold and destroy his detachment, and her lips, which she’d been pressing together, relaxed a little. She looked good, he thought unwillingly. Too good to a man who had decided that he was going to move on if she didn’t make a decision about them. But then, Katherine had always had that effect on him. It was why he was still here after being rejected by her, for God’s sake. Why was he so reluctant to find another woman to take her place?

“Jensen” Katherine responded stiffly, and when he leaned against the door to close it she stood a little taller, as if bracing herself for whatever was to come.

She wasn’t wearing any make-up, of course, and he suspected the color in her cheeks owed more to a mental rather than a physical source. Dark eyes, which haunted his sleep, as clear as mountain-fed lakes.

“How have you been” ‘ he asked, straightening away from the door, and Katherine’s mouth went a little dry when he moved further into the room. He had an indolent grace of movement that made anything he wore look like a designer item, though she guessed the casual cargo pants and black leather jacket were the real thing.

“I’m OK,” she said now, forcing a tight smile. “Tired, of course. But then, I haven’t had much sleep in the last twenty-four hours. Been busy. Work stuff.”

“And I woke you up?” he asked. Jensen came to stand beside one of a pair of mulberry printed sofas that faced each other across a taupe rug. It was the only floor covering at this end of the room, the stripped maple floor requiring little adornment.

“Yes,” Katherine replied.

A dark brow arched in reluctant apology. “I’m sorry about that.” he said.

“Are you?” Katherine asked sarcastically. She gave an indifferent shrug. “So, do you want to tell me what you’re doing here, Jensen? You didn’t come here just to pass the time of day. You said it was important in your text”

Jensen averted his eyes, concentrating instead on his fingers massaging one of the sofa cushions. “So you read my texts then,” he said. “Just decided to ignore them, I see”

Katherine didn’t say anything. It was her turn to look away now.

“It is important. At least to me” he said flatly, answering her previous question. Then he lifted his head again, giving her a look out of night-dark eyes, causing a shiver of apprehension to slide down her spine.

“I want to talk about us. For real this time. Is that straight enough for you?”