I watched her beautiful green eyes trail down my face. They fixed on my jaw, and I focused on the feeling of her fingers, stroking me gently. She reached a hand up to push the hair off my forehead and I felt the muscles in my stomach tighten in response. Her hands were taking liberties, straying from where I’d put them. The rules had always been to set the woman straight. To draw the boundary so much deeper… that touching me was not allowed. But all I could do now was to feel…

Her fingers pushed through my hair, tracing the line of my collar, and she bit down on her lip as her fingertips moved to my chest. My body was hard, ready to take her, the feeling of unsatisfied need as familiar to me as breathing. But there was something else too. A feeling I didn’t understand, yet was threatening my self control…

“Grace,” I said, taking her hands in mine, kissing them, holding them still. “You’ll find jeans, sweaters, whatever you might need in the bedroom closet. Other things you might need are in the bathroom. Shower if you like. Dress.” I caught her hair in my hands, twisting it into loose ropes. “Are you hungry? You must be.”

“Starving,” she said, smiling up at me through her lashes. “My stomach is growling.”

I pulled her up with me, into my arms and kissed her lightly. “Go,” I ordered, swatting her ass. “Thirty minutes, and don’t make me wait.”

I watched as she headed down the hall, her slim hips swaying easily, the ends of her hair brushing the small of her back. When she disappeared, I put in a fast call to Mrs. Sparr about a packed lunch and a blanket. Then I turned to look out at the New York streets below.

It might have been a mistake to hit him… hell, it was probably assault and battery. But it had felt damn good. And I make a point of regretting nothing. The asshole had it coming for years.

A hundred thoughts swam through my head, like drowning men trying to climb over each other. Cole, being here. The black and white newspaper photos of him smiling with his now dead wife. But it was what Grace said about the man set to testify against her mother that bothered me most. That he was a councilman. Another politician…

I grabbed my cell and hit the button without thinking.

“Kaine? I didn’t think I’d hear from you until next week,” Brian answered. He was my right hand, my assistant for almost nine years.

“I want every detail, every article, every rumor about the Cole-Tolman case. I want the woman’s entire history. And everything you can find on the evidence against her.”

I shoved the phone into a pocket without waiting for a response. It was the beauty of Brian. He did what he was told without fail, and knew better than to ask questions. I reward those qualities well. The last decade with me had made him a very wealthy man.

I listened to the water running in the other room and felt a hot rush of desire. Grace, naked under the waterfall shower. For a moment I allowed myself the image, and felt the painful throb of my rock-hard cock making its demands. I let the feeling run through me, taking strength from the sheer power of my own drives. The more I wanted, the more powerful I felt. It was my way. It was the only way I knew. Just never lose control.

I was pulling on a jacket, just as Grace appeared. Right on time. I smiled and reached out a hand to her. “You’re breathtaking.”

She smiled, the blush of pleasure coloring her cheeks. “The clothes are beautiful,” she said, reaching down to smooth the butter colored silk sweater. She’d paired it with jeans and knee high leather boots. Her hair was loose in thick waves. She pushed it back self-consciously with one hand as she stood, waiting for me to direct her. “I’ve never worn things so beautiful.”

“Mrs. S can supply a nice wardrobe, Grace, but you’re the beauty here. You’d be exquisite in anything. Or in nothing…” I pulled her against me, using her hair to tilt her head back. Her lips parted slightly. The bottom one was too full from her nervous habit of biting it.

I kissed her, hard. Maybe harder than I should have. When I finally pulled back, we were both breathing heavily. I couldn’t say what might have happened next, but the knock at the door broke the moment. Her lips were still apart when I opened the door.

Grabbing the basket handle in one hand and her fingers in the other, we headed out fast. Suddenly I wanted to be away from this place. I wanted to walk to the park with Grace. And I wanted to see the sunshine on her hair.

I knew I needed this. What I hadn’t fully realized was just how much Grace had needed this too.

We were on our backs, protected from the damp grass by the wool blanket Mrs. S had folded and tucked under the handle of the picnic basket. Our stomachs full, we rested with our arms under our heads, watching the patterns in the clouds above us. Roasted chicken with German potato salad and apple fritters. We’d had the better part of the bottle of wine.

“I thought I’d ruined us,” Grace said. I caught the tilt of her head as she tipped it to look over at me. “I’m sorry… that I left that note. It… well, it wasn’t that I wanted to go. I’m not really even sure that I would have…”

I watched as a smooth, round cloud slid past before I answered. I didn’t like that she’d even considered it. But it was within her rights. It was the deal we’d agreed to. But we’d never addressed the real reason she’d tried to go… and it wasn’t something I talked about. It was the fucking scars…

“You wouldn’t have been the first to go,” I started. “And it has to be your choice… to stay.”

I shifted and took a breath. “I won’t explain, Grace. Don’t expect me to.”

She turned onto her side, careful not to let her body touch mine. “I don’t, Kaine. And I promise you that I won’t. I want to stay here with you.” She bit into her lip as I turned to look at her. I reached out to run the pad of my thumb across that lip, slowly, pushing and pulling it, watching it relax, remembering the taste of her. She watched my eyes, unblinking, and smiled a trembly smile. “But I’m glad that you let me tell you about Evelyn. About Mom. I know it doesn’t change anything, but I feel better that you know.”

She sighed, relaxing into the remaining warmth of the day. I took her hand in mine and held it as we let the wine slow the blood in our veins. I had plans forming in my mind. Plans for Grace. Plans for us tonight, when we got back into our room and I would strip her clothes off. Down to skin. Bare, perfect skin.

But for now, it was enough to lie here in the last of the sunlight, holding her hand in mine. We’d had a picnic together. Not like a master and his sub. Like two people, wanting to be together. It was so normal, that in a life like mine where nothing was normal, I started to wonder if Grace was all wrong.

She’d said that telling me her story had changed nothing. But I was beginning to think it may have changed far too much.