Richard stopped Kate before she could follow. His dark eyes searched hers.
“How are you holding up?”
Richard appeared to be watching her like an uncertain child on their first day of school. “My life is spinning out of control.” Her words expressed her frustration. “I don’t know you, I don’t know your family, yet here I am… at your mercy.”
“If there was another way…”
“Is there?”
He shook his head. “None that I can see. You and Joey will be safe here.”
“For how long, Richard?” Kate swallowed the knot in her throat. She didn’t want to cry again. She was tired of crying yet her eyes burned all the same.
He moved closer, caught her chin, and forced her eyes to his. “As long as it takes.”
“I don’t want to impose.”
“You’re not an imposition,” he assured her.
She could see the sincerity of his emotion. His caring eyes made her believe him. She didn’t understand his motives. Why did he care what happened to them?
Richard stroked the pad of his thumb over her cheek, his lips parted as if he wanted to say something. He didn’t. Instead, his head dipped lower, his eyes questioned.
Oh, God. He’s going to kiss me, she thought. Part of her wanted to back away, a very small part of her. The bigger part, however, wanted nothing more than to feel his lips on hers. Butterflies warmed her belly.
Anticipation rushed through her veins. How long had it been since a man had kissed her?
