Touch Me (You & Me - A Bad Boy Romance, #2) Read online

  In an effort to kill time, he first ran on the treadmill, pushing himself to new speeds as he tried to expend the built-up frustration he felt. Even after breaking his personal best time, he felt no relief.

  He ran for another mile, feeling his muscles begin to strain as his mind continued to run laps around the evening’s events. With time, his list of questions only grew longer. It was beginning to feel like he didn’t know Katherine at all.

  It was devastating blow, considering the future he had envisioned for the two of them, and the life he thought he could finally have. His fear was that Rachel was right when she said he was turning into a work obsessed tycoon.

  All Ben did was work, and every decision he made was with his business in mind. Katherine had given him another focus, and subtly opened his perspective to another way of living, one in which his personal life was equally, if not more important, than his professional life.

  As he stepped from the treadmill, sweat dripping from his chiseled chest, Ben again found himself drawing conclusions to Katherine’s story. First, he wondered if she had children with the man, and had possibly deserted them to start a new life.

  Doubting that, Ben reminded himself of the sweet natured woman he first saw at the bakery, busying herself with latte orders. She wasn’t at all interested in anything but doing her job well, and he had distracted her with lame questions trying to drum up a conversation.

  It was all innocent without expectation, and in a way, Ben wished he could go back to that care-free time. There was nothing worse than feeling like he had wasted his time. For a man as successful as Ben O’Leary, time literally was money. Thinking of how much he could have gotten done while he had spent time with Katherine instead gave him a bit of a headache.

  The new designs for the upcoming season were still awaiting his approval, and several meetings had been postponed to accommodate her schedule. As he tried to prepare himself for the seemingly inevitable disappointment of not seeing her again, Ben found himself struggling to abandon the affection he had developed for Katherine.

  He wanted to forget everything he felt, including this woman he had chased throughout the city, a first for a man of his stature. Ben didn’t want to question what could have been, just return to what was. His thriving business was still intact with plenty of work to keep him busy.

  But it wasn’t that simple.

  He had fallen for the blonde hiding as a brunette. And suddenly, he felt even closer to Katherine as he realized the probable answer for a question he had been asking himself since he first met her. She was most likely dying her hair in an attempt to disguise herself, but why did she want to leave her old life behind in the first place?

  With more answers came more questions, and Ben didn’t have a solution, so he tried to clear his mind with a hot shower. Before the water cascaded off his body, he thought of Katherine and how he had promised her a bath their last time together.

  Everything reminded him of her, and the night passed slowly as he continuously wondered where she was and if she was okay. Ben hated being so helpless, but couldn’t think of a way to get to her, which meant he would have to wait in agony until she called him, but who knew how long that could be?

  When he finally laid down for the night, Ben was exhausted, but more mentally than physically. His night had not turned out as he planned, and he was worried about Katherine, and their future together, if such a future existed at all.

  Chapter Five

  Katherine

  AWAKENED BY A PAINFUL ache in her back, Katherine blinked slowly, trying to place the contemporary crown molding on the ceiling. It surely wasn’t her bedroom, and the memories came rushing back when her eyes landed on Tim’s scowl. Even in his sleep he was intimidating.

  After a long night of fighting, Katherine found it difficult to sit up, her abdomen sore from a collision with a wall. After berating her while finishing off a bottle of brandy, Tim began shoving Katherine between threats.

  He couldn’t believe she had actually moved on and started a new life without him, and vowed to take her to pack up her apartment first thing in the morning. He wanted Katherine to pack everything up and move back to LA, but the more she thought about it, the more certain she was that giving up her life as she knew now it wasn’t an option.

  It had taken too long and too much effort for Katherine to build up to the safe space she now depended on. Her life wasn’t perfect, but she had the freedom to be herself and make mistakes. That was invaluable, and lying beside Tim, all the memories of their life came flooding back.

  Like the time when she brought up the idea of going to culinary school. With Tim busy at work all the time, she was left alone so much that she thought she should pick up a hobby. Cooking had always been a passion of hers, but when she told her husband, he laughed in her face.

  After telling her that she couldn’t cut it in any type of school, he arrogantly asked how she planned to put herself through school, even joking that she could see if the local diner was hiring. In addition to his emotional and physical abuse, Tim was financially abusive to Katherine. He used his money as a tool to control her, dangling her allowance like a carrot every month.

  He didn’t want to empower Katherine, because he liked her to be dependent on him, it was what gave him the confidence to treat her so poorly. If she thought she needed him, she would continue to accept his behavior. But Katherine had smartened up.

  For months, Katherine set money aside in a private account, saving a nice nest egg before she ventured out. Tim was known for giving her lavish gifts and large sums of cash to overcompensate for his abuse, but Katherine had chosen to stash it away rather than splurging. When she finally left him, she had more than enough saved for a comfortable life.

  Straining to swallow the cries begging to be heard, Katherine slowly made her way out of bed to tip toe across the bedroom, watching Tim with every step. He had warned her about leaving the suite without his permission, and she didn’t want to face him, or his fist, again.

  Tim might have fooled Katherine into believing she wasn’t capable of achieving her dreams when she was under his thumb in their marriage, but now that she had traveled and loved alone, she knew what she was capable of.

  There was no way she could go back to living in the abusive prison Tim had created in their home. Not after experiencing true freedom. With her own place to call home, Katherine had flourished, and she wasn’t willing to give that up.

  Glancing around the suite, she tried to think of a plan. Since Tim had taken her from the charity event, all Katherine had to wear was the beautiful purple gown Ben had given her. The cap shoulder had been torn, and a few of the jewels were splattered around on the floor as a result of Tim’s violence.

  Unable to look at herself, Katherine avoided the mirror in the bathroom as she gathered a few things she could take with her. She didn’t have much, so it didn’t take long. Slowly, she stepped into her gown as she tried not to cry out as the fabric touched her sore skin.

  When she refused to give Tim her address, he had shoved her into a wall, leaving her in fear of breaking a rib or two. He was rough and overly powerful when it came to demonstrating his strength to Katherine. It was like he had something to prove, reminding her that he was in control.

  Regardless of how much it hurt, Katherine was happy she had refused to share the address of her apartment, because he would have demanded they go there immediately. It was obvious that he wasn’t going to leave Katherine alone to live her life in peace, so she couldn’t trust him with any information.

  In the back of her mind, Katherine always hoped that with time, Tim would also grow and change, as she had. She hoped they could both move past their life together so they could each go on to lead separate lives. Sometimes she imagined that he regretted his behavior and wondered when it all went wrong.

  She was sadly mistaken to think that Tim had evolved, but it was the only thing that gave her any peace, thinking that he had given up. Now, as she watched
him sleeping with heinous thoughts running through her mind, Katherine wondered if she would ever be free of his hold on her.

  As an accomplished attorney with seemingly unlimited resources, Tim knew no limits when it came to tracking her down. And from the dark bruises Katherine could see on her wrist and the various pains in her body, she doubted he would ever come around to being less ruthless.

  Tim was an evil person, and for the first time, Katherine felt she could see him for who he truly was. There was no way she could ever go back to living a life with him. They were beyond incompatible. Tim had no respect for her, and that would never change. She made a decision then and there—in the hotel suite where he paid for one night an amount equal to her rent for a month.

  She had to break free of him, whatever the cost, because if she didn’t she feared for her life. Tim’s unexpected arrival and public display last night was all the proof she needed that her husband was worse than ever, and willing to risk far more than his money or reputation to get her back.

  She thought he had too much going for him to behave the way he did. As a criminal defense lawyer, she expected him to care too much about his reputation to behave the way he did at the charity event. It was more than unprofessional, but she assumed he must not care since he was away from his home turf.

  People often said that Los Angeles was like a high school, with everyone gossiping like teenagers. Katherine was certain that Tim would have never embarrassed himself in LA the way he had in San Francisco. He was far from home, away from the watchful eye of his competitors as well as his clients. Free to misbehave in public the way he always had in private.

  Three soft beeps from the alarm clock prompted Katherine’s heart to slow to a stop, terrified Tim would be awakened by the sound. Glancing towards the nightstand, Katherine noticed the time as Tim rolled over on his side. She could barely move, too afraid of making a noise that would wake him.

  When she was finally confident that he wouldn’t wake up, Katherine tiptoed to the door, looking over her shoulder only once to make sure opening the door didn’t disturb him. She knew she would need a few minutes head start if she was to have any chance of getting away.

  It was sad how terrible things had gotten between Tim and Katherine. It wasn’t always that way between the two, especially when they first were married. After a wedding fit for a fairy tale, Tim surprised Katherine with a home that could easily make the pages of Architectural Digest.

  It was supposed to be the start of a wonderful life together, and for several months Katherine believed it was possible. She was a devoted wife, head over heels for Tim, and trying her best to be the wife of his dreams. But Tim was never interested in their relationship, only in what it looked like to people on the outside.

  He didn’t want to be a family man, but knew the politics of law in LA meant that what you looked like was almost as important as how well you did the job, so he was doing what he needed to do in order to reach the status he wanted so badly. Success was the only thing Tim cared about, and Katherine was nothing more than a piece of the puzzle, on his way to an empire.

  When Katherine reached the elevator, relief rushed through her. It was time to fight for the life she had built if there was any way of maintaining her independence. For the first time since Tim exploded into her life last night, a tear slowly rolled down her cheek.

  It wasn’t sadness, but joy for the life she had created for herself. Things had finally started to come together and she had begun to feel like herself again. It wasn’t easy to pick up and start a new life somewhere, and Katherine done it over and over. In the past two years, she had lived more places than she could remember.

  But San Francisco had been the new beginning she so desperately wanted. In her first day in her new apartment, she found a job, which led to her very first friendship since she left Tim. More than what she had accomplished, San Francisco had become her home because of how it made her feel. Whether she was walking to and from work, or mindlessly exploring, Katherine felt comfortable whenever she was in wandering around her new city.

  The doors to the elevator opened to an empty lobby. There wasn’t much foot traffic in the middle of the night, which made Katherine stand out even more in the bright purple gown hanging off her bruised body.

  When the receptionist turned to see Katherine, she gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth as she looked her up and down. The pity reached her eyes as she stood silently, gawking. Katherine knew the look of sympathy, and wasn’t interested in it at all.

  Without a word, she walked through the lobby with her head high, refusing to pay any attention to the workers watching her every move. The humiliation was gone, and the only thing Katherine felt rushing through her veins was adrenaline. She was back on the run, with more to lose than ever.

  “Will you be needing a taxi?” The valet asked Katherine after a brief pause.

  “Yes.”

  The young man spoke into a walkie-talkie and within seconds, a yellow sedan pulled into the circular driveway. Holding the back door open, the man bid Katherine a good night as she climbed into the backseat.

  “Where can I—oh my God! Are you okay?” The driver was horrified, turning to face Katherine after glancing at her reflection in his rear-view mirror.

  “I’m fine,” Katherine answered, overly confidently as she lifted her head a little higher.

  “No, no. You don’t look fine. Let me help you,” the Latino man pleaded.

  She could feel the emotion in his voice. He didn’t like having a battered woman in the back of his car, but as far as Katherine was concerned, it had nothing to do with him. She was done looking for men to rescue her. She didn’t need saving, and the taxi driver was not going to be her knight in shining armor. For so long people had told Katherine she needed a man to survive, and for so long she had proved them wrong.

  “You can help me by taking me to this address.” She handed a card to the driver before sitting back in her seat, glancing out the window with an attitude that let him know the conversation was over. Taking her hint, he didn’t say another word and instead pulled away from the hotel, following Katherine’s direction.

  Chapter Six

  Ben

  SITTING IN HIS LIVING room, Ben stretched out on the sectional sofa. He’d finished the last of his third glass of whiskey, which he had decided must be his last. It was unlike him to drink that much, but his mind had been racing since he left the charity event.

  The night was passing slower than usual, his thoughts forcing him to replay one of the craziest nights of his life. It still didn’t feel real, learning that Katherine was married. Ben had so many questions, but without a way to find the truth, he tried to convince himself to let it go.

  Helplessness wasn’t a feeling he was used to. Running a billion-dollar empire left Ben feeling powerful. There was rarely a time he couldn’t bring his visions to life or find a way to achieve anything he set his mind to.

  In some ways he appreciated being able to feel emotions that he hadn’t felt in years. Without sharing his life with a woman for so long, Ben wasn’t used to thinking of someone else or considering their safety above his own. It was refreshing to have a problem that work couldn’t solve.

  Typically, whenever something was bothering Ben, he threw himself into work full throttle to distract himself. It was an uncomplicated way to keep himself engaged in another activity, and before long he would be so focused on a solution or new design that he would have forgotten all about what was bothering him.

  That was not the case tonight. Before he poured his first drink, Ben tried to look over the pet accessories for the fourth quarter. It was the busiest time of the year in retail as everyone shopped for Christmas gifts. Usually, he would have been overflowing with excitement, but he couldn’t stay on task for ten minutes, as his mind kept returning to Katherine.

  Twice, he tried to start over, taking notes of every picture so the designer could make changes. No matter how hard he willed himself to fo
cus, he couldn’t shake Katherine from his mind. He was too worried about her well-being to even enjoy his own.

  That was what led him to the sofa, and now he sat aimlessly staring at the TV, which was blaring Seinfeld reruns as he stared into space. He was beside himself with an emotion he couldn’t define, and quite frankly, he doubted he had ever felt it before. With no one to talk to about what he had experienced, Ben forced himself to feel everything as the liquor intensified the discomfort. He wanted to remember how deeply he cared for Katherine, even if what they had was forever destroyed.

  A soft knock caught Ben’s attention as he turned towards the door, wondering if he was hearing things. No one ever visited his house unannounced, and as he stood to his feet, he wondered how whoever was there had managed to get there, past his security.

  The liquor had made him quick to anger, so he opened the door ready for battle without even glancing through the peephole. At the moment, he was more focused on how they had gotten there than who it was.

  “What the h—” Ben’s angry words died on his tongue as he took in the image before him.

  Katherine stood an inch or two shorter than normal as she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. She was broken, and he could see it. The beautiful dress he had picked just for her was torn and damaged, hanging at the shoulder, all beauty stripped from it.

  Ben swallowed the lump in his throat as he made his way down her body. There was a big purple bruise on Katherine’s arm, growing darker by the second. A few smaller bruises on her wrist and bicep also caught his attention, but it was her face that made his hand clench into a fist.

  It was obvious that she had been beaten, as a dark circle below her eye was threatening to swell clear shut any second. On the other side of her cheek was a thin scratch just below her cheekbone. Her lip was puffy and cracked. With her hair ruffled, falling on her shoulders, Katherine stared up to Ben with a helplessness that topped his own.