Hayley - Kathryn Shay Page 0,42
she carried a keycard. “Let’s go.” She started away.
He tugged her back. “Why, Hayley?”
“I’m exhausted, distraught over the case we argued for days, and I want to be intimate with you.” She arched a brow. “Do you want to, with me?”
He grabbed her hand. “Yes, I do.”
They made the trip to the fifth floor and hurried down the carpeted hall. She fumbled with the key to the room in the slot. He took over, and got it open, though his hands were shaky, too. The door shut behind them.
“Ready for this?” he asked, his smile genuine now.
“More than.” She grabbed him by the necktie and yanked him to her, kissed him quickly. Then she walked backwards to the bed.
“Let me,” she said when he started to remove her jacket. “It’s faster. You do your own, too.”
They tore at their clothes. He managed to rip back the spread and they fell onto the sheets, arms and legs entangled. He touched her and went hard. She got wet right away. Sensing this, he climbed on top of her, a position they rarely used. Parting her knees, he thrust inside. She lifted her hips up. They came together in a world-ending cataclysm.
* * *
They lay together in semi-darkness, her head on his shoulder, her hair spread out across his chest. Hayley luxuriated in the sensation of her cheek on his chest, the sexy scent of him.
“What are you thinking?” he asked after a while.
“That lying here like this is wonderful. I feel so close to you.”
“The same for me, love.”
Had he ever called her that? Hayley didn’t know. So, she sat up and propped her arms on his chest. “How are we going to get past this stalemate, Paul? Because I want to.”
“So do I.” He paused. Dramatically. “I’m ready to talk about my background.” His tone was grave.
Just the notion warmed her. “I’m glad.”
“Lie back on the pillow and face me.”
She did.
He took her hands in his. Kissed her knuckles. The action was meant for comfort, but her heart was beating at a clip over what was to come.
“I have to go back to boyhood.”
She gave him an encouraging nod.
“I was bullied and picked on because I’m Polish. So were my brothers and sisters. We never told anybody, and when the guys and I came home with bruised knuckles and split lips, we lied about them. We didn’t want to hurt our parents. They never knew because things like that weren’t supposed to happen at Catholic schools.”
She kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry you went through that.”
“I was good at academics and got a scholarship to Yale. From there, I borrowed money for law school at UCLA, did well and was picked up easily by a reputable firm in California.”
A new question hit her and she frowned. “Covington isn’t Polish. Your mother said it wasn’t her name.”
He drew in a breath. “My legal name is Covington, because I changed it. I started out as Covitz.”
She stiffened. Suddenly, she knew why he concealed all this from her. “You denied your roots because you were bullied in high school?”
“No. I wanted an unencumbered college experience.”
“By rejecting who you were?”
“I didn’t see it that way.”
She edged away from him.
“I know what you’re thinking. Your mother changed your names from Casella to Sullivan and you hated it. She abandoned your dad’s roots and made you two do it.”
“Yes.”
“This isn’t the same thing.”
“Isn’t it?” A lump formed in her throat.
“I don’t think so but there’s more.” He had to go for broke. He couldn’t keep anything from her, now.
Taking in a heavy breath, she asked, “What?”
“My father disowned me. Literally. He kicked me out and told me not to come back.”
“I’m sorry, Paul…”
“Let me finish. I cut off all ties with my family.”
“What?”
“I had no choice.”
“You just said in the courtroom there’s always a choice.” Her tone was sharper than she meant it to be.
“Not when it meant my hurting them even more. I spoke to Jakub, the oldest brother, a couple of times. He said Matka and Pa fought all the time over what Pa did. He forbade her to see me. Then he did the same with my brothers and sisters.”
“Surely they tried to contact you when they got to be adults. Out on their own.”
“They didn’t know how. Nobody but my parents knew my new last name. And I went thousands of miles away from them.”
Oh, dear God in heaven. “This isn’t just about Bridget’s actions. You did to your family exactly what Ronan did