He looked at her. “Sounds serious.”
“It is.”
Frowning a little, he scooted them both up, then rolled to his side, propping up on one elbow. “Good serious or bad serious?”
She liked it that he automatically assumed it was something they were going to deal with together. “Good, I hope. It’s about where I went this morning, while you were sleeping. About some non-fiction research I needed to do, only I ended up doing a bit more than just research. After I called the airlines, I—”
“Wait,” he broke in. “I need to say something first. I know you’re supposed to leave tomorrow, head back to New York.”
“But that’s why I called them, I—” He stopped her with a finger pressed across her lips.
“I called the airlines today, too.”
That surprised her so much she stopped trying to finish. “You did? Why?”
“I don’t want to—can’t—have a long-distance relationship with you. Hell, I can barely stand you being gone for a couple of hours while I’m sleeping, and you were still in the same city, for Christ’s sake.” He laughed and shook his head. “And I’m not even the possessive type.”
She grinned and traced a finger over his lower lip. “Well, I am, I’ll have you know. Which is why—”
He kissed her fingertip, then talked over her. “I turned down the job here.”
“I cancelled my reservations and made an appointment with a—” She stopped as his words registered. “You what? What did you just say?”
“You cancelled your flight?”
She nodded. “But you first. What did you do? Why did you turn them down?” She had a sudden fleeting sense of panic.
“I booked myself on your flight.” He let out a brief, disbelieving laugh. “The one you’re no longer on.”
“You did?” He’d planned to come back to New York with her? Then she put it together. “Oh no.”
He framed her face, slicked her wet hair back, then ran his thumbs over her cheeks. “Oh yes. I wanted to surprise you. I already put a call in to New York. Mig gave me some names. I’m going to check into one of the forensic teams they have there, see what I can come up with.” He searched her face. “Don’t worry. I want to do this. I want to be where you are, but this doesn’t mean I’m—”
He stopped when she started to laugh.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said, then kissed him soundly. “Nothing at all. While you were arranging to come be part of my world, I was arranging to be part of yours.”
“What do you mean?”
“My non-fiction research this morning. It was for a house. Here. For me. One I hoped would eventually be our home.”
“You went house hunting?” He looked awestruck.
She nodded.
“Without me?” He stuck out his bottom lip.
Now it was her turn to be surprised. Then she laughed and shook her head. “And here I was afraid you’d get nervous, that I was moving too fast. But I didn’t want to be where you weren’t. I figured you’d probably want your own place in the city.” She stroked her fingers into his hair and gave him a sly smile. “Then I’d hoped to lure you into our new home slowly, move your things in a little at a time, until you just ended up there with me full-time.”
He grinned now. “How very calculating of you.”
“Plotting is what I do for a living, after all.” She turned more serious. “You like it here, right? I know I do. And it’s closer to your old friends. Is it too late to take Mig’s offer? We can go look at other houses if you want. I haven’t signed anything yet. Or we can live here in the city together, I don’t care. I just knew family was important to you and—”
He kissed her into silence. When he finally lifted his head, his expression was filled with wonder…and desire. “I love you. I want us to be together, here, New York, I don’t care. I want you to have what you need, too. All the rest can happen when it’s right. We’ll figure it out as we go.”
“That’s worked pretty well so far.”
“I think so.”
“So,” she asked, “can we stay in Vegas?”
“Is that truly what you want?”
She nodded. “I like the vibe here, the energy. It’s so different from New York.”
“What about your publisher? Won’t they be upset?”
“As long as I have a computer, a printer and a post office, I can work anywhere.”
“That’s convenient,” he said, then began dropping light kisses all over her face.
“What about you?” she asked, smiling through his rain of kisses. “Are you sure you want to leave Canyon Springs?”
“Yes,” he said, kissing her on the mouth. “What I want isn’t a place. It’s you, it’s loving what I do, building a life around those things.”
“You know, I’ve spent a good deal of time cutting myself off from things, clinging to being independent,” she said. “I never thought about family.” She smiled wryly. “Other than to be glad I was no longer under the influence of mine.”
He started to speak, but she stopped him with a finger laid across his lips.
“But when we were driving through the neighborhoods today, I was looking for a place for you, that you’d want to raise children in. And it slowly occurred to me that I wanted it, too. Really wanted it. It’s quite terrifying actually, because I never had a home, not the kind you had. But I want it.” She looked directly into his eyes. “At some point. With you.”
“Well, you’re a pretty fast learner.” He grinned. “I think I could help you out. Show you the familial ropes, as it were.”
“I’m counting on it,” she said, then hugged him tightly, overcome by what life had handed her so suddenly. “My partner in fantasy exploration.” She smiled then, tears burning in her eyes, tears of sheer, unadulterated joy. “And perhaps that was my most forbidden fantasy of all. Love, family, home.”
“We’ll have it all, Misty. After all, a writer deserves her happily-ever-after, doesn’t she?”
There was a knock on the door. “Room service.”
“But first,” he said, a wicked gleam entering his dark, beautiful eyes. “Have you ever had any food sex fantasies? Because I have some strawberries and cream I’d like to interest you in.”
She rolled to her back as he got up, grabbed her damp towel and wrapped it around his hips as he strode to the door. So confident, so beautiful. So hers.
“As it happens, I love strawberries. What do you plan to do with them?”
He took care of the waiter, closed the door and rolled the heavily laden cart to the center of the room himself. Steam rose from several covered dishes. He took the covers off, then slipped the linen napkin from the tray and walked over to where she’d perched on the edge of the bed. Without saying a word he tied it around her eyes.
“You’ll see,” he said, and she could hear the wicked promise in his voice.
She shivered in anticipation. Of what he’d do to her now, and what he’d be doing to her, with her, in all the years to come. “I can’t wait.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8127-5
AGAINST THE ODDS
Copyright © 2003 by Donna Jean.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trade
marks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Visit us at www.eHarlequin.com
Against the Odds Page 20