They were close enough that she could feel his breath against her forehead. Her lips parted as he moved toward her. He kissed her forehead.
She swayed toward him. He pulled her closer, and her arms went around his neck. He kissed her cheek. The corner of her mouth.
Danielle thought she heard Avery moving around with the camera, but she didn’t care if she took any pictures or not. Right now all she wanted was to feel his lips against hers.
He ran a finger along her bottom lip. Danielle shivered.
Then his lips were pressed against hers.
And she felt the spark all through her body.
He kissed her top lip. Then her bottom lip. Then the edge of her mouth again.
She wanted more. But he pulled away, leaving her feeling bereft.
Then he whispered in her ear. “We can do this later when no one’s watching.”
She opened her eyes and smiled. That was a lovely idea. More. Later.
Avery continued to snap photos while they smiled at each other.
“Okay, that’s a wrap,” Avery held the camera out toward Danielle. Danielle tore her gaze away from Samuel and took the camera.
“You two need to get a room,” Avery said and bounced down the steps. “Call me if you need me Danielle,” she said over her shoulder.
Danielle was blushing. She felt it all the way to her hairline.
“Do you think we made some good photos?” he asked.
“I’ll have to look at them.” How could he go from that kiss to having coherent thoughts? Her brain was fried. Just one kiss. Perhaps a moratorium wasn’t such a good idea. She was like a person dying of thirst.
He took her hand and led her down the path to his truck. After he helped her inside, he smiled at her, and her heart did a somersault.
She was in serious trouble.
Chapter 21
They were mostly silent on the drive back to Danielle’s apartment. She asked him to wait while she ran into the pharmacy.
That kiss had knocked his socks off. He wanted to see the photos, but he didn’t want to seem weird about it. He would ask to see them later.
Right now, he had to figure out how to proceed. Now that he’d kissed her, kissing her again was all he could think about.
Would it be presumptuous to think that he could kiss her again? They’d kissed for a photo. He’d never done that before. He didn’t know the protocol.
Was he to pretend like it hadn’t happened? Protocol or not, that was never going to happen. Maybe he should wait and give her time to think about it; or not give her time to think about it.
His thoughts circled around until she came back with a small bag, and he decided to follow her lead.
He always walked her to the door, so he did that.
“I need to get to work on this cover.” She gripped the bag in one hand as she unlocked the door with the other.
“Sure. Let me know how it turns out.”
She smiled over her shoulder. “I will. Thanks for the ride today.”
Then she was inside her apartment with the door between them.
He huffed out a sigh.
How could she go from that kiss to just walking away?
Chapter 22
Danielle locked the door and leaned against it. She took deep breaths like her counselor had taught her until her heart rate was back to normal.
She hadn’t trusted herself around Samuel. One kiss and all rational thought had left her brain. She needed to get away from him before she threw herself at him.
She really did need to work on the cover. She was hoping the author either wouldn’t notice or wouldn’t care that Avery was missing from the image. She could take some more with Samuel later if need be.
But right now, she wanted to take the pregnancy test.
She went into her bedroom and curled up on the bed. She read the directions all the way through, then set the test aside. According to the directions, she would have to wait until morning. Apparently, pregnancy tests were more accurate when taken first thing in the morning. It was so tempting to ignore that little detail, but she put it aside and went into her home office and uploaded the pictures from today’s shoot. She needed to do the serious work at her larger office computer, but she could at least start looking at the photos, in case they needed to do another shoot.
Avery may not be a photographer, but the photos that she took weren’t half bad. She’d captured some really good images.
As Danielle scrolled through the photos, her heart rate increased again. She wanted to devour Samuel, and that was evident in the images.
It was surprising though that he obviously wanted to devour her, too. That kind of desire couldn’t be faked. Especially not by someone who had absolutely no training in modeling or acting.
There was one particular image that jumped off the screen. His lips were pressed against her top lip and his hand pressed against her jaw. She hadn’t even realized he’d touched her face. That was the image she was going to use.
She saved it to her screen and sat back. They looked good together. Really good.
And they had a connection. Or at least she had felt a connection.
To be fair, she hadn’t given him a chance one way or the other. Then she remembered the words he’d whispered in her ear. We can do this later when no one’s watching.
She scrolled back through their photos. She definitely wanted to do more of that sooner than later. Surely her moratorium had been going on long enough. Maybe it was time to come out of it.
She jumped when her phone rang, and her mother’s picture popped up on the screen.
“Hi honey.” Her mother sounded quite chipper. Not a good sign. “I’m coming into town next week. Can you have the guest room ready?”
Chapter 23
Pappa’s Burgers for family dinner. Of all the places in Houston they could have picked for this week’s gathering, they picked Pappa’s Burgers.
Samuel parked his truck in the crowded parking lot and found his family gathered in the private room. Everyone was there. His older sister and her husband, his younger sister, his brother and his wife, and both sets of grandparents. Both of his sisters had brought their toddlers, too, rounding out four generations. His younger sister had brought a date, so that left Samuel as the only single person there.
Since he was the last one to arrive, he took the only seat left, right between his grandparents. The conversation went along as usual until their food arrived.
That’s when the eldest of his two grandmothers, Veronica Johnson, leaned over and whispered near his ear. “When are you going to start bringing a lady friend with you again? We all miss Jessica, but it’s been two years.”
At least she had the decorum to not broadcast her comment to the whole table. The topic of his dating was one topic he did not want to get his sisters started on. “I’ll look into that,” he whispered back. “Maybe next time.”
Veronica’s face brightened. “I hope so. It saddens me to see you here all alone.”
He glanced around the table. “I’m not lonely. I have my family.”
“Yes, but it’s different when you have that special someone with you.”
Danielle’s image was all he could think about. He halfheartedly tried to think about Jessica instead, but he couldn’t shake the image of Danielle.
In the week since he’d met Danielle, she’d managed to consume his thoughts. She was the last thing he thought about before he went to sleep and the first thing he thought about when he woke up in the morning. Now he wanted her here with him at his family dinner.
He hadn’t brought a girl since Jessica. Hadn’t even wanted to.
“Tell me about her,” Veronica said.
“Who?”
“The girl who has you preoccupied.”
Samuel laughed. “We’re just talking.”
Grandma patted him on the hand. “That’s a good place to start.”
Samuel had one more week. Just one more week before he was s
upposed to be moved to Dallas to start flying for Skye Travels. For Danielle’s father.
Talking to the boss’s daughter wasn’t the smartest thing he could do. The way he wanted to kiss her was definitely off limits.
It would be smart for him to go ahead and move now, before things went any further. To get her out of his mind. So he could at least have a family dinner without her hijacking his thoughts.
It had been bad enough before he’d kissed her. Holding her hair while she was sick. Helping her set up her computer. Taking her to lunch every day. Walking in the park with her. Listening to her talk. Learning that she hoped she never had to drive.
Then there was that kiss. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about kissing her. Oh, he had thought about kissing her plenty.
If only she weren’t the boss’s daughter, he’d scoop her up so fast, it’d make both their heads spin.
Perhaps Noah would be understanding. What was the worst thing that could happen?
Besides, if anyone was going to be hurt, it would be him. Danielle already had her hooks in him.
He hadn’t seen her or talked to her since he’d dropped her off at her apartment yesterday afternoon. Maybe he should see if she was still talking to him before he planned out their future.
Chapter 24
Danielle was deep into Photoshopping the photo of Samuel and her. It had been rather odd at first, working with a picture of herself and the guy who sent her heart into overdrive. After a while, though, she had gotten into adding background images and fonts, and it had become just another cover. For the most part. Every now and then, she’d take a moment to relive that kiss.
She hadn’t heard from Samuel since he’d walked her to her door Saturday. She hadn’t exactly been encouraging. She wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t come back.
She checked her phone again. No texts.
She could text him, of course, but, again, her mother had trained her well. If you want the boy, you have to let him pursue you. Chasing is built into their DNA. If there’s no chase, there will be no chance for a relationship.
She’d thought her mother was ridiculously old-fashioned until her stepfather, a psychologist, had reluctantly agreed with her. Their situation was a little different because they’d dated in high school, but he agreed that he’d never once stayed with a girl who pursued him.
So Danielle sat on her hands and waited. Samuel seemed like an old-fashioned kind of guy, so it didn’t seem odd to follow her mother’s code with him.
She glanced up with a smile on her face when someone knocked on the door. It was time for Samuel to show up so they could go to lunch.
It wasn’t Samuel at her door.
It was Joey.
She hadn’t been sick all morning. In fact, she was thinking that maybe she’d gotten over whatever it was that she had. But seeing Joey standing in her doorway had her gauging how quickly she could get to the trashcan.
“Hey Danielle,” he said.
She didn’t answer.
“I just wanted to bring by your birthday present.”
“Birthday present?” She scowled at him.
“Yeah. I had gotten this for you and thought I’d drop it by.”
He set a blue gift bag on her desk.
“My birthday was last week.”
“I couldn’t remember exactly when it was.”
Danielle folded her arms. The home pregnancy test had been inconclusive – a complete waste of time and money. I pray that I’m not pregnant. If I am… and the father of my child doesn’t even know when my birthday is… She reined in her thoughts. “I can’t accept it.” She put her attention back on her computer. She stared at it, unseeing. Joey had interrupted her whole chain of creativity.
“Okay,” he shifted his feet. “I’ll just leave it anyway, since I bought it special for you. Do you want to get something to eat?”
She looked back up at him. “No. Joey. I do not want to get something to eat with you. I want you to leave and never come back.”
“Surely, you don’t mean that. We go way back.”
“We may go way back, but we aren’t going forward.”
“Can’t we at least be friends?” He gave her that smile that he used when he was trying to be charming.
“I don’t want to be your friend. I don’t want you in my life.”
He held up a hand. “Okay. Don’t get all riled up.”
She shook her head. She wasn’t riled up. She was just feeling quite firm on not wanting Joey anywhere near her.
She pointed to the door. “Go.”
“Alright,” he said, backing out.
As she watched him leave, she saw him pass Samuel in the open lobby. She still felt nauseated, but she could tell it was different. It really was from seeing her ex.
“Who was that?” Samuel glanced over his shoulder. “Never mind. That was your ex, wasn’t it?”
“Is it that bad that you can tell?”
“You look like you’re going to be sick.”
“I just might.”
“What’s this?” Samuel pointed to the bag Joey had left on her desk.
Danielle rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. He said it was a birthday present.”
“A little late for that.”
“I know. Right?”
“What is it?” He peeked inside.
“I don’t know. I told him I didn’t want it.”
“Mind if I look?”
“You can have it.”
“I doubt that.” He pulled out a robe.
Danielle groaned. “Seriously? He brought me a robe? Here.” She held out her hand and took the thin robe in her hands. “Old Navy,” she said, checking the tag.
Samuel scoffed. “You don’t wear Old Navy.”
She laughed. And in that moment, it was determined. Her moratorium was over. She was crushing hard on Samuel Johnson and could no longer punish him just because he came into her life after Joey was in it. He’d known her all of one week and already he knew more about her than her ex-boyfriend ever did.
“I’m glad you’re here.” She handed the robe back to Samuel.
He stuffed it back in the gift bag. “Why? So I can get rid of this thing? What would you like me to do with it?”
She shrugged, a smile playing about her lips. “Trash can is back here.”
He balled up the bag and deftly tossed it in.
“Good shot.”
“I’m more than just a pretty face for your novel covers,” he said.
Danielle laughed.
“When do I get to see?”
She minimized the cover she was working on and pulled the photo before sliding the computer around so he could see. “Here’s the photo I picked.”
“Wow,” he breathed.
“Here are the other pictures.” She scrolled through the photos.
“Can I get a copy of those?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ve never been in a photo shoot before. And I’ve definitely never been photographed while kissing. It’s kinda… um…”
Danielle smiled. “I know. It’s hard to describe, huh?”
“That’s an understatement.”
She sent copies of the pictures – the dozen or so that she’d picked out to keep herself - to his cell phone. “There you go.”
His phone chimed. “Thanks. Let me know when I can see the cover.”
“I will. Even if this author doesn’t want it, I’ll definitely be able to sell it.”
“I’m glad I could help out.”
“I’ve never been on a cover either. It’s weird.”
“Does this author sell a lot?”
Danielle shrugged. “Moderate. Not a name you would recognize, but she does okay.”
“Just curious how many people will see us.”
“Women all over the world will be swooning over our cover.”
He laughed. “You’re feeling better today?”
“Yeah,” she blew her bangs out of her eyes with a s
igh of relief. “I think I may be over what it was I had.”
He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. He sat in the chair on the other side of her desk and stretched his long legs out. Then he grinned at her.
She grinned back, and a little shiver traveled down to her toes. Her hands trembled a little, so she put them in her lap. “What?” She asked.
“I love watching you work.”
She lowered her eyes. She lifted her fingers to the keyboard, then put them back in her lap and looked up at him. “I don’t think I can work with you watching me.”
“We could… do something else.”
His words sent her thoughts down a very naughty path. Very bad. She replayed the kiss they had shared on Saturday. “Like what?”
He glanced at his watch. “We could get some lunch.”
Relief and disappointment washed over her. “Okay.”
“You might want to bring your coat,” he nodded toward her coat hanging on the coat rack. “The temperature’s dropping today.”
“Really?” Her face brightened. “Maybe it’ll snow.”
He laughed. “Not likely, love. This is Houston.”
As she reached for her coat, the bottom fell out of her stomach. Love? Surely she heard him wrong. He took her coat and helped her into it.
Pulling her hair from the collar and letting it fall down her back, she smiled into his eyes. He was looking at her now with an intensity she hadn’t seen with him before. She licked her lips.
“You’re beautiful,” he ran his thumb beneath her chin and she trembled. She longed to feel his lips on hers again.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out. “It’s Dr. Neal.”
“That was quick,” he took a step back, but kept his eyes on hers while she talked.
Danielle listened to the nurse, thanked her, then put the phone back in her pocket.
“I’m pregnant.”
Falling Again Page 7