“I’m doing fine. In fact, I just wanted you to know that I’ll be flying out later today for Rome. I have a meeting with one of our distributors there and plan to stay for a few days.”
Uriel raised a brow. “Anything serious?”
“No. In fact, it’s something one of the managers can handle, but I decided to go myself. Besides, it will give me a chance to see Zion. It’s been awhile since I’ve spent some time with godson number five.”
All that was well and good, but unfortunately, Uriel was reading between the lines. His father’s eagerness to leave town could only mean one thing. His parents had been invited to the same social function, and instead of making an appearance while his ex-wife paraded her boy-toy around, he had opted to be somewhere else instead—somewhere like another country.
Uriel pulled in a deep breath. “I understand, Dad,” he said, and in all honesty he really did. “Have a safe trip.”
“I will. And by the way, I ran into Chester Weston the other day, right before he and Nancy left for a vacation in the islands. He mentioned that Ellie would be packing up Mable’s belongings at the lake house. Have you seen her yet?”
His father’s question triggered memories of Ellie standing at the window last night. “Yes, I’ve seen her,” he said, deciding not to mention to what degree he’d seen her.
And because he didn’t want his dad to ask any more questions, he said, “Okay, Dad, I better get back to reading those documents. But if you need me to return to Charlotte to handle things while you’re away, then—”
“No, no. The company will be in capable hands while I’m gone. I just wanted to let you know. Take care, Uri.”
“You do the same, Dad.”
When Uriel hung up the phone a part of him could actually feel his father’s pain. He knew that more than ever he needed to have a long talk with his mother. What could she be thinking? He already knew the answer. Only of herself.
Stretching his body, he decided to walk out to the pier for a while. He had been holed up inside reading for a couple of hours now. Walking through the kitchen, he opened the door and stepped out on the porch. Instinctively, his gaze moved to the window across the way.
Uriel squinted his eyes against the sun, and he could see Ellie sitting in a chair by the window, where it seemed as if she was doing the same thing he’d been doing before receiving his father’s call. Reading.
He hoped that whatever papers she was reading were a hell of a lot more interesting than the ones he’d just gone over.
Chapter 5
Ellie pulled in a deep breath at the next chapter break, inwardly acknowledging that she evidently had lived a sheltered life. How on earth had the author come up with this stuff? And did people actually do those kinds of things in the bedroom?
Well, to be honest, about eighty percent of the time they weren’t in the bedroom, but were in places she would not have thought of making love, not even in her wildest dreams. It was plain to see that the imagination of the person who had written this story was a lot more vivid than hers.
The story wasn’t just a bunch of pages filled with nothing but hot and heavy sex. The couple was in love with each other; however, neither were ready to face up to that fact. The reader knew their true feelings, though. So, all the time the hero claimed that he could never love any woman—that it was nothing more than sex—the reader knew differently. Ellie already knew that the heroine was chipping away at the hard casing that surrounded the hero’s heart.
The intimacy they shared in the bedroom was what sexual fantasies were about, and only someone who not only understood the lovemaking act, but who was familiar with it as well, could do these scenes justice. They were gripping, so earth-shakingly passionate. Ellie was dying to find out which of her aunt’s acquaintances had that much bedroom experience and passion to pen such a romantic masterpiece.
Ellie thought about the many times Darcy had tried getting her to read a romance novel, and how she had rebuffed the very thought of doing so. Now she knew what she’d been missing.
The only downside to reading about such passion was that it made you realize how much you lacked in your own life. To have a man kiss you to the point that you actually felt like swooning, or to think that something like multiple orgasms could actually occur during a lovemaking session, was too much to consider. But there had been something about the intensity of the love the couple shared that easily took your breath away.
At that moment, her stomach growled and she glanced over at the clock, unable to believe she had read through lunch. She was eager to finish the book, but she knew she had to eat and do a little of what she’d intended to do today. But a part of her couldn’t wait to see what the next scene would bring.
Placing the pages on the bed, she stood and stretched. Glancing out the window, she saw Uriel sitting down on the pier, fishing. It reminded her of the day she had pulled that prank on him. Not wanting to remember, she moved away from the window and headed downstairs to the kitchen.
Uriel grimaced. He had been sitting here for a couple of hours and had yet to catch a single fish. For some reason, they weren’t biting today, which for him was a huge disappointment as well as an aggravation.
He had stopped reading, to give his eyes a rest. From all accounts, Vandellas Publishing Company, whose home office was in Houston, with a little more than a hundred employees, was financially sound, which was the reason he and Donovan had purchased it. They would hold on to it a few years before reselling it for a profit. That meant they needed to do anything they could to keep it financially sound until then.
He glanced at his watch. One thing for certain was that he wouldn’t be enjoying fried fish for supper. He was glad he’d taken a hamburger patty out of the freezer.
Because he couldn’t resist the temptation any longer, he glanced over his shoulder to Ellie’s bedroom window and noticed she was no longer sitting there reading. He wondered what had captivated her to the point that she’d sat in that chair by the window for at least four solid hours. He wondered too what happened to her plans to go through her aunt’s things today.
Reaching the conclusion that it wasn’t really any of his business, he turned his attention back to the lake and to another question he was wondering about. Did Ellie have a boyfriend? Was that the reason she’d been standing at the window last night? Had she been hot and restless for a lover who hadn’t been able to make the trip with her? Did that mean she would be expecting company any day now?
And why in the hell did the thought of that nag him?
He stared intently at the lake, refusing to dwell on the thought. Hell, if truth be told, he was probably the hot and restless one. He treated sex as the sport it was, and knew, without thinking too hard about it, just when was the last time he’d played. Valentine’s Day. The woman was someone he’d met at the Racetrack Café. They had dated a few times before she’d begun getting possessive. She’d found out rather quickly that he didn’t do possessive very well. On occasion she would call. He had yet to call her back. One day she would learn that most men appreciated women who knew how to curtsy out of the picture gracefully.
He decided he’d spent enough time out here on the pier. He always enjoyed fishing, whether he’d had a good day or not. There was something about sitting on the water, especially Cavanaugh Lake with a fishing rod and a six-pack. It was peaceful and relaxing. That was the main reason he’d bought the lake house from his parents.
He eased into a stand and gathered his tackle box and fishing gear and began walking back toward his house. He glanced up at Ellie’s window. She was back, and he immediately felt a tug in his gut. From the looks of things, she was back to reading again.
Something, he wasn’t sure what, made her look up at that moment, as their gazes connected. He felt it. More than a mere tug in his gut or a stirring in his blood. It was a rush of desire that he knew had everything to do with how he’d seen her last night while standing at that window. Sexy couldn’t get any better.
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Figuring they didn’t need to pass the time away just staring at each other, he threw up his hand to acknowledge her presence. Smiling amiably, she waved back.
That was that. At least he quickly told himself so. Shifting his gaze away, he kept on walking.
Ellie watched until Uriel was no longer in sight, and thought that he was just as handsome as Grant Hatteras, the hero in the manuscript she was reading. Grant, the man who had captured Tamara Carrington’s heart.
In her mind, Uriel had all of Grant’s physical attributes. He was handsome as sin and had a body that could make a woman drool. And he could kiss you in a way that made your toes curl. She’d been only sixteen when she’d kissed Uriel, but that single kiss had made a gigantic impact on her and had been the basis of comparison for all the other kisses she’d shared since. No one had come close.
When she’d confided in Darcy about it, her best friend had rolled her eyes and said that every girl remembered her first kiss and thought it was special. But Ellie truly believed that, for some reason, it was more than that for her. And she wanted to believe that Uriel had gotten caught up in the kiss as much as she had, before Darcy had made a mess of things. She couldn’t help but wonder how far things would have gone if Darcy hadn’t shown up. What if the two of them had been completely alone, with no one spying on them? Would he have been her first in more ways than one?
She drew in a deep breath, thinking that reading about Grant and Tamara was putting her into a romantic mood. She could actually feel the chemistry flowing between them, the surge of energy that would flow from Grant whenever he knew that Tamara was near. Even when they would stand across the room from each other and their gazes would meet, there was something there, a desire that went so deep that merely reading the passages left Ellie breathless.
She glanced around her bedroom, specifically at the clothes hanging in the closet. Aunt Mable’s clothes. She was supposed to start packing them up today, but since she had started reading this manuscript, she’d been so entranced she couldn’t think of doing anything other than finishing it. So she would. For however long it took. She hadn’t taken the time to read for pleasure in years, and if she wanted to take a few lazy days, then she deserved to do so.
With that decision made, she curled up in the chair and continued reading.
Chapter 6
The next morning, Uriel stepped out on the back porch with a cup of coffee in his hand, and glanced around. It would be another beautiful day, and he couldn’t help wondering if the fishing would be better today than it had been yesterday. In a few hours, he would grab his fishing rod and a cooler for his six-pack and find out.
He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket when it rang, and grimaced when he saw the caller was his mother. Apparently she did remember she had a son every once in a while. He was well aware she had her own life now, but was finding it annoying that she only called when she wanted him to do something.
He still couldn’t grasp how well he didn’t know her. His mother was a totally different person than the one he’d known growing up. The one who would carpool him and his friends to school and attend all those activities he had been involved in. The one who would lovingly tuck him into bed at night. The one he thought was not only a fantastic mother but a wonderful wife to his father. She had always seemed so happy. But both he and his father had discovered she had actually been very sad.
“Yes, Mom?”
“Uri, how are you, sweetheart?”
He leaned back against a rail. “I’m fine, Mom, and how are you?”
“Busy. I need a favor from you.”
Like there would be any other reason for your call. “What do you need?”
“I know this is short notice, but I need for you to escort Allison Hampton’s daughter, Charity, to that dinner and dance Saturday night to raise money for diabetes.”
Uriel figured that that must be the same function his father was avoiding this weekend. “Sorry to disappoint you, Mom, but I’m not in Charlotte. I’m out at the lake.” Not that he’d have taken snooty Charity Hampton anyway.
“Oh.”
He couldn’t help wondering if her mind was reliving any memories of how things used to be when she, his father and he would spend time at Cavanaugh Lake.
“Well, have fun at the lake,” she said, interrupting his thoughts. “I’ll talk with you again soon.”
Yes, when you need another favor, he thought before saying, “Goodbye, Mom.”
She clicked off the line before returning his goodbye.
He put his phone back in his pocket, thinking he would make sure he and his mother had a serious conversation, once he returned to Charlotte.
He took a sip of coffee and glanced over at the house next door—specifically at the upstairs bedroom window. Ellie was back, sitting at the window, reading. What in the world was she reading that was still holding her interest? Late yesterday evening after dinner, when he’d come outside to relax, she had been sitting in that chair by the window. And around two in the morning, when he hadn’t been able to sleep yet again, he had come outside. From the brightness of the light in the bedroom, he could make out her silhouette behind the drawn curtains, as she sat in that same chair. If she had come outside the house at all yesterday, he hadn’t been aware of it.
He checked his watch. He needed to go into Gatlinburg to grab a few supplies, and had volunteered to pick up whatever she needed for her month-long stay as well.
After drinking his coffee, he would head over next door for her list.
Ellie rubbed her hand over her face in frustration, not wanting to believe it. An unfinished manuscript!
Whoever had sent her aunt these pages to edit could possibly be somewhere working on it at this moment. But that wasn’t helping Ellie, who had gotten caught up in the couple’s passion as well as the love they were both trying to deny.
She wondered if she should call Smoky Mountain Community College and speak to Aphelia Singleton, a librarian who’d worked with her aunt for years. Maybe she would know of someone named Flame Elbam.
The more Ellie thought about it, she had a strong suspicion that Flame Elbam wasn’t really the person’s true name but a pseudonym. A pseudonym for a woman well-versed in lovemaking. Flame Elbam certainly had a vivid imagination, and Ellie was convinced the person had to be a sexual goddess.
Ellie had gotten pulled into Grant’s and Tamara’s sexual adventures, to the point where she had put the pages down last night only when she hadn’t been able to keep her eyes open any longer. And even after that, she had dreamed about all those sumptuous lovemaking scenes she had read. Her body had gotten unbearably hot, and she had awakened that morning infused with a need that had her wishing, of all things, that she’d had her own Grant.
To make matters worse, Uriel had been back outside, exercising again this morning. As inconspicuously as she could, she had watched him from the window and found herself emerged in all kind of fantasies. It didn’t take much to imagine her legs snugly wrapped around the width of his shoulders and her bare breasts coming into contact with the solid wall of his chest.
Unable to deal with further torment, she had forced her gaze away from his flat abs, deciding to let him finish his workout without being spied on. But that didn’t stop her from imagining how his sweaty body would feel on top of hers. At sixteen, she used to have visions of Uriel kissing her, and now she was envisioning a whole lot more than mere kisses.
She was halfway down the stairs, headed toward the kitchen, when she heard a knock at the door. She stopped and breathed in deeply. It was as if her thoughts had conjured up Uriel Lassiter.
As she made her way to the door, she couldn’t help wondering what he wanted.
After taking a deep breath and pasting a light smile to her lips, she opened the door. “Hello, Uri, what brings you over?”
Uriel figured it couldn’t be helped, when his gaze automatically moved from Ellie’s face and went straight to her outfit. One thing that hadn’t
changed over the years was her propensity for wearing those short shorts. They weren’t Daisy Dukes, but they were a close cousin. And she looked good in them. Hell, she looked better than good. Seeing her up close was a lot better than seeing her from a distance at the window. Although that nightgown was his favorite outfit on her so far, these shorts were a close second.
“Uri?”
His gaze moved back up to her face and he pulled in a steadying breath. “Yes?” He then watched as she took the tip of her tongue and traced it over her upper lip.
“Is there something you wanted?”
Slowly, he drew in a deep breath, thinking that was a loaded question if ever there was one. Here she stood at the door, looking like someone he would love to crawl back in bed with this morning, and she had the nerve to ask him a question like that?
Inwardly telling himself to get his libido under control, he said, “Today is Tuesday.”
When a dumbfounded look appeared on her face he said, “Remember, I told you I was going into town today. Do you have your list ready?”
“Oh, my gosh, I forgot,” she said, slapping the palm of her hand against her forehead. “I’ve been so busy—”
“Reading.”
Ellie inwardly gasped. “How do you know that?”
He shrugged. “I noticed. You’ve been sitting by the window a lot, and it looked like you were reading.”
She nodded, surprised that he had noticed her. Her aunt’s home was not in his usual line of vision, which meant he had deliberately looked up at the window.
“Yes, I’ve been reading,” she said. But she had no intention of telling him just what she’d been reading and how he had fit into her fantasies. “I decided to put off going through my aunt’s things for a while and enjoy a few lazy days.”
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