Dream of Me: A Sweet Contemporary Romance

by Delaney Cameron

  “I hate to put you to all this trouble,” she replied as another shiver ran through her.

  Richard led the way down a narrow hallway to a bedroom. “It’s no trouble. I’ll be right back.”

  A quick glance told Aubrey this wasn’t his room and she relaxed.

  He returned carrying a black terry cloth robe. “Here you go. The bathroom is through that door behind you. Take as long as you need. I’m going to make you something hot to drink.”

  Aubrey was surprised by the thoughtfulness displayed by someone she knew from experience to be somewhat self-serving. “Thank you, Richard.”

  “I can be nice enough when I want to.”

  “Let’s don’t get started on that,” she said firmly.

  He grinned as he walked to the door. “Bring out your wet things, and I’ll throw them in the dryer.”

  Aubrey slipped out of her clothes and into the robe Richard provided. It hung past her fingers and dragged the ground when she walked, but she didn’t care. She was warm again. Her hair was another story. The small comb she found in one of the drawers wouldn’t begin to do the job. The best she could do at this point was stop the dripping.

  She tracked Richard down in the kitchen, her clothes rolled into a ball. “If you’ll show me where the dryer is, I’ll take care of these.”

  Looking up from pouring coffee into cups, he pointed to a pair of folding doors just beyond the pantry. “Right through there.”

  When she returned, he eyed her comedic appearance with amusement. “Feel better?”

  “Much better,” she assured him.

  “Now you can sit on the furniture.”

  Aubrey settled on one end of the couch and tucked her feet underneath her.

  “Seriously, what were you doing outside?” he asked as he handed her an oversized mug.

  “The sun was shining when I left. I wish the storm would move on. I need to get back; they’ll be wondering where I am.”

  “They will? Has Paul returned? I must be behind on the gossip.”

  “No, my sister arrived yesterday.”

  “Is she pretty like you?”

  “Does it matter? She’s one of those blondes you find so overrated.”

  “Did I really say that?” he asked with a wry grin.

  “Yes, along with a bunch of other things I should have ignored.”

  He reached into his pocket and removed his cell phone. “Excuse me for a few minutes, Aubrey. I’ve been waiting on this call.” She heard his exclamation of pleasure and then a subsequent lowering of his voice as he strolled out of the room. Rolling her eyes, she picked up a magazine from the coffee table. He’d probably be a while.

  Aubrey was half way through an article about the history of Tybee Island when someone knocked on the front door. Richard still hadn’t returned. She went to peer through the blinds, her eyes widening with dismay when they fell on Corbin standing on the doorstep. Even with an umbrella, he was soaked, but it was his expression that made her swallow quickly.

  Before she could decide what to do, he pounded on the door again. With trembling fingers, she opened the door, her face mirroring a mixture of fear and guilt. Corbin’s eyes swept over her robe-clad figure with a look that brought the color surging into her pale cheeks.

  “Didn’t you think Phoebe and I might worry when you disappeared from the house and didn’t return?” His glance moved over her again. “Of course you didn’t. You had more important things on your mind. It wouldn’t have taken but a few seconds to tell me your plans, and it would have saved me a wasted morning looking for you.”

  Before she could utter a word in reply, he was gone. She was still standing at the door watching his taillights disappear in the swirling rain when Richard returned.

  “Aubrey, what are you doing? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  She smiled wanly, thinking a ghost would have been preferable. “I need to check on my clothes.”

  In a daze of jumbled emotions, she opened the dryer and felt her clothes. They were slightly damp, but dry enough for her purpose. Remembering the contempt in Corbin’s face when he saw what she was wearing, she hurried down the hall into the guest room. She had to get out of Richard’s robe.

  As she dressed, a flame of resentment began to build inside her. All she was guilty of was leaving the house without telling anyone. She wasn’t answerable to Corbin or anyone else for how she chose to spend her time. As for finding her with Richard, it was obvious what interpretation he put on her being there. He hadn’t even given her a chance to explain.

  Aubrey rejoined Richard with a demeanor that successfully hid her agitation. Luckily, the conversation didn’t require any response from her. She nodded from time to time, not really listening to the woes of dealing with seasonal renters. All she could hear was the quiet disgust in Corbin’s voice. Who was he to judge her?

  When Richard decided it was safe to venture outside, she rose with conflicting feelings. On the one hand, she was impatient to be gone. On the other, she dreaded the inevitable meeting with Corbin. She said nothing as Richard drove carefully through the drizzling rain, maneuvering around tree limbs and other debris lying on the road.

  His deep voice broke into her thoughts. “Here you are, delivered safe and sound.”

  “Thanks, Richard, for coming to my rescue.”

  He stretched his arm along the back of the seat, just touching her shoulder. “I hope this goes a little way toward making up for the other rainy afternoon that ended so disastrously.”

  ‘We should forget that other one. Neither of us handled that well.”

  “You mean I didn’t handle it well, don’t you? I don’t recall you doing anything you need to feel badly about.”

  “It takes two people to have a disagreement. I better get inside; it looks like the rain might start up again. Goodbye.”

  Aubrey got out of the car, taking her time on the slippery pavement before letting herself into the darkened foyer. The silence in the house was somehow eerie. Shaking off such fanciful thoughts, she went straight to her room, relieved by Corbin’s apparent absence. She slipped off her shoes and meandered into the bathroom. A shower was what she needed.

  For the moment, everything was forgotten as she allowed the hot water to run over her. It was as if she was washing away all the problems of the last few days. Wrapped in a short toweling robe, Aubrey moved toward the mirror.

  Had she looked like this when she opened the door to Corbin? Maybe there was some justification for his reaction. Turning away quickly, she walked into the bedroom. Something made her glance toward the door. She couldn’t suppress a scream when her eyes caught the tall figure standing just inside the room.

  “What are you doing in here?” she asked in a breathless voice.

  “I knocked, but no one answered. Does that sound familiar?” Corbin asked softly.

  She pulled the robe together more tightly. “I didn’t think anyone was home.”

  “Don’t you mean you didn’t want anyone to be home?”

  “No, I didn’t mean that. Do you mind if we continue this conversation downstairs? I’d like to get dressed.”

  “This won’t take long.”

  The words, quite innocent sounding on their own, had the opposite effect on Aubrey. “Where’s Phoebe?”

  The man watching her so intently smiled faintly. “Feel the need for reinforcements?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I just wondered where she went.”

  “She met a friend in town.”

  “I didn’t realize she knew anyone here.” Aubrey knew she was babbling, but couldn’t stop herself.

  Corbin ignored this tame topic. “Things must have worked out better with Richard this time around.”

  There was a wealth of insinuation in his voice, and Aubrey felt her anger of earlier return in full force. “Do you always assume the worst of every situation? I took a walk and got caught in the storm. The porch I took shelter under happened to be attached to Richard’s house.”


  His eyes, which had never moved from her, seemed to blaze with some inner emotion. “Who knew a storm could produce such results?”

  “The storm produced nothing,” she countered angrily.

  Corbin laughed. “Women are strange creatures – the worse a man treats them, the better they like it.”

  Aubrey’s face paled. “I think you should leave; those kinds of comments aren’t getting us anywhere.”

  Instead of going, he advanced toward her. Aubrey found she couldn’t look away from that mesmerizing stare. “All these denials are a bit much, don’t you think? You were wearing his robe.”

  “And in your mind, there’s only one explanation for that, isn’t there? Well, think what you like. I’m tired of trying to explain something that’s none of your business.”

  He twisted a tendril of damp hair around his finger. “You didn’t wait very long to sacrifice your romantic ideas. Have you given up on love already?”

  How could Corbin talk to her this way? What had she done to deserve such insults? Something inside Aubrey snapped. A second before Corbin realized her intention, she slapped him. In the silence that followed, gray eyes stared horrified into blue ones. Then she shocked both of them by lightly touching the reddening spot on his face with the tips of her fingers. Her eyes filled with tears, and Corbin’s lips twisted into a dry smile.

  “What have I done?” she asked in a husky whisper.

  He gently drew her hand away. “Nothing that wasn’t deserved.”

  “That’s not the point,” she said on a sob, her body trembling with reaction. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”

  “Well, you can take it from me; you pack quite a punch for such a small thing.”

  “Please don’t say that. I feel bad enough already. Your poor face; it’s so red.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” He moved away from her. When he reached the door, he looked back over his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Aubrey. I had no right to speak to you like that.”

  As she watched the door close behind him, Aubrey sank back onto the bed and covered her face with her hands. How had everything become so complicated?

  Chapter Six

  The sound of a door closing woke Aubrey from a deep, dreamless sleep. As she stared at the ceiling, her initial feeling of well-being was quickly swamped by the memory of what had passed between her and Corbin. His behavior in her bedroom was out of character, so much so that she wondered if she’d imagined it. He acted as if she’d hurt him personally, but that didn’t make sense. He could only be upset by her involvement with Richard if he had feelings for her, and she knew that wasn’t the case.

  With a gesture of impatience, Aubrey threw off the covers. Too many words and too much emotion had been wasted on a situation that didn’t even exist. She switched on the light, wondering if Phoebe had returned. Either way, she needed to get downstairs and start thinking about dinner. On the way, she looked in Phoebe’s room, noting the unmade bed and the contents of several suitcases scattered over every available surface. Stepping inside, she automatically began tidying the room, picking clothes off the floor, and bringing order to the chaos of perfume bottles and assorted make-up littering the dressing table.

  “Thanks for picking up my mess; as you can see I’m still hopeless at this sort of thing.”

  Aubrey caught her sister’s reflection in the mirror. The short white dress highlighted her gorgeous tan and long legs. Setting the last bottle in place, she turned away from the mirror revealing their contrasting images so vividly.

  “Who in the world do you know on Tybee besides Corbin?”

  Phoebe dropped gracefully into a chair and slid off high-heeled sandals.

  “Do you remember Phillip? He’s a photographer. We dated for a while in college, but things never got serious. He lives in New York, but was raised in Savannah. He called me a few weeks ago to tell me he was going to be here. When I told him I was coming to see my sister, he naturally wanted us to get together.”

  “Where did you go?” Aubrey came over to sit on the bed opposite Phoebe.

  “We met at his parents’ house. They live in the middle of the historic district in this lovely, old house. You would have loved it. The weather kept us indoors, but we did manage to eat lunch at a restaurant on the riverfront; the crab legs were out of this world. I invited him to come over tomorrow. Will it be a problem for you to fix lunch for all of us?”

  “No, but why do I need to meet him? You’re not matchmaking again, are you? Because if so, I’m not interested.”

  “How can you say that? You haven’t even met him.”

  Aubrey had a sudden thought. “Have you mentioned your plans to Corbin?”

  “I told him when I came in.”

  So he was somewhere around. “I need to get dinner started. I didn’t eat lunch, and I’m starved.”

  Aubrey closed the door of Phoebe’s room and leaned against it heavily. Her heart was thumping like a wild thing in her chest. Why was she suddenly so nervous?

  Once in the kitchen, she tried to ignore the unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. After preparing dough for pizza, she set it aside to rise and disappeared into the pantry. Grabbing a can of tomato sauce, she muttered to herself, “I know I bought onions and peppers. Oh, here they are. I wonder if Corbin likes mushrooms on pizza. Well, he can just like what he gets.”

  “Don’t worry; he will.”

  Aubrey whirled around quickly. “I wish you would make more noise when you walk,” she mumbled irritably. “You’re always taking me…,” her words came to an abrupt halt as she stared into Corbin’s beautiful eyes. Suddenly all the puzzling thoughts and unexplained feelings fell into place. The shock of it almost made her laugh out loud. Only she would discover she’d fallen in love in such strange circumstances!

  “I’m always taking you where?”

  Aubrey gave herself a mental shake. In a moment, she’d be babbling out her newly discovered feelings to the last man who would appreciate them. “You’re always taking me by surprise.”

  “Like what happened earlier in your room?”

  “I think the least said about that the better.” Hoping this damping reply would send him on his way, she was annoyed to find him right behind her as she left the pantry and proceeded to chop vegetables.

  “I agree, and if you want to leave because of what happened, I understand.”

  She never raised her eyes from the cutting board. She didn’t want to leave – she wanted to stay with him forever. “If you want me to go, just say so.”

  “It would be difficult to break in someone new at this point.”

  “It sounds like I’m staying.”

  Aubrey retrieved the dough, which had risen nicely and was ready to knead. As she stretched the pliable material to fit the round baking pan, she hoped she was doing the right thing. Corbin had offered her a chance to leave. Knowing her altered feelings, maybe she should reconsider her decision to stay.

  Phoebe strolled in just as Aubrey was placing the pizza in the oven. “What’s going on in here?”

  “Aubrey is fixing dinner, and I’m trying to stay out of her way.” Corbin looked her over with a grin. “How do you always manage to look so good?”

  Phoebe laughed. “I wonder how Aubrey manages to keep her head around you.”

  “Because she ignores most of what I say.”

  “Well, Phillip is coming tomorrow; we’ll see how well she ignores him.”

  “Oh, Phoebe, don’t start that again. It’s so unnecessary,” Aubrey managed to get in.

  “Phillip will have to stand in line. Aubrey already found someone.”

  Phoebe’s eyes widened. “Really? Who? I want all the details.”

  Aubrey glared at the unrepentant man opposite her. “There are no details because there’s no such man. I wish the two of you would find something else to talk about.” She flounced out of the kitchen.

  Corbin found her in his office slamming papers around on her desk. He
watched her in silence for a few minutes, the curl of his lips making her long to hit him. After one fulminating glance, she turned her back on him and walked over to the window.

  “Why are you so upset?” he asked softly, coming up behind her.

  She turned to face him. “Do you realize what you’ve started? Now I’ll have Phoebe after me for the rest of this visit with hundreds of questions about this nonexistent man.”

  “Nonexistent? Have you forgotten who you spent most of the day with?”

  Her eyes darkened. “I told you why I was there.”

  “I know; the perfectly-timed storm. What amazes me is that you could feel comfortable with someone who’d already shown his true colors.”

  “I didn’t have much choice at the time. It was either go inside his house or get struck by lightning.”

  “I know which one I would have chosen,” he replied dryly.

  Aubrey threw her hands into the air. “Why are we still talking about this? I’m trying to move past today, and you won’t let me.”

  Corbin’s lips twitched. “You’re really something when you get worked up.”

  “Are you finished? I’d like to check on the pizza.”

  He stepped aside and waved a hand toward the door. “Go on; I’m not stopping you.”

  * * * *

  Aubrey watched the couple stroll further away from the house. It was a perfect night for a walk with the full moon bathing the sky in a romantic glow. Corbin had invited her to join him and Phoebe, but she refused. Her mind was in turmoil; the last twenty-four hours had been mentally exhausting. She needed time to regroup and find a way out of this mess. Discovering she loved Corbin was turning out to be anything but a blissful experience.

  The next morning she was in the kitchen making coffee just as the sun was peeping over the ocean. As she poured cereal and milk into a bowl, she went over in her mind the menu she planned to make for lunch. She might dislike Phoebe inviting men over to meet her, but it did have the benefit of keeping her from dwelling on what happened yesterday. After taking her empty bowl to the sink, she disappeared into the pantry to check her supplies. Corbin was leaning against the counter, a cup of coffee in his hand, when she returned.