“Let me give you a lift to your friend’s house. I’ll even pick you up tomorrow if you want,” Morgan offered.
Gerald shook his head. “I’m going to drive the Honda.”
Morgan nodded and then looked at the floor as he spoke.
“Thea kissed me today. If things work out the way I hope, I may not be home tonight either.”
He made himself lift his gaze to his father’s face then, even though he feared what he would find there. Surprisingly, he watched his father smile and nod as if it were inevitable. Since being with her was all he could think about—in a way, Morgan guessed, it was.
“Well, good luck with that,” Gerald said. “Be good to Thea, son.”
“Thanks, and I will,” Morgan said, watching his father walk away, his step slower and more sluggish than he’d seen it be since he had come to Sedona.
*** *** ***
“It’s Friday night. Everyone eats out on Friday nights. You should be crowded,” Morgan said, looking at the nearly empty restaurant. “Where is everyone?”
Thea sighed and looked around her. Here was hard evidence that Tom was right in his projections. She wasn’t going to last much longer if something didn’t change soon.
“Times are tough. People stay home. If they do go out, it has to be the best expenditure of the week for them to justify spending the money,” Thea said with a resigned shrug.
“You need to offer a special for dinner. Do a different one every day. Pasta, salad, and a drink for one price,” Morgan told her, not really considering the fact that he was in short telling Thea how to run her business. It just seemed like a logical solution to how to fill the empty seats. “Tea and soda included. Beer is extra.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, this is not an Italian restaurant. I serve burgers, sandwiches, and fries,” Thea said dryly. “You’ve practically tried the entire menu in a single week of coming here. You should have it memorized by now.”
Morgan laughed. “I knew you had a sense of humor. That’s good because you’re going to need it. I think you should try offering a dinner special one night next week to see how it goes. What’s stopping you?”
“I don’t know. Having an Italian pasta chef maybe? I don’t think Pete sees himself stuffing manicotti for a living,” Thea told him. “He likes the grill.”
“I could do it,” Morgan said, sitting up straighter when she laughed at him. “I took lessons. I’m a fairly good cook.”
“You cook?” Thea asked, her disbelief evident in her tone. “I’ve seen you eat greasy fries with enough ketchup to drown in, and now you’re telling me you’re a gourmet.”
“I didn’t say gourmet,” Morgan denied. “I said I could cook. I make damn good spaghetti, and a ziti that my Dad begs me to fix. He’s putting on weight.”
“You’re pulling my leg,” Thea challenged.
“No. I am serious,” Morgan told her. “How many would I have to feed?”
“I don’t know. I guess we could plan for a hundred and be real positive thinkers,” she said, laughing sarcastically.
“You don’t have to even pay me during the trial,” Morgan said reasonably, his face creased in a sexy grin. “I’ll take it out in trade instead.”
Thea laughed. “In my thirties, that would have been a good bargain for you. In my fifties, I’m apt to get bored and fall asleep before you get your money’s worth.”
“I’ll take my chances. I want a down payment tonight, and the rest next Friday after you start selling burgers and sandwiches when the pasta runs out,” Morgan told her. “I have great instincts when it comes to making money. This is going to work.”
Thea sighed. Morgan’s idea was no worse than anything she’d thought of trying, she supposed. She could always donate the unsold food to the homeless shelter and write it off.
“Okay. We’ll try your pasta next Friday. What the hell,” Thea said, resigned to spending money on Morgan’s experiment that she couldn’t really afford to burn. At least if the restaurant went under, Thea could say she had tried everything.
She rose from the booth intending to go check on the other two tables. She’d already sent Amy home because business was so slow.
“Don’t forget my down payment tonight,” Morgan teased as she began to walk away.
Laughing, Thea walked back to the booth, stepped up on the edge and reached to kiss Morgan’s cheek. He automatically lifted his hand to her face and she kissed his palm as well.
It was the sweetest, nicest moment he’d ever experienced with a woman. Morgan suddenly understood his father so much more than he ever imagined he would.
“Okay,” he said, voice rough with an emotion he didn’t want to analyze. “You drive a hard bargain, Althea. That was the best kiss I’ve ever had. I’ll consider you paid in full tonight.”
Morgan’s tormented expression made her laugh.
“One thing you need to know about me, Morgan Reed,” Thea said, her breath a whisper along his jaw. “I pay my debts in full when they’re due. Come home with me and collect the whole amount.”
“Thea,” Morgan said on sigh as she straightened. “Are you sure?”
“No,” Thea said honestly, and then laughed at both of them and their flirting. “But if I’m alone I’m just going to cry myself to sleep. I’d rather not do that.”
“We won’t let that happen,” Morgan promised.
“Well, don’t set your hopes too high about my decision. I haven’t had sex with a man since I was your age,” Thea told him honestly, “but I hear it’s like riding a bike.”
“Thea,” Morgan honestly thought he was going to choke on her name.
Ten years. God have mercy. The woman hadn’t been loved in a decade. And he’d been sexually pressing her like some horny kid.
“You won’t be sorry about taking this chance with me.”
“Well, why would I be?” Thea asked lightly. “I’m sure you’ve practiced enough to help me over the rough spots. Now I need to go be the polite wait person. I’ll be right back.”
She walked off through the tables again, and Morgan’s gaze raptly followed her swinging hips as it had every other time he’d seen her. His attraction to her was so intense that it was hard not to believe other men hadn’t gotten as far as he had. He was having serious trouble believing what Thea had told him.
However, Morgan also thought it was probably true, given her resistance to a simple date. After all this time without being with anyone, Thea was practically a virgin and just as skittish as one about men.
The idea of dialing the attraction between them back down played through his mind, and Morgan found himself wondering if he could just gain access to her house, look around, and call that proof enough before he moved on.
Except there wasn’t any way around admitting that he had intentionally lit the damn match for the raging fire of need now burning inside both of them. He wanted Thea so much he ached.
Besides, after just one week of knowing her, and even without completing his investigation, Morgan no longer believed Althea Carmichael could ever be the kind of person who would take advantage of his father.
Which meant if he did end up being with Thea tonight, it would only be because he genuinely wanted her.
Morgan guessed he must have been staring hard because Thea’s gaze lifted to his from across the room. She smiled at him, a hundred secrets about her intentions and desires in the look she sent him. Morgan could swear he heard some sort of click inside himself like a key turning in a rusty lock.
Part of him thought briefly of fleeing, of walking out of the restaurant and out of Althea Carmichael’s life. It would keep things simple for him. He liked his life simple.
However, another part imagined himself easing inside Thea’s body, could quite clearly imagine her tortured groans of satisfaction while being initiated into lovemaking again after all this time. And he could hear Thea all the while begging “let me, let me” to kiss him again, because it still rang in his ears from this aftern
oon.
Who was he kidding? There wasn’t a man alive who wouldn’t trade places with him to have the chance he was getting.
The only place Morgan was going tonight was home with Althea Carmichael.
Chapter 8
Thea let them into the quiet dark of her house about nine-thirty. She had closed up at nine, knowing no one would come in that last hour anyway. They hadn’t had a run of evening customers since late spring.
“I need a shower to remove the restaurant smells, and to have some girl time for half an hour,” she told him. “I don’t have cable anymore, but there are some books and magazines in the living room.”
“I’ll be fine,” Morgan told her. “I could join you if you want—wash your back maybe?”
“Next time,” Thea said, smiling. “I’m nervous. I need to mentally prepare.”
“Okay,” Morgan said easily. “Let me give you something to think about while you’re getting wet.” It made him lightheaded to hear her laugh at his teasing.
He pulled her into his arms, kissed her softly, then a little more, until he was pressing his mouth to hers urgently. By the time he released her, Morgan was probably thinking of Thea more than she was of him.
Morgan looked at Thea’s face, the flush covering her, and her eyes closed to no more than slits. Well maybe not, Morgan conceded, running nervous hands up and down her arms. Her hands were flexing on his shirt like they had when he’d kissed her earlier and Thea looked like she was contemplating whether she absolutely needed the shower or not.
Whatever concerns Morgan had, there was no question in his mind at all about whether or not the woman wanted him.
“I can wait for you. I swear it. Conduct your ritual. No regrets tonight,” Morgan told her.
“Great. Just what I needed,” Thea said dryly, a full blush sweeping up to cover her face. “Ten years and I pick a man who can read my mind and see all my doubts. I think I’m going to go drown myself ”
“Now you have me worried, so a half hour is all you get. If you take any longer, I’m coming in after you,” Morgan warned.
“I’m not that much of a coward. I meant it when I said I wanted this,” Thea told him. She disappeared down a hallway and into a room.
Moments later, Morgan heard the shower running. A half hour wasn’t much time to look around, but she had practically invited him to do a little snooping.
Instead of sitting as Thea had suggested, Morgan prowled the living room, stopping to look at photos. There were pictures of Thea and a tall smiling man, his arm tucked around her possessively. This had to be the husband, he thought.
“You must have been quite the guy to hang on to her for so long,” Morgan said to the smiling man in the picture.
There was an assortment of other photos. There were her children who both looked like her, their spouses, and even some older people that Morgan thought were probably her parents since Thea favored them.
Again—and just like in his father’s situation, there were no visible signs of any excesses of money. There was nothing in this room but evidence of a hard-working person who lived an honest, full life.
Morgan concluded that the only indulgence—if you wanted to call it one—seemed to be the number of books which were scattered around. Some were slid into neat, orderly shelves. Others were stacked in piles. Some were bookmarked and dog-eared. Morgan found books on Egyptology, philosophy, metaphysics, and even Atlantis, he read with grin.
Pulling the Atlantis book from the stack, Morgan took it to the couch to flip through it. Maps were marked. Comments were written along the outside of columns. It amused him to see comments written in bright blue ink, making them very noticeable against the black and white text.
He turned the pages slowly, skipping the real content in favor of the more interesting dialog of the person who had studied it before him. He came across the word “bullshit” underlined twice by a passage, and it made Morgan laugh out loud to discover Thea was so opinionated about her reading. It was like discovering an intimate secret, more intimate than her finances, and one he doubted many knew.
Some thirty minutes later Thea emerged from her bedroom and headed back down the hall to Morgan. Peeking into the living room, she saw him contentedly reading a book. She had rushed drying her hair because her time was running short, but thought now she could have just taken her time given how engrossed he was.
Luckily she had found a silk nightgown and robe set in the back of a spare closet that hadn’t been cleaned out in years. Thea hadn’t worn either in so long that she was grateful they still fit, no matter how out of fashion they probably were. At least she hadn’t had to come out in her well-worn cotton pajamas. Wearing the gown and robe tonight actually gave her courage when she was having to dig pretty deeply inside herself to find some.
Regardless of her declaration to Morgan, Thea discovered she wasn’t really sure at all about what she was doing. Now that the moment of truth was even closer, she found she was actually terrified. Doubts moved through her mind like tumbleweeds rolling across the desert.
What if she couldn’t get aroused, she wondered? What if she discovered that she truly was as physically used up as she often feared? Thea hadn’t prepared sufficiently for sexual failure and that was a distinct possibility in her situation. Catching her in a weak but honest moment, Morgan had successfully seduced her with hope. Realistically though, there hadn’t been time to talk to her doctor or even a friend about what to expect or do if things went wrong.
Now the man who had insisted they weren’t finished yet was sitting on her couch, expecting her to make good on her brave words and promises to follow through.
Well whatever happened tonight, she wouldn’t leave Morgan hanging, Thea vowed. She’d make sure she pleased him in bed one way or another. But this event sure wasn’t turning out to be the easy, quick tangle in the sheets that Thea had secretly hoped her first time again would be when the urge hit. She wished now she’d given sex more than just a passing thought over the years, but it was a little late now to wish for anything but courage.
“Well, of all the books in here, I never would have thought you’d pick that one to read,” Thea said, making herself walk into the room. There was no sense putting it off any longer.
Morgan lifted his head from the Atlantis book, almost swallowing his tongue at the picture Thea made with her reddish brown hair falling damply over a green silk robe the same color as her eyes. He laughed at his huge reaction as much as seeing the author of his amusement in the flesh. The thought that the woman walking to him was going to be his to enjoy soon was still hard for Morgan to accept. It was a little like living out a dream.
“It wasn’t the book that I was reading,” he told her, smiling. “It was the running commentary in the margins that was far more entertaining.”
“They have some things right and others wrong,” Thea said archly, coming over and plucking the book from Morgan’s hand. She flipped to a page he hadn’t gotten to yet. “See this. It’s really the best part of the book. This sent me to the real authority on the subject. I just haven’t been able to get to the research yet. Angus got sick and I stopped—sorry.”
Appalled at what she was sharing with Morgan, Thea snapped the book closed.
“I guess it’s obvious that I’m not used to having—company like you,” she finished lamely.
Morgan leaned back and stretched an arm out behind her. “I don’t mind talking about the life you had before me, Thea. I would like to think that we can be friends about such things. I saw the pictures of you and your husband. It’s obvious you were happy with him. Many marriages don’t work that way. So you used to read and research, and then your husband got what? Sick? Hurt?”
“Stroke first,” Thea said softly, looking at a point across the room. “Then a couple years later, it was his heart.”
So much for romance Althea, she grumbled internally, chastising herself. Talking about your dead husband all night is not great foreplay with the new gu
y.
“It must have been challenging to run the restaurant alone,” Morgan said, running a hand down the back of her hair for reassurance when he saw how uncomfortable she was about the subject matter.
“I used to teach English at Coconino Community College in Flagstaff,” Thea said. “I didn’t know anything about the restaurant business when I took over. I’ve come a long way in ten years.”
“Yes, you have,” Morgan agreed. A teacher. She’d been a teacher. “So why did you keep the restaurant after your husband died?”
“People depended on it for jobs. Angus’s father died the year after he did. The restaurant was really Angus’s parents’ livelihood. Selling it wasn’t a good option for anyone but me. I’ve liked being a business woman. I’m just not great at it,” Thea said.
“How many people have you let go since you’ve been running it?” Morgan asked.
“None,” Thea protested, shocked at the question. “I made sure everyone kept their jobs.”
“Then trust me, Thea, you’re a damn good business woman,” Morgan said sincerely.
“That was sneaky,” she said, squeezing his knee. “I was ready to be offended by the question.”
“Yeah, I know I shouldn’t bait you, but it’s just so much fun to do,” Morgan said, cringing as her very strong fingers dug into his kneecap. “Ouch. That really hurts. I don’t really do the bondage pain thing, but if you think you’ll need it to get turned on, I can probably reciprocate after that knee squeeze.”
Morgan laughed as Thea pushed off him and tried to stand. He yanked her back down.
“If you turn your back on me with that silky robe outlining your swaying hips to perfection, I will not be held responsible for my adolescent reaction to the sight,” Morgan said, laughing, delighted when rapid color flooded her neck and face. “See, that’s why I’m here. You’re blushing because I gave you a sexy compliment, Thea. It turns me on like hell. Didn’t any man ever like your excellent ass before I came along?”
“I don’t know. If they did, they didn’t say so or look at me like—I . . .” Thea stopped, watching the amusement in Morgan’s gaze. “I’m sure you think I’m quite naïve.”
The Right Thing Page 7