She simply stared at him, unable to take in all his words yet. Her date. Today. And the next day and the next day and... Oh, my gosh.
A giggle started in her belly. Her subconscious must have figured it out before she did because she was already smiling at him. “That sounds pretty great.”
“Good. I’m glad that’s settled. Did you want to go back to Ned now?” He pointed, breeze lifting the curls off his forehead and, oh, my lord, he was the most gorgeous man in the entire world and she was madly in love with him and now she wouldn’t have to spend the rest of the wedding bleeding.
“You know, I think I can give Ned a pass. Now that I have a date and all.”
“Nice dress, by the way.” He moved in another step, grinning at her. “You’re pretty hot.”
“You like it?” She smoothed her hands down her waist and hips, following the lines of the dress, which pretty closely followed the lines of her body. “Would you be upset if something happened to it?”
He frowned, not quite understanding. “What...? I guess, yeah, sure. It’s beautiful.”
“Like, I don’t know, if it got torn somehow?” She tipped her head, sending him a look through her lashes.
“That would be too bad.” He narrowed his eyes, still unsure what she was getting at. “It’s a great dress.”
“Like maybe...” She put her hand on his arm, smiling peacefully as if they were chatting about the weather. “If you ripped it off me?”
“Ohhh, I see.” His voice was low and intimate, but he nodded emphatically, keeping up with her pretense of polite conversation. “I can’t wait to rip it off you, Melissa. I can’t wait to get my hands over every part of you.”
“Me, neither.” She threw back her head and laughed as if he’d just told her a super-duper-funny knock-knock joke. “I want to feel you touching me everywhere. I want you inside me until I’m screaming for mercy.”
“God, Melissa.” Jack dropped all pretense at the small talk. Maybe she’d just made it impossible for his brain to handle anything that complicated. She wasn’t sure she could last much longer, either. “How long until dinner starts?”
“Half an hour.” Melissa took his hand and pitched her voice up to social levels. “Have I ever told you about my antique doll collection, Jack? It’s up in my old room.”
“Why, there’s nothing I love more than antique dolls. My mother had quite the collection.” He squeezed her hand and bent closer as they walked. “Uh...in your father’s house?”
“Hey, it’s my bedroom.”
“I know, but it’s his house. You’re his little girl. Does he own guns?”
She smiled sweetly, brought his hand to her mouth for a kiss then guided it down slowly, letting it ride her curves on the way.
Jack sucked in a breath. “Okay, you convinced me.”
“Come on.” She pulled him into the house and they raced up the stairs, giggling like naughty teenagers. Melissa led him into her bedroom and closed the door as swiftly and as softly as she could. Everyone was outside. Guests were using either the downstairs bathroom or one of the portable toilets set up in the back. They’d be okay here.
“So this is little Melissa’s room.” Jack stood with his hands on his hips, peering at some pictures on the wall. “You were a beautiful little girl. Not that I’m surprised.”
“Thanks.” She reached to the back of her neck, took hold of the zipper and eased it down as quietly as possible, amused that they were alone in a bedroom about to have explosive makeup sex and he’d decided to look at pictures. He must be uncomfortable. Maybe she should tell him her father didn’t own guns, and his kitchen knives were appallingly dull. “That’s me at summer camp, with the horse.”
“Right.” He moved to the next frame. “This one?”
She got the zipper down, let the dress fall silently and stepped out of it. “That’s on our one big family trip, a cruise to Alaska.”
“Your mom is as beautiful as you are. And this one?”
Melissa stifled a giggle and eased her panties down. She was going to tease him about this someday. The man who would rather stare at photos than make love. But his nerves were giving her the time she needed. Her bra was off. Luckily she’d worn thigh-high stockings in case it was hot.
“This looks like—” He turned and froze, his finger still on the glass.
Melissa lifted her chin, let her body relax. Wearing only her stockings and rose-colored heels, which had been dyed to match the dress, she was grateful she hadn’t styled her hair in any fancy flower-strewn upsweep, because it would not survive what was to come.
Bring it on.
“This looks like what?” she asked sweetly.
“This looks like...naked.” His hand went into his jacket pocket—putting something in? She didn’t care because his fingers grabbed for his tie next. Seconds later, it flew over the back of the chair next to the bed.
His jacket did the same.
Shirt.
Trousers.
Underpants.
Shoes and socks were flung off, and then she was held against his gorgeous, naked body and wrapping her arms around him, her heart finally allowing itself to realize that this was Melissa and Jack together, that it was going to be this way not just now, but for...well, who knew. Maybe Jack would panic again tomorrow. But he was worth that risk.
She hoped.
Oh, God, what if...
No, no fear. Jack had made a big stride toward her, and she would meet him there. The future would turn out the way it would.
“Melissa.” His arms were around her, hands stroking her, and—
Ouch. Her body jerked. “Something scratched me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“What was that?” She twisted to look behind her, touched the sore spot tentatively. No blood. They wouldn’t have to worry about bandages. “Are you wearing a ring or something?”
“Oh.” He looked startled, then his face cleared. “As a matter of fact, yes.”
“Really?” She looked at him in surprise. “I’ve never seen you wear one.”
His eyebrows went up; he seemed horribly nervous. “I don’t usually.”
“Oh.” Why was he acting so strangely? Had she misinterpreted something he’d said? Was he panicking already? Regretting coming to the wedding? Or being up here with her? “What is it, like a class ring?”
“No. It’s yours.”
Melissa laughed uncertainly. She only owned one ring, which had belonged to her grandmother, and that was back at her apartment. “What do you mean?”
“It’s your ring, Melissa.” He pulled his hand out from behind her. On the end of his pinky something sparkled. “A promise ring.”
“Jack.” She stared at him while he slipped it on her ring finger, right hand. His eyes were dark and serious, his skin golden. The ring would be lovely, but nothing could hold a candle to this man and how he made her feel.
“Do you like it?”
She dragged her gaze down. It was beautiful, two tiny hearts linked together, one with a sapphire in its center, one with a garnet. “Jack, this is so amazing, so unexpected.”
“You’ll wear it?”
Melissa’s gaze shot back up to his. “Oh, yes. Of course. Yes.”
He kissed her, over and over, and she clung to him, trying to take in the huge twist her life had taken in the past few minutes.
“I’m not ready for an engagement yet, Melissa. But there will be no one else in my life from now on. You can even call me your b...bo...boy—” he worked his mouth, comically “—boy... Uh, you can call me the b-word.”
Melissa burst out laughing. This man gave her so much joy. He was willing to do this for her, to put his fear aside, and she’d done the same to be with him.
“Jack, I would love to have you as my b-word. In return, I will give you whatever space you need when you need it, because you will need it from time to time, and so will I.”
He took her hands and pressed them to his wonderful mouth. “And
I will make sure we continue to have the most outrageously fabulous sex either of us has ever had in our lives.”
“Ooh.” She giggled. “Starting now?”
“Absolutely.” He got up and kissed her, moved them back toward the bed.
“Melissa? Are you up there?”
Dad. Jack and Melissa exploded apart and grabbed for their clothes.
“Yes, we’re here,” Melissa shouted. “I’m showing Jack my old room.”
“I’ll just bet you are.” Gretchen, laughter in her voice.
“We’re ready to serve dinner and need the bridal party assembled,” her dad called.
“Sure! Yes. Okay! Be right down!” She had her dressed zipped a few seconds later and yanked open the door. “Coming!”
“Wait.” Jack, still only half-dressed, caught her and drew her to him. “I forgot to tell you something.”
Melissa glanced nervously down the hall toward the stairs, tense and agitated. She didn’t want to do anything to ruin what had been a perfect wedding. “What’s that?”
“I love you.”
Her body relaxed into total bliss. She couldn’t believe she’d heard those wonderful words from his mouth. Or that she was about to whisper them back, without the slightest glimmer of panic. “I love you, too, Jack.”
She put her arms around him and kissed him until they both started pressing into each other in ways that would soon have them back in the little room with the door locked and to heck with—
The wedding!
She broke the kiss. “We need to go.”
“Okay.” He kissed her again, hands traveling down to her bottom, pressing it firmly toward him. “But later I want to do everything we didn’t get to do just now. And then more.”
“That is a very good plan.” She moved her hips against him, teasing and being teased. “How about we start out in your bed?”
“Then how about the living room?”
“And on the kitchen table?”
“As long as we end up in the studio. I’m thinking of a new series, sensual man-woman stuff.” He kissed her, drew his tongue leisurely across her bottom lip. “Maybe you’d like to be my model? And best friend and partner and lover...stretching into the distant future?”
“I’d like that very much.” She pulled away just far enough that she could gaze into his gorgeous brown eyes, the ones that had always seen her so clearly. “It took me a while to realize, but in fact, Jack, that’s what I’ve always wanted.”
* * * * *
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1
SOMEONE ONCE SAID that the course of true love never did run smooth. As Mimi Burdette watched two of her good friends sway together in a romantic dance, however, she had to disagree. Because the true love between this couple had been obvious to everyone who knew them, almost from the moment they’d met.
“They look like a prince and princess,” murmured Anna, her neighbor, friend, landlady and tonight’s hostess.
“Considering the setting, maybe a fairy king and queen.”
She wasn’t kidding. The woods surrounding the backyard of the old plantation house just outside of Athens had been turned into a mythical forest. As dusk fell and a thousand twinkle lights began to gleam in the night, everyone at the engagement party slowed to appreciate the beauty all around them.
A trio of musicians softly strummed their instruments, the lyrical notes riding a warm, summer breeze. The Spanish moss hanging from the live oaks gleamed silver under the evening dew and the firefly-soft lighting. Magnolias the size of dinner plates dotted the trees, looking like a thousand full moons, filling the air with their evocative scent. Lanterns hung from the lowest branches of the graceful pines, and the arches of a dozen arbors were draped with writhing, sweet-smelling jasmine and heavily laden grapevines.
Okay, the vines and fruit were fake. But what an effect!
“You really outdid yourself,” Mimi said to Anna, who stood watching the proceedings, wearing a smile.
The older woman, dressed as always in colorful, flowing robes, merely shrugged. “Setting the stage for romance is easy when the people involved are meant for each other like Duke and Lyssa.” She chuckled. “Of course, it didn’t hurt that I’m helping with the costumes and props for the downtown theater group’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
With her filmy, billowing clothes, and her long ash-gray hair, loose and wavy and entwined with flowers, Anna looked more like a hippie than a retiree. So maybe it wasn’t so surprising that she could take a normal backyard, ringed by normal Georgia woods, and turn it into something out of a storybook.
“Anyway, it was just a few lights, some fabric—easy.”
“Maybe for you, but other than advertising, the creative wiring was left out of my genetic code. To me, this looks like pure sorcery and magic.”
The soon-to-be bride and groom deserved a magical wedding. They were wonderful people, and she already missed having them as neighbors. They’d already moved into their new house, but until a week ago, had lived right across the hall from her own first-floor apartment in this grand old estate home.
Anna and her husband, Ralph—dubbed Obi-Wan because of his love for all things Star Wars and his sage, all-knowing demeanor—had bought the place decades ago and raised their family here. Once the kids were gone, they’d divided the three-story mansion into six small apartments, figuring the rental income would keep them nicely provided for in their retirement.
With the unit across from Mimi’s vacant, and another unrented one on the second floor, the big house was feeling empty. Plus, Anna and Obi-Wan’s volatile marriage was on the rocks again. Obi-Wan’s one fault was his jealous streak. He was always accusing other men of being after his wife. His latest accusation had angered Anna enough that she had moved into one of the vacant units to teach him a lesson.
In this economy, three rentals not bringing in any money was not a good thing. She had to wonder where Anna had come up with the funds to throw this engagement party for her former tenants. Mimi had offered to help pay—she could certainly afford it and would have loved to help—but Anna’s pride wouldn’t allow her to accept. The most she would allow was the use of Mimi’s nice discount on much of the food.
Sometimes it really paid to be the daughter of the owner of a chain of grocery stores. Not to mention being the head of marketing for said grocery store chain, with an express ticket to the executive offices of her family’s business.
Some people wondered why she lived here, in a small apartment in an old house, when she could afford to buy her own home, or sponge off her parents at their estate. But Mimi loved this place, loved the history of it. More importantly, she loved the sense of community she found here, where she was free to be herself and didn’t have to wear the socialite hat, or the business executive one. She could just be Mimi.
“Oh,” Anna said, snapping her fingers as she remembered something. “You’re goi
ng to have new neighbors. My daughter, Helen, and her little boy are moving from Atlanta next weekend, taking the vacant unit on two. And I rented the apartment across from yours today.”
“Really? That’s wonderful,” Mimi said, surprised.
“I invited the new tenant to come tonight, but he didn’t want to intrude—he moved in this afternoon.”
“You must be so glad,” she said, relieved to know one financial burden had been lifted from her landlords’ shoulders. She doubted they’d take rent money from their daughter, who had gone through a bad divorce last year.
“One B is a real hottie,” Anna said, her eyebrows waggling.
“There are more important things than hotness.”
Definitely more important. She’d been involved with superhot guys in the past and had the psychological burn scars to prove it. The last supersexy, relied-only-on-his-looks guy she’d dated had ended up “borrowing” her credit card and buying a matching pair of his-and-her motorcycles.
That had been bad. Worse? Mimi hadn’t been the her.
No way was she stepping close to the flames again. Now when she looked at a man, she was more interested in steadiness, self-confidence and brains. If those things came in nice-looking packages, okay, but looks alone just didn’t cut it.
Fortunately, it was possible to have all of the above. She only had to look across the crowded party at her own golden-haired escort to see that.
Dimitri was perfect. He was everything she’d been telling herself she needed, and was nothing like the men who’d hurt her in the past. He’d also been hand-picked for her by her own father, who was notoriously hard to please. Normally, that would be a bad thing; she didn’t like doing what was expected of her, and knew her father to be a bully. But considering her bad luck with romance, and her efforts to improve her relationship with her dad—who stood firmly in the path of her going where she wanted to go professionally, i.e., right into his office once he retired—it seemed like a smart move.
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