The Late Bloomer's Road to Love

by Marie Ferrarella

  She could feel Wyatt staring at her. “I just want to make sure he’s breathing,” she explained, taking a step closer into the bedroom.

  She narrowed her eyes, focusing on her father’s chest. Seeing it rise and fall evenly, she breathed a small sigh of relief.

  And then, very slowly, she withdrew, closing the door behind her.

  “Now are you satisfied?” Wyatt asked her, prepared to hear yet another objection.

  “You probably think I’m being neurotic,” Rachel guessed. She supposed she couldn’t have really blamed him if he did. But he hadn’t experienced what she had, she thought defensively. He hadn’t found his parent lying on the floor after having a heart attack.

  Besides, he and his mother had a more combative relationship. Wyatt probably didn’t think in the same terms as she did.

  “That’s not exactly the word I’d use,” Wyatt told her. “But I do think you’re going to wind up making yourself crazy.”

  Because she cared what Wyatt thought, Rachel tried to make him understand her motivation. “I just didn’t want to take a chance on something happening to my father while I was out having a good time,” Rachel told him. “I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself then.”

  “Rachel, you are a great daughter. A wonderful daughter,” Wyatt corrected with feeling. “But that man—” he jerked his thumb toward her father’s closed bedroom door “—is going to outlive you if you keep this up. You don’t want to leave him alone, do you?”

  Wyatt figured that, if anything, that might get to her enough to make her change a little.

  “Well, if you put it that way...” Rachel’s voice trailed off.

  “I do,” he answered assertively.

  Rachel sighed. She supposed he had a point. “Okay, I’ll try harder not to care.”

  “You can care all you want, Rachel. Just don’t worry yourself into a frazzle,” he told her. “I, for one, like you un-frazzled.”

  Somehow, standing there in the hallway like that, there suddenly hardly seemed to be any distance at all between them.

  For one very sizzling moment, she thought Wyatt was going to kiss her. But then she was aware of his suddenly stepping back.

  Taking a breath to steady his pulse, Wyatt told her, “If you point me toward where I’m supposed to sleep, I’ll get out of your hair.”

  “Of course.” She turned on her heel, walking down the hallway.

  It was on the tip of her tongue to say that she didn’t really mind having him in her hair, didn’t really want him calling it an evening yet. But that would be tantamount to throwing herself at him. And what if he didn’t feel like catching her? How would she recover from that?

  How could she even face him after that?

  No, it was better this way, keeping the lines from crossing, she counseled herself.

  “There’s another bedroom right here in the corner,” she told him.

  Reaching it, she opened the door, allowing him to look in. “It’s kind of small,” she apologized. “It used to be my mother’s sewing room, but after she died, my father had someone come in and totally remodel it. It hurt him too much to look at it the way she had left it,” she explained.

  “Your father’s a lucky man,” Wyatt commented.

  “How do you figure?” she asked, bewildered. She felt that losing the love of his life made her father the exact opposite of lucky.

  He thought back to what she had told him about her parents. “To have had a love like that in his life even for a little while. There are men and women who go their entire lives and never experience anything that comes close to the kind of love your parents had. I guarantee that they would trade their souls to have that even for a little while.”

  She liked what Wyatt said, and she felt that he did have a point.

  Rachel nodded. “When you put it that way, I guess my dad was lucky.” But even so, a sadness swept over her. “It’s just too bad he couldn’t have been lucky for longer.”

  Wyatt looked at her for a long moment, his eyes saying things to her that he hadn’t said out loud yet. “I guess you have to grab your happiness when you can. Whenever it shows up,” he added, his voice growing even quieter.

  It wasn’t exactly clear which of them made the first move, or if they just came together simultaneously in response to some inner, instinctive longing. But one moment it seemed that they were discussing her father and how lucky he had been to have found her mother the way he had, and the next moment they were in each other’s arms, recreating the chemistry they had already managed to experience that very first time.

  The moment their lips touched, the powerful explosion came. It meant that the first time hadn’t just been a happy accident. What they had felt had been real.

  Not only that, but it seemed to only get better, growing in intensity by the nanosecond.

  His heart hammering hard, threatening to crack his rib cage, Wyatt drew back for a moment.

  Rachel felt almost a frightening loss until she heard him saying, “If you want me to stop, you’re going to have to tell me.”

  He didn’t want the desire that was swelling within him to cause him to do something she really did not want.

  Hearing Wyatt say that only excited her even more. He was being noble and putting her needs ahead of his own. She could feel every fiber of her body responding.

  It was so close to his now, there wasn’t even room for so much as a whisper between them. Winding her arms around his neck, Rachel stood up on her toes and pressed herself against him.

  “What makes you think I would even want you to,” she asked in a husky voice.

  The low, throaty sound excited Wyatt more than he could have ever imagined.

  He gave himself in to the feeling.

  His lips began to travel over the length of her, subtly arousing Rachel until she suddenly found herself way passed the point of no return.

  Entwined, they fell against the bed that had yet to be christened.

  Excitement swiftly rose to a hot, boiling point, reminding her body that it had been more than two whole, long years since she had experienced anything even remotely like this.

  The next moment, encased in a fever pitch, she realized that she had never experienced anything even close to this. Without question, Elliott had never made her feel like this.

  Wyatt made every inch of her body sing and ache as the desire she was experiencing continued to rise to overwhelming heights.

  With swift, almost graceful movements, Wyatt removed her clothing, casting each garment aside and out of his way one at a time.

  Once the clothing was gone, he was free to feast on her tempting, nude body.

  With careful, precise movements, Wyatt was able to prime it to the point that she felt that any second now, she would wind up exploding all on her own.

  He showed her no mercy.

  Delighting in her body, Wyatt left a trail of hot, demanding kisses all along her quivering skin.

  Rachel bit her lower lip to keep from moaning, absorbing every wonderful nuance that was vibrating over her damp body.

  She couldn’t just remain this passive receiver, a little voice in her head insisted. She needed to take an aggressive part in what was happening to her right at this moment.

  With effort, she wove her fingers through Wyatt’s remaining clothing, pulling the different pieces from his body until he was as naked as she was.

  Her body was all but burning as she pressed her flesh against his, her tongue branding him, leaving a hot, moist trail along his chest and upper torso. She worked her way down along his body, going ever lower when she suddenly felt his hands on her shoulders.

  In one smooth movement, Wyatt had switched their positions. His body was looming over hers as he continued to forge and build on the initial trail that had been laid.

  His lips brushed along her qu
ivering navel, his tongue anointing her as his warm breath caressed her with a growing passion that all but made her cry out his name just as the first explosion hit, responding to the carefully placed flicks of his tongue at her most sensitive point.

  The next moment his lips and tongue were recreating more explosions within her body, causing her to twist and moan in desperate longing as she used her body to cleave ever closer to him.

  She felt Wyatt moving his way upward now, felt his breath on her face when he finally stopped and loomed over her.

  Threading his fingers through hers, Wyatt looked into her eyes for one long moment before he began the final leg of their journey.

  And then, entering her, Wyatt felt Rachel move her hips against his.

  The dance began in earnest.

  The initial pace was slow, growing more and more intense and urgent until they were suddenly racing up the summit, their ultimate goal the very peak of that mountain.

  They were both desperate for the final release.

  Desperate to experience that final, delicious explosion together, wrapped in each other’s arms.

  And then it happened, the exquisite finale that had them clinging to one another as if their very lives depended on it. They found themselves secretly praying that this wondrous sensation would never come to an end.

  And then, panting, spent, their hearts hammering in what felt like an almost rhythmic echo of one another, they were encased in a euphoria that was nothing short of fantastic.

  A euphoria that slowly faded into the ether even while it was still simultaneously vibrating and humming all through their bodies.

  Spent, Wyatt sighed contentedly.

  Rolling off her, he gathered Rachel into his arms and held her against him, savoring what had just transpired between them.

  He waited for his heart to stop pounding so hard, and when he could finally catch his breath, he pressed a kiss against her forehead.

  He couldn’t even begin to put into words just how good that felt.

  “Well, I didn’t see that coming,” he whispered, his breath curling around her cheek.

  “That,” Rachel admitted, “makes two of us.” She drew herself up on her elbow for a moment, her eyes shining. “I love surprises. Don’t you?”

  “I do now,” he admitted. As his breathing began to level off, he stroked her hair, thinking how very lucky he was to have found her.

  If he hadn’t asked her out...

  But he had, he thought, and now he was the richer for it.

  It was his turn to prop himself up on his elbow and look down into her face. Was it his imagination, or did she just grow more beautiful every time he looked at her?

  His heart swelled. He had never felt happier, and from where he was, it promised only to get better.

  A wicked smile curved his lips. “Would you like to go again?” he asked seductively.

  Wyatt felt her laugh against him, her delight spreading a warm, infectious web all around him.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” she said, surrendering herself to the feeling and to Wyatt.

  The night only grew better from there.

  Chapter Twenty

  It was an amazing six weeks, each day filled to capacity from beginning to end. The days seemed to be filled with easy laughter, and the nights—with lovemaking that raised her happiness to astonishing, breathtaking levels—made her eagerly look forward to the next.

  Rachel didn’t know that she could feel this wonderful for this long.

  It seemed as if she was virtually walking on air. Or at the very least, five inches off the ground.

  Not only that, but she found herself wanting to sing—all the time.

  Heaven knew it had never been nearly this wonderful when she had fallen for Elliott. Although she had thought that had been her first experience with love, what she had felt was not even remotely close to what was happening to her now.

  She also discovered that she didn’t get nearly as tired any more. She slept in small snatches and felt refreshed enough when she woke up to be able to go on. Rachel even managed to catch up with her online classes without her face suddenly communing with her keyboard.

  There was no way to predict how long this euphoric state was going to last. After all, all good things had to come to an end and this definitely came under the heading of a “good thing.”

  A very good thing, Rachel amended as she moved around the yet unopened restaurant, cheerfully taking care of all the last-minute details needed in order to achieve a good day.

  When their paths crossed, Johanna was so taken with the incredibly cheerful young woman that she stopped walking.

  “Well, you certainly seem like you’re sitting on top of the world,” Johanna commented. “Does it have anything to do with a certain blond, broad-shouldered hunk—or am I not supposed to ask? I wouldn’t want to get my head bitten off, especially not less than two months before the holidays. I just got a new dress for Christmas and it really would look a little strange if I was headless.”

  A wide smile curved Rachel’s mouth. “Just so you know, I’ve given up biting off heads for the foreseeable future.”

  “So this new delightful version of you is due to the hunky Wyatt Watson?” Johanna asked, aware that there was a time not all that long ago that she would have been pushing the limit of Rachel’s patience.

  To her surprise, the assistant manager heard Rachel actually admit, “Yes, it is.”

  Rather than say anything, a delighted Johanna threw her arms around the young woman she had known for most of the latter’s life.

  “I cannot tell you how happy that makes me.” She lowered her voice slightly to say, “That Elliott character just wasn’t worth any of your precious time. I am ever so thrilled that this young man came along when he did—for both your father’s sake and for yours.”

  Rachel’s eyes crinkled as she laughed. “I kind of gathered that.”

  “Okay—” Johanna looked into Rachel’s eyes “—so what’s next?”

  “I’m just planning on enjoying this one step at a time, Johanna,” Rachel told her.

  Johanna looked rather surprised. “And that’s it?”

  “That’s it,” Rachel echoed. “I learned my lesson the last time. Making plans is highly overrated. Just because you make them doesn’t mean they’re going to stick, and I now know that those plans can very easily just fall through.”

  Johanna nodded. “Yes—if you’re making those plans involving a rat or a snake. Not a fairy-tale prince,” the woman said with a dreamy expression on her face.

  “Don’t get carried away, Johanna,” Rachel warned as she pulled out yet another inventory list to go over when she got the chance today.

  “I’m not—although I’d say that your father has that department covered,” Johanna confessed, her words managing to thoroughly confuse Rachel.

  Rachel folded the list in half, putting it temporarily in her back pocket as she stared at Johanna. “Come again?”

  A mysterious smile descended on the woman’s expressive face. Drawing a little closer, Johanna dropped her voice as she asked, “Can you keep a secret?”

  Rachel’s answer was an honest one. “If I have to,” she responded.

  Johanna drew even closer to the young woman. For a second, it seemed as if she was going to whisper into Rachel’s ear. But rather than say anything at all, Johanna held up her left hand for Rachel’s perusal.

  It took Rachel several seconds to realize that her father’s friend and main confidante for so many years was displaying a small, tasteful diamond ring worn on the appropriate finger.

  Rachel’s eyes grew huge. It was all she could do to keep back a gasp. “You and my father?” she asked incredulously.

  “Well, it wasn’t Rumpelstiltskin,” Johanna told her with a laugh.

  Rachel could hardly
believe that it had finally happened. She had been hoping that the two people she cared about would get together for years now. Admittedly, Rachel had been aware that her father and Johanna cared for one another for a very long time, but she had given up thinking that anything would come of it.

  Tears rose to her eyes, threatening to spill out as she threw her arms around the woman. “I think this is just wonderful!” she cried, delighted. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I thought I should leave that to your father, but you know what he’s like with communication. If he can’t yell or grumble, it usually goes unsaid,” Johanna confided.

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “Don’t I know it. Well, I am beyond thrilled and you’re perfect for him. You’re the only one who can put up with him without giving in to the urge to strangle the man.”

  Johanna winked. “Want to know a secret? I’ve learned how to contain my emotions,” she confided with a laugh. “And your father’s a very good man. He’s worth a few antacid tablets I’ve had to swallow.”

  And then, just as suddenly, the sparkle vanished from Johanna’s eyes as she stared over Rachel’s shoulder. The expression that came over her face sent a chill down Rachel’s spine.

  “Johanna, what’s wrong?” Rachel heard herself asking, almost afraid of the answer.

  When the woman didn’t say anything, Rachel turned around to see just what it was that had changed her expression like that.

  When she saw what—or who—it was, her heart all but stopped.

  Why?

  The question echoed in her mind as she saw the man who was walking toward her.

  “Hello, Rachel. You’re even more beautiful than I remember.”

  Elliott.

  What was he doing here?

  Why was he here?

  Rachel heard the words and couldn’t believe that Elliott was actually saying them to her—or had the nerve to say them at all.

  She saw Johanna fade back. For better or worse, the woman was letting her handle this on her own.

  Rachel squared her shoulders. “What are you doing here, Elliott?” Her voice was cold, distant.