Falling for You (12 page)

With his head on the pillow beside hers, he watched her sleep. God, she was so beautiful! Cautiously, he lifted a hand and pulled a strand of hair away from her eyelashes, then tucked it into the mass of curls that surrounded her face.

In a moment, he’d wake her and they’d talk—but first he wanted to savor the sight of her in his bed a little longer.

Chance swore he’d closed his eyes for only a second, but when he opened them again, the gray light of dawn was seeping around the draperies. For an instant, he wondered if last night had been a dream; then a soft rump bumped into his hip.

“Aurora!” He bolted upright. She lay beside him, curled up in a cocoon of covers. Which explained why he was freezing from the blast of the air-conditioning vent. She’d stolen all the covers during the night.

“Aurora, wake up!” He jostled her shoulder as he fought for enough sheet to cover himself. When that failed, he scrambled from bed and began grabbing up clothes. He had to get her out of his apartment before his neighbors woke, for her sake as well as his own. He had his glasses, his briefs, and his shorts on before she finally stirred.

“Mmm.” Purring like a kitten, she sat up and lifted her arms above her head in a glorious stretch. Chance froze, struck by the sight of her body outlined by faint morning light. The bedspread and sheet had fallen away, leaving her naked from the waist up. Slowly, she lowered her arms and turned to smile at him over one bare shoulder. “Good morning.”

He managed to untie his tongue. “Good morning.”

“What time is it?” she mumbled as she fell back onto her pillow, her breasts laid beautifully before him.

He forced his gaze to the bedside clock and felt a measure of relief at the early hour. “Not quite five A.M.”

“In that case”—she held an arm toward him, smiling like a siren—“why don’t you come back to bed?”

His body leapt in eager response to the sensual invitation. He even took a step toward her before he caught himself. “No, I can’t.” Well, maybe just for a minute. No! He turned away and gathered her clothes. “We have to get you out of here before half the town wakes up and sees you leaving my apartment building.”

“Oh, that.” She sighed as he handed over her clothes.

“Yes, that,” he said as he took a seat beside her and combed his fingers through her mass of curls. “As much as I wish I could keep you here all day, we need to run damage control on your reputation.”

“All day in bed sounds like more fun.” She draped her arms over his shoulders. “Has anyone ever told you, you have a fabulous body?”

“I have a skinny body,” he corrected.

“Naw-uh. Fabulous.”

Unable to resist, he leaned forward to give her a quick kiss. Then returned for another more leisurely one. Closing his eyes, he gave himself up to a third, hoarding memories of her taste, her feel, the sound of her sighs. Only, why couldn’t all this be happening with Paige? Why couldn’t
they
have this sort of wild attraction for each other? Or better yet, why couldn’t he combine the two women? Take Paige’s social polish and reserve, and add it to Aurora’s passion for life?

Because the two qualities would mix like oil and water. Which was about how he and Aurora would mix in the long run.

With regret weighing heavy in his chest, he pulled back—a difficult task with her naked breasts rubbing against him. “We really do need to get you out of here. You know how small Galveston can be when it comes to gossip.”

“It’s not
that
small,” she protested.

“It is when your last name is Chancellor.”

“True. But when you’re one of the Bouchards, you learn not to care what people say.”

For a moment, he wondered how it would feel not to care. He’d always cared what people thought, because the bank depended on the confidence of its customers. Scandal was bad for business. And since the St. Claires were about to go into business, it would be bad for them, too.

“Aurora”—he cupped her face with the palm of his hand—“I don’t want people to talk about you because of last night. And they will if anyone sees you leaving my apartment at dawn.”

“You’re right.” Taking his hand, she kissed his palm. “And I don’t want anything to ruin last night.” Her gaze met his. “It was very special.”

Alarm bells went off in his head at her last words. The conversation he’d feared last night was barely a breath away. Consequence. Expectations. He stood abruptly and took a quick step back. “I’ll, um, just go get the paperwork out of the office while you dress.”

He escaped to the office, only to find the papers they’d compiled scattered over the floor. As he gathered them up, he tried not to think about the woman in his bedroom, the woman with whom he’d shared the most incredible sex of his life. She deserved a man who wanted more from her than fulfilling his fantasies. She deserved a man who had marriage on his mind.

He felt like a complete bastard as he tried to stuff the business plan back in the envelope. As for Paige, he refused to let his mind even go there, other than to send up a quick prayer of thanks that they hadn’t started dating yet, because then last night wouldn’t have been a mere lapse in restraint—it would have been a betrayal.

His frustration mounted when the papers wouldn’t fit into the envelope, even though he knew they’d fit last night. Still struggling with the envelope, he headed for the bedroom—only to collide with Aurora in the hall.

Cursing, he grabbed for papers as they fluttered to the floor. They landed helter-skelter at their feet.

“Sorry.” Aurora laughed while he failed to see the humor. This morning, his life seemed as jumbled as the papers lying between them.

“Great,” he complained with more resignation than heat as he knelt to gather the papers. “They’re completely out of order now.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll straighten them out when I get home.”

“Yeah, but you’ll never get all of them back into that envelope. How did we fit everything in there the first time?”

“It’s the box rule,” she said blithely, clearly a morning person while he couldn’t function on less than two cups of coffee.

“What box rule?” he asked.

“Haven’t you ever noticed that when you take something out of a box, it seems to grow? Like when you were a kid and you’d get a new toy. If you took it out of the box only to find out it was broken, you could never get it back in the box to return it to the store.” She wrinkled her nose in that sexy way that always scattered his brain cells. “I’m convinced things change shape the minute you take them out of the container they came in.”

“You’re probably right,” he said absently as he handed her the last of the papers.

“Will I see you later? At the bank?” she asked as they stood. Her shirt and shorts covered her decently, but it was a struggle not to picture her standing there in nothing but the neon-green bra and panties.

“Yes, of course.” He scrubbed his eyes and prayed for caffeine. “I’ll introduce you to Brian Jeffries, the senior VP over personal and commercial loans. He’ll assign you a loan officer, who will take care of you from there.”

“I still wish we were dealing with you.”

“Even if you were, it wouldn’t affect the outcome,” he explained as he walked her to the front door. “A loan this size has to be approved by a whole panel of people, not just here in Galveston, but at all the bank’s branches in the area. Once they’ve all reviewed the application, they’ll set up a teleconference, hash out their thoughts, and vote.”

“Oh,” she said in a small voice. “Do you think we’ll get approved?”

“I don’t know.” They stopped at the door, and he hated the thought of opening it for her, of watching her walk away. Now that the business plan was finished, they had no reason to see each other again. “We put together a solid proposal. The numbers look good, but your lack of prior business experience will count against you.”

“But you’ll put in a good word for us, right?” She placed a hand on his arm, her eyes earnest.

“Of course I will.” She looked so anxious, he wanted to take her in his arms and tell her everything would be all right.

They stood for a moment staring at each other. Finally, she smiled shyly. “Will you give me a kiss for luck?”

With his heart already cramping at the thought of saying goodbye, he gathered her in his arms and kissed her. He wished the kiss could go on forever, because he knew it would be their last.

His brief time with her had come to an end.

Regret tore at him as he forced himself to break the kiss. Forced himself to smile. “I’ll see you at the bank.”

She smiled back, in the way only Aurora could smile, as if a light glowed inside her.

“I’ll see you then.” She kissed her fingers then placed them against his cheek. He closed his eyes to savor the feel of her touch against his skin. When he opened them, she was gone—with only her faint floral scent lingering in the air.

~ ~ ~

The sun was just coloring the eastern sky as Rory drove home. With the canvas sides of the Jeep off, the chill morning breeze played with her hair as she joined Bonnie Raitt in singing “Something to Talk About.” She couldn’t remember the last time her heart had felt so light. The future stretched before her, filled with possibilities: a business to build, a new home, and Chance.

Pulling under the carport behind the cottage, she left the Jeep running while she finished the song. She wasn’t sure where she and Chance were headed, but at least they were finally headed somewhere.

“ ‘How about love, love, lo-o-ve?’ ”she sang, smiling as the music drew to an end.
Yes, how about love?
she wondered as she killed the engine. That would suit her just fine.

Quiet descended, reminding her of the early hour. She headed down the stone path through the damp grass of the backyard, hoping she could sneak inside and catch half an hour of sleep before Allison’s alarm went off.

The back door squeaked, making her cringe, so she turned her back to the room, easing the door shut.

“Rory!” Allison whispered directly behind her.

“Eek!” She nearly jumped out of her skin and landed facing her sister. Sadie let out a yip of welcome, poking Rory’s thigh with her front paws while her tail wagged.

“Shh!” Allison glanced toward their brother’s room and lowered her voice even more. “Where have you been? No, wait. Let’s get out of the kitchen before Adrian wakes up and starts with the twenty questions.” She all but dragged Rory into the bedroom they shared. “I’ve been frantic, trying to think what I’d tell him if he found out you didn’t come home last night, and that I didn’t know where you were. You know the house rules—always call if you aren’t coming home.”

Rory shuddered at the thought of sitting through one of Adrian’s lectures.

“So,” Alli said when they were safely behind their closed door. “Spill it.”

“I’ll tell you everything... later.” Rory flopped down on her twin bed by the window, delirious but exhausted.

“Oh, no, you’ll tell me now.” Alli sat beside her and Sadie followed suit, making the twin bed very crowded. “Do you know how worried I’ve been? I even called the police station to see if any wrecks had been reported.”

“You didn’t!” Rory sat up and gaped at her sister as guilt caught her off guard. Of course Allison would call the police—while she was sleeping off euphoria in Chance’s bed.

“You were with Oliver Chancellor, weren’t you?”

“Well, yeah,” she admitted, feeling like the world’s worst sister.

“Rory!” Alli scolded, albeit with less heat. “Why didn’t you call?”

“I... fell asleep.”

Alli gave her an exasperated look, then sighed. “So, you and Chance, eh?”

Rory nodded, and tried not to smile, but happiness filled her like a warm balloon.

“I guess I don’t have to ask how you feel about him.”

“Oh, Alli, he’s the most wonderful man in the world.” Rory hugged her sister. “He’s smart and kind and sweet. I love the way he’s always pushing up his glasses. And how he stacks the papers on his desk so neatly. I love his button-down shirts, even though he looks so incredibly sexy in running shorts. And how he’s so helpless in the kitchen. And how he makes my head spin when he looks at me. And
oh
, the way he kisses! I especially love that! I just love...
him
.” The enormity of it swelled inside her until she thought she would float right through the ceiling. Spreading her arms, she announced, “I love Oliver Chancellor!”

The words landed on Allison like salt on a wound that had never healed. She shouldn’t have been surprised, since her baby sister had been glowing for the past two weeks, but the thought of Rory suffering her own fate tore at her heart.

“So,” she asked, keeping her voice light. “How does he feel about you?” What hope she had that she was wrong died as she watched Rory sag.

“I don’t know.” Lowering her arms, Rory looked momentarily defeated before the glow returned. “But I do know we’re good together! We balance each other, Alli. Only, he doesn’t seem to see that. Plus, he has it in his head that he’s going to marry some debutante named Paige.” Rory wrinkled her nose.

“He’s engaged to someone else?” Alli tried to stay calm, but her maternal instincts wanted to tear Oliver Chancellor limb from limb.

“No!” Rory hastened to assure her, obviously seeing the murder in her eyes. “They’re not even dating. Can you believe that?”

“I think I missed something.”

“Actually, I think it’s Chance who’s missing it. Like I said, he prefers everything lined up and in order. I think, basically, he’s got it in that stubborn, overly organized head of his that Paige would be the perfect wife for him. So, when he deems the time is right, he’ll start dating her, ask her to marry him, they’ll buy a suitable house, and be the perfectly boring couple with two kids, a dog, and a cat.”