Paris or Bust!: Romancing Roxanne?\Daddy Come Lately\Love Is in the Air (20 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

T
HE TALL
, gorgeous,
obnoxious
man hit the water. Kylie felt a surge of satisfaction that was quickly washed away by…remorse. She really shouldn’t have done it, but her other choice had been to kiss him and she couldn’t do that.

Wade surfaced. He tossed his hair and water out of his face, narrowing dark blue eyes on her.

Remorse turned into a nervous giggle. “Oops,” she said. “Sorry.”

Water dripped off his nose. “You are not.”

“You’re right.” Tension eased, she leaned over the edge. “Maybe you’ll stay out of my life now, and—”

He moved like lightning, grabbing her hand and tugging her in.

The water muffled her scream. The night had been cool, but the water that rushed over her was warm. Still, the shock of it held her immobile for one moment.

Long enough for Wade to haul her close. “Chicken,” he taunted when she sputtered and gasped for air. “Trying to scare me away with temper.” His hands tightened. “Guess what, Kylie? I don’t scare easily.”

His hands were creating this delicious and confusing state of chilled heat. His face was so close she could see the fading sunlight dancing in his eyes.

And the yearning in them.

Oh, God. He wanted her, she could see it. “Let me go, Wade.”

“I can’t.”

Fine. She’d simply get away from him on her own. But she’d lost her hat. Her shoes were weighing her down, and her arms were held at her sides by the man holding her close.

“Now.” He lowered his forehead to hers. “I meant what I said. You are amazing. And if Daisy had anything to do with that, then she’s amazing, too.”

She stared at him, in that usual state of confusion he always put her in with his proximity. Plus, he was holding her so effortlessly she had the most horrifying urge to nestle her face in his throat. “Let me go,” she said again, in a barely there whisper.

“Kylie…”

A light breeze rippled over their wet bodies as they drifted in the water in each other’s arms. Kylie was grateful for the fence around his yard. She couldn’t touch the bottom of the pool, but she knew Wade could as he danced them in a slow circle beneath the dusk sky. The sound of the water lapping against the edge was rhythmic, hypnotic. The feel of his warm strength lulling. She breathed him in, the faint scent of man and hunger, and when he drew her closer, she went.

She told herself it was because she felt chilled and he was so warm, but that was a big, fat lie. She went because she wanted to, and because in his arms some of the emptiness inside her started to dissipate. And when he kissed her, his mouth soulful, his tongue deep, any lingering emptiness vanished.

That was why, when he unhooked her overalls and pulled them off, that she let him. Let him strip her completely, and watched as her clothes drifted away in the water. A few bolts from her pocket sank to the bottom of the pool like stones.

Wade pulled off his shirt. Good Lord, he was beautiful, all hard angled planes and tough, sinewy muscle, with smooth, sleek, tanned wet skin. Oh yes, and he was hard everywhere, except the soft, crinkly patch of chest hair between his pecs, which she reached out and tangled her fingers in.

And tugged.

“Closer?” he murmured, and when she hummed her affirmative answer, he wrapped his arms around her tight—so tight she lost herself. When he kissed her this time, she kissed him back. His mouth was firm, demanding in a way that was so vintage Wade. The fist on her heart tightened. As always, and without a word, he commanded her the way no one else could.

Beneath his hands, her body came alive. There was no other way to describe it. She came to life, responding to his talented, greedy fingers and mouth in a way that might have scared her if he wasn’t right there with her, lost right alongside her.

The rest of his clothes fell away, too. She stared down at his erection and quivered at the sight. “Ridiculous,” she panted, even as she reached out and touched. “This is ridiculous.”

“You’re supposed to swoon at such a sight, not use words like
ridiculous.
”

She let out a half-hysterical laugh. “I meant the situation, not you. You…you’re…”

“Huge? Impressive?” he teased, his smile faded when she stroked him and looked up into his eyes.

“Perfect,” she whispered, and wrapped her legs around his waist. His hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs rasping her nipples, his most impressive hard-on nudging…

Then he wasn’t just nudging, he’d slid home with one full, oh-so-perfect thrust and she couldn’t remember what was ridiculous about the most sensual, erotic experience of her life. She had the tile at her back, the giving, warm water surrounding them, the darkening night upon them, and Wade deep inside her.

“Okay?” he asked, and when she could only stare at him, he let out a groaning laugh. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Yes,” she managed. “Very…yes. Wade?”

“Yeah?”

“Stop talking.”

“I can do that.” Then thankfully, finally, he began to move.

Later she would remember her hoarse cries, her soft whimpers and wordless demands. She’d remember how she sank her fingernails into his tight butt and made him go harder, faster, and later, much later, she would blush in the middle of whatever she was doing when she remembered.

But for right now, there was no later, there was nothing but this. He was so familiar, and yet a complete stranger. Every kiss, every taste, every touch felt new and thrilling, and just when she thought she would die if he ever stopped moving inside her, he said her name in a ragged, husky voice so filled with awe and longing, she was lost. Simply lost. She didn’t have a chance of holding back, even if she’d remembered to, and with a small cry and a trembling that rippled through her entire frame, she broke into a shattering climax. Vaguely she heard his guttural moan, felt him shudder in her arms right with her.

Reality returned slowly, in the same easy sloshing waves of the water lapping over them. They lay on the steps in the shallow end, breathing ragged, staring up at the now night sky. She wondered at the tight ache in her chest, and the delicious sensation between her thighs…and at the need to have him again.

Definitely, time to go home and lick her wounds. She sat up and remembered she was naked. She wondered at the flash of embarrassment, when a moment ago she hadn’t been able to get naked fast enough.

Wade sat up, too, and reached for her. “Regrets already?”

Yeah, she had regrets, but man oh man, did he look good. “Wade—”

“I should tell you,” he said, unusually solemn, snagging her wrist, looking right into her eyes. “I love you. I love you, and I have for some time.”

If she thought it’d been hard to breathe with his mouth on her while he’d been buried deep inside her, it was impossible now.

“Did you hear me?” he asked. “Should I say it again?”

“No! It’s…it’s just the sex talking.” She scrambled up the steps of the pool, weaving like a drunk on the deck. Still very naked. Dripping. Shocked.
He’d used the L-word!
“You can’t l-l—”

“Love you? Why not?”

“Because I can’t…do it back. My life…” She lifted her hands, and had to let out a laugh. “My life is crazy enough, I can’t take on one more per son—”

“I already told you, no one takes care of me but me.” Calmly, he retrieved her shirt, her overalls, then stepped out of the pool, too, standing there in all his leanly muscled—and nude!—glory, water pooling at his feet.

“Fine.” She snatched her clothes from him. “You take care of yourself, and I’ll take care of myself, and we’ll just forget this happened and—”

“And what?” All that glorious male specimen moved closer. Very close. Very unconcerned about the nudity. “We’ll go on our merry way and forget that we just rocked each other’s world?”

She shoved her legs into her wet overalls, which meant her foot got stuck halfway in and she had to hobble around or fall on her ass. Her bra was still floating in the pool so she skipped that, too, and shoved her arms into her still inside-out shirt.

“Kylie—”

“I am leaving now.”

“But—”

“Bye.”

She got all the way home before she realized she’d forgotten her boots, too.

K
YLIE WALKED
into her office the next morning and found her bra and panties, dry and neatly folded, on her desk. No note.

None required, she thought grimly, staring at the plain white, serviceable bra and panties as she sank to her chair. The sexiest, most intelligent and startlingly intuitive man on earth fancied himself in love with her.

Her own little miracle, that.

And her own nightmare.

“Good morning, honey.” Daisy, dressed in a pink suit with matching fingernails and toenails, and a little matching purse, smiled sweetly as she entered. As usual, every hair was in place, and she looked incredible.

A feat her daughter had never managed.

“Do you have a minute?” Daisy asked.

“No, actually, I—”

“Don’t ask her if she has a minute,” Lou scolded, coming in behind Daisy, looking just as spectacularly put together as her daughter, though her finger and toenails were cherry red. “She never has a minute.”

“Grandma—”

“Be quiet, and welcome to This Is Your Sucky Life.”

Kylie blinked. “What?”

Lou shut the door. “What happened last night?”

Kylie’s stomach dropped. “Nothing.”
Besides hot and wild sex in Wade’s pool.
“Why?”

“Because your bra and panties got here before you did.”

Kylie grabbed the underwear in question and shoved it in her drawer. “I…lost them.”

“At Wade’s house?” Daisy smiled kindly when Kylie frowned. “Should we have the birds and the bees talk again, honey? Because—”

“Mom!” Kylie scrubbed her hands over her face. “I remember the talk. Jeez!”

“So do you love him?”

“Love him? What are you talking about?” But she knew, God help her, she knew.

She had no idea what Wade saw in her, she was a tomboy who forgot to comb her hair half the time, she was grumpy and ornery, and she didn’t have a soft spot to her.

And yet he loved her.

A serious problem, because she didn’t know how she felt in return. And yet if this stomach-in-her-toes, heart-on-its-side, can’t-eat-can’t-sleep feeling meant she loved him back, she didn’t know how she could live through it.

“Sit down, dear, you’re looking pale.” Lou pushed her into a chair. “Here’s what’s wrong. One, you work too hard. Two, you don’t smile enough. Three, you have people who love you, and you snarl at them instead of loving them back. Four, you have the most gorgeous hunk on the entire planet mooning after you and it takes you six months to notice—”

“Grandma. What is this?”

“I told you, I’m giving you the quickie version of This Is Your Sucky Life.” She turned to Daisy. “Tell me the truth, she’s the mailman’s child, right? You adopted her. You didn’t really have this alien.”

Kylie groaned and covered her face.

“What your grandma is trying to say, is that it’s okay you made love with Wade,” Daisy said. “We know you love us, and we think maybe you love him, too. It’s okay to love people, Kylie. It’s okay to lean on someone once in a while—”

“Lean on someone?” Kylie started to laugh, then realized she was close to tears and bit her lip. “Mom, it’s just that I can’t handle someone else leaning on
me.
”

“Why I ought to take you over my knee!” Lou said. “Sure, you run the business. And sure you’re more mature than we are. And okay, yes, maybe you’re even smarter, but Kylie Ann Birmingham, this taking care of people crap goes both ways. Who makes sure you actually eat once in a while? Your mother. Who makes sure you actually laugh once in a while? Who makes sure you stop and smell the flowers? Me, thank you very much.”

Kylie opened her eyes and looked into the two pairs of baby blues watching her so anxiously despite the levity in her grandma’s voice. They cared. They cared deeply. Why had she ever doubted that? “Look, I—”

“Just say you’re sorry and that you’ve been an idiot,” Lou said. “Go on, say it.”

“Okay, maybe I’ve been a bit of an—”

“Idiot,” Grandma filled in helpfully.

“Idiot,” Kylie agreed, rolling her eyes.

“No doubt there,” her grandmother agreed. “A
complete
idiot. Now. Forget about us and go get your man.”

Go get her man. Yeah. Shocking, but she liked the sound of that. But first she turned to Daisy. “Mom. I love you. I know I don’t say it enough, but I really do.”

Daisy’s eyes filled.

“Yeah, yeah. Love, love, love.” Lou pushed Kylie toward the door. “You have a man to catch.”

“I love you, too, Grandma.”

Lou’s eyes filled, as well. “If you’re going to go soft now, you’re wasting it on the wrong person,” she said, her voice suspiciously wobbly, and shoved Kylie out of her own office.

Kylie smiled, her heart feeling…light. Then her own office door shut in her face, and just as it did, she heard her grandma say, “I love you, too, even if you are an alien.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

W
ADE WOKE UP ALONE
. He’d woken up alone a thousand mornings before, but this morning, for the first time ever, it didn’t feel right.

Kylie should have stayed. Should have been in his arms all night, blinking sleepy, sexy eyes at him. Then he’d have shown her what mornings were good for.

If he knew her, and he was quite certain he did, she’d ignore him today. She’d bury herself in work and pretend nothing was different.

When everything was different.

He walked from his office, braced, knowing he’d be facing a ten-foot brick wall when it came to Kylie, and dreading it. Damn it, if
he
could face his feelings for her, then she should have to do the same.

And she did have feelings. He didn’t care what she admitted out loud, he’d made love to her now, he’d seen how she looked at him, how she’d lost herself in his touch.

If nothing else, she wanted his body. Good news, but it wasn’t enough.

Walking through the maintenance hangar, he sighed heavily, disgusted with himself, because since when hadn’t lust been enough for
him?

Since now, apparently. Since Kylie.

And then he noticed, someone had opened up one of his planes. With a frown, he headed toward it and stepped onboard.

And nearly swallowed his tongue.

Kylie stood there…in a
dress.
And not any regular dress, either, but the knock-’em-dead, formfitting, flowery number from the photo shoot. Her hair had been styled, her lips glossed, and when she saw him, she…smiled.

She didn’t ignore him, didn’t snarl at him, she simply kept smiling.

“I’m…sorry,” he said, his voice a little hoarse. “I think I’ve entered the wrong plane.” He turned away, and she let out a little laugh.

“Wade…”

He turned back to her. “My God, Kylie, you look beautiful.”

“It’s the same dress because…” She laughed again. “Well, it’s the only one I have.” She held a file, and suddenly she shoved it at him. “Here.”

He realized she had music on, not her usual hard rock, but something soft and romantic. She had a cooler opened with sodas in it. And she had a look to her face…. If he didn’t know better he’d think she was trying to seduce him. “What’s this?” he said, opening the file.

Inhaling deeply, she clasped her fingers in front of her. “It’s a proposal.” She took a step closer, nearly tripped on her heels, swore roughly, then forced a smile. “For you.”

Watching this rough and tumble woman trying so hard to be soft and sexy made him want to both laugh and grab her. Grabbing her won out, and he reached for her, but she stepped back. “It’s a proposal,” she repeated. “For the very thing you’ve wanted.”

Blankly he stared down at the file, remembering only that he wanted her. But Kylie wouldn’t fit into this file.

“I’ve learned something about myself these past weeks,” she said quietly, her fingers turning white as she twisted them together. “I need people in my life. I need you in my life. And I’m ready to admit it out loud.”

Shocked, he stared at her. Was she saying what he hoped she was saying? “You…need me?”

“I need your expertise, I need your business savvy. I need you, the airport needs you. I’m just sorry it took me so long. So…” She drew another deep breath. “Will you buy into the airport as you’ve wanted? Will you become my business partner?”

When he didn’t answer, Kylie let out a slow breath. “Did you change your mind?”

“On what, Kylie?”

Why was he looking at her like that, she wondered, his eyes all dark and inscrutable? His mouth grim? His body language looking as if maybe he wanted to strangle her? “On…being my business partner.”

“Yes. Yes, actually, I did change my mind. I don’t want to be your business partner.”

What?
What?
How could he do this to her? Taking the last step between them, she stabbed his chest with her finger, hard. The sinewy strength of him didn’t give an inch, so she stabbed harder. “You’ve been after me all year for a piece of this place, and now, suddenly, when I’m the one asking, you don’t want a part of it?”

“Kylie—”

Oh, but she wasn’t done. She stabbed him again. “You wanted this. You said so—”

“Now,” he said, and grabbed Kylie. He settled his hands on her waist and whipped them both around so she was the one backed to the closed door. “We were discussing something very important.”

“No, I was discussing and you were rejecting.”

“Not rejecting. Negotiating.”

“What kind of negotiation is no, Wade?”

“I don’t want to be
just
your business partner,” he said, still holding on to her, still making her yearn and burn with just his hands and his eyes. “I want to be your husband.”

“You…” The air whooshed from her lungs. Her heart stopped. “Oh my God.”

“Yeah. So…Kylie Birmingham, will you marry me? For better or worse, through sickness and in health, through grumpy moods and business deals and meddling relations?”

Kylie opened her mouth, then shut it. Then opened it again. “You never said anything about marriage,” she managed to whisper through the terrible burning in her throat.

“I just did.”

“Yeah.” She cleared her throat, then lost her breath when Wade ran his hands up her body to cup her face.

“I love you,” he said quietly. “Does that help?”

It did, if the hope and joy and heart-thumping desire pumping through her meant anything. “I think so.” Suddenly feeling light and carefree, she slid her arms around his neck. “Know what?”

A small smile curved his mouth. “What, baby?”

“I love you back.”

His eyes softened, and so did his mouth as he gently, tenderly set it to hers. “So the answer is yes?”

She opened her mouth, but someone pounded on the door.

“Go away,” yelled Kylie.

“But that’s what I need to tell you, I have to leave early!”

At Daisy’s voice, Kylie rolled her gaze heavenward. “Mom, I’m a little busy, can’t you give me a few more minutes here?”

“Honey, I just found out I didn’t win the trip to Paris.”

Oh, damn.
“Mom, I’m really sorry,” she said through the door. “I know how much it meant to you, but—”

“Never mind, it doesn’t matter. That’s what I wanted to tell you, I just found a hell of a deal on a travel site on the Web. Your grandma and I are leaving today. Can we have two weeks off?”

Kylie looked into Wade’s laughing eyes. “You know what? Go for it.”

“We’ll wait until they get back to go on our honeymoon,” Wade whispered, and her heart soared.

“You’re taking me to Paris on our honeymoon?” she whispered back.

“Is there anywhere else?”

Laughing, Kylie leaned away from the door and hugged him. They were still hugging and kissing when the door opened behind them.

“Oh my,” Daisy said. “I’m sorry.”

“Mom, we’re getting married.”

“You’re…” Daisy looked faint. “Can you say that again?”

Kylie grinned, feeling a little faint herself. “We’re getting married.”

“You wouldn’t tease an old woman, right?”

“You’re not old, and I’m not teasing you.”

Daisy looked to Wade for confirmation, and he nodded. She hugged them both, sniffling loudly. “So you can take care of my baby while I’m gone,” she said to Wade.

Kylie shook her head. “Mom, I can take care of myself.”

“I’ll be glad to take care of her,” Wade said, squeezing Kylie gently.

The reporter was behind Daisy, with tears in her eyes. “That’s so beautiful.”

Kylie thought so, too. She looked at Wade. “You know, that all happened so fast…do you think you could ask me again? Just so I can hear it one more time?”

The reporter lifted the tape recorder. “Oh, no need! I got it all on tape. You can listen to it whenever you want. In fact, you can listen to it all the way to Paris.”