Some Like It Hot (33 page)

“I guess I didn’t turn up the heat enough,” Cat said quietly, looking into her wineglass. Disappointment etched in every word as she, Melody, and Lisa sat at a table in their favorite restaurant for lunch a few days later.

Lisa and Mel shared a look before Lisa said, grinning, “Oh, I think you did. Mel and I couldn’t help noticing when Rory came back that he was turned on as all get-out. That’s probably why he left the party so soon.”

Cat snapped her head up. “Are the two of you serious?” Hope was in her eyes and her voice.

“Yes, we’re serious, Cat, so I wouldn’t throw in the towel yet if I were you,” Mel said, taking a sip of her own wine. “If nothing else, you proved one thing. Rory is still attracted to you.”

“Yes, it definitely appeared that way,” Lisa tacked on.

Suddenly in a much better mood, Cat leaned back in her chair and smiled. That was definitely news she’d needed to hear. She had been down in the dumps since seeing him that night. “Now if I can get him to stay in my presence more than five minutes to let him know how I feel. The only way we can really repair our relationship is for us to spend time together. That’s the only way I can seek his forgiveness for what I did. I didn’t realize just how much I loved him until he wasn’t in my life anymore. It seemed like a part of me was missing. I’m sorry it took me almost a year to discover he’d been right all along and that the two of us were meant for each other.”

“So what are you going to do now?” Mel asked.

“Think of a way to get him off somewhere, without any interruptions.”

Lisa’s eyes lit mischievously. “I think I have an idea how you can accomplish that.”

“How?”

“Peyton and Rory have planned a fishing trip to the cabin this coming weekend. What if I come up with a reason for Peyton not to go, which means Rory will be there all alone?”

“Mmm,” Cat said thoughtfully, already liking the idea as numerous possibilities flowed through her mind. Then one she didn’t like suddenly popped up. “What if he asks his new girlfriend to go with him if Peyton backs out?”

Lisa pursed her lips, considering, and then spoke. “Her name is Shari, and a few weeks ago I asked Rory for her phone number, so I could invite her to do something with me that weekend since he would be away. That would give me the chance to get to know her.”

At Cat’s glare, Lisa quickly added, “That was before I knew you had come to your senses and wanted him back. Anyway, he said she would be out of town herself that weekend. In that case, I doubt she’ll be there.”

Cat felt better in knowing that. However if her plan worked, Rory would be faced with making a choice—her or Shari—and Cat was going to make sure she did everything to reconcile things between them. She had actually thought being a success was everything, but now she understood what Rory had tried to make her see. Success wouldn’t be there with her on those cold nights, nor was success something she could count on when she needed a friend to talk to. She could tell from their brief conversation that past weekend that Rory had his guard up with her and he would continue to keep it up. She had to try more than ever to breach it.

“Okay,” she said, looking at Lisa. “You come up with a reason to keep Peyton at home, and I’ll think of a way to make sure this weekend turns out to be one that Rory will remember for a long time.”

Mel held up her wineglass. “Here’s to getting your man back,” she toasted.

Cat laughed and raised her glass along with Mel and Lisa. “Getting Rory back,” they all chimed.

The Next Day

Peyton waited until he knew his wife had pulled out of the driveway and then called Rory on his cell phone. He smiled. “Hey man, just thought I’d give you a heads-up. Our women are cooking something behind our backs.”

Rory, who had been outside cutting his yard, leaned against his kitchen counter after taking a huge gulp of water straight from an icy cold bottle. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because Lisa convinced me not to go fishing with you this weekend,” he said smugly. “She wants me to go with her this weekend to visit her cousin in Atlanta.”

“And you’re giving up fishing for that?”

“Hey, man, what can I say? She put her persuasive skills to work, and before I knew it, I was agreeing to anything she wanted. You can call me weak—I don’t give a damn. However, I prefer to be called satisfied instead.”

Rory chuckled. “Okay, man, I get the picture.”

“You know this is a setup don’t you?” Peyton then said. “And how much do you want to bet that Cat is going to show up at the cabin now that I’m out of the picture.”

Desire raced through Rory’s body. He definitely liked the thought of hanging out with her alone at the cabin for an entire weekend. Yes, it sounded like a setup, and if it was, little did the woman he loved know that he had his own personal agenda. He planned to teach her a lesson that she wouldn’t forget.

Cat left work early on Friday to go home and pack, a chore she found easy, since she was taking as little clothing as possible. Although she knew that it would take more than seduction to bring Rory around, she believed when all else failed, hit a man right below the gut.

And she planned to hit hard.

The question of what his initial reaction would be upon seeing her at the door lingered in her mind. Would he get upset and close the door in her face, or would he pull her into his arms and kiss her? The thought of him doing the latter filled her with all kinds of anticipation. She could actually feel the hard demanding mouth on hers, tasting, promising, but more important, surrendering.

Cat’s entire body hummed at the thought, and she allowed herself to indulge further as images of those deep, chocolate brown eyes latching on her just moments before Rory picked her up in his arms to carry her off to the bedroom to make intense love to her. Adrenaline, excitement, love laced with lust flared within her stomach, and she knew if any of the scenarios she’d imagined took place, then this Shari would be old news.

An hour later, Cat was on the road, heading toward Georgia and a section of land near Blairsville that Peyton’s parents had given the couple as a wedding gift. The area was rich with prestigious horse farms, large country estates, riverfront homes, and breathtaking mountain views that opened not only your eyes, but also your soul. She would always remember the first time Rory had brought her here alone. They had cruised the back roads leading to the cabin, taking in the beauty of the mountains. And once they’d reached their destination and unpacked, they had taken in the splendor of each other when they had made love for the first time.

So for her and Rory, this would be coming full circle, going back to the place where their intimate life together had begun, and she hoped to mend the tear she had placed in their relationship. Based on the information Lisa had given her yesterday, if her calculations were right, Rory would reach their destination four hours before she did, and Cat hoped that Lisa’s claim that he would be alone was an accurate one. She didn’t want to think about her embarrassment if it wasn’t.

Scratch that. Wipe that thought out completely.

She refused to think of that possibility. Her hopes for this weekend were too high. For the past twelve months she’d been like a woman trapped underwater, and now that she was finally coming up for air, she planned to breathe in as much of it as she could. Already in the deep recesses of her mind, Rory’s manly scent was filling her nostrils, and she couldn’t help remembering that scent mingling with his taste whenever they kissed.

Sensations suddenly swamped her senses, and as she took the interstate that crossed the Alabama line into Georgia, everything faded from her mind, except thoughts of her and Rory spending time together.

Rory glanced down at his watch. It was almost six in the afternoon. He’d been at the cabin only a few hours and already he was champing at the bit, wondering when Cat would show up. What if Peyton’s assumptions were all wrong and she had no intention of coming? Hell, he didn’t want to think of that possibility, since he had spent the past two days thinking of an angle he could use that would really throw her for a loop.

According to Peyton, Lisa and Cat’s plan was for Cat to arrive, claiming there was some sort of a mix-up, since Lisa had given her the okay to use the cabin for that same weekend. And now since the two of them were stuck here together…Oh, well…

Rory snorted. Cat would get what she wanted, but on his terms, and she would have to be the one to prove that a future, and not just a temporary sexual fix, was what she really wanted.

His ears picked up the sound of a car pulling in outside. He swallowed, knowing the time to playact had arrived. He hated being deceitful, but then, there was a reason for this madness.

He had deliberately parked his SUV in the garage out back to make the story Cat would tell seem even more plausible. Thanks to Lisa, Cat had her own key and was supposed to walk into the cabin and act surprised to see him. He would play as dumbfounded as she while she explained there must have been a mix-up on cabin dates.

Yeah. Right.

He glanced around. The cabin looked cozy enough with the wood burning in the fireplace. He had unpacked and unloaded the food in the refrigerator. He had showered earlier and changed into another pair of jeans and a T-shirt. And now he waited for her to walk through the door. As he watched the doorknob slowly turn, he knew this weekend they would either get their act together or end things completely.

With her overnight bag in her hand, Cat slowly opened the door, and immediately her eyes connected with Rory’s, who was standing across the room next to a lit fireplace.

Silence stretched out for a moment as their gazes held. She closed the door behind her as she tried collecting herself to act surprised to see him, but at the moment the only thought that filled her mind was that he was there…alone with her. But still, she knew she had to become the actress she and Lisa had cooked up.

“So,” she tried to say calmly. “What are you doing here?” His eyes on her seemed hot and focused. Or was she just imagining things?

“I should ask you the same thing, Cat.”

His words barely registered, but the sound of his voice did. It was low, sexy, a total turn-on. And then there was that wonderful-looking mouth of his that could do so many naughty and wicked things to her. “Lisa,” she said softly.

He stared at her. “What about Lisa?”

Her lashes flickered as she held Rory’s gaze and hoped he’d buy what she was about to say, since she was not a very good liar. “She thought you and Peyton were canceling the fishing trip this weekend, and when I told her that I needed to get away and asked if I could use this place, she said it would be okay.”

Rory leaned back against the mantel. “Peyton backed out. I decided to come ahead alone. Evidently Lisa didn’t know that.”

“I guess not,” she said faintly, barely following their conversation. Her concentration was on Rory’s body. The tightness of his muscles looked good in the pair of close-fitting, sexy jeans he was wearing, which emphasized every physical line in his body, his every bulge. As usual, her pulse quickened in appreciation whenever she saw him in a pair of jeans. He looked so compelling, so handsome, and the magnetism radiating from him was so intense, she was losing her train of thought. It was only when she noticed his mouth move that she realized he’d said something.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” she asked.

He nodded. “You said the reason you asked Lisa about coming here was because you needed to get away. Why?”

Cat knew that now would be the perfect moment to level with him and tell him the truth. And although she believed that honesty was the best policy, this was one of those rare times she would have to make an exception to that rule. She had hurt Rory that night. She’d said things that she had later regretted. And now she was filled with uncertainty over whether the seduction she planned to orchestrate would work. Lisa and Mel were convinced that Rory still wanted her. But did he still love her?

“Cat?”

Hearing him call her name made her inhale a deep breath. She didn’t want to play games with him. She make a quick decision to come right out and tell him just what was bothering her and what a complete fool she’d been, and that she now wanted all those things he had wanted, all those things he had offered her a year ago: love, commitment, marriage, babies…

Dropping her bag by the door, she walked to the middle of the room to start speaking from her heart. “The reason I needed to get away, Rory, is because I’ve been torn and miserable since we broke up and—”

“I’ve been torn and miserable since we broke up, too,” he said, interrupting her words.

Hope flared within Cat. “You have?”

“Yes.” Rory discovered that holding a conversation with her wasn’t easy, especially since his gaze seemed glued to the soft material of her blouse and the short, short skirt that showed long gorgeous bare legs and hugged her curvy hips in all the right places. But then he doubted there were any wrong places anywhere on Cat.

And it didn’t take much to see that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Whether she had on panties was a mystery in itself. But it would stand to reason that if she had planned to seduce him, Cat would have dispensed with the small stuff. Her favorite way of getting it on was quick and hard, especially when she was in an extremely sexually hungry state.

And he could tell from the way she was looking at him, the way her gaze was traveling over him slowly, taking in every piece of his clothing and the body underneath, that she was intensely stimulated. If Peyton’s claim was true and she hadn’t been with anyone else since their breakup, then she was probably in one hell of an erotic dilemma. Cat was one hell of a highly charged sexual being. There were times he could make her come just from kissing her, and the look she had in her eyes was making his skin heat up. But he knew he had to slow things up a bit, to initiate his own plan and give her something to think about, to mull over…to set right.

He moved, crossing the room to come stand before her. “You were right, Cat, and although it took me awhile, I finally realized that everything you said that night was true. Marriage isn’t for everyone, and it wasn’t fair for me to push you into doing something you weren’t ready for. And from the way things have been going in my life, it seems that I really wasn’t ready for such a move either. I had only thought I wanted to marry you.”

Cat’s heart suddenly dropped down into her knees, and she had to hold herself up to stop from falling. “You only thought you wanted to marry me?”

“Yes. I saw what Mel, Colin, and Lisa and Peyton had, and assumed that I wanted it for myself. For us.”

“But you realized later that you didn’t?” she asked, the words forming a tight knot in her chest. A huge disappointment in her heart.

“Yes. And I agree with everything you said. Why mess up a good thing with a commitment? You and I were doing okay having an affair, and I should have left well enough alone. But no, I didn’t do that. I had this vision of us getting married, having babies, and living happily ever after. But there’s more to life than falling in love, isn’t there? And you made me see that.”

“I did?” she asked, not knowing what else to say.

“Yes,” he said, reaching out and taking her hands in his, stroking a palm with his thumb, sending pleasure radiating through her body. “I wanted to talk to you last week at Colin and Mel’s party, but couldn’t. The timing wasn’t right. But it looks like fate brought us together this weekend, and I want you to know how I feel, how I’ve been feeling. I want us to get back together, Cat, pick up where we left off a year ago.”

She took a deep breath and pulled her hands away from his and placed them in the pockets of her skirt. Things definitely weren’t going the way she had planned. He was using all the words she had spoken a year ago in anger, in fear of entrusting her life to a committed relationship, to end things between them.

“By picking up where we left off, you mean you want us to engage in another affair? One that has no promise of ever leading elsewhere?” she asked quietly.

He nodded, watching her closely. “Yes. That sort of relationship seems to work between us the best. We won’t date others like before, but then we won’t bring up certain words, like ‘love’ and ‘marriage,’ ever again. That way neither of us will feel pressured about anything. It will be just like you wanted. No strings attached and no expectations.”

He had hated lying to her, but those had been the words she had thrown in his face that night, the words that had caused him twelve months of heartache. And it would be up to her to set things right between them, and he hoped to God that she did so before the weekend was over. He didn’t want either of them to leave Sunday until they knew for sure that their future was dead set with each other and that it included love and marriage.

No strings attached and no expectations.
A part of Cat had heard Rory’s words and wanted to cry out that she might have wanted things that way then, but now she wanted love and marriage. A part of her felt angry, frustrated, caught in a trap of her own making. His offer of a loveless relationship was something she would have been glad to agree to last year, but now…

Suddenly remembering something, she tilted her head and gave him a pointed look. “What about your new girlfriend?”

“My new girlfriend?”

“Yes, her name was Shari or something.”

“We broke up last month.”

She stared at him. Confused. Lisa must not have known that. “You broke up with your girlfriend a month ago?”

“Yes.” Moments later he asked, “Are you seeing anyone?”

A part of her wanted to tell him that although he had sought out someone else after their breakup, she had not. But then she had to remember she was the one who’d decided that she no longer wanted him as part of her life. “No, I’m not seeing anyone.”

“Then is there any reason we can’t resume what we once had?”

For the moment Cat kept her expression noncommittal, thinking that yes, there was a reason. She loved him, and she now wanted those things he had wanted back then. But it seemed he had moved on. It would be hard to maintain the type of relationship he wanted, knowing what her feelings were. But then, she had gotten herself into this mess; it was up to her to get herself out of it.

She could either tell him that she’d been wrong and wanted more than what he was offering, or she could go along with him for now and formulate another plan to make him fall head over heels in love with her again, make him crave commitment and marriage.

Hoping she wasn’t making a mistake, she lowered her lashes and then slowly raised them provocatively, until she met his gaze and said, “It depends on what kind of weekend you want.”

They held each other’s eyes, and then he leaned over close and spoke in a low, sexy tone. His lips were just inches from hers. “How about an unforgettable one?”

“I think—” She made her decision and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her body was beginning to tingle, her nerve endings were sizzling, and her senses were reeling. “—that it will work.”

She then pulled his mouth to hers and began kissing him deeply.