Touch of Heaven (24 page)

Warrick stopped and turned, his jaw flexing as he gazed down at her. “Believe it or not, Angela, I wasn't trying to hurt you. I think you're a smart, accomplished woman, and any man would be lucky to have you. But it won't be me.”

Her chin quivered. “I was playing hard to get!” she burst out desperately. “That's why we haven't been on a real date, Warrick. Not because I couldn't make time for you in my busy schedule, for God's sake. It's because I didn't want you to think I was too easy. I thought you wanted a challenge. A woman who wouldn't sleep with you right away, like all the others. But if you want—”

“I don't,” Warrick said almost gently. “And it has nothing to do with you. Take care of yourself, Angela.”

With that he turned and walked away, heading back to Raina, hoping that what had been an incredibly perfect evening could be salvaged, though somehow he knew better.

S
everal hours later, Warrick stood at the window in his study nursing a cold beer and gazing out at the moonlit grounds of his estate. By the crack of dawn tomorrow, employees from a local rental company would arrive to begin setting up carnival rides and inflatable games, and Sonny and his catering staff would commandeer the kitchen, snarling at anyone who dared to enter. By midafternoon the south lawn would be overrun with hundreds of laughing, frolicking children with paint smeared over their faces and their fingers sticky from cotton candy as they raced from one amusement to another.

It was going to be a long day.

But the thoughts dominating Warrick's mind that night had nothing to do with tomorrow's Fourth of July party. Even if he'd been in charge of the preparations—which he wasn't—it wouldn't have mattered.

For the second night in a row, sleep had eluded him. And there was only one reason why.

Raina.

Just as he'd feared, the remainder of the evening had been a bust.
Although the orchestra had been pitch perfect and he and Raina had had the best seats in the house, nothing could have undone the damage caused by Angela Harvey's outburst at the restaurant. Raina had been withdrawn for the rest of the night, and when they'd returned to the house, she'd retreated to her room as if she couldn't get away from him fast enough.

If Warrick could have strangled Angela and gotten away with it, he would have.

Rousing himself from his grim musings, he turned and started back toward his desk, where he'd been designing schematics for a new pipeline project in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

When a movement across the room caught his eye, he glanced up.

And froze.

Raina stood in the doorway, and for the life of him he couldn't fathom why his heart thumped violently at the sight of her. He wished he could blame it on being startled by her sudden appearance, but he knew better. The woman had been wreaking havoc on his nervous system for the past five days. Why should this time be any different?

Lifting his beer to his mouth, he gave her a once-over. While he had only removed his suit jacket and tie in the hours since they'd been back, Raina had changed for bed, though Warrick couldn't tell what she wore beneath the long silk robe that was belted tightly at her waist, teasing his imagination. With her hair scooped into a loose ponytail and her face scrubbed clean of makeup, she looked fresh and wholesome, and as young as Angela had assumed she was.

As Raina stood across the room watching him with a silent, brooding expression, Warrick wondered how long she'd been there. More to the point,
why
was she there?

“Are you lost?” he murmured.

She shook her head. “I came downstairs to get a glass of water, and I saw your light on.”

Warrick gazed at her. “Couldn't sleep?”

“No.”

“Neither could I.”

Their eyes held for a long moment.

“I'm testing a theory,” Raina said softly.

“A theory?”

She nodded. “If I don't go to bed mad at you, then maybe I can actually get some sleep.”

“I see.” His mouth twitched. “And how do you intend to get over being mad at me?”

She shrugged. “I suppose by talking to you until I'm not mad anymore.”

“Ah.” Warrick swallowed a smile, ridiculously pleased by the simple proposition. “Makes sense.”

Raina just looked at him.

Smothering a soft chuckle, he walked over to his desk and sat down. When he glanced up again she was still standing in the doorway.

He raised an amused brow at her. “Are you waiting for an invitation?”

“Are you extending one?”

“Yes, Raina,” he said with exaggerated patience. “Please come in.”

He watched as she wandered slowly into the room, glancing around casually. “You sure do like mahogany,” she murmured.

“Is that a criticism?”

“No, just an observation. And a compliment. You have excellent taste.”

She said it matter-of-factly, without inflection, as if she were a bored queen bestowing favor upon a loyal subject. If Warrick had still been standing, he would have bowed in grateful submission.

“What're you working on?” Raina asked, approaching his desk.

“Work stuff.”

“I can see that. What kind of work stuff?”

When he told her about the Lake Charles project, she gave him a bemused smile. “But you're the CEO, with an army of engineers and project managers at your disposal. Why would you have such a hands-on role in the designing of a pipeline?”

Warrick smiled. “I like to keep my skills sharp.” He paused. “Do you have a massage license, Raina?”

She shook her head. “I have my hands full enough running Touch of Heaven. When I first decided to open a spa, I knew that I couldn't become a full-time practitioner and still expect to have a profitable business. So I leave the client services to my experienced staff and focus on the business side of the house.” She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “But I guess it's a little different for you. You were a licensed
engineer before you became a CEO. Although you have complete confidence in your employees, it must be a little hard for you to relinquish control of projects you once enjoyed so much.”

“You're right,” Warrick smilingly admitted, both amazed and pleased by her perceptiveness. She'd summed up his feelings perfectly. It was a little disarming. Almost as disarming as her scent as she drew nearer. She must have showered before going to bed. The scent of soap on her skin teased his senses, as did the tantalizing curves of her body beneath the silk robe. When she propped a shapely hip against the large L-shaped desk, Warrick was surprised, and secretly thrilled, that she'd ventured so close to him. His nerve endings hummed with awareness.

“Is that the project?” Raina asked, nodding toward his computer monitor where he'd been working in AutoCAD, an advanced engineering software program.

“Yeah,” Warrick answered.

Raina stared at the large screen, her brows furrowing at the complex, crisscrossing network of pipelines that he'd designed. Warrick inwardly smiled. She had no clue what she was viewing.

As if she'd read his mind, she shook her head dazedly and murmured, “I can't even begin to comprehend what I'm looking at.”

He laughed. “I figured as much.”

Her lips curved in a sheepish grin. “Don't make fun of me. You went to school for this. You eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff.”

Lately the only thing he'd eaten, slept and breathed was Raina, but Warrick saw no reason to mention this. Instead he gave her a teasing smile. “Would you like me to explain the schematics?”

“Yes, please.”

But as he slid his chair toward the monitor and leaned forward, something on the shelf behind him caught Raina's eye.

She let out a startled cry that made him glance sharply at her. “What?”

“The snow globe!”

Warrick followed the direction of her shocked gaze. Puzzled by her reaction, he reached out and picked up the small snow globe with a wooden base. Inside was a clever little scene depicting a sandy beach nestled smack dab in the middle of downtown Houston. The words “Nothing is Impossible” were inscribed on a banner that
drifted lazily across the skyline. When Warrick shook the globe, tiny white flakes swirled around the glass dome so that it appeared to be snowing on a summer afternoon in Houston, hence the inscription, “Nothing is Impossible.”

Smiling, Warrick turned back to Raina. “I received this as a gift for—”

“Your college graduation,” she whispered. “I know.”

“It's amazing,” Warrick said, his smile softening as he gently shook the globe again and watched the resulting snowstorm. “I'd never seen one like it before. Someone gave it to me at my graduation party, but there wasn't a card or anything, and when I asked around, no one knew who—” Suddenly he stilled and lifted his eyes to Raina's face.

The way she was looking at him made his heart clutch in his chest. As comprehension dawned, he stared at her. “
You
gave this to me?”

She nodded slowly, her eyes soft and glowing. “When you delivered the valedictorian speech at your high-school graduation, you told your classmates that nothing is impossible. You exhorted them not to let anything or anyone stop them from achieving their dreams. It was a beautiful, awe-inspiring speech, Warrick, and when it was over, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. I've never seen a standing ovation that lasted so long. Even your brothers were moved.” She gazed wonderingly at him. “Don't you remember?”

Warrick swallowed hard, wondering at the strange tightness in his throat. “I've given a lot of speeches since then,” he joked lamely.

Raina smiled a little. “I never forgot it. I was at Galveston Beach with my family a few months before your college graduation, and when I saw that snow globe at one of those novelty shops, I thought it would be a perfect gift for you. You were going out into the real world, and I knew you'd let nothing stand in your way—” Her voice hitched, and she quickly glanced away.

Warrick returned the snow globe to the shelf, handling it almost reverently now, and rose from the chair.

“Raina?” He reached out and caught her chin, gently forcing her face toward his. He was surprised to see tears glistening in her dark eyes.

“Why are you crying?” he asked softly.

Embarrassed, she choked out a teary laugh. “It's so silly. The day of your graduation party, I got cold feet about giving you the snow
globe, especially when I heard what other people were getting for you. Yolanda told me your mother was sending you on a trip to Jamaica, and your uncle bought you new furniture for your very first apartment because you'd accepted the job in Philly. I was embarrassed to give you such a simple, inexpensive gift, so I removed the card so you wouldn't know who it was from. You didn't open your presents until after the party, so I never knew what you thought of the snow globe, and Yolanda never said anything. All these years, I thought you didn't like it—”

“I loved it,” Warrick said fervently. “I thought it was the most unique gift I'd ever received in my life. Believe me, Raina, if I'd known it was from you, I would have thanked you. So fourteen years later, I'm saying
thank you.
”

Raina gave him a tremulous smile. “Better late than never,” she quipped. She searched his face. “Did you really like it?”

His heart constricted with an emotion so intense it made him ache. “If I didn't like it,” he said huskily, “why would I have kept it all these years? Why would it still hold a special place of honor on my shelf after all this time? When I was trying to get my company off the ground, I used to look at that snow globe and remind myself that no matter how tough things seemed, nothing was impossible.” He smiled tenderly. “Do you still doubt that I liked it?”

Raina shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. As Warrick gazed at her, a single tear escaped and rolled down her face.

That was his undoing.

He gently cradled her face in his hand and wiped the tear away with the pad of his thumb. Raina trembled, her lashes fluttering as he leaned down and brushed his mouth over hers. Her soft lips parted, sending a jolt of agonized longing through him. As he deepened the kiss, he knew that this time, nothing short of a natural disaster would keep him from making love to her.

 

The moment Warrick kissed her, Raina knew she was lost.

She couldn't have resisted him to save her life. She wanted this, wanted him more than anything else in the world. More than the very air she breathed.

As she curved her arms around his neck, Warrick pulled her against him until their bodies were fused together from shoulder to
knees. Her nipples tightened against the iron slabs of his chest. Her aching loins throbbed against his rigid arousal. She rocked her hips fitfully against him, and he groaned deep in his throat.

He lifted her off the floor and into his arms. As she wrapped her legs around his waist, the silk folds of her robe parted. Warrick slid his hands beneath the raised hem of her nightshirt, kneading her thighs before reaching beneath her silk underwear to grasp her bare bottom. Raina gasped, his touch searing her skin, firing her blood. She ground her pelvis against him, and this time they both groaned.

He set her down on his desk, kissing her feverishly, thrusting his tongue deep inside her mouth. She moaned, erotic sensations tumbling through her, faster and faster. She could feel him everywhere—her breasts, her stomach, between her thighs. His taste was in her mouth. His scent was in her nostrils. His breathing, as rough and ragged as her own, resonated in her ears.

As he sucked her bottom lip, she tightened her thighs around him and gripped his hard-muscled back, feeling the heat of his skin beneath his shirt. She wanted him out of his clothes. Wanted to feel his naked, powerful body against hers. Wanted to feel him moving between her legs.