Walker Pride (13 page)

“She asked for you to come. She’d like to get to know you. There are no hard feelings toward you.”

Bethany puckered her lips. “Just toward my father?”

“It seems the feelings aren’t that hard there either. My family seems to be a lot more forgiving than I am.”

“I wouldn’t be. He doesn’t deserve the loyalty,” she said sharply and Eric couldn’t agree with her more. “I’ll be there, if you’ll be there.”

He nodded. “I’ll be there.” He shifted his gaze to Susan. “She invited you too.”

Susan felt the blood draining from her head. “Me? Why would she want me there?”

“She likes you. She wants to get to know you.” He shrugged. “It seems as though Russell has a big mouth.”

The blood was back and it quickly rushed to her cheeks. “Oh.”

Bethany laughed and pushed past her cousin. Eric walked into the kitchen fully with his hand behind his back.

“I brought you something. It was supposed to be just for the hospitality, but now it seems like a pick-me-up.”

She felt the edges of disappointment slip away. “What did you bring?”

When he pulled his hand around he gripped a small bundle of tulips. “They don’t look so well,” he said looking down at the limp flowers.

“It’s a little early for tulips,” she said reaching out for the flowers.

“That would explain the price of them. I have a few that come up in the spring. Maybe when that happens, I’ll bring you more of them.”

The pitter-patter of her heart was overwhelming. Didn’t waiting for spring mean he was planning on her still being around? Was that what he wanted? Was it what she wanted?

Susan moved in closer to him. “I think they are lovely.”

“Purple made me think of you.”

“One of my favorite colors.”

Eric raised his hand to her cheek and lingered it there. Susan pulled in a quick breath and looked up into his eyes. At that moment she knew she’d miss him if they went their separate ways. There was something about this man whom she met in his parents’ kitchen that made her giddy to be around him. Even her ex-husband had never made her feel as she did when she was around Eric.

Perhaps that should be a warning she thought as she diverted her gaze to the flowers and then back to him. No. She wouldn’t talk herself out of this. Whatever was happening between them could be real. At that moment she knew that was what she wanted. She wanted the love of a man. Oh, they were far from exchanging the words. In fact, she wasn’t sure she felt love—lust perhaps, but there was something to grow on. That was for sure.

“What are you thinking?” he asked as his thumb brushed over her cheek.

Susan swallowed hard. “About how I feel when I’m around you.”

When he smiled, there was a small dimple in his cheek. “And? How do you feel?”

“Alive,” she said as she was very aware of the blood pumping through her veins at a quickened pace. “You make me feel things I haven’t felt in a long time. Perhaps it’s too early in our relationship—if this is indeed a relationship—to say something like that. But that’s how I feel.”

“Alive?”

“Yes.”

His smiled widened as he stepped in, closing the small gap between them. “I think that echoes what I feel. I don’t know that I could have found eloquent words to cover it as you did, but yeah, that’s what I’m feeling.”

Okay, that was a moment to never forget, she decided. Eric Walker didn’t seem like the kind of man to have soft, gentle moments such as this one. However, he’d shared it with her. That was worth something.

Eric raised his other hand to her other cheek. “I have a lot going on in my life right now. Everything is unsure and it’s consuming me.”

She nodded, feeling the drop in sensation from the good to the bad. This was where he let her down gently. Where he told her that he has feelings for her, but it’s not the right time. Susan pushed her shoulders back and braced for his words.

He dropped his head and placed a gentle kiss against her lips, his eyes locked on hers. “I’m very glad that you’re here to distract me from the negative. I’d rather focus on what could be than on what has happened around me.”

Perhaps it was wrong, but she needed to know what it all meant. “I’m just a distraction?”

His eyes opened wider. “No. That’s not how I meant that.”

She felt the wash of relief move through her.

Eric slid his hands down from her face and over her shoulders. “I’m not good at this. I never have been. But, there is something about you that makes me just want to forget about everything else and only focus on you. No one has ever made me feel like that. My home, my family, my business have always been the most important things in my life. But since I met you, that scale seems to have shifted.” He let out a little chuckle. “I’m not one for deep, romantic conversations either. Looks like you bring out an entirely different side to me.”

“It’s been a long time since I was at the beginning of a relationship. Is that what we’re building here? A commitment to each other?”

His hands slid down her arms and to her waist. “I’d like to try that.”

She felt her hands begin to shake and a fear take over that quaked her at her core. “I want that. But as you can tell by my track record, I’m not very good at it.”

Eric shook his head. “A ten year marriage is nothing to sneeze at. I don’t see that as your failure.”

Tears now stung her eyes and this wasn’t a moment to cry. This was a moment to celebrate. “You don’t?”

“Are you willing to completely stop loving because it didn’t work out once? That’s like saying you’re willing to stop living because your marriage ended. But here you are. You’re building something new for yourself—by yourself.”

Pride in what she’d done over the past year filled in the hole that doubt had created. This was it.

Standing before her, Eric was validating everything she was doing. There hadn’t been a morning in the past few years where she hadn’t awakened feeling as though she’d lost track of who she was and where she was going. But now, just with his few simple words, she realized she had become who she’d sought out to be. She was independent. She was successful. And now with Eric standing before her with his hands on her hips and limp tulips in her hand, she knew she’d moved on from the failure she thought she was.

If she was to ever fall in love again, he was the man worth falling in love with. There was simply no more doubt. Though doubt still resided in her. Saying she’d love him was something she’d need to evaluate much further. After all, she’d only met him, but it just felt so right.

Susan raised her arms around his neck and plunged them both into a kiss that had them clinging to each other as if every breath after that depended on that moment. The friction between them heated her throughout. Every moment his lips pressed to hers was another moment that she tumbled into a bliss she never thought she’d have again.

When they parted breathless, Eric pressed his forehead to hers. “We’d better go get breakfast. My mind is spinning in directions I hadn’t planned on going yet and I still have a full day ahead of me.”

Susan laughed a deep throaty laugh. “Me too. I have a very important meeting today and class tonight. But…” She looked up into his eyes. “If your mind is spinning where mine is, I think that’s something we’d better think about.”

The dimple in his cheek was back. “Thank God you’re not some prude. I’m a man after all. Being a full fledged gentleman might kill me.”

Susan cupped his cheek in her hand. “I don’t want that to be on my conscience.”

Breakfast had been simple at a diner she’d been to once or twice. Eric was the kind of man who enjoyed his breakfast meats and had them all on one plate. She preferred a lighter fare.

He was also a man, she quickly realized, who didn’t like being in public. There was a comfort with him in his house or hers, but when faced with scrutinizing eyes he seemed to become quiet and reserved.

It didn’t take a genius to realize that a man who lived away from town liked it that way. She’d seen him yesterday morning moving in to take care of his horses. There was peace with him. Over breakfast, however, he’d looked as if he were the cattle being sent to slaughter.

As soon as he could, he paid the check and they left the diner. He didn’t mention that anything was wrong and Susan didn’t ask, but she studied him. The closer they got to her house, the softer his tense shoulders became. And when he kissed her goodbye with her back pressed against the front door, she knew there wasn’t anything wrong with that man that twisted her insides. But there was a story there, she decided as she watched him drive away. Perhaps he’d share it with her in time. After all, he’d seemed to be the one talking relationships. Maybe it was his way of telling her he trusted her with whatever was in his soul.

Susan looked down at her watch. She had her phone meeting with Lydia Morgan in an hour. As she walked toward her desk, her mind switched from the giddy, tingly feeling that new romance offered to the solid-minded businesswoman that had been the core of who she was for so long. After having met Lydia Morgan last night, Susan was sure that this could be a very big account to have. It would be best if she kept her mind about her.

An hour later, with the phone ringing in her hand, Susan took a deep breath and waited for Lydia Morgan to answer. On the fifth ring she finally did.

“Good morning, Ms. Hayes,” Lydia’s voice was steady and sure on the other end of the line. “Thank you for calling.”

Susan, a bit dismayed by not having a simple hello, put a smile on her lips with hopes that it would convey through the phone.

“Ms. Morgan,” she coolly offered the salutation. “My pleasure. I have sent you an email with my options and prices on them. Did you receive that?”

“Just now. Thank you. I will show this to my grandfather and let him decide.” There was a moment of silence before Lydia spoke again. “Ms. Hayes…”

“Please call me Susan,” she said still managing that smile that was supposed to resonate in her voice.

“My grandfather would not approve of that, Ms. Hayes,” she began again, “my grandfather asks that our working together be held in the strictest of confidence. He would like your word that you will not mention the job or whom it is for.”

Susan’s shoulders dropped. This was beginning to sound like a bad Craig’s List ad.

“That’s not a problem, Ms. Morgan. I understand confidentiality.”

“Good. He also asks that you not bring your new server, Ms. Waterbury.”

The smile faded quickly. “May I ask why? She’s very personable and extremely efficient.”

“Yes, I met her last night and I agree. Those are his wishes.”

She didn’t like this one bit. The Morgans were going to have to spend a hefty amount of money if she wasn’t to use her staff member or talk about them using her services.

“Understood. Do you have a date in mind for the event?”

“February sixteenth. Seven p.m. sharp.”

Susan bit down on her lip. That was a night she’d have class. She wasn’t going to turn the job away yet. There was something intriguing about the secretive way Lydia approached everything. She’d let the money talk for her. If the payday was going to be worth it, she’d miss class and leave Bethany behind. If they argued price, she’d pass on the job.

“I will put that on the calendar. Ms. Morgan, I’d like to follow up with you on Monday and discuss your menu choices and the cost of the event.”

“That will be fine.”

They set up a time, said their goodbyes, and Susan rested back in her chair.

Lydia Morgan wasn’t as old as she’d sounded on the phone. She did come across as a bit dry in her personality, but Susan didn’t buy into it. When she thought about it a bit more, she could see a lot of herself in Lydia. When Susan was married, she simply wasn’t the person she was now. She watched her words and her mannerisms as if she were afraid to show herself. Her husband had his expectations of how his wife should act and she’d fallen right into the role.

It wasn’t fair really to pin it all on Bret, her ex-husband. She’d allowed herself to be what he wanted her to be. She just hadn’t realized, until ten years later, that it was killing her inside.

Was that Lydia’s story too? Did her grandfather expect her to behave and present herself in such a dormant way?

Susan tapped her pen to her chin. She was going to friend Lydia Morgan.

The smile formed back on her lips, this time honestly.

The mystery intrigued her now. Who was Lydia Morgan under all the manners?

~*~

Eric gripped the steering wheel of his truck tightly as he bounced down the dirt road leading to his house. A bead of sweat trickled down his neck and he wiped it away with the palm of his hand.

What was he doing starting something up with some woman? He had a lot on his plate. Right now wasn’t the time to lose focus by mixing in some boyish crush with the thought he might get sex. But he knew it was more than that. If he’d only wanted to be physical with someone, he had options. This was deeper. Susan was different.