by Layla Holt
Pinpricks of awareness lit his skin. His heart kicked up a ruckus in his chest, mingling fear and excitement in his blood. He’d had more short-term relationships than he could count but he had never fallen in love. He could not envision a life without Corrine.
He wanted to wake up to her wild red hair sprawled across the pillow. He wanted to be familiar with all the mundane details that made her the special person she was. He wanted to know if she snored, if she slept with her mouth open or tightly shut.
Before Corrine, his interest in women had been superficial. He’d never wanted to know more than he needed to. All he’d cared about was how they would look on his arm. How pretty they were. How many he could conquer. Now, Lance realized how shallow that had been.
He’d been living half a life. And he didn’t want to anymore. He wanted to embrace love and embark on the journey he and Corrine would take. Because one thing was for sure. He wasn’t going to let her go, but he had to be patient.
She broke the kiss and pulled away. “I’m exhausted.” She kept her gaze on everywhere else but him.
He longed to open his heart to her. To tell her that he loved her. But something held him back. Caution. This was not the time. When she was safely out of Candin Inc and her reputation would not be sullied, he would tell her then.
“Okay,” Lance said and opened the car door. He walked around to her side and opened the door for her.
He walked her to the cottage entrance and waited while she unlocked the door.
“Thank you for a wonderful day,” Corrine said.
“The pleasure was mine,” Lance said, his eyes boring into her, feeling as if Monday was weeks away, instead of the following day.
He stepped forward and brushed his lips across hers again. He inhaled a lungful of her sweet scent and then withdrew and walked back to his car.
“LOOK WHO IS HOME.”
“Aunt Maureen!” Corrine cried as she entered the living room. She went and kissed her cheek. “I’ve missed you!”
“You’ve spoiled me dear girl,” Aunt Maureen said. “I was so excited to come back home knowing that you’d be here.”
Corrine glanced at Smokey, coiled in Aunt Maureen’s lap. “Me and Smokey.”
Aunt Maureen grinned. “Yes, but you have one advantage over Smokey. You can talk and tell me everything that happened while I was away.”
Corrine sunk into the couch next to her aunt. “You left yesterday Aunt Maureen.”
She waved an impatient hand. “How was the party at Dean’s?”
Corrine thought about everything that had happened and searched for the right words to compress it into one sentence. “It was lovely.”
“Lance?” her aunt continued.
Her face heated up. Trust her Aunt to go straight to the meat of what she really wanted to know. Corrine shrugged. “He’s fine. He just dropped me off.”
“I know, I peered through the window when I heard a car and I must say, that was one tantalizing kiss. Don’t worry though, I quickly minded my own business,” she added with a chuckle.
Corrine turned to her. “Aunt Maureen! Peeping is beneath you.”
“Maybe,” she said nonchalantly. “But loving my niece and wanting the best for her is not. What’s going on with you and Lance?”
Corrine let out a sigh of frustration. “I don’t know. He doesn’t say anything.”
Aunt Maureen let out a sympathetic noise. “That’s men for you. He’ll come around. It’s not easy for them to accept that they’ve fallen in love.”
Corrine turned to her Aunt Maureen startled. “Love?”
She laughed. “I guess it’s not just Lance who is having trouble coming to terms with it. I’ve never seen two people more in love and in sync with each other. You’ll both come around.”
The denial that had been at the tip of Corrine’s tongue melted away. Was it true? Could Lance be in love with her? She thought of how he looked at her just before he kissed her and a part of her grew giddy with excitement.
Then an image of him apologizing and looking uncomfortable after kissing her followed, and her giddiness was replaced by confusion.
Lance’s behavior was not that of a man in love. Maybe lust. The more she thought about it, the more Corrine came to the conclusion that Lance was in lust with her. The end game for him was a physical relationship, and that was not going to happen.
That was not how she rolled. She was an unsophisticated girl from Utah who believed in commitment and marriage. She wasn’t going to allow herself to be seduced into a heartbreak.
“How was your trip?” Corrine said, eager to change the topic. “I expected you to be exhausted.”
Aunt Maureen laughed. “I expected to be exhausted too but no. Sam’s company is exhilarating. He makes me feel alive. As if I’ve been half asleep all those years, and I suppose that I have. I’m an old woman who is in love!”
“You’re not old, Aunt Maureen,” Corrine said.
“Well, maybe not too old,” she conceded. “I’m enjoying myself and I want the same for you Corrine.”
“I am,” she said. It was true. Even though she had feelings for a man whose interest with her was physical, she was still happy.
She had become the happy woman she had been before her freak accident. The sadness that had clung to her like a wet blanket had dissipated and life was beautiful. Finding love would be great but finding herself was even greater. And somehow, she had found herself again.
“Good,” Aunt Maureen said. “That makes me happy. And of course, I don’t want to see your fierce mother coming down her here to scold me.”
Corrine laughed and brought Aunt Maureen up to date on her parents’ wellbeing. She’d spoken to them just days ago and her mother had commented on how different Corrine sounded.
“When is their cruise?” Aunt Maureen asked.
“In ten days,” Corrine said.
“That sounds like so much fun,” Aunt Maureen said. “Tell them to send lots of pictures. Never mind, I’ll call them tomorrow and tell them myself.”
Chapter Fifteen
LANCE COULD NOT REMEMBER the last time he had whistled. If this was what it felt like to love someone, he wanted more of it. He’d managed to clear the pile of emails in his inbox and clear his schedule for the day and the weekend.
He had given Corrine a day off to get ready for the trip to Indiana. He glanced at his watch. Ten minutes to one. He had less than two hours to pick Corrine up, go to his condo for his luggage and head to the airport. He shut down his laptop and, just as he was about to stand up, a knock came on the door.
Lance fought down his impatience. He hoped that whoever it was would be quick. “Come in,” he barked.
His spirits sank when Dean walked into his office. He plastered a smile on his face and acted happy to see his brother. He wasn’t. All of yesterday, he had ignored Dean’s questioning looks but he’d known that at some point Dean would seek him out.
“Are you on your way out?” Dean said.
“Yes, but I can spare a few,” Lance said and tapped the desk with his fingers.
Dean sat down and stared at him. “What are you doing?”
“You mean like right now?” Lance said, taken aback by the direct question. He’d expected Dean to go around in circles. Stupid of him. Dean was not familiar with the words sugar-coating.
“Corrine seems like a good person,” Dean said.
“She is.”
“Are you dating her?” he said.
Lance inhaled deeply. “No.” He wasn’t lying. Dean hadn’t asked him if he intended to date Corrine.
“I don’t want to go through this again, Lance. I don’t understand you. Are you interested in her because she’s out of bounds? There are so many other women you could date.”
It hit Lance that Dean had not once contemplated that he could be in love with Corrine. He’d never been known to be in love once. He wondered what would happen if he told Dean that his intentions with Corrine were noble and ser
ious.
The answer came back immediately. Dean would dismiss him and tell him to stop being silly. Lance did not fall in love.
“I haven’t done anything that can be construed as crossing boundaries,” Lance said. “Corrine and I have become good friends.”
“You are flying out of town together for the weekend.”
That hit him like a punch to the belly. No wonder his brother was a brilliant lawyer. He left the heaviest punch until the end. How had Dean known? He had kept it on the downlow as much as he could.
“Don’t you take your secretary out of town for business meetings?”
Dean pretended to give it some thought. “No.”
“Well, lots of people do,” Lance said and suddenly grew tired of the conversation. “Listen here Dean, first of all I’m not a child and second I’m not stupid, which you clearly believe I am.”
Dean started to protest.
“I care too much about Corrine to jeopardize her job here. So rest easy. The company is safe from a lawsuit.” He stood up.
“That’s good to hear,” Dean said and followed suit. “Have a safe trip. Oh, and enjoy the motor race.”
Lance grinned. “I will.”
He hurried out of his office before anyone else came around. In minutes he was driving out of Candin Inc, heading to Corrine’s. He thought about the conversation with Dean.
It strengthened his resolve not to do anything to jeopardize Corrine’s reputation at work. It wasn’t her fault that her boss had fallen in love with her.
As soon as he brought his car to a stop, the front door of the cottage flew open and Corrine stepped out, pulling a small suitcase. He hurried out of the car and met her halfway.
“You look well rested,” he said. She looked more than well rested. She looked gorgeous with the wind blowing her hair and a smile on her face.
“I enjoyed the day off,” Corrine said with a laugh.
He took the suitcase from her and carried it to the trunk. For Lance, the weekend had begun and his body tingled all over from anticipation.
IT WAS HER FIRST TIME in Lance’s home. It was a condo on the second floor and as soon as she stepped in, Corrine recognized Lance’s personality everywhere. From the framed race cars hanging on the walls to a photograph of the Candin Inc building.
“I’ll just change and we’ll be on our way,” Lance said. “Make yourself comfortable.” He disappeared through a doorway.
Corrine glanced at the photograph again. That was who Lance was. A man who loved his company and his work. Her insides trembled. Was there space in Lance to love a woman? She didn’t think so. His life was rich enough with his work and his family. He didn’t need anyone else.
She must remember that when she found herself fantasizing about a life with him. The furniture was true classic bachelor style. Comfortable looking leather chairs, an entertainment unit that contained more gadgets than she could count, a low coffee table and a chaise lounge.
She imagined a lazy Sunday afternoon, sprawled on Lance’s lap. Corrine caught the fantasy before it could continue. There would be no lazy Sunday afternoons for them. Any ideas Lance had about her were purely physical, not romantic.
“Okay, I’m ready,” Lance said, returning to the living room carrying a small suitcase. “I’ve called an Uber. It should be waiting downstairs.”
He carried the two suitcases easily. As she followed him to the elevator, Corrine promised herself to enjoy the weekend. She hadn’t travelled widely and hadn’t been to Indiana. There was no point in ruining a trip by focusing on what was not.
Somewhere down the line, she would meet a man who wanted the same things as she did. In the meantime, she would have a bit of fun with Lance, as long as there were clear boundaries.
In the Uber, Lance sat sprawled next to her on the back seat, his legs stealing her space and brushing against her thigh. She fought the urge to move her leg away and instead tried to act as though it was natural to have his leg rest casually against hers.
The ride to the airport was fast and they were lucky not to get caught up in the lunch time traffic.
Later, Corrine felt terribly spoiled as she sat in business class sipping on a flute of orange juice. The flight was round trip with a stopover in Georgia, which Lance wasn’t thrilled about. Corrine secretly looked forward to spending more than seven uninterrupted hours in Lance’s company.
From the pictures she had spent hours poring over, the inn she had booked was just perfect with a cozy atmosphere. Romantic, if she were to be brutally honest. She gave Lance a nervous glance and hoped that he would like it. He had trusted her to pick the hotel and she’d gone with her own taste.
“Do I need anything extra for the meeting tomorrow?” she asked him.
Lance frowned before comprehension dawned. “No nothing. Actually, I won’t need you for the meeting. I’ll only be gone for an hour or so.”
“Oh,” Corrine said and searched his face.
He stared right back at her as though he had not just dropped a bombshell. Her heart pounded hard against her chest. If he hadn’t brought her along for work purposes, then why had he asked her to go with him?
His gaze dropped and raked over her body, his intentions naked for her to see. Her body betrayed her and a deep desire took hold of her, making her tremble with its intensity. She managed to tear her eyes away so she could concentrate on controlling her breathing.
She had her answer. He had invited her to Indiana to seduce her and, like a fool, she had played along with him and booked them into a romantic inn. Well, if Lance had an agenda, then so did she. To enjoy the mini holiday to the maximum. Without taking off her clothes.
Feeling in control, she shot Lance a sweet smile and relaxed back in the seat.
Chapter Sixteen
THE GLASS OF WINE CORRINE had with her dinner had given her cheeks a pink shade and made her more relaxed. They sat on a table out on the deck overlooking the garden.
The sounds of the night surrounded them and there was only one other couple on the deck. The inn was charming and nothing at all like what he would have booked. He was glad that Corrine had gone for something different, not the usual five-star hotel without character.
He preferred the inn a lot better. Dinner would have rivaled any five-star hotel and the rooms were big enough and clean. Besides, they would not spend a lot of time in the inn as the car race went on all day.
“This is the most un-business-like trip I’ve ever taken,” Corrine said with a chuckle.
“I want you to enjoy yourself,” Lance said.
“I am, thank you,” Corrine said. “What time is your meeting tomorrow?”
“Nine in the morning,” Lance said. “It shouldn’t be longer than an hour and then I’ll come and pick you up and we can go to the car race.”
Corrine cocked her head to the side and contemplated him. “You love Candin Inc, don’t you?”
Usually he answered that question with a resounding yes, but Corrine made Candin Inc sound like a woman. “Well, yes.”
“Candin Inc is already a big company,” she continued. “Why the need to keep expanding?”
“Isn’t bigger better?” he said flippantly.
“Not necessarily,” Corrine said.
Lance grew solemn. “When I was in my last year of college I worked for my father on the weekends. That was the year that Sizzle went bankrupt.”
Corrine stared at him blankly.
“They were the biggest manufacturer of soda in the country.” Lance looked away as memories came over him.
“What I remember the most was the employees of that company who were interviewed afterwards. They looked so frightened. They’d lost jobs they had expected to have until their retirement.”
He remembered the bleak faces. Grown men with tears in their eyes as they spoke about how much they had loved working at Sizzle.
“I was obsessed with learning what had caused the company to go bankrupt. And I did. The answer was simple. They ha
d not moved with the times. They had grown comfortable and because of their complacency, thousands of people lost their livelihoods.”
He paused to catch a breath. “I made a promise to myself. Nobody at Candin Inc would ever be sent home because the company couldn’t pay them.”
“Poor people,” Corrine said.
“Yes,” Lance said. “I’m pretty sure most of their lives became very difficult afterwards.”
He didn’t know what had prompted him to tell Corrine that story. He’d never told anyone else.
“There are some things that happen to a person that change the course of their life,” Corrine said. “Like the accident for instance. Had it not happened, I wouldn’t have come to Lockwood.”
“Were you running away?” Lance said.
She smiled. “That and to save my sanity. Lockwood is huge compared to my home town. Everybody there knew about the accident and everyone looked at me with pitying eyes.”
Lance noticed the moment her mood shifted. She stopped smiling and a shadow came over her eyes. He wasn’t going to let her withdraw. “Go on.”
“To add icing to the cake, my fiancé dumped me on the day the doctors removed the bandages from my face. He said he couldn’t bear to look at my scars every day.”
A sudden coldness hit at his core, robbing him of air. What kind of a man would say something so callous and stupid to the woman he loved? Her ex was a sorry excuse of a man.
Lance leaned forward and tried to see what the idiot might have seen. “He was wrong, Corrine. All I see is a gorgeous woman with a little scarring on her cheek. I also see your inner beauty reflected by the glow that surrounds you. No amount of scarring can diminish that beauty.”
She dabbed at the corners of her eyes. He ached with the love he felt for her. If she was his woman, he would remind her every day how beautiful she was until she believed it.
“Thank you,” she said and shifted her gaze to the garden below. “Do you want to take a midnight walk?”
Lance glanced at his watch. “Eleven o’clock walk you mean.”
