Best Laid Plans jh-2

by Nora Roberts

  "You're beautiful, Abra."

  Now he saw the new change, the blank astonishment his words had brought to her. He cursed himself for a fool. Had he never bothered to tell her, or to make her believe it?

  "I love the way you look in the sunlight. The first time I saw you I watched you in the sunlight."

  With an easy tug he loosened the drawstring at her waist so that her pants slithered down over her hips. Now she wore only the necklace, shimmering like water around her throat. But he didn't touch her, not in any of the hot, hungry ways she'd come to expect. He framed her face as though it were made of glass and kissed her as softly as a dream.

  Confused, moved to aching, she reached for him. "Come to bed."

  "There's time." He kissed her again and again, lingering over it until she swayed. "This time." He peeled off his shirt so that she could feel the solid strength of his chest against her. But passion weakened now where before it had streamed through her like fire. Her muscles trembled, then went lax. Her mind, so clear only moments before, blurred.

  He only kissed her, and kissed her and kissed her.

  "I don't…" Her head fell back as he deepened the kiss. "I can't…"

  "You don't have to do anything. Let me show you." He swept her up, muffling her dazed protest with his lips until he lowered her to the bed.

  His gentleness filled her until her limbs were too weighted to move. She would have clasped him to her and given him everything, but he linked his hands with hers and caressed her with his lips alone. Soft, moist, patient. Her mind began to float, then to soar with a pleasure far beyond the physical.

  No one had ever treated her as though she were fragile, or delicate, or beautiful. He made love to her now in a way she hadn't known existed. In a way she would never forget. If the night had been flash and fire and the darkest of passions, this was quiet and cool and wonderfully light. She trembled over the first edge, then drifted like a feather in the softest of breezes.

  She was exquisite. He'd seen the passion and the strength-felt them-but he hadn't seen, hadn't touched on her fragility or her openness to love. Whatever he had felt before, in the heat of desire, was nothing compared to the intimacy of giving. Her body flowed like a river under his hands, warmed like a flower beneath his lips. When she murmured his name, the sound rippled over him, touching some deep hidden core. It was the only voice he ever wanted to hear.

  He murmured to her. She heard him, responded, but she couldn't understand the words. Sensation layered over sensation, wrapping her in a cocoon of pleasure. There was the feel of his hands, the strength of them as they stroked over her skin. There was the taste of his mouth whenever he searched for hers, the warm, drugging taste of it. Over lids too heavy to lift, the sunlight beat so that vision, like her mind, was a red mist. Time spun out, inconsequential. For Abra, years might have passed without her noticing.

  She felt the brush of his hair as he roamed over her, caught the scent of his skin as he skimmed over hers. If there were other things in the world, they had stopped being important. If night fell or the sun rose, it hardly mattered. Not as long as he was with her and showing her what there could be to love.

  When he slipped inside her, she let out a long sigh of welcome. Still, he moved slowly, slowly, taking her gently up the wave, riding the crest. Trapped in the world he had opened up to her, she rose to meet him, matching rhythms, merging bodies.

  Promises were made, though she didn't know it. A bond, solid and firm, was formed.

  His own breath grew shallow as he dug for control. He'd thought she'd driven him wild in the night. And she had. Now, in surrender, she had taken him beyond even that. His muscles trembled, then steadied with a sweet, dark ache, and his pulse beat in hammer blows at the back of his neck. He was driven to taste her again. Her breath whispered into his mouth as their lips met. Hers softened, opened, offered.

  Then she opened her eyes, her lashes lifting in one long, languid movement. Though she couldn't know it, she had never been more beautiful than at that moment. Though she couldn't know it, from that moment on he was completely and irrevocably hers.

  She spoke his name, and they slipped over the top together.

  Chapter Eight

  It wasn't so hard, this being in love. Abra thought it through as she swung her car into the parking lot at Thornway. She didn't have to act differently, live differently, be different. She wasn't required to change her life so much as open it up. Perhaps she hadn't thought it was possible for her to do even that, but Cody had proved her wrong. For that, if only for that, she would always be grateful.

  If she could love him without changing who she was, didn't that mean that when the time came for him to leave she could pick up and go on as she had before? She wanted to believe it. She had to believe it.

  With her keys jingling in her hand and her step very light, she crossed the lot to the building. The sun wasn't really shining brighter this morning. She knew that. But in her heart it glowed more golden, more beautiful, than ever before.

  It was all a matter of perspective, she told herself as she passed through the lobby, heading toward the elevators. She knew all about perspective and planning and coming up with a workable structure.

  A love affair could be engineered just like anything else. They cared about each other, enjoyed each other, respected each other. That was a solid foundation. They shared a common love of building. Even if they came at it from different angles, it was a base of sorts. From there it was a matter of adding the steel and the struts. After the weekend they had shared, Abra felt confident that progress had been made. Without the tension of work interfering, they had discovered pleasures in and out of bed.

  She liked him. That seemed almost too elementary, but to her it was a revelation. It wasn't only a matter of need, attraction, falling in love. She liked who he was, how he thought, how he listened. Companionship wasn't something she'd looked for from him, any more than she'd looked for passion. In one weekend she'd discovered she could have both.

  Abra pushed the button for the elevator and smiled as she remembered the way they had sprawled on her couch and watched a Gary Grant festival on television. Or the way they'd put together a meal of pizza and gingersnaps. Or the way they'd tumbled into her rumpled bed on Sunday afternoon with the radio playing jazz and the breakfast dishes neglected.

  He'd made her happy. That in itself was more than she'd ever expected from a man. They were building a relationship, solid and strong. When it was time to walk away from it, she would be able to look back and remember something wonderful that had come into her life.

  When the elevator doors opened, she stepped through, then felt hands encircle her waist.

  "Going up?"

  As the doors shut, Cody spun her around and captured her mouth with his. She held on the way he'd hoped she would. She answered the kiss the way he'd needed her to. It was hardly more than an hour since he'd left her to go back to his hotel and change for the meeting, but it seemed like days.

  She'd gotten to him, he thought as he pressed her back against the side of the car. In all ways, in every way, she'd gotten to him. He was only just beginning to plan how to deal with the results.

  "You taste good, Red." He lingered over her lips a moment, nibbling before he pulled back far enough to look at her. "And I like your face."

  "Thanks." She lifted her hands to keep some sensible distance between them. "You were quick getting here."

  "I only had to change. I could have done that at your place if you'd let me bring some things over."

  She wasn't ready for that. If he lived there, really lived there over the next few weeks, the apartment would be much too empty when he left. She smiled and glanced up to check the progress of the car. They were still at lobby level. With a shake of her head she pushed the button both of them had forgotten.

  "I'd hate for you to give up room service, and that neat little spa."

  "Yeah." He knew she was evading him. No matter how intimate they became, s
he still refused to take the next step and close the final gap. He gave himself a moment to control his frustration, then pushed the button to stop the car between floors.

  "What are you doing?"

  "I want to ask you something before we go back to work. It's personal." He trailed a finger from the base of her neck to her waist. "As I remember, one of the rules is no mixing business with pleasure."

  "That's right."

  "Have dinner with me."

  With a long sigh, Abra reached out to start the elevator again. Cody circled her wrist before she could press the button. "Cody, you didn't have to trap me in an elevator to ask me to have dinner."

  "So you will?"

  "Unless I'm stuck between the fourth and fifth floors."

  "At my hotel," he added, bringing her wrist to his lips. As always, it delighted him when her response came out in a rush. "And stay with me tonight."

  The fact that he had asked rather than assumed made her smile. "I'd like that. What time?"

  "The sooner the better."

  She laughed as she pushed the button for Tim's floor. But her pulse would be hammering for some time to come. "Then we'd better get to work."

  Tim was waiting for them with a tray of coffee and Danish, which Abra ignored. It took only moments for her to recognize the signs of stress, though Tim was as jovial and expansive as ever. She was forced to stem her own impatience as details of the plans were brought out and gone over yet again. If she wasn't on the site by ten, she would miss another inspection.

  When Tim set up a flow chart that diagrammed the construction sequence and the estimated dates of completion, she settled back and gave up. She'd be lucky to be on the job by noon.

  "As you can see," Tim continued, "the blasting and the foundation were completed on schedule. Where we began to fall behind was on the roofing."

  "There's no real problem there." Cody lit a cigarette as he studied the chart. "We were well within the usual grace period of twenty percent. In fact, it looks like we're no more off than five."

  "We have another lag with the plumbing of the health club."

  "No more than a day or two," Abra put in. "We'll be able to make it up with the cabanas. At this pace the resort will be built and operational within our time frame."

  Tim was staring at the figures and projections. "It hasn't even been three months into construction and we're nearly ten percent behind." Tim held up a hand before Abra could speak. "Added to that is the budget. Unless we're able to take some cost-cutting methods, we're going to go over."

  "The budget's not my province." Cody topped off his coffee, then filled Tim's cup. He'd seen the builder down three in the last half hour. Ulcers were made from less, he thought mildly. "And it's not Abra's. But I can tell you that from my own figures, and taking a look at the do list, you're going to come in as close to budget as it's possible."

  "Cody's right. We've had no major hitches on this job. It's run more smoothly than any I've been involved with. The supplies have been delivered on time and in good order. If we've run over on a few things, such as the pool roof and the parallel windows in the main building, it's been minimal. I think that you-" She broke off when the phone rang.

  "Excuse me." Tim picked up the receiver. "Julie, I want you to hold my calls until- Oh. Yes, of course." Tim pulled at the knot of his tie, then reached for his coffee. "Yes, Marci. Not yet. I'm in a meeting." He drew a long breath as he listened. "No, there hasn't been time. I know that." He gulped more coffee. "I will. By this afternoon. Yes, yes, I promise. You…" He let his words trail off, rubbing the back of his neck. "Fine, that's fine. I'll look at them when I get home. By six. No, I won't forget. Bye."

  He set down the phone. Abra thought his smile was a bit forced when he turned back to them.

  "Sorry about the interruption. We're planning a little trip for next month and Marci's excited about it." He gave the chart an absent glance. "You were saying?"

  "I was going to point out that I think you can be very pleased with the way this job's been going." Abra paused a moment, no longer sure Tim was listening.

  "I'm sure you're right." After a long breath, Tim beamed at both of them. "I want to make sure I'm on top of things. I appreciate the input." He came around the desk. "I know I'm keeping you both from your work, so we won't drag this out any longer."

  "Got any idea what that was all about?" Cody asked Abra as Tim closed the door behind them.

  "I'm not sure." Thoughtfully she walked toward the elevators. "I guess he's entitled to be nervous. This is the first big job he's taken on solo. Everything else he's done was already in the works when his father died."

  "Thornway has a good reputation," Cody commented as they stepped inside and started down. "What's your opinion of Thornway junior?"

  "I don't like to say." Uneasy about the meeting, Abra stared at the wall of the elevator. "I was very close to his father. I really loved him. He knew the building trade inside out, every angle, every corner and he was… It was personal with him, if you know what I mean."

  "I do."

  "Tim's not the man his father was, but they're big shoes to fill."

  They crossed the lobby and started out to the parking lot together. "How tight do you figure he bid this job?"

  "Close. Maybe too close." She narrowed her eyes against the sun as she thought the problem through. "But I can't believe he'd be reckless enough to risk taking a loss on something of this size. The penalty clause is a whopper, that I do know." She fished out her keys, frowning. "Enough to put the fear of God into anyone. It's offset by a bonus if the job comes through ahead of schedule."

  "So maybe he's counting too heavily on the bonus." With a shrug, Cody leaned against Abra's car. "Seems to me his wife is an expensive tax deduction."

  She gave a quick, unladylike snort. "That's a nice way to talk about a man's wife."

  "Just an observation. That little dog collar she had on the other night would have set old Tim back five or six thousand."

  "Thousand?" Her interest piqued, Abra stopped in the act of sliding into her car. "Was it real?"

  Pulled back from his speculations, he grinned. "You're awfully cute, Red."

  She almost snapped at him, but curiosity got the best of her. "Well, was it?"

  "Women like that don't wear glass and paste."

  "No, I suppose not," she murmured. But five thousand-she just couldn't conceive of it. That much money would go a long way toward buying a new car, or a piece of equipment, or-she could think of a dozen uses for five thousand dollars more reasonable than wasting it on something a woman wore around her neck.

  "What are you thinking?"

  "That he must be crazy." Then she moved her shoulders, dismissing it. "But the man's entitled to spend his money however he chooses."

  "Maybe he considers it an investment." At Abra's puzzled look, Cody thought back to the night of the party and Marci's frank and unmistakable come-on. "You could say some women need a lot of incentive to stay with one man."

  Because that thought made her think uncomfortably-and perhaps unfairly-of Jessie, Abra brushed it aside. "Well, it's certainly his problem. In any case, we don't have time to stand here gossiping about Tim and his wife."

  "Just speculating." But he, too, brushed the subject aside. "Listen, I've got to make a stop on the way to the job. Can you follow me?"

  She glanced at her watch. "Yeah, but why-?"

  "There's something I have to pick up. I could use your help." He kissed her, then slid behind the wheel of his own car.

  Ten minutes later, Abra drove in behind him at Jerry's Tire Warehouse. "What are you getting here?"

  "A new suit. What do you think?" He pulled her out of the car and through the door. The place was a sea of tires-blackwalls, whitewalls, steel-belted ra-dials. It smelled of rubber and grease. Behind a scarred counter piled with thick catalogs was a bald man wearing half glasses.

  "Morning, folks," he shouted over the hissing and blowing of pumps and lifts. "What can I do
for you?"

  "See that?" Cody turned and pointed at Abra's car through the plate-glass window. "Tires, all around, and a spare."

  "But I-" Before Abra could finish, the clerk was thumbing through the catalogs. He'd summed up Abra's car with one glance.

  "We have some very nice budget products."

  "I want the best," Cody told him, making the clerk's eyes gleam behind his dusty lenses.

  "Cody, this is-"

  "Well, well." Obviously seeing his commission soar, the clerk began to write out an invoice. "I have something in stock that should do very nicely."

  Cody glanced down at the invoice, noted the brand and nodded. "Can you have it ready by five?"

  The clerk looked at his watch and his daily list. "Just."

  "Good." Plucking the keys out of Abra's hand, Cody tossed them. "We'll be back."

  Before she could complete a sentence, Abra found herself being pulled back outside. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

  "Buying you a birthday present."

  "My birthday's in October."

  "Then I'm covered."

  She managed-barely-to dig in her heels. "Listen, Cody, you have absolutely no right making decisions like this for me. You can't just-just drag somebody into a tire warehouse, for God's sake, and order tires."

  "Better here than the supermarket." He put his hands on either side of her head, resting them on the roof of his car. "And I didn't drag somebody in there. I dragged somebody important to me, somebody that I won't see driving around on four tires that gave up the last of their rubber six months ago. You want to fight about that?"

  Because he'd taken the wind out of her sails, she only frowned. "No. But I would have taken care of it. I've been planning to take care of it."

  "When?"

  She shifted her feet. "Sometime."

  "Now it's done. Happy birthday."

  Giving up, she leaned forward and kissed him. "Thanks."

  Abra came home that evening in a dead rush. She'd missed the inspector again, but the foundations for the first set of cabanas had passed without a hitch. She'd been able to see the sliding roof in operation, and at long last the elevators were riding smoothly.