“Barely just met or not, I can see you’re crazy about him, simply by looking into your pretty face. Are you sleeping with him?”
Emily stared, her cheeks turning hot. She felt more like a teenaged girl than a grown woman set on one day having a teenager of her own.
Virginia Alice obviously took Emily’s silence as her answer. She tsked. “Nothing good is ever going to come out of keeping a secret like this from someone you love.” She leaned over the suitcases and patted Emily’s cheek as if she were still no older than a child. “You go on back and you tell this man the truth. Tell him how badly you want a baby in your arms. A baby you can call your own. If he’s your perfect match, believe me, it will all turn out just fine.”
“We’re too different to be a perfect match.” If she said the words often enough, maybe she’d feel more convinced.
Virginia Alice just tsked again. “Your daddy and I are pretty darn different, but I think we’ve made a pretty darn perfect pair. Doesn’t mean it’s been a walk in the park, now. Your father isn’t always the easiest of men, but then again, I’m not always the easiest of women.”
“You’re a saint compared to daddy.”
Virginia Alice waved her hand, dismissing the very notion without needing to say a single word about it. “Being different isn’t necessarily a bad thing if those differences complement each other.” She lowered her hand and pushed to her feet, brushing her hands down the front of her slacks. “You go do what you need to do. And in the meantime, I’ll work on your daddy. We’re just not going to let him lose the best advertising director there is because he’s too stubborn to see past that darned handsome nose on his face.”
Emily stood, too, smiling a little as she shook her head. “Mom. I’ve resigned. And I feel fine about it. Truly, I do.” She wasn’t sure what she was going to do exactly, but she’d figure it out. “Maybe I’ll try to start up my own advertising firm.”
Virginia Alice sniffed a little. “Well, I don’t feel fine about it. You’re more than capable of starting up anything you want, but John pushed you to this point and frankly, he needs to get with the times.”
Emily nearly choked. Get with the times? “I’m not sure I recognize you right now.”
“Well,” Virginia Alice murmured, “seems as if half my family is moving to Texas these days, so I guess it’s time I got with the times, too. Sometimes I think he might as well open a FortuneSouth office in Red Rock. The only one he’s got left here who matters to him now is your brother Michael, and at the rate John’s going, who knows how long it’ll be before he drives him off, too! And then there will be nobody left to take over the reins for him. One of these days I expect to have him to myself again, and not be sharing him with FortuneSouth every minute of the day. Someone has to do something, and it might as well be me.” She smiled the same gentle smile she’d always had. “It might shock you, Emily dear, but even at my age, I still have my ways.”
* * *
“I passed.”
Emily clutched the phone tightly at the sound of Max’s voice. It was almost midnight and she’d begun to think he wasn’t going to call after all. She rested her head against the pillows mounded behind her and turned off the rerun of the evening news she’d been watching, plunging her bedroom into darkness. “I knew you would pass.”
“Yeah. Well. Positive thinking doesn’t always turn out positively. Where are you?”
She smiled slightly and plucked at the coverlet covering her knees. “Home. Where are you?”
“Home. Had dinner over at Kirsten and Jeremy’s. She insisted on celebrating.”
“I’m glad she did. You should celebrate. And we’ll celebrate again when I see you.” In fact, she felt giddy anticipation leaping around inside her knowing how soon that would be.
“Where are you at home?”
Her gaze drifted over the lofty shadows of her high ceilings. “In my bedroom.” She was glad there was no one there to see the silly smile on her face. “You?”
“Sitting on one of the bar stools in my dining room and remembering you in my kitchen two feet from where I’m sitting now, wearing practically nothing more than one of my shirts,” he continued.
She was wearing the Rangers T-shirt at that very moment and at his words, her skin went just as hot and prickly as it had that night with him.
“How’d the meeting go?”
She nearly had to kick-start her brain. “Interesting,” she finally said. She didn’t want to tell him about quitting her job on the phone. “I’ll tell you about it when I get back tomorrow.”
“Must’ve gone well if you’re coming back that soon. You taking a charter?”
“Commercial actually.” Now that she wouldn’t be traveling on FortuneSouth business, she had no excuse to use the charter service. “I’ll be flying into San Antonio. Getting in around eight tomorrow evening.” It had been the earliest seat she could find.
“I’ll pick you up.”
“You don’t have to go to that trouble.” It would have been different if her flight had gone directly to Red Rock.
“Driving twenty miles to San Antonio isn’t exactly trouble.” He waited a beat. “We can go out to dinner if you’re interested.”
Interested didn’t come close. “As long as it’s not Etienne’s.”
He laughed. “Not Etienne’s,” he agreed. “Maybe…stay overnight there. Celebrate a little more.”
Desire cramped through her. “Okay. I, um, I have something I wanted to talk to you about, too.”
“I’ve got some news, myself,” he said. “Tomorrow’s soon enough for that. Right now I just want to know what you’re wearing. And if you say nothing, I’m not going to believe you, because I’m pretty sure This-Is-Emily-Fortune has never slept in the buff in her life.”
She sank a few inches lower against the pillows. Max did know her. “I’m wearing the shirt you loaned me,” she admitted huskily.
“Anything else?”
“Underwear.”
“Panties,” he corrected. “That’s the word if you wanna get a man thinking, baby.”
“Fine. Panties.” She pushed out the word. And even though she was alone and there was a thousand miles between them, his soft chuckle told her he knew exactly how hard she was blushing. “You might be familiar with them,” she added, determined to share the torture. “They have a tiny white bow right over my—”
“Okay, okay,” he cut her off. “I get the picture.”
She smiled into the darkness which was alleviated only by the moonlight shining through the unadorned windows near the ceiling. For the first time, she realized the windows were very similar to the windows in the flight school hangar.
“You can text me your flight info and I’ll be waiting,” he said after moment. It wasn’t quite what she’d expected him to say.
She slid even lower against the pillows. Wondering if he could hear the rustle of her movements over the phone line. “Don’t you want to know anything else?” she asked, and was thrilled with the way her voice came out all throaty and wholly un-Emily-like.
“I’ve created a monster.”
“Are you hard, Max?” she whispered. “Because I am so, so—”
He muttered an oath. “Stop. There’s not gonna be enough cold water in Texas to cool me down.”
She laughed softly. Considering everything, maybe she had a little more of the surprising woman that Virginia Alice Fortune was turning out to be in her than she’d thought. “Sweet dreams, Max.”
“Wait until tomorrow, Emily, and I’ll give you sweet.”
She laughed again and ended the call, then set the phone on her nightstand and turned over, hugging the pillow to her cheek.
And thinking of Max, and only Max, she went blissfully to sleep.
* * *
Waiting for Emily’s plane to land the next evening was about the biggest exercise in patience that Max had ever endured.
It was late.
Not just a few minutes late. Seventy-two m
inutes late. He kept abreast of the flight details online and left Red Rock when the jetliner was an hour out. But even then, he had to cool his heels, pacing around the terminal area until the status board indicated that her plane had landed. Then, even though it had, it just seemed to mean more waiting.
He raked his hand through his hair and stared at the end of the gate area where he knew she’d have to pass through.
“Waiting for someone special?”
The voice came out of nowhere, and he looked to his side at the wizened old man who was sitting nearby in a motorized chair. “Yeah. You?”
The old guy smiled and nodded, tapping his hand against the armrest of his chair. “M’daughter and her kids. Boy and a girl. Twelve-year-old twins. Coming to spend a few weeks with me.” He shook his head, but he was obviously pleased. “Don’t know if my house’ll still be standin’ by the time they’re done.” He gave a wheezy sort of laugh.
“Sounds like a good way to celebrate to me,” Max offered, his gaze straying back toward the gates.
“Yeah, it is,” the man agreed. “Wish m’ wife were still here to share it, but wasn’t meant to be.” He sighed a little.
Max looked back at the guy. “How long were you married?”
“Damn near sixty years,” he said. “I’m ninety-two. If I’d been smarter when I was a pup like you, I’d a’ married her sooner and we’d a’ had longer together.” The old man suddenly pointed, his wrinkled face crinkling into a wide grin. “There they are now.”
Max looked over toward the gates. But it wasn’t the teenaged kids jogging out of the gate who looked like carbon copies of each other or the harried woman chasing after them and waving toward the old man that held his attention. It was Emily who was not far behind them who did that.
No ponytail.
No suit.
Just a close-fitting knee-length yellow dress that buttoned all the way down the front, and two suitcases that she was dragging behind her.
Leaving the old man to his family reunion, Max strode forward and met Emily. “I didn’t get any sleep last night,” he greeted.
She stopped a few feet shy of him, her eyes sparkling behind her glasses. “That’s so strange,” she commented with a demure smile. “I slept like a baby.”
“Sure you did.” He slowly advanced on her, loving the fact that she merely lifted that perfectly pointed chin of hers and held her ground, even though her peridot gaze was dancing shyly away from his. “Talking the way you were, getting a guy all worked up only to leave him hanging in the breeze—” He slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her up onto her toes to press a brief kiss on her lips. “Naturally you slept like a baby.”
She let out a blushing laugh as she looked up at him. “You were the one who started it, telling me what you did on the phone when you knew I had people around me in my office.”
“Bothered you, did it?”
She pressed her lips together, probably trying to look prim and not managing it at all.
He laughed, kissed her again and set her from him to take over the suitcases. He wasn’t sure he remembered ever having a reason to laugh as often as he had since he’d met her.
“Do you have more luggage or is this it?” She had her briefcase hanging from her shoulder and was carrying another smaller tote bag as well. He was a little surprised by the load, considering how light she’d traveled the other time she’d gone to Atlanta.
“This is it.” For a second she looked like she was going to say more, but all she did was hitch the strap on her shoulder a little higher, and they fell into step.
Max’s gaze met the old guy’s as they passed him and his family, and the man nodded toward Emily, giving a thumbs-up. Max grinned and would’ve given him one back if his hands hadn’t been full carrying her suitcases.
Emily noticed, giving him a curious look as they headed toward the nearest exit. “What was that all about?”
“Just a guy thing.” He slowed his steps so he didn’t outpace her. “How was the flight?”
“Bumpy. Late.” They’d quickly reached the exit and she preceded him out the door into the night air. She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I warned you this would be too much trouble. It’s not like being able to just step outside your office at the flight school and, voilà, there’s the terminal.”
“And I told you it was fine.” He stopped at the curb and lowered the suitcases to the cement, then scooped his arm around her waist, pulling her in for another kiss. This one managing to leave his control feeling a little shredded because of the way her tongue boldly snuck up against his. He lifted his head. “We’re in public here,” he reminded gruffly.
“Is that a complaint?”
He brushed his mouth against her ear. “Only because you’re making me even more impatient to get you alone. And I planned to take you to dinner. Remember?”
She twisted her head around, looking up at him. Despite the artificial light illuminating the area, everything about her seemed to glow from some inner source. Behind her glasses, her eyes were bright. “And after you’ve fed me?”
“I found us a room at a B and B down by the River Walk.” Where he fully intended to feast on her.
“A B and B?” She looked delighted. “How charming.”
“Here’s hoping. I took the only room that I found available on such short notice,” he warned. “I’m not sure what room we’ll end up with there since their website wasn’t particularly clear.” The B and B obviously didn’t have a person like Emily to help with such matters. “Otherwise it would have been just a regular old hotel room or my bed back at my place.”
She watched him. “Your place would have been fine with me,” she said softly.
Maybe it would have been. But she just seemed to deserve something more out of the ordinary for her first night back. And at least he’d done more investigating about the B and B than he had Etienne’s. “Consider it part of the celebrating,” he said. She didn’t even know yet the other reason he had for celebration.
“Well.” She made a little production of removing her glasses and tucking them away inside her purse before looking up at him again. “If it’s all the same to you, can we just head on to the B and B? I’m pretty tired. It’s been a busy day.”
He frowned, a little concerned. She’d always seemed to have the stamina of five strapping men, all packed up in one svelte, cool-looking blonde. But she did have shadows under her eyes when he looked closely. “Sure. You can take a bath. Relax. Head straight to bed if you want.”
“Max?” She looped her finger in the V of his polo shirt and tugged his head toward her. “What I want is you,” she said softly, but distinctly. “So can we go straight to the B and B?”
His mouth dried. He eyed the color rising in her cheeks, the glow of her eyes. “Yeah,” he managed. “Straight there.”
She smiled slowly. Slid her finger free and turned toward the parking lot across the roadway. “Please tell me you’re parked close.”
Thankfully, he was.
When they reached his truck, he unlocked the door and helped her up on the high seat, not bothering to pretend he wasn’t admiring the length of her smooth legs below the knee-length dress. Then he stowed her suitcases in the back and drove out of the airport lot with rigid circumspection considering how he felt like racing to the B and B.
Once they did arrive, she told him she had everything she needed in her tote bag so he locked her suitcases and briefcase inside the truck cab and they went inside with just her tote bag and his.
The second they went inside the large Victorian, Emily immediately headed across the foyer area to the opened French doors that led off the rear of the building. Outside, they could hear music and see a small crowd of people.
“Wedding,” the girl who greeted them said. “We have a lot of them here.” She handed over a large key to Max when he signed his name on the form. “But you don’t have to worry about any noise, Mr. Allen. You’re in the private cottage across the lawn.�
� She gestured toward another French door, this one opening off to the side of the property. “I’m afraid there’s not any parking available closer to the cottage, but you can walk from here.”
He didn’t care about parking. He did care about privacy. “Thanks.” He pocketed the key and went over to retrieve Emily, sliding his arm around her waist because he couldn’t stop himself.
She leaned back against his shoulder, glancing up at him. “Look at them,” she said softly, obviously meaning the bride and groom laughing together out on the fenced patio that overlooked the river. “They look so happy, they ought to be on the cover of a magazine.”
The couple did look happy. “Wonder if they’ll still look as happy in a few years when life turns out not to be as pretty as a perfect wedding day.”
She slid him a look. “Don’t you think their lives might just get better together as they go along?”
He shrugged. “If they beat the odds.” And then, because there was a little frown tugging her smooth eyebrows together, he wished he’d just kept his comments to himself. He flattened his palm over her stomach, lowering his mouth to kiss her right below her ear. “Wanna hear my other news?”
As he’d hoped, the move erased the little frown. Her hand slid over his, moving back and forth a little restlessly. “Yes.”
“Tanner called me into his office yesterday morning,” he began. His boss had looked so damn serious that Max had thought he’d done something wrong. “He said he’d been relying on me more than he’d expected, and that he’d been thinking about his staffing problems for a while and that he needed a manager.” Max still could hardly believe what had followed. “I told him that I’d put up an ad, same as I did for the receptionist spot, but he just shook his head and said it wasn’t necessary. That the spot was already mine. If I wanted.”
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