by Sara Orwig
She moaned softly, losing herself in their kiss, running one hand over his muscled shoulder, holding him with her other arm.
She realized how intense this had become and finally leaned away a fraction. Her breathing was ragged. His light brown eyes had darkened with his passion. Desire was blatant in their depths, a hungry look that fanned the fires of her own longing.
“You did well today. You’re taking back another check to help people,” he said, his gaze drifting over her face. “When we get back we’ll go to dinner and celebrate.”
“I’m glad you went with me.”
He moved away and she watched as he sent a text. He lowered his phone. “I want to wait a minute in case they answer right away.”
His phone beeped and he scanned the message. “You’re set for Wednesday,” he said, putting away his phone. “We’ll go home now.”
She had a tingling excitement. Part of it was relief that the talk was over and she had been able to raise some money for Royal. Part of it was wanting Aaron and knowing they would be together longer.
* * *
They met again for dinner in the dining room at the inn. Both had changed to sweaters and slacks. Throughout dinner Stella still felt bubbly excitement and when Aaron finally escorted her back to her suite, she paused at her door to put her arms around him and kiss him.
For one startled moment he stood still, but then his arm circled her waist and he kissed her in return. Without breaking the kiss, he took her key card from her, unlocked her door and stepped inside. He picked her up and let the door swing shut while she reached out to hit the light switch.
Relishing being in his arms, she let go of all the problems for a few minutes while they kissed. Their kisses were becoming more passionate, demanding. He set her on her feet and then his hands were in her hair. The long locks tumbled down as the pins dropped away. As he kissed her, his hand slipped beneath her sweater to cup her breast and then lightly caress her.
She moaned, clinging to him, on fire with wanting him. He stepped back, pulling her blue sweater over her head and tossing it aside. He unfastened her bra and cupped her full breasts lightly in his hands. “You’re soft,” he whispered, leaning down to kiss her and stroke her with his tongue.
She gasped with pleasure, clinging to him, wanting him with her whole being but finally stopping him and picking up her sweater to slip it over her head again.
“Aaron, I need to sort things out before we get more deeply involved, and if we make love, I’ll be more involved emotionally.”
“I think we’re in about as deep as it gets without marriage or a permanent commitment,” he said solemnly. His voice was hoarse with passion. “You can ‘sort’ things out. I want you, Stella. I want you in my arms, in my bed. I want to make love all night.”
Every word he said made her want to walk back into his arms, but she stood still, trying to take her time the way she should have when she first met him, before she made a physical commitment. Could they fall in love if she just let go and agreed to marry him? Or would she be the only one to fall in love while Aaron still stayed coolly removed from emotional involvement or commitment?
“Aaron, we really don’t know a lot about each other,” she said, and that shuttered look came over his expression. A muscle worked in his jaw as he stared at her in silence.
“What would you like to know?” he asked stiffly.
“I don’t know enough to ask. I just think we should get to really know each other.”
He nodded. “All right, Stella. Whatever you want. Let’s eat breakfast together. The more we’re together, the better we’ll know each other.”
“I’ll see you at breakfast. Thanks again for today. It was nice to raise the money for people here and to have your moral support in Lubbock today.”
“Good. See you at seven in the morning.”
“Sure,” she said, following him to the door. He turned to look at her and she gazed into his eyes, her heart beginning to drum again as her gaze lowered to his mouth. She wanted his kisses, wanted to stop being cautious, but that’s how she had gotten pregnant. Now if she let go, she might fall in love when he wouldn’t. Yet, was she going to lose a chance on winning his love because of her caution? She couldn’t see any future for them the way things were.
Five
The next morning after breakfast with Stella, Aaron sent text messages to three more Texas Cattleman’s Club members in Dallas. Stella had given him permission to plan two meetings, so he wanted to get them arranged as soon as possible.
Next, he drove to the temporary office R&N Builders had set up in Royal. It was a flimsy, hastily built building on a back street. He saw Cole’s truck already there and was surprised his partner had returned a little earlier than he had planned.
Seated at one of the small tables that served as a desk, Cole was in his usual boots, jeans and R&N Builders T-shirt. His broad-brimmed black Resistol hung on the hat rack along with his jacket.
“How’s Henry?” Aaron asked in greeting.
“He’s getting along, but he needs help and he still has a lot of repairs to make. He had appointments with insurance people and an attorney about his brother’s estate, so I came back here.”
“I’m sorry to hear he still has a lot to do. That’s tough. In the best of times there’s no end to the work on a ranch.”
“You got that right. And he’s having a tough time about losing his brother. I figure I’m a good one to stay and give him a hand.”
“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it. I think a lot of people are glad to have you back in Royal. You didn’t go home much before the storm.”
“I’ve avoided being here with Craig and Paige since their marriage. I’ve gone home occasionally for holidays, but never was real comfortable about it since Craig and I both dated Paige in high school,” Cole said, gazing into space. Aaron wondered if Cole still had feelings for Paige or if he had been in love with her when she’d married Craig.
“When the folks died, I came even less often.” He turned to look at Aaron. “I’m ready to leave for the TCC. Want to ride with me?”
“I’ll drive one of the trucks because I’m going to see Stella for lunch. She raised $12,000 from people in Lubbock yesterday afternoon.”
“That’s good news. Royal needs whatever we can get. There’s still so much to be done.”
“Cole, she has an idea—she’s worried about Christmas and the people who lost everything, the people with little kids who are having a hard time. She wants to have a Christmas drive to get presents.”
“She’s right. Those people need help. Christmas is going to be tough.”
“She’s getting some women together to organize it. Meanwhile TCC has its Christmas festival coming up. Sure, you and I are members of the Dallas TCC, so I don’t want to come in and start asking for favors, but I’m going to this time. I thought about talking to Gil and Nathan and a few other members. It might be nice to tie this Christmas present drive to the festival and invite all those people and let them pick up their presents then. What do you think?”
“I think that’s a great idea. I’d say do it.”
“Also, I think we should ask the Dallas TCC to make a Christmas contribution to Royal. We could invite Dallas members to the Royal TCC Christmas Festival.”
“Another good idea. We know some guys who would be willing to help and are usually generous when it’s a good cause. I hope the whole town is invited this year. Everyone needs a party.”
“I agree. We can talk to Gil.”
“I’d be glad to,” Cole replied, standing to get his jacket and hat. “I’ll see you at the Cattleman’s Club.”
Aaron waved as he put his phone to his ear to make a call. When he was done, he stuffed some notes into his jacket pocket and locked up to go to the TCC.
When he arrived at the club, he glanced at the damage to the rambling stone and dark wood structure. Part of the slate roof of the main building had been torn off, but that had already been repl
aced. Trees had fallen on outbuildings, and many windows had to be replaced. A lot of the water damage had been taken care of early while the outbuildings were still in need of repair.
Aaron knew that repairs had started right away. The sound of hammers and chainsaws had become a fixture in Royal as much as the sight of wrecking trucks hauling away debris. As Aaron parked the R&N truck and climbed out, he saw Cole talking to Nathan Battle. Cole motioned to Aaron to join them.
The tall, brown-haired sheriff shook hands with Aaron. “Glad you’re here. Work keeps progressing. We have the windows replaced now and that’s a relief. You get tired of looking through plastic and hearing it flap in the wind.”
“I told Nathan about Stella’s idea for the Christmas drive and how it might be nice to combine it with the TCC Christmas festival,” Cole said.
“I think it would be great. It’ll add to the festivities. The holidays can be hard enough, as both of you know too well,” Nathan said. “This will be a nice way to cheer people up.”
“When will Gil be here?” Aaron asked.
“He’s inside now,” Nathan replied. “Let’s go find him. We need the president’s approval before you take it to a meeting.”
Aaron worked through the morning, sitting in one of the empty meeting rooms. He did take time to make some calls to set up more appointments for Stella. He grinned to himself. She might not like all the appointments he planned to get for her, but he was certain she would rise to the occasion and he would help her.
Hopefully, the makeover might help her self-confidence a little. He would talk to her about dealing with the press and interviews and then see what kind of meetings he could help her get with people who would be willing to contribute to rebuilding Royal.
He had heard people mention her for the role of acting mayor if Mayor Vance didn’t recover and someone was needed to step in. He wondered whether she had heard those remarks. He suspected if she had, Stella would dismiss them as ridiculous. She had been too busy to take time to realize that she was already fulfilling the position of acting mayor.
He had to admire her in so many ways. And in private—she was about to become a lot more important to him.
He leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs. Stella was going to have his baby. The thought still shocked him. He wanted this baby to be part of his life. He had lost one child. He didn’t want to lose this one. And Stella was the mother of his child. He needed to forget shock and do something nice for her right now. Neither of them were in love, but they liked being together. As he thought about it, he was startled to realize she was the first woman he had truly enjoyed being with since his wife.
That was good enough to build a relationship as far as he was concerned, and Stella was a solid, super person who was appealing and intelligent. She deserved better from him. He glanced at his watch, told Cole he was going to run an errand and left the club to head to the shops in town. He intended to do something for Stella soon. Even if he couldn’t give her love, he could help her and be there for her.
* * *
Stella decided to start with Paige. They agreed to meet briefly in the small café in the Cozy Inn midmorning over coffee. Stella arrived first and waved when she saw Paige step into the wide doorway. Dressed in jeans, a navy sweater, Western boots and a denim jacket, she crossed the room and sat at the small table across from Stella.
“What’s up?”
“Thanks for taking time out of your busy day. I want to ask you a favor. I’m concerned about how hard Christmas will be on the people who lost so much in the storm,” she said. “Christmas—any holiday—is a tough time when you’ve lost loved ones, your home, everything. I know you suffered a devastating loss, so if it upsets you to deal with this, Paige, say so and bow out. I’ll understand.”
“No. The holiday is going to be hard for a lot of people.”
“Well, there are some people here who can’t afford to have any kind of Christmas after all they lost. It’s another hurt on top of a hurt. This is about the people who can’t afford to get presents for their kids, for their families, who’ll be alone and don’t have much, that sort of thing.”
“They should have help. What did you have in mind?”
“A Christmas drive with gifts and maybe monetary donations for them so they can buy things.”
“Stella, I think that’s grand. Thank goodness we can afford to do things at Christmas. But you’re right about some of these people who have been hurt in every sort of way including financially. I think a Christmas drive to get presents would be wonderful. I’m so glad you thought about that.”
“Well, what I really want— I need a cochair and you would be perfect if you’d do it. I know you’re busy—”
Shaking her auburn hair away from her face, Paige smiled. “Stop there. I think it’s a good cause so, yes, I’ll cochair this project.”
“That’s so awesome,” Stella said, smiling at her friend. “I can always count on you. I’m going to call some others to be on our committee.”
“If you need my help, I can ask some friends for you.”
“Here’s my list. I’ve already sent a text to Lark and I left a message. I’ll call Megan and my friend Edie.”
“I can talk to Beth and Julie. I know Amanda Battle and I think she would help.”
“I have my lists. We’ll have a Christmas tree in the temporary town hall or I can get some of the merchants to take tags and hang them in their windows. We can make little paper ornaments and hang them on merchant’s Christmas trees. Each ornament will match up with a person who will receive a gift. The recipients can choose an ornament and take it home. They’ll match up with our master list, so we can tell who gets what present and we won’t have to use names. So, for instance, the ornament could read, ‘Boy—eight years old’ plus a number to match our list and suggested gift ideas. We’ll need to have gifts for the adults, too.”
“Sounds good to me. We’ll need to set up a Christmas-drive fund at one of the banks, so people can get tax credit for their donations,” Paige said.
“I can deal with that because I’ll be going by the bank anyway,” Stella said.
“Fine. You take care of setting up the bank account.”
“Paige, I appreciate this so much. I talked to Aaron about it and he’ll run it past Cole and the TCC guys. I have a list of people who will probably participate in the drive. I’ll email it to you.”
“Good. I better run.”
“Thanks again. I’ll walk out with you. I’m going to the office—our temporary one. I think town hall will be one of the last places to get back to normal.”
“There are so many places that still need to get fixed, including the Double R,” she said.
“How’re you doing running that ranch by yourself?”
“I run it in Craig’s place, but not by myself. Our hands have been wonderful. They’ve really pitched in and gone the extra mile.”
“I’m glad. See you soon.”
They parted and Stella drove to town hall, trying to focus on work there and stop thinking about Aaron.
It was seven when she went down to meet Aaron in the Cozy Inn dining room, which had gotten to be a daily occurrence. She thought about how much she looked forward to being with him as she glanced once more at her reflection in the mirror in the elevator. Her hair was in a neat bun, every hair in place. She wore a thick pale yellow sweater and dark brown slacks with her practical shoes. The night air was chilly, although it was warm in the inn.
She stepped off the elevator and saw him only a few yards away.
Tonight he was in slacks, a thick navy sweater and Western boots. He looked sexy and appealing and she hoped he asked her to dance.
“You’re not in your usual spot tonight. I thought maybe you decided not to come,” she said.
“Never. And if something ever does interfere with my meeting you when I said I would, believe me I’ll call and let you know unless I’ve been knocked unconscious.”
She la
ughed. “I hope not. I had a productive day, did you?”
“Oh, yes, I did. Let’s get a table and I’ll tell you all about it, because a lot of it concerns you. I’ll bet they were pleased at town hall with the checks you got yesterday.”
“Oh, my, yes. We have three families that are in a desperate situation and need money for a place to stay. Then some of it will go to buy more supplies where needed. Do you want me to keep going down the list?”
“No need.” He paused to talk to the maître d’, who led them to a table near the fireplace. Mesquite logs had been tossed in with the other logs and the pungent smell was inviting.
Stella ordered ice water again. When they were alone, she smiled at him. “I saw Paige Richardson today. She agreed to cochair my Christmas-drive committee.”
“You didn’t waste time getting that going.”
“No, we need to as soon as possible. Actually, I kept $2,000 of the check from Lubbock to open a fund at the bank for the Christmas drive. She is recruiting some more members for the committee and I have Megan’s and Julie’s help.”
“I talked to Cole about it and then we talked to Gil Addison and Nathan Battle and the TCC is willing to tie the Christmas drive in with their Christmas festival. They’ll invite all the families and children to receive their gifts during the festival.”
“That’s wonderful, Aaron. Thank you. Paige was going to contact Amanda Battle and see if she will be on our committee.”
“That’s a good person to contact. So you’re off to a roaring start there.”
“Now tell me more about the Dallas trip.”
“Here comes our waiter and then we’ll talk.”
They ordered and she waited expectantly. “Next week you have one little fifteen-minute spot on the noon news in Fort Worth. This will be your chance to kick off the Christmas drive and maybe get some donations for it.”
“I’m looking forward to getting news out about the Christmas drive.”
“Good. That night I have the oil and gas executives lined up. We will meet them for dinner and you can talk to them about the storm and what people need. I know you’ll reach them emotionally because you have so many touching stories.”
