by Diana Gardin
“You’re welcome.”
Giovanni brought them their soup, and Hope tasted it. She closed her eyes in delight and uttered a noise of pleasure that created the bulge in Reed’s pants to harden uncomfortably. She was doing crazy things to his mind and his body, without even trying. And he could tell that she hadn’t the first clue what a vixen she was.
He cleared his throat. “Tell me something.”
“Anything,” she said quickly. Then she recovered, and cut her eyes toward him across her bowl. “I mean, what do you want to know?”
“I want to know where you come from. Tell me about your family. You’re different than any woman I’ve ever met, Hope, and I’m dying to know why.”
She swallowed hard. He watched, fixated, as the delicate veins in her neck flexed with the movement. “What’s so different about me?”
“I don’t know, exactly. You’re humble, for one thing. Girls as beautiful as you usually flaunt it, use it to get what they want.”
She shook her head. “It’s my exotic look. You country boys just aren’t used to it, that’s all. All this long, dark hair tends to drive you all a little crazy.”
Her tone was teasing, and he grinned. “A lot of things about you drive me crazy. I can admit that. I’m hard as a rock under this table right now, and it’s not because I’m not a master of self-control. It’s you. It’s everything about you.”
He knew the rosy blush was coming, and smiled in response when it dawned like a brilliant sunrise on her face. “And that. You have a hard time reacting to it when I’m bold. Like you’re not used to men showing you this kind of attention. And the way that you work with kids…and the way you are with Violet. You’re almost like a mom to her. But you do have a mom, right?”
He was trying to slow down, trying not to bombard her with personal questions and his tumultuous emotions, but they were just rolling out of him like he couldn’t control it. The desire to know everything about her was strong, pulling him like an ocean current. He couldn’t help himself.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “We’re barely out of the first course, and I’m already getting personal. I’m used to just saying whatever the hell is on my mind. Just kick me if I’m too much.”
Her foot nudged his calf under the table, and he chuckled. “Okay. Ask me something. Level the playing field.”
Giovanni took away their empty soup bowls and placed salads in front of them. Hope nodded as she took a bite, chewing slowly.
He could watch her eat for hours. The way her jaw worked each bite slowly and carefully through her mouth before she swallowed. Like she was savoring as much as she could for as long as she could. There was a crease in one of her cheeks that only showed when she smiled hugely, or when she chewed. Reed was mesmerized by it.
“I have a question,” she said, breaking the spell that had him so frozen.
“Ask away.”
“I know you play guitar and write music and sing, but what else do you do? Did you play sports in high school or college?”
He grinned. Hope was asking him questions about himself, and that made him very, very happy.
“Actually, yeah. I played tennis in high school, and I swam for my high school team and my college team.”
She sat up straighter and her eyebrows rose. “You swim?” She glanced toward the ocean, and then back at him.
“I do. Why, do you?”
She nodded eagerly. “It’s the only thing that helps all of the stress of the day just…fade away. I swim every single day. And I swam for my high school team, too, for a little while. Colleges were actually looking at me during my senior year, but I had to quit the team when we moved and I switched schools. Again.”
Reed shook his head. “Wow, you must have been really good. What event did you do?”
“Two-hundred-meter butterfly and four-hundred-meter freestyle. I also anchored a couple of relays.”
He tried not to look too impressed, but he was having an incredibly difficult time keeping his awe in check. “Why’d you have to move?”
She sighed. She stared thoughtfully into the distant sky, her brow furrowed slightly as she considered his question. Finally, she spoke. “My mom’s pretty unstable. I mean, I think she has something consistent going now with my stepfather, Frank. But before that, she was all over the place. She’s been married several times, and dated more men than I can count. I spent most of my childhood…”
Reed was leaning forward, and he frowned when she trailed off. “You spent most of your childhood what?”
She was staring down at her plate of food, but she was no longer taking small, sexy bites of salad. Just then, Giovanni appeared and asked if he could take their salad plates.
Reed nodded impatiently, waving the chef away. “Give us just a minute before you bring the main course, okay, Giovanni?”
The chef bowed and hustled their salad plates away to his cart.
Reed reached across the small sweetheart table and placed a finger under Hope’s chin, raising it so that he could see her eyes. “What did you spend most of your childhood doing?”
She pulled back, and his hand fell away from her face. She shook her head, staring off into the distance once more, where stars were just beginning to dot the dark blue sky.
“I just don’t want to ruin the beauty of this dinner by getting into my family problems,” she finally said. “No offense, Reed, but you couldn’t possibly understand my issues. Not coming from a family like yours.”
Reed smiled wryly. “Oh, you think so?”
She shook her head, still not meeting his eyes.
“I’ll agree to keeping the mood light, Hope. But don’t mistake money for perfection where my family is concerned.”
That earned him a startled glance, and he smiled sadly at her. “We’re far from functional. Believe me.”
He noted the doubt in her eyes. He gestured to the chef, who immediately appeared next to their table with plates of lobster.
“So,” Reed mused around a bite of the deliciously tender shellfish. “I swim every day, too. We’re going to have to make plans to do a workout together sometime. Where do you swim?”
“In my stepfather’s pool,” she answered. She closed her eyes as she savored her meal, and he tensed. He had to physically keep himself glued to his seat. Hope sitting across from him with her eyes closed while her mouth worked to chew a bite of food just seemed like an invitation.
“I swim in the ocean,” he remarked. “You ever try it?”
“I’ve splashed around in the ocean. But not for a workout.”
“We’ll have to change that.”
After they finished their main course and shared a generous portion of chocolate cheesecake, dinner was over and they were both stuffed. Reed thanked Chef Giovanni and placed a hand on Hope’s lower back as she also gave kudos to the chef. With an almost shy smile, she told him that it was the best meal she’d ever tasted. The sincerity in her voice warmed Reed from the inside out; he could pinpoint exactly where in his heart the heat began and identified each point of his body it spread to.
“Ready to go?” he asked her, leaning down to murmur in her ear. Her soft, sweet smell engulfed him.
“Where are we going?” she asked. She looked up to meet his gaze, and his nerves were immediately set aflame.
He turned her to face him but kept a tight grip around her waist. “You aren’t ready to get rid of me yet?”
She slowly shook her head.
“Well, then,” he drawled. “I guess I’m gonna take you to a little lookout spot I know.”
She giggled. “Seriously?”
Hell yes. Seriously not wanting this date to end.
He guided her, minus the blindfold, back to the wooden bridge, where they rinsed off their feet at a spigot and replaced their shoes. It was fun to see her giggle as the water splashed between her toes. He made another mental note: Hope was very ticklish.
Thirteen
The morning following her date with Reed, Hope aw
oke on the surface of a pillowy white cloud. At least she felt like she did. She was still floating from the night before; her skin was aglow with the flush of happiness. As she sat up in bed and stared at herself in the mirror across from the bed, she couldn’t remember the last time she looked as fresh and…hopeful. Like she was ready to take on the world in a bold, new way.
And it was all because of one date with a hot guy.
A guy who had treated her like a total goddess. His attentiveness was unreal—at least in Hope’s mind it was. The way he looked at her, almost reverent, put her on a high no drug could ever compete with. She was literally giddy this morning, just thinking about him. And what was that feeling in her stomach? The jittery wings of butterflies? At just the thought of his name?
She looked down beside the bed, and her sky-high hopes plummeted when she saw Violet soundly sleeping, curled up into a ball, on the floor beside her.
She sighed. Violet stirred, and Hope nudged her gently with her foot.
“Again, Vi?”
With a groan, Violet rolled over on the white, fluffy rug and stared up at her sister. Her white-blond hair was barely mussed; its silky-smooth texture hardly allowed for a strand to be caught out of place.
“You know I can’t do it, Hope,” she said, her voice still groggy with sleep. “Sleep in that huge room by myself, propped up in that big-ass bed. It’s like we’re in that movie with all the alien wives. None of this shit is real. It will all disappear, and I’m not going to get used to sleeping in that kind of weird, parallel universe comfort. I’ll take your floor over that bedroom any day.”
Hope reached down to ruffle the younger girl’s hair. It sliced right through her heart, hearing that Violet was unable to sleep in the comfortable bed sitting unused in the room Frank had had designated as hers when they moved into the mansion. She was right, of course. Wendy had never been in a relationship that lasted. And while Frank wasn’t like the other stepfathers they’d had to endure—namely, he didn’t put his hands on them, or drink too much, or snort cocaine on the coffee table—there was something about him that left Hope, and obviously Violet, deeply uncomfortable.
He seemed to say all the right things, and his business, for the most part, was on the legit side of the law. Although Hope knew that not all of the girls on the employee list for Silk were on the up-and-up, Frank’s public rules were that it was simply a legitimate, upscale escort club, and that was it. What the girls did on their own time, Frank said, was up to them and had nothing to do with his company.
He treated their mother like a queen, and had never uttered an unkind word to Hope or Violet. But the girls had learned over the years exactly how to watch a man for signs of danger. And while Frank exhibited none of them, there was just something about his oily demeanor, about the way he hinted at the fact that he’d like Hope to be doing more for the business than she currently was, the fact that he speculated about how gorgeous Violet would be when she turned eighteen, the fact that rumors swirled around with the girls at Silk…he wasn’t to be trusted. And he’d never once stopped Wendy from hurting Violet.
“Come on,” Hope said, pulling her sister to her feet. “Time to get moving. Work for me and school for you.”
Within forty-five minutes, Hope was dropping Violet off at school and heading to the Center for her long day of work.
At least it was work she considered rewarding.
She stepped out of her car, and a wolf whistle met her ears.
“Damn, girl,” called Morrow as he strode toward her with two coffees in his hands. “From the looks of it, a date on Sunday night sure does agree with you on Monday morning.”
And it was true that she’d taken a little more care with her appearance this morning than she normally did for a day at work. She worked with kids all day, so she was often known to rock jeans and her Chucks to work. But today she’d opted for red slacks, black ballet flats, and a sleeveless blouse that clung to her torso just the tiniest bit. Her hair was pulled back into a long, low ponytail and she wore a touch of bronzer and eye makeup.
“Thanks.” She smiled. “Something made me want to dress up a little today.”
Morrow rolled his eyes and grinned at her, showing off rows of shining white teeth. “Yeah? Could that something begin with an R and end with an E-E-D?”
She shrugged as she unlocked the door and they walked back to the office.
She settled in her desk chair and swiveled around until she faced Morrow, who was still leaning against the doorjamb with a knowing smirk sitting on his handsome face.
“Fine,” she said, grinning. “It was amazing. Like, the most perfect date you could imagine, and then times that by twenty-five.”
Morrow gave a low whistle. “So he pulled out all the stops?”
Hope nodded, a dreamy, faraway look in her hazel eyes.
“Good.” Morrow nodded. “It’s about time. And you deserve it.”
“Yeah, maybe,” answered Hope. “But, God, Morrow. Every time I think about it I feel like I might float away from the happiness and the hopefulness of it all, and then bam! I’m hit with the guilt. What I’m doing may be good for me, although it’s not like I’ve ever seen a healthy relationship in my life and wouldn’t even know where to start. But even if it is, it’s not good for Violet. Reed is taking my focus off of putting away money for my sister and me. And the future I want to give her, that she deserves. And if Frank and Wendy found out about him…all hell would break loose.”
Morrow nodded. “Yeah, it’s a risk. But it’s a risk you need to take, because it might be worth it. What if Reed is everything you ever wanted? What if he could even help you with the Violet situation?”
“What if he’s the exact same man as every guy my mom ever dated or married?” Hope shot back.
“I think you’d already know if he was.”
She sighed. “Time will tell.”
She wasn’t sure if Morrow was right. Reed was already seeming too good to be true. Didn’t every man put his best foot forward in the beginning? She didn’t know him well enough yet to know for sure whether he was truly as fantastic as he seemed to be.
She spent the rest of the morning working in her office, delegating different duties for Morrow to complete at a worktable in the corner, and the afternoon playing with and tutoring the kids who came to the Center for a full or half day in the summer months.
By four thirty, she was spent, and she was tired of checking her phone for a text or a missed call from Reed that never came.
Why hasn’t he called today? Maybe he hadn’t had a good time last night like she thought he had.
Is he wishing he’d never taken me out, or trying to avoid having to talk to me again?
Morrow was staying late to wait for a parent who’d neglected to pick up a child. He noticed how antsy she was acting, and practically ordered her to head home.
“A swim will clear that pretty head of yours,” he insisted.
So she closed the door behind her and headed out into the parking lot in the muggy South Carolina evening.
She pulled her keys out of her purse as she walked, and a throat cleared just in front of her. She looked up, startled, and was instantly drowning in the sparkling blue abyss of Reed’s eyes.
He leaned against her car with an easy, casual grace and looked good enough to taste in his slim brown pants, fitted button-down with the sleeves rolled up, and skinny tie. She noted the wide brown leather cuff present on his wrist, and smiled to herself. His father may have wanted him to present a certain look at the office, but he was always going to be Reed. She admired that about him.
She sighed with relief at the sight of him, and her face broke into a grin that nearly split her cheeks.
“Hey,” she said as she pulled up short in front of him.
“Hey,” he answered softly. His hands remained in his pockets, and she tried to hide a flash of disappointment that he wasn’t pulling her into his arms.
He’d remained true to his word during
the rest of their date and had kept his distance. He’d agreed not to make what they were doing completely physical, and he was taking it so seriously she was beginning to ache for the feel of his hands on her skin again, for the secure heaviness of his body pressed against hers.
“What are you doing here?” she asked a little breathlessly. Her wayward thoughts were causing her heart rate to accelerate in her chest.
He finally pushed off the car and stepped toward her. “I’m here because the Fourth of July is coming up this week. My parents throw a huge party every year. It’s an all-day thing. During the daylight hours the people they know from the community and work come to network and discreetly get trashed while they talk business, and when the sun sets the younger crowd comes out to play.”
“Oh,” whispered Hope. Her breath was trapped in her lungs.
Reed watched her carefully. “Yeah. I had a good time with you last night, Hope. More than a good time, actually. And I wanted to know if you’d be my date for the party.”
Hope studied him. “You could have called to ask me that, Reed.”
He chuckled, and a lock of thick, dark hair fell against his forehead. She wanted to reach up and brush it away. His eyes were still staring so intently into hers she was having difficulty drawing a deep breath. “Yeah, I guess I could have. The truth?”
She nodded. Her heart was competing for a spot in the sprint medley at the Olympics, and her palms were growing damp with nervous sweat.
This is so absurd. Reed is a guy. I know guys like I know swimming. I need to calm the hell down.
Reed stepped closer and finally reached out to touch her. It was only one hand, but her eyelids fluttered as he grasped her chin firmly and stared down into her face. The strong, masculine grip sent her nerves into a frenzy and she clenched every muscle tightly to keep still.
“I missed you,” he said, his voice low with sensuous heat. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since I dropped you off last night. I barely even touched you during that goddamn date and my fucking fingers are on fire with the memory of what it felt like to be wrapped around you. I needed to see you, so that I could stop feeling withdrawals from not being near you all day. I’m losing my ever-loving mind.”
