The Marriage Recipe

by Michele Dunaway

  Fate had to be laughing at him, Colin decided. Maybe this was payback for all those women he’d dated. He’d wanted Rachel to stay. But some things couldn’t be caged, and Rachel was one of them. If he loved her—and he did—he’d set her free when the time came.

  SHE CALLED HIM on Tuesday, leaving him a message not to make plans and saying she was coming over. They saw each other Thursday, as well. This time he made spaghetti, the one dish he could do with ease. She’d loved it, and so had Colin. He fell more and more in love with her daily. Part of him dreaded the weekend and his meeting the following Tuesday. If he got what he wanted from Alessandro’s lawyers, for sure Rachel would leave him. As they snuggled and watched a movie, Colin wasn’t ready for that.

  Sunday arrived. He’d bought a bottle of wine, which was chilling in the refrigerator. He surveyed the great room as he waited for Rachel. No one would ever confuse him with Suzy Homemaker. Still, his attempt would have to do.

  He could hear her car turning into his driveway, and he met her at the front door. He opened it before she could ring the bell.

  “Hi,” she said.

  Could she be more beautiful? He could picture her arriving home like this every day, and deep in his heart he knew he’d never tire of her. If only she wasn’t so determined to return to New York.

  “Hey.”

  He stepped out of the way and reached for her coat, which she was taking off.

  She smiled and he was lost. “So did you just miss me?”

  She would never realize how much. He’d played golf with his father this afternoon while Rachel had cooked. But his thoughts had been on her all day.

  Before he could answer, she withdrew a small two-inch box from her purse. “I brought you a treat. I made snickerdoodles and I have three cookies in here for you.”

  She was already removing the treats, and he groaned. “You know snickerdoodles are my favorite.”

  Her eyes darkened as she waved one under his nose so he could inhale the cinnamon scent. “Mmm-hmm. I remembered from high school. I didn’t forget what you liked. You used to try everything I cooked, even the stuff that didn’t look very appetizing.”

  “It was all delicious.”

  “Liar,” she teased, lifting one of the bite-size morsels to his lips. Colin couldn’t resist, and he wrapped his mouth around her fingertips and sucked hard, drawing in the cookie. The pastry melted on his tongue, the sweet cinnamon creating a delicious aftertaste. He immediately wanted more.

  “You closed your eyes. They’re that good?” Rachel asked.

  “Didn’t you sample them?”

  “I had a few earlier,” she admitted.

  Colin hauled her to him and pressed her close. “So you should know the answer.” Then he brought his mouth down to hers.

  “Good, aren’t they?” he asked between kisses.

  “Oh, yes,” she replied, running her fingers into his hair. “Kiss me again.”

  “I thought we were going to eat,” he said. “I’ve got steaks ready to barbecue and—”

  “I’m feasting,” Rachel replied. He drew back so he could gaze into her brown eyes. “No. Don’t stop,” she breathed. “Not now.”

  She was pure temptation. He’d waited forever, and despite himself could wait a little more. “I need to tell you something,” Colin began. He couldn’t let either of them begin making love without him explaining about his trip to New York or how he felt about her.

  She tugged at his shirt, getting it loose. Her hands were immediately on his chest. “Whatever it is, it can wait. I can’t.”

  “It really can’t…” he protested, stepping back, the lawyer in him wanting to do the right thing.

  “It can,” she insisted, moving closer and sliding her fingers down to his belly button.

  “If you’re sure,” Colin said, ready to lose this particular battle when she’d removed her hands from his chest, took his fingertip and traced it over her lips. Then she drew the end of his finger to her mouth. Colin groaned and succumbed.

  He pulled his hand free and replaced it with his mouth. He sucked her tongue and his lower body quickened. Realizing his eyes were closed, he opened them. He slid his hands underneath Rachel’s sweater and found the lacy texture of her bra. He could deny himself no longer. He kissed her neck, the skin revealed at the V-neckline, and then he simply yanked the shirt up and kissed her through the lace.

  She wore pink. Somehow he’d known that she really was a girlie girl, given to feminine tastes. She kept up such a tough exterior, but beneath hid someone fragile. He would never hurt her as others had.

  He scooped her up and carried her into his bedroom. He set her on the bed, losing himself as his teeth nibbled, his mouth suckled and her body went wild.

  “That’s right, let go,” he whispered as he moved his kisses to her other breast. Then with deft fingers he began undoing the buttons of her jeans. He wanted her wearing nothing but her skin, so he moved himself between her legs and slid the denim material down. He felt her inner thigh clench as he placed a wet kiss there, and then he simply placed his whole mouth over the pink lace she wore and kissed her through.

  AS HER CLIMAX began, Rachel turned her head to the left. She could think of nothing but what Colin was doing to her, and the pleasure he’d cajoled out of her very willing body.

  She fisted the bedsheet in a weak attempt to get a grip, but found herself denied as Colin’s lips bit the pink material of her lace panties and tugged them down. She then was naked, her green polished toes the subject of his interrogation as he tickled the soles of her feet. “Cute,” he said before sliding forward to bring his head back to taste her sweetness one more time.

  She opened her eyes, and saw Colin concentrating on nothing but her pleasure. The intensity of this man overwhelmed her. As he brought her to orgasm again, she let her head fall back onto the pillow and forgot her worries.

  She’d ached for Colin for far too long. He was making love to her because he wanted her, no one else. She’d fallen in love with him. If nothing else, this past week had cemented those feelings. Rachel couldn’t deny herself this night, even if it caused her heartbreak later. The future could take care of itself. She’d think about it tomorrow.

  He brought his face next to hers and kissed her lips, and it was then she realized he had way too many clothes on. She ran her hands underneath his clothing, touching his chest everywhere. She tugged at his shirt, and, as if sensing her intentions, Colin broke their kiss, pulled off the offending apparel and threw it aside.

  “Do you know how much I want you?” he whispered. She arched her back and he moved his mouth down her body one last time before resting over her on all fours. She reached for the buttons of his pants and made him take everything off. Her fingers found him, and he groaned as she continued her caress.

  “Look at me,” he said, escaping her touch.

  Her gaze connected with his. He leaned over her, face close, blue eyes intense. Not one part of his body touched hers and she desired that contact.

  Colin gave her lips a quick kiss. “This is real for me. I care about you, more than you know. Once we do this, it changes everything. Are you positive you want this? That you’re ready?”

  Was she? Rachel blinked. She’d been certain the moment she’d gotten in her car and driven over here.

  He leaned closer, still not touching. “I might have a little caveman in me, because I’m feeling damn possessive about you. When I enter you, you’re mine.”

  Maybe it was the way his eyes seemed to twinkle or the way his eyes crinkled that took the edge off how serious his words were. Maybe it was just her overwhelming need to make her lifelong fantasy a reality.

  Whatever it was, she needed Colin as much as she needed to breathe. She trusted him, treasured him deeply. “Yes. I’m sure,” she said.

  Tears formed as the enormity of the moment struck her. They were joined. Colin was her other half. He had made her whole.

  “YOU OKAY?” Colin asked her about ten mi
nutes later. After each had used the restroom, they’d crawled back onto the bed and simply held each other without speaking. Rachel was afraid words might cloud things. Already her mind and heart conflicted.

  They’d finally made love and it had been everything she’d ever dreamed and more.

  Her decision to give herself to him hadn’t been easy. She still planned on returning to New York. Colin was like chocolate. Ask any woman and it would be the last thing she could give up if she had to diet. So how could Rachel walk away from the best man she’d ever met, who’d just given her the best lovemaking of her life, whom she’d loved since childhood?

  That was why, although she’d agreed to date him, she’d wrestled with her choice over the weekend. In the final analysis, she’d realized that she was like a tumbleweed, caught up in the whirlwind that he was to her, and unable to control her destiny when it came to him.

  Being with Colin, in the most fundamental way possible, was simply ordained, maybe from the day she’d been brought home to the house next door, where an eighteen-month-old Colin toddled around in diapers.

  She’d seen his childhood bedroom, but this adult room reflected the man he’d become. The furnishings were sparse, just a king-size bed, a nightstand and a chest of drawers. He had miniblinds, no curtains of any kind on the two windows flanking the bed. Overhead, a ceiling fan circled lazily in the vaulted ceiling, pushing the warm air down on their cooling bodies. All the room required was a woman’s touch.

  And yet, despite her strongest feelings for him, she couldn’t be that woman.

  Chapter Eleven

  Colin couldn’t believe it. By the time he left New York City around 2:00 Tuesday afternoon, he had the entire outcome he’d hoped for, including a check for two thousand dollars to cover Marco’s portion of the nonrefundable deposits. Colin had scored the hat trick.

  The win was bittersweet. He’d scored a great victory, proving his merit as a legal mind. However, at the same time, Rachel was free. Free to go back to New York and work, free to start her own business, free to keep her recipes. Marco hadn’t even bothered to appear at the law office, letting his attorneys decide everything. Word from Colin’s tabloid-reporter contact was that Marco Alessandro had already found someone new and simply wanted to put this “mess” behind him.

  Since Alessandro’s didn’t open until five and that was still a few hours away, Colin had flown home instead of going over to the restaurant and punching the man in the nose for declaring Rachel a mess he simply had to “mop up.”

  “So you like it?” the company representative in the copilot’s seat said, interrupting Colin’s thoughts.

  “Love it,” Colin replied. The Cessna 182 he and his friends had bought was everything they’d hoped for. For years they had flown a variety of planes and finally settled on this one. Of course, he’d had to beg to fly the plane first, but his friends had capitulated once Colin had agreed to pay for everyone’s round of golf at the next course they flew to play at. He had no doubt they’d hit him up for somewhere expensive, like Pebble Beach. He really didn’t mind.

  The day was clear and sunny, perhaps a good omen that maybe Rachel wouldn’t flee so fast. They’d been together all last week, spent the entire weekend together. He smiled to himself, thinking how lucky he was. She’d been insatiable last night, not that he minded. He called Rachel, got her voice mail, told her he had news and that he’d try her again but to meet him at eight at his place.

  His phone rang as he was getting into his car after parking the plane in its hangar. “So what’s going on?” Rachel asked.

  “I have news,” he told her when she answered.

  “Okay? So what is it? Is it about this past weekend? Or last night? Wait, for a minute I forgot. You went flying today. You love your new plane,” she said.

  “Well, that’s part of it,” Colin hedged. He’d decided to keep the secret that he had a meeting with Marco’s lawyers from her. He’d wanted to tell her but hadn’t been able to. He didn’t want the best relationship or lovemaking of his life tainted by thoughts of her leaving him.

  “There’s more?” Rachel asked.

  He adjusted his earpiece. “Yes. I have a surprise for you.”

  “Ooh. Does it involve candles? I got invited to a candle party on Thursday night. Since the last home party wasn’t bad, I’m going. I can buy you something for your bland, beige house then.”

  He chuckled. “I can make tonight involve candles. But then you better meet me at eight-thirty so I can prepare.”

  “No, eight’s fine. Candlelight’s overrated. And do you mind if we order pizza? Now that Easter’s over, my mom’s been on a salad kick. There’s nothing good to eat.”

  Colin laughed. That was his earthy Rachel.

  He said goodbye and disconnected, then drove to the quick mart located inside a gas station at the Highway 74 overpass. By the time he got home, took a quick shower and changed into more casual clothes, he had only ten minutes before Rachel arrived.

  However, she didn’t want pizza or his news. The minute she stepped in the door and kissed him, passion ruled.

  “SO WILL IT always be like this?” she asked him afterward, overwhelmed by how he made her feel. With him she was not only well sexed, but she was cherished. Loved, although he hadn’t yet spoken the word to her.

  “I hope so,” he said, tracing a finger along her jaw. “I meant what I told you the first time we made love.”

  She stared at the ceiling, watching the wooden fan circle around as she tried to remember. “About what?”

  “You being mine. Not that I own you or anything. But Rachel, you’re it for me. I don’t think anyone could ever follow you.”

  That could simply not be possible. “You’re giving me too much credit,” she protested.

  He leaned on an elbow, edging closer. “No, you’re not giving yourself enough credit. You’ve stolen my heart. I knew you would going into this, and I’m prepared. Or so I thought until…” His words drifted off.

  “Lovemaking does change everything, doesn’t it? And then it changes nothing,” Rachel said with a sigh, depressed. She loved him, yet her city beckoned. “At some point, I’m going to have to walk away from you and go home.” She paused as a hopeful thought took hold. “You could come with me.”

  “To New York?”

  “Yes.” While making the offer surprised her, the idea held appeal. “I’m sure they need attorneys there.”

  He shook his head, dashing the possibility. “I’ve thought about it, believe me. I even made a pro-con list last week. I’m up for partner this year. I don’t want to be a faceless attorney in one of those supersize firms that concentrate only on billable hours. I like being in a small town, where everyone knows everyone else and actually cares about your well-being. Lancaster and Morris is my father’s legacy and my destiny. Once I stopped running and accepted who I am, I was content with my future, and ready to embrace it.”

  “Morrisville is so stifling,” she argued, a tad angry at his rejection.

  “Not when you have a plane. It’s just a jumping-off point. Chris—” he named one of his plane partners “—is taking his wife to Maui for a week. He plans to fly over the islands, take pictures of the volcano vents and lava flows that other tourists don’t get to see.”

  That sounded absolutely wonderful and she focused on that to calm her tumultuous feelings. “I’ve never been to Hawaii.”

  “Neither have I. Let’s go,” he proposed.

  She stared at him. He was serious, and the invitation so tempting. But life wasn’t that simple or easy, at least not in her experience. She exhaled slowly, accepting the sad truth.

  “You’d hate New York City,” she stated, getting back to the matter at hand.

  He nodded. “Living there, yes. But I think it’s a great place to visit. You might even get me to one of those Broadway shows once in a while. I’ve heard many of them are quite good.”

  “Would you do it for me?”

  She meant live
there, and he understood, because he shook his head and said, “We’d hate each other.”

  Rachel closed her eyes, savoring the bittersweet irony. He’d move to New York and be with her. But he wouldn’t be happy. She couldn’t relocate Colin.

  “I know. You’d resent it there,” she said quietly, accepting the truth.

  “I’d try not to,” he replied. “But it’s not right for me. We’d suffer. Maybe fight. I think that would be worse. If…”

  She put a finger to her lips, silencing him. He’d give her the world if he could, but this was not something he could do. She slowly shook her head as sadness consumed her.

  “You’re right. It won’t work. It’s like caging a wild animal. Animals need their habitats. You’re one who can’t be transplanted. You thrive here.”

  “I do. I also believe you will, as well. You could move back here permanently if you really wanted to. Like you did those home parties, I think you’d discover life isn’t so bad. You stopped running away long ago. Admit it, Rachel, being home this time wasn’t water torture. Was probably even better than you hoped. You believe a big city is what’s necessary to launch your bakery. But you can do that here. You’ve been happy since you returned.”

  No, living in New York made her happy. But it hadn’t made her content. There was a huge difference between the two. Contentment lasted. Happiness could be fleeting. For the first time, she hesitated. Could her future really be here? In Morrisville with Colin? Rachel’s stomach growled, saving her from a reply. “Oops.”

  “Let’s order that pizza,” Colin said. “Domino’s in Batesville delivers here. What do you want?”

  “Everything,” she said, referring to more than just pizza toppings.

  About forty minutes later, she and Colin had both dressed and were sitting on his great-room sofa, eating a large thin-crust deluxe.

  “So you said you had news,” she said, flipping off the television. Now that she and Colin were dressed, she wasn’t interested in the nightly news, but in what Colin had to tell her.