Only Mine

by Susan Mallery

  “Excuse me. What are you doing?”

  Aurelia and Stephen turned toward the well-muscled man in the dark suit. The name badge said that he was with security. His expression told them he was very serious about his job.

  He pointed to the camera guy. “You can’t film here.”

  “We’re doing a reality show,” Stephen said. “Didn’t the production company clear this with you?”

  “No.” The man from security moved toward the camera. “Turn that off now or I will turn it off for you.”

  “I’ll get Geoff,” the camera guy said as he turned and practically ran away.

  “Is he coming back or do I have to chase him down?”

  Aurelia wasn’t sure if the security man was talking to them or not. Apparently, it didn’t matter. He pulled a walkie-talkie out of his jacket pocket and spoke into it. She had a feeling that this wasn’t going to end well.

  “We’ll go,” she said taking Stephen’s hand in hers.

  Stephen glanced at the security guy’s annoyed face and nodded. “I don’t think either of us would like jail.”

  They turned.

  For a second, Aurelia wondered if they would be allowed to simply walk away. But nothing happened as they dashed up an escalator. As the stairs carried them to another floor, she was able to draw in a deep breath.

  “You okay? I thought you were going to faint,” Stephen told her.

  “I was terrified,” she admitted. “I can’t believe Geoff brought us all here without making arrangements with the hotel. It’s not a surprise they don’t want us filming. They don’t know what we’re going do with it. It could be a scam. Or a trick to cheat or something.”

  She had more to say but suddenly couldn’t speak. Stephen was riding on the step behind her. Without warning, he rested one hand on her hip as he leaned toward her.

  Aurelia did her best to act casual. Shrieking in surprise wasn’t very appropriate. Besides, she’d taken his hand in hers to pull him away from the security guy—although that had been different. She couldn’t explain why, but knew it was.

  When they reached the top of the escalator, they stepped off. She planned to continue her analysis of what it all meant, only she couldn’t. Not when it seemed as if they’d entered another world.

  Above them, the ceiling was painted sky blue with clouds that almost appeared to float by. They were in the hotel, but she felt like they really could be outside. There were stores and restaurants and…

  “Look,” she breathed, pointing to the narrow boats floating on a man-made canal. “Gondolas.”

  “Want to ride?” he asked, then urged her forward. “Come on. It’ll be fun.”

  There wasn’t much of a line, so in a matter of minutes, she was carefully stepping into the gondola. It wobbled on the water, but she managed to sit down without falling. Stephen sat next to her.

  There wasn’t a lot of room, so he was close. Close enough for her to feel the softness of his long-sleeved shirt against her hand and the pressure of his thigh against hers.

  “Ever done anything like this before?” he asked as he looked around. “No.”

  Never. Not even in her dreams.

  They took the leisurely boat ride through a winding course. People walking by stopped to wave. Music echoed off the ceiling and reverberated all around them. She caught sight of stores whose names she’d only seen in magazines. Everything about the moment was perfect.

  Then Stephen put his arm around her and it all got better.

  When they rounded a corner, a man was waiting with a camera. He told them to smile, then snapped their picture. Once the ride was over, they went to check on the digital image displayed on a computer screen.

  “You’re beautiful,” Stephen told her.

  Aurelia knew he was being kind, but she was pleased with how the photo had turned out. They were both looking at the camera, with genuine smiles. She noticed they were leaning into each other and looked very much like a couple. If one ignored the age difference.

  “We’ll take two,” he said, then paid for them.

  “I should buy them.”

  “Why?”

  Because she made more than him. Because he was still in college and this wasn’t a date. But she didn’t want to say any of that, so instead she simply said, “Thank you,” when he handed her the thin bag containing the pictures in a paper frame.

  “Hungry?” Stephen asked, pointing to one of the outdoor restaurants.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Me, too.”

  It was midafternoon, and there wasn’t much of a crowd. They were seated immediately at a small corner table next to a plant. Despite being in the open, the space felt private. Intimate.

  The server gave them menus. Even though she was hungry, Aurelia couldn’t imagine eating. She chose a salad and iced tea. Stephen ordered a pizza and soda.

  “You know why I decided to do the show,” she said. “Why did you?”

  He picked up his fork and turned it over in his hands. “A lot of reasons. I wanted to get out of South Salmon and this was a good way.”

  “A good way? You left college in your last semester. How is that smart?”

  Stephan rolled his eyes but Aurelia persisted.

  “Getting an education can’t hurt. What are you going to do when the show is over?”

  Stephen put down the fork and leaned toward her. “I don’t want to fly.”

  “I don’t understand. You want to drive back to Alaska?”

  He laughed. “No. I mean I don’t want to be a pilot, like my brother. I don’t want to go into the family business.”

  “Oh.” She knew all about family expectations. Despite the fact that she was nearly thirty, she had never once been able to please her mother. “Is that what Finn wants? He expects you to go into the family business?”

  “It’s implied.”

  “Have you told him how you feel?”

  “No. He doesn’t care about that.”

  Aurelia shook her head. “You’re talking about a man who flew a thousand miles to make sure you and your brother were okay. I think he cares a lot about you.”

  “That’s different. He wants me home so he can control me. If I were to tell him that I wanted to be an engineer, he’d fly me up to ten thousand feet and kick me out of the airplane.”

  “Now you’re talking like a kid.”

  “Hey!” He straightened. “Where do you get off saying that?”

  “Look at your actions. You’re not willing to sit down and talk to Finn. Instead, you ran off. How is that mature?”

  “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

  “I’m a disinterested third party.” Disinterested probably wasn’t the right word. Embarrassingly enough, she found herself more than a little interested in Stephen. Why couldn’t he have been thirty instead of twenty? Life was nothing if not karmically cruel.

  “Besides,” she continued. “If you’re one semester away from graduation, he already knows your major.”

  “The major isn’t important as long as I come back home.” He shook his head. “When our folks died, things were bad. Finn took care of us. Now he can’t let that go. He thinks we’re still the little kids who needed him.”

  “You should talk to him,” she said. “Why wouldn’t he be happy that you wanted to be an engineer? It’s a good, solid job.”

  “I’ve known him all my life, Aurelia. You’re going to have to trust me on this. Finn would never approve.”

  She wanted to argue but didn’t. After all, there were plenty of people who would tell her to simply stand up to her mother. From the outside it seemed so easy. But from the inside, everything was different. She couldn’t seem to survive the waves of guilt every time she tried. It was as if her mother had been given an instruction manual on how to manipulate her and had memorized every page.

  Stephen had been one of the few people to accept her limitations. “I do trust you,” she said.

  In the square, someone called their names.
She and Stephen turned toward the sound of several people running. One of the production assistants hurried up to them.

  “There you are,” Karen said, sounding breathless. “We’ve been looking everywhere. Geoff is furious. We’re all packing up and going home. You have to come right now.”

  Aurelia looked at Stephen, who shrugged. “I guess we’ll get something to eat at the airport,” he said.

  “Hurry,” the production assistant said. “We have to get to the airport. Geoff is furious that there wasn’t a date.”

  Aurelia and Stephen walked out of the restaurant. As they followed the production assistant to the elevators, he leaned close.

  “Geoff was wrong,” he whispered in her ear. “There was a date and I had a great time.”

  Deep inside of her, she felt her heart give a little tug. “Me, too,” she whispered back.

  He smiled at her and took her hand in his.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  DAKOTA OPENED HER FRONT DOOR to find Finn standing on her porch. It was a little after seven in the evening. She and Finn had managed to catch the four-thirty flight out of Las Vegas, which meant she hadn’t even been home an hour.

  “I know, I know,” he said, shuffling his feet. “You have stuff to do. I shouldn’t bother you.”

  “Yet here you are,” she said with a smile. “It’s okay. I didn’t have any hot plans.”

  She wasn’t sorry to see him. As for hot plans, he certainly qualified.

  He stepped inside and handed her a bottle of wine. “I come bearing gifts, if that counts.”

  “It does.”

  “I’m spending so much time at the wine store, the guy there wants to know if he and I are planning to run off together.”

  She laughed. “You know he was kidding, right?”

  “I hoped he was. People don’t joke like that in South Salmon.”

  “Then people in South Salmon need to work on their sense of humor.” She led the way into the kitchen and set the wine on the counter. “Is wine enough or do you want something to eat, as well?”

  “You don’t have to feed me,” he told her.

  “That wasn’t the question.” She walked to the refrigerator and pulled it open. There were salad fixings, some yogurt and a few raw almonds in a bowl. Not exactly man food.

  She turned to him. “I’m going to have to take back my offer of food. I don’t have anything you’d like. Want to order a pizza?”

  He’d already opened the drawer where she kept the corkscrew. “Pizza sounds good. I’ll even let you put something healthy on your half.”

  “You’ll let me? How magnanimous.”

  He shrugged. “I’m just that kind of guy.”

  “Lucky me.”

  She ordered pizza, then they took their wine into the living room and sat down. She ignored the fact that she liked having Finn in her house. That was a road without a happy ending. Instead, she focused on why he’d shown up.

  “There wasn’t a date,” she said. “So Stephen and Aurelia are in danger of being voted off. It doesn’t make you happy?”

  “Yes, as long as he goes back to college.”

  “You can’t follow him around for the rest of his life. At some point you have to let him be an adult.”

  “When he acts like an adult, I’ll treat him like one. Until then, he’s just a kid.”

  Dakota leaned back in her chair and studied him over her glass. He still wasn’t getting it. How his brothers acted had everything to do with how they had been raised and nothing to do with his presence in town. Whether he stayed or left, the twins’ actions would be the same. But how to get him to believe that?

  “Except for them going back to college without you dragging them, is there a win in this?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I guess there has to be. What if they never go back to college? I need to know they’re okay and that no one is taking advantage of them.” He picked up his glass. “Something I don’t want to think about. Let’s change the subject. Are you sorry we left Las Vegas early?”

  “I won’t cry myself to sleep tonight, if that’s what you’re asking. But it would have been fun to stay. There’s plenty to do. I heard there was great shopping at the hotel.”

  “You like shopping?”

  She laughed. “I am a girl. It’s practically genetic. You, on the other hand, buy the same shirt over and over again. And your socks come in a package of ten or twelve.”

  “It’s easier that way,” he said. “And what do you have against my shirts?” He glanced down at the light blue cotton shirt he wore. “I’m not wearing plaid. You should appreciate that.”

  “Oh, I do. I don’t have anything against your shirt. I think you look nice.”

  “You’re just saying that.” He sighed dramatically. “Now you’ve hurt my feelings. I don’t think I can talk about this anymore. It’s just so hard when a man tries to look special and no one notices.”

  She put down her wine glass so she wouldn’t spill it. Even as she tried not to laugh, she found herself chuckling. The teasing side of Finn was very appealing.

  “Do you want me to say you’re pretty?” she asked.

  “If you mean it,” he said primly. “Otherwise you’re just messing with my feelings.”

  She stood and walked around the coffee table. After taking his wine and setting it down, she tugged him to his feet. She held both his hands in hers and stared into his eyes.

  “I really, really like your shirt.”

  “I bet you say that to all the guys.”

  “No. Only to you.”

  She expected him to keep up with the game. Instead he drew her close and lowered his mouth to hers.

  There was nothing playful about the kiss. He claimed her with an intensity that took her breath away. There was hunger in his touch, a need that echoed her own sudden, powerful passion. She wrapped her arms around him and gave herself over to the pleasure of feeling his body against hers.

  He was strong and solid and powerful, she thought hazily. Everything she needed from a man. When he tightened his hold, she parted her lips and welcomed him inside.

  Want filled her. Her breasts swelled in anticipation of his touch. Her belly throbbed in an ancient rhythm that made her want to squirm to get closer. When he started backing her toward the sofa, she went willingly.

  Her legs had barely bumped against the cushions when she heard something in the background. An insistent knocking.

  “The pizza guy,” she mumbled against Finn’s mouth.

  “Let him get his own girl.”

  She laughed. “I have to pay him.”

  Finn straightened. “I’ll get it.”

  He released her and walked toward the front door.

  When his back was turned, she hurried out of the living room and down the short hall to her bedroom. Seconds later, she was barefoot, and the small lamp by her bed was on. Finn appeared in the doorway.

  “Is this your way of telling me you’re not all that hungry?” he asked.

  She tilted her head. “I am. Just not for pizza.”

  His slow, sexy smile made her toes curl.

  “You’re my kind of girl,” he told her as he crossed to her.

  “I’ll bet you say that to all the women.”

  “Only you,” he whispered, right before he kissed her.

  “CHARLIE IS BLOND to the bone,” Montana said. “He’s the sweetest guy, but I worry he’s not bright enough to get into the program.”

  “When will you know for sure?” Dakota asked.

  “Max will have a pretty good idea when Charlie is about six months old. Until then, I’ll teach him the basics and we’ll see how that goes.” Montana rolled onto her side and rubbed Charlie’s belly. “But you love everybody, don’t you, big guy?”

  The big guy in question was a three-month-old yellow Lab puppy. Charlie had feet the size of softballs. He was not going to be petite by anyone’s definition.

  “What happens to him if he doesn’t make it
into the program?” Nevada asked.

  “He’s given up for adoption. Max’s dogs are bred to be family friendly, so there’s always a waiting list. Charlie will find a good home. I’d just hate to see him go. He would have been the first dog I trained from birth. Well, six weeks. They can’t do much when their eyes are still closed.”

  The three sisters lay stretched out on blankets in Montana’s backyard. It was a warm Saturday afternoon. Un-seasonable for this time of year and they were going to be back in the fifties tomorrow. Two other dogs played in the yard. An apricot-colored toy poodle named Cece and a labradoodle named Buddy sniffed in the grass and chased butterflies.

  “I don’t get the poodle,” Nevada said. “Isn’t she kind of small?”

  “Cece is very well trained,” Montana told her. “She works with really sick kids. Because she’s so small, she can sit on their beds. A lot of times the kids aren’t even strong enough to pet her. She sits close or curls up next to them. Having her there makes them feel better. Being a poodle, she doesn’t shed like other dogs. She gets bathed before going to the hospital and carried in so she doesn’t pick up germs on her feet. That means she can go into some of the special wards.”

  Dakota sat up. “Is that what you do with your day? Take dogs to visit sick children?”

  “Sometimes. There are dogs that visit nursing homes. I take them there. And I spend part of the day training. The older dogs don’t need much instruction, but the younger ones get regular reinforcement. The puppies take a lot of time. And I’m working on the reading program.”

  When Montana had said she was going to start working with therapy dogs, Dakota hadn’t realized how much was involved. “You’re very dedicated to your work.”

  Montana rolled onto her back, supporting herself on her elbows. “I think I’ve found what I’m supposed to be doing. You two have known for a long time, which is great for you but left me feeling inadequate. I’ll never get rich doing this, but that’s okay. I love the dogs, I love working with people. When you’re lonely, having someone love you is really important. Even if that someone is just a dog.”

  Nevada sat up. “Now I feel like a slacker. All I do is design things.”