“When someone tells you they like something you look for the hidden criticism?”
“Something like that.” She smiled back, glad for the easy banter.
Then he lifted his head and found her eyes again. “No wonder Robin thought you should be doing this full-time. These—” he indicated the completed pieces with a sweep of his hand “—are extraordinary.”
“Thank you.” She turned back to the pattern she’d been tracing.
“You know,” he said, “you ought to be looking for an investor. With enough capital, you could set yourself up to produce these things on a scale large enough to make it profitable.”
She shook her head. “Right now it’s just a labor of love. I don’t want to share it with anyone else. I guess it’s silly, but I feel very protective about my work.”
He was silent as he looked again at one or two of the pieces on the rack. Then he swiveled back toward her. “Ana, if it’s a question of money, I could—”
“No, thank you.” She kept her voice calm. “I wouldn’t be comfortable accepting money from you, even in the form of a loan.”
He nodded. But in that instant, she saw something flicker in his eyes—and her heart contracted painfully. As if he’d said it aloud, she realized he was thinking that when he bought out her half of the cottage, she’d have more than enough money to start a small business. Despite what she’d told him, he still expected her to succumb to the lure of the eternal dollar.
And despite the physical pull between them, he clearly didn’t trust her, or even like her very much.
At that moment, a sound that had been buzzing at the edges of her consciousness penetrated and she frowned. “Is that a car coming back here?”
“Maybe Eileen’s bringing my truck back,” Garrett said. He went to the big window that overlooked the lane and the grassy meadow beyond the birches. “Nope. It’s an older-model black Jeep, I think.”
“A black Jeep…?” She rose and walked to the window as the vehicle ground to a halt behind her old compact. The driver’s door opened, and she recognized the occupant instantly. “Teddy!” Fear lent wings to her feet as she bolted down the stairs and through the house in record time. Her friend was still walking down the wide, shallow steps on the path when she met him.
“What happened?” she called as she neared him. “Is Nola all right? Do you need help—”
“Whoa!” Teddy was laughing. He grabbed her elbows and shook her lightly. “Everything’s fine. In fact, everything’s fantastic. We have identical twin daughters.”
“Nola had the babies? Congratulations!” She was genuinely thrilled. She flung her arms around him and hugged him exuberantly. “When? Where are they? How can I help?”
Teddy was laughing as they drew apart. “Nola went into labor around nine-thirty and we went straight to the hospital. They were born at six forty-two and six forty-nine. They’re a few weeks early but the doctor says they’re in very good shape and as soon as they begin to gain a little weight we can bring them home.”
“Six forty-two?” she cried. “They’re only—” she checked her watch “—four hours old! Why are you out here?”
“Nola insisted,” he told her. “We didn’t want to tell you over the phone. She and the babies are sleeping right now so I was just twiddling my thumbs and drooling over their incubators.” Then he fished in the pocket of his light jacket. “I brought pictures.”
Ana squealed. She pored over the instant shots, exclaiming over the tiny, wrinkled faces in the pink knit caps. “They’re beautiful! Do they have hair? What are you naming them?”
“They both have curly blond hair,” he said, “though who knows if it will stay that way? And I think we’re going to name them Jenna and Danielle.”
“Jenna and Danielle,” she repeated, still looking at the photos. “Oh, Teddy, thank you so much for coming all the way out here and bringing these.” But when she tried to hand them back to him, he shook his head.
“These are yours to keep. Just promise you’ll come in soon and meet them.”
“I’ll be there this afternoon,” she promised him. They beamed at each other for a moment, then she took his face between her hands and kissed him noisily. “Congratulations again!”
He wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug and lifted her clear off the path for a moment. “Thanks.”
“You’d better get back. One of your little girls might wake up and need her daddy.” Ana turned him and tucked her elbow into his and they walked companionably back toward his Jeep.
He laughed. “I doubt that. Nola’s breastfeeding so there’s not a lot I can do for them right now.”
“Except love them and cuddle them constantly.” As he folded his lanky frame into the vehicle and the engine turned over, she waved energetically. “See you this afternoon!”
Seven
Garrett stood in the window where Ana had left him, frozen in place as he stared rigidly out the window. When Ana threw herself into the arms of the slender blond man, he made a guttural sound deep in his throat, a primitive growl of warning though there was no one to hear.
Was this the man she’d been sneaking off to meet? Teddy, she’d called him. He conveniently ignored the fact that she’d hardly been sneaking, that she’d even left him notes on several occasions telling him she’d taken a meal to friends in town. He watched as the guy gave her something—pictures, perhaps?—and they laughed and chatted together. When she took his face between her palms, kissing him as he reached out to enfold her in a hug, Garrett had seen enough.
Turning from the window, he stalked down the stairs, intending to break up the little reunion. But as he came toward the cottage door, it opened and Ana strolled in. She was beaming. “Guess what?”
“Is that who you’ve been taking all the meals to for the past couple of weeks?” he demanded. “You told me you didn’t know anyone up here, but the first damned time I turn around, you’re cooking for some guy every couple of days.”
All the happy light drained from her expression. She stopped just inside the door, staring at him as if he were crazy. Maybe he was. If so, it was her fault. But a little voice inside him cautioned: Just because you want her doesn’t mean you own her.
In a tone cool enough to lower the room temperature by ten degrees, she said, “Yes. That’s who I’ve been taking meals to. I met him the first time I went to town.” Then her eyes changed and he could see the growing fury behind the searing glance she shot his way. “How dare you?”
“I—”
“How dare you?” she repeated. “You’ve been jumping to conclusions—wrong conclusions—since the first day we met. You think I met some guy and promptly jumped into bed with him, don’t you?”
“Not exactly.” He knew he’d overstepped the boundaries they’d drawn in recent days. Hell, he’d overstepped the bounds of common courtesy a long time ago. What was it about her that brought out the caveman in him?
“Ha.” She stepped toward him and raised a hand and he instinctively caught her wrist.
“Wait a minute. Just wait a minute.”
“I will not.” It was a snarl. She shook her hair back from where it had worked its way free of the loose braid she’d worn while she worked. “Let go of me. I want to show you something.”
He glanced at the hand he still held then, and realized that she had photographs clutched between her fingers. Feeling a little foolish, he released her. “Look, I’m sorry—”
“At least you got that part right,” she hurled at him. She raised the photographs and shoved them beneath his nose, practically vibrating with anger. Her hand was shaking so badly he couldn’t see the images so he plucked them from her fingers and looked at…babies?
“Those,” she said pointedly, “are my friends Teddy and Nola’s twin baby girls who were just born this morning. Nola’s had a difficult pregnancy and appreciated the meals and the help I offered. They’re both lovely people and I’ve enjoyed making friends in the area.” She stopped. “Why am
I explaining myself to you?” she demanded. She snatched the photos from him and turned toward the steps.
He grabbed her arm and spun her around. “Wait.”
“No!” She wrenched away and stormed toward the stairs. “I am sick and tired of being judged by you. I cannot wait for the next four days to be over so that I never have to set eyes on you again.”
Garrett stood in the middle of the living room as she vanished up the steps. Her door slammed with a resounding thud and he winced. He’d never seen her in a real temper before but he should have guessed that with that hair there was the potential for fireworks.
He heaved a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. Dammit. She was right. He had been judging her, jumping to conclusions again, and he felt like a fool. Slowly he mounted the steps. Ana’s door was shut and Roadkill sat just outside it, a tentative paw raised and planted against the wood.
“What’s the matter, girl?” he asked. “Did she lock you out?” Stepping forward, he knocked on the door. “Ana?”
“Go away.”
Oh, hell. Her voice sounded thick and he knew she was crying. And it was his fault. Again. “Your cat wants in,” he told the door.
There was a soft scuffling sound and the door swung open just wide enough for the cat to enter. But as it closed again, Garrett stuck out his foot and held it open. There was a pause as she realized what he was doing, then the pressure on the door eased and he pushed it open.
Ana stood in the center of the room, her back to him.
“I was jealous.” The bald admission hung in the air between them.
He saw her slowly shake her head, as if the words made no sense. “What?”
Crossing to stand directly behind her, he repeated the words with more conviction. “I was jealous.”
She turned to face him, eyes wide and shocked. “But…but why?”
He cleared his throat, raising one hand to cradle her cheek, sweeping his thumb along the smooth skin of her throat and jaw as he wiped away her tears. “Can you honestly tell me you don’t feel it? There’s something between us, Ana, something that gets stronger every minute we’re together. I know it’s wrong to want you,” he said hoarsely, “but I’m tired of fighting myself.” Beneath his cupped hand, the bones of her jaw felt fragile, the skin silky smooth. He stroked the pad of his thumb across her lips.
“It’s not wrong,” she said against his thumb. “I’ve been wanting to explain for the longest time—”
“No. No explanations.” He was seized by a sudden, irrational fear. He could sense the intimacy in the moment; words would destroy it. With slow deliberation, he bent his head and replaced his thumb with his lips. “Just this,” he said. He slid his arms around her and pulled her to him, growling with deep satisfaction as his hungry body was cushioned by her soft, yielding female form.
For a moment, she stood docilely in his embrace, neither rejecting nor accepting his caresses. But as he slanted his lips more fully over hers and teased the tender bowed line of her upper lip with his tongue, her carefully neutral posture softened and she melted against him as she made a small sound. Her mouth opened to admit him to the hot, sweet depths, and her arms came up, first to rest tentatively on his shoulders, and then to twine more securely around his neck as the kiss deepened and the undeniable sparks between them caught and blazed high.
He’d felt himself getting hard the moment she’d turned to face him in the intimate confines of her bedroom. As she stood on tiptoe and pressed herself to him, he slid one hand down the elegant line of her back and palmed one of the sweet, rounded globes of her bottom, hauling her higher against him, pushing his eager flesh more firmly into the heated notch of her thighs. The fit was so satisfying that he groaned aloud.
Then Ana raised one leg and hooked it high around his hip, opening herself to him completely and suddenly he knew there was only one way for this embrace to end. Though he hadn’t woken up planning it, he was going to make love to Ana Birch today.
Pivoting, he took the few strides to the side of the bed with her still clinging to him. He set her on her feet on the braided rug beside it, then used his tongue to dip and circle, to slip into and explore every hidden corner of her mouth as he pulled handfuls of T-shirt free of her shorts.
He’d wanted her for so long. He’d fantasized about her silky body, the full curves of her breasts, the gold-brushed curls between her legs…and she was going to be his. Finding the hem of her shirt, he drew it up and off, then resumed kissing her while she fumbled with his shirt. When she had it off, he drew her close again, unhooking her bra and dragging it away, then pressing her satiny flesh to his. The feel of her bared breasts against his naked torso was a staggering delight, but he drew her away so that he could look down at the beauty he’d uncovered. Her skin was a creamy ivory, the pale rosy shade of her nipples a stunning contrast, and he brought both hands up to cup the sweet weighted mounds in his palms, brushing his thumbs over her nipples until her eyes went blind with pleasure and she clutched his shoulders, pleading, “Please…”
“Please what?”
Her hands slipped to the fastening of his shorts, wordlessly indicating her needs. But when she got there, instead of dealing with the button, her small fingers slipped lower to press and explore him through his pants. He nearly leaped out of his skin at the hesitant, intimate touch and he couldn’t prevent the shudder of desire that danced down his spine as he rolled his hips heavily into her hand. Reluctantly leaving her breasts, he dealt with his shorts, shoving them and his briefs down and off in the same motion. In another moment he had hers off as well.
Then he urged her backward onto the bed, coming down beside her. He bent over her and claimed her mouth again, giving all his attention to her sweet, responsive mouth until they were both breathing in ragged gulps. When he finally lifted his head, she buried her face in his throat. He explored her body with his free hand, stroking and petting every inch of her yielding feminine treasures until finally he swept his fingers down to tangle in the silky thatch of curls at the vee of her legs.
Ana gasped beneath his mouth when he extended one long finger, slipping it slowly, inexorably down through the damp folds of skin to the slick warmth inside. He pressed and circled her there, dragging his mouth down her body to suckle strongly at her breast as her back arched off the bed and she held his head to her with trembling fingers. Her hips were rising and falling in rhythm with his finger, steadily caressing his hot, hard length where he pressed against her thigh. At one such rise he slipped the single digit deeply into her body, pressing upward. She uttered one short, sharp scream and her body convulsed in his arms.
His own body was screaming for attention as he drank in her response. As she shook and trembled beneath him, he quickly withdrew his finger and rose over her, kneeing her thighs apart and guiding himself to her. She was hot, very wet, and though he knew he should go slowly, at the first yielding of her tender flesh, his hips flexed and thrust forward in one great spasm that propelled him deep inside her as she still quivered in the grip of her own ecstasy.
She screamed again and arched up against him, her hands sliding to his buttocks and pulling him sharply to her, deeper and deeper as her inner muscles flexed and squeezed. He was caught in the grip of an irresistible force, snared in a hot, silky net of need. He could feel himself losing control, abandoning all attempts to hold back and make it last, and in the next moment, he was seized by his own finish, hips thudding against her, back arched, neck straining as he delivered his seed deep inside her.
Inside her! Instantly he tried to pull out but her hands still held him to her and his own body resisted his commands. Unable to resist, he gave himself to the shivering, delicious sensations and let his body take over.
When the last spasm had ended and they both lay limp and drained, Garrett raised his head from the pillow where his face was buried.
“Are you on the pill?”
Ana froze. The shock in her face told him before she even opened her mouth. “No.
” She closed her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
He propped himself on his elbows and kissed each of her eyelids. “I’m the one who should have been thinking.” He grinned crookedly. “But I was busy.” Then he sobered. “Don’t worry. We’ll deal with it if there’s a consequence.”
Her eyes opened and she stared solemnly up at him. “I can’t believe you don’t keep anything with you.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I think I hoped that if I didn’t have any protection I’d have the sense not to give in to…this.”
She stiffened, and he realized immediately how he had sounded. “Ana,” he said. She wouldn’t look at him. “Ana.” He dropped his head and kissed her until she responded, then lifted his head and looked deep into her eyes. “I didn’t mean I don’t find you desirable. I was trying to…I don’t know, keep to the high road, I guess. Right now I can’t remember why that seemed so important.”
She relaxed again and he bent to capture her lips once more until he realized she was shifting uncomfortably. He needed to move; she was far too small to support his weight. Withdrawing and sliding to one side, he pulled her into his arms. Tucking her head beneath his chin, he lay silently, watching the patterns of dancing leaves in the sunlight on the far wall. If he’d ever felt so content before, he couldn’t recall it. Ana’s warm body snuggled bonelessly against him, the wild curls of her hair drifted over his shoulder and turned to fire in a ray of light that lay across their bodies. He felt…protective, he decided, cuddling her closer. And possessive. She was his now.
“Garrett?” Ana ran a lethargic hand through the dense mat of silky dark hair across his breastbone, following its path as it arrowed into a thin line down past his navel, then bloomed again beneath.
“Hmm?”
“What did you mean, we’d deal with it if I were to get pregnant?”
He went still beside her, alert to an odd tone in her musical voice. “I don’t know,” he said. “I just wanted you to know I wouldn’t walk away and leave you to handle something like that alone.”
Billionaire Bachelors: Garrett Page 11
