my folks I would make a few stops for them on the way home, and I don’t want to get back too late. Can I take a rain check?”
“Of course,” he said, though her casual refusal puzzled him. When it came to women, he was usually the one declining offers. And lately there had been plenty of them, no thanks to one of his coworkers who thought Adam had done enough grieving and needed to get back into circulation.
Not that Adam considered Katy a woman. In the relationship sense, that is. In his eyes she was a business associate. One who was looking at him curiously.
“What?”
“If it means that much to you, we can go,” she said.
“Go?”
“To lunch. You looked … I don’t know … disappointed.”
Had he? “No, of course not.”
“You’re sure? Because I can make the time.”
“Of course I’m sure.”
She didn’t look as though she believed him. “I know this has to be tough for you. I mean, as much as you want a child, they’re Becca’s eggs. It must stir up a lot of feelings.” She took a step toward him, reached out and put a hand on his arm. Why did she have to do that? Be so … physical? “If you need someone to talk to—”
“I don’t,” he assured her, his gaze straying to her cleavage. Probably because there was so much of it, and she was standing so close that it was right there, inches from his face. Okay, more than inches, but still.
“Hello!” she said, snapping her fingers in front of his eyes, until he lifted them to hers. “I’m trying to be nice, and all you can do is stare at my boobs? And people wonder why I dress the way I do.”
She was right. That was totally inappropriate. He was acting like he’d never seen breasts before. When not only had he seen breasts, he’d seen hers.
“I apologize,” he said, keeping his eyes on her face. “And no, I don’t need to talk.”
“I just figured you asked me to lunch for a reason.”
“I did. I thought you might be hungry.”
She sighed heavily. “Okay. But I’m here if you change your mind. Just call me.”
“I won’t.”
“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to lighten up a little. You’re so serious all the time. That can’t be healthy.”
“You’ve never seen me at work. I’m a party animal.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure you are.”
“So I’ll see you next week?” he asked, anxious to end this nightmare of a conversation. She seemed to have an annoying way of getting under his skin.
“See you next week.”
She turned and sashayed to her truck, hips swaying, curls bouncing. Anyone looking at her would know, just from the way she walked, that she had attitude.
And suddenly he was picturing her naked again. Wondering what she would have done if he’d stepped into her room, if he had reached for her …
“Sir?” Reece said, and Adam realized he was standing there holding the door open, and he’d heard their entire exchange. “She’s something, huh?”
She was something all right. He just hadn’t quite figured out what.
“She’s really quite beautiful, isn’t she?”
“I guess.”
Reece didn’t say a word, but his expression said he knew his boss was full of it. That any red-blooded heterosexual male would have to be blind not to think she was totally hot. But the last thing Adam needed was for his driver to think he had a thing for his surrogate. Not that he didn’t trust Reece implicitly, but there were certain lines a man did not cross, even hypothetically.
This was definitely one of them.
Katy assumed the week would crawl by, but before she knew it, she was on her way back to El Paso. Adam had called a few days earlier, suggesting she come to stay the night before, so she wouldn’t have to make the two-hour drive before the appointment, but she told him no. As nervous and excited as she knew she would be, sleeping would be tough enough without being in an unfamiliar room, in a strange bed. And for some reason, the thought of sleeping in the same house with Adam made her nervous. Not that she thought he would try something. It just felt … weird. But tonight she didn’t have a choice. She physically couldn’t drive home.
Her mother had offered to drive her to El Paso and stay for the procedure, then drive her directly back. She wasn’t too keen on Katy staying at Adam’s place, either. But the doctor said bed rest, and she couldn’t exactly sack out in the truck bed for the two-hour drive.
Adam still lived in the sprawling, six-bedroom, seven-bath, eight-thousand-square-foot monstrosity Becca had insisted they needed. They could have had a whole brood of children and still had space to spare. And though she loved her sister dearly, and was sure that she had been a very accomplished interior designer, her personal tastes were excessive to say the least, and bordering on gaudy. She didn’t seem to understand the concept of less is more.
Katy pulled up the circle drive and parked by the front door, next to the concrete, cherub-adorned fountain, realizing how utterly out of place her truck looked there.
She grabbed her duffel from the front seat, climbed out and walked to the front entrance, but before she could ring the bell the door swung open. Standing there was Adam’s housekeeper, whom Katy vaguely remembered from the day of Becca’s funeral, an older woman with a gently lined and kind face.
Though Adam seemed the type to insist his staff wear a formal uniform, she was dressed in jeans and a Texas A & M sweatshirt.
She smiled warmly. “Ms. Huntley, so nice to see you again! I’m Celia.”
Katy liked her immediately.
“Hi, Celia.”
“Come in, come in!” She ushered Katy inside, taking the bag before she could protest. The air was filled with the scent of something warm and sweet. “Can you believe how hot it is and it’s barely 10:00 a.m.? Why don’t I show you to your room, then I’ll get you something cold to drink. Are you hungry? I could fix you breakfast.”
“I’m fine, thanks.” She’d been too nervous to force down more than a slice of toast and a glass of juice before she left home. “Is Adam here?”
“He went into the office for a few hours. He’s sending a car for you at ten-thirty.”
She’d been under the impression they would ride to the appointment together, but she should have known he would squeeze in a few hours at the office first. Hadn’t that always been Becca’s biggest complaint? That Adam worked too much. Which begged the question, when would he have time to take care of a baby? But it was a little late to worry about that now.
Celia
