as she wiped her mouth with her cloth napkin and then began wiping up the spray of coffee.
“Overreacting much?” Adrienne smiled drolly. “You know my dreams always come true, so I suggest you get ready for some happy holidays, Sis.”
Alana’s reply was both profane and short, which only made Adrienne laugh. “If you’re not going to eat that, can I have the rest of it? Your nephew is hungry.”
Shoving her plate towards her greedy sister, Alana finished wiping the table and got up for more coffee.
It would have been easy to ignore Adrienne, but she was right about one thing. Her dreams were often uncannily accurate and the fact that they had both dreamed about Roland could mean something that she wasn’t ready to handle, not for Christmas, New Year’s or any other holiday.
* * *
Across town, Roland awoke in great spirits. He’d also had some stimulating dreams about Alana, but unlike her, he enjoyed every minute.
He stretched lazily in the bed and thought about the previous evening’s activities with a smile on his face. After months of lusting in his heart for Alana Sharp Dumond he’d made real progress with her at the reception. For once she’d been open and receptive to him all night instead of being friendly but evasive.
He’d first laid eyes on her at an early-morning surprise birthday party for Alexis and she’d been side-stepping him ever since. She was always friendly and pleasant when they were in a group, but whenever he asked her out, she had other plans.
He’d been on the verge of crossing her off his to-do list permanently until she’d finally let her guard down. Once he got to hold her the way a man is supposed to hold a woman, she’d melted into his arms and he knew that Alana wasn’t indifferent to him. From her immediate reaction to his touch and especially his kiss, she was as interested in him as he was in her.
Throwing back the covers, he rose from the big bed in the loft apartment he’d inherited from Jared after Jared and Alexis had moved into their spacious new house. Roland had liked the loft and the building that housed it so much that he’d bought the whole thing after he’d moved to Columbia. Real estate was a side venture of his and he never missed an opportunity for a lucrative deal. Since there was obviously going to be steady movement between Chicago and Columbia while he and the VanBurens expanded their restaurant empire, it made sense to own some living space in the city.
After his customary long stretches to limber up, Roland went to the bathroom to shower and shave, blithely ignoring his cell phone as he did so. He knew it was one or another of his sisters calling to bug him about when they would leave for Chicago and he needed a long shower and a large cup of coffee before dealing with them. He was driving the family home that day so they could celebrate the holidays with his grandparents, who hadn’t made the trip down with them.
Turning on the water full blast, he stepped into the shower and cleared everything from his thoughts except Alana as he scrubbed his body under the hot spray.
She had everything he wanted in a woman; she was smart, she had a great personality and a good sense of humor. And as a bonus she was gorgeous. He’d be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that he liked the way she looked, her beauty was a part of her as much as her intellect and ambition. There was something about Alana that drew him in like the song of a siren and he couldn’t wait to explore that part of her more intimately.
Roland was spoiled by the women in his life, there was no doubting it. He was used to the ladies lining up to get with him, as egotistical as that may have seemed. He’d always been a good-looking guy as well as being a star athlete until a knee injury derailed his college career. But unlike many athletes, Roland didn’t fall into depression and despair because he had always had a back-up plan to insure a steady income.
Besides the restaurant business, which was extremely profitable, Roland had a solid investment portfolio. His stepfather was CEO of an investment firm and he’d taught Roland and his siblings the importance of financial stability and Roland had shown a real gift for funds management. He was a triple-threat as far as women were concerned; handsome, sexy and rich and he never lacked for female companionship.
Lately, though, he’d been looking for something more substantial in his life. It had crept up on him gradually, this feeling that there was something more to life than wining, dining and bedding the beauty of the week. The feeling got more intense every time he was around Alana and he wanted to explore it to its fullest.
He turned off the shower and was about to leave the glassed-in stall when he heard a familiar voice calling to him from the living room.
“Don’t come out here naked, you’ve got company.”
He jumped and then groaned loudly. It was his nosy sister Pamela. He’d made a mistake in giving his parents the keys to his loft since she’d obviously appropriated them.
“What have I told you about coming over when you’re not invited,” he yelled at her. “You’re gonna get mistaken for a prowler and shot in the head if you don’t watch yourself.”
A chorus of giggles was all he heard as he went into the bedroom and dressed quickly in what he considered his driving clothes, a comfortable navy jogging suit that fitted his muscular body perfectly. The outfit looked fashionable and expensive. He carried his cashmere socks and his Italian driving moccasins into the living room and glared at Pam, who was in the kitchen brewing a pot of coffee.
“Why are you here?” he asked irritably.
“I came over to call shotgun,” she said cheerfully. “Unlike everyone else, I packed last night and I’m ready to roll. You know how impatient I am. I can’t stand being in the middle of a lot of last-minute scampering around. So I left. Where are your cups?”
He grudgingly showed her the cupboard where they were stored and sat on a bar stool to don his footwear. Despite her proclivity for making mischief, Pamela was a very organized person who was always focused on her tasks, which explained why she was ready to go while the rest of the family was still making preparations to leave the hotel.
Pam put coffee in front of him along with a plate containing a warm bagel with cream cheese and lox that she’d picked up on the way to the loft and he had to forgive her intrusion, especially when she offered to pack his bags for him. She traveled extensively in her job and she was the family pro when it came to putting a suitcase together. That didn’t mean she would do it quietly, however.
“So why didn’t you ask Alana to come with us to Chicago?” she asked. “I know you’re gonna miss her while you’re gone.”
“Pamela, is there any chance that you could mind your own business for a change?”
She looked thoughtful for a moment and shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. It’s too out of character for me. I like knowing what’s going on in everyone’s lives. That’s why I’m a reporter, duh.”
Zipping his garment bag closed, she dusted her hands together and announced that she was finished. “We can stop by Alana’s to say good-bye before we go to the hotel,” she said with a dimpled grin. “Then you can lay another hot kiss on her before you disappear. That way she’ll be longing for you to come back and you can pick up where you left off.”
For one wild hot second, Roland thought about doing just that, but reason took over. There was no way in hell he was going to try to cop a few greedy kisses with his notoriously big-mouthed baby sister at
