before he gently washed her body and then his own.
She opened the shower curtain and grabbed her towel from the rack, drying off quickly. Then she went back into the bedroom, leaving Conner alone in the bathroom.
She could no longer pretend that last night hadn’t changed everything.
Conner knew she’d been hiding from him in the bathroom. All night long she’d tossed and turned next to him. Neither of them had had a good night’s sleep. He knew that, for him, it was second thoughts about what he’d agreed to let her write about him and his family.
But he hadn’t made a success out of all his business ventures by backing down once a decision had been made. He’d see it through and manage it so that he was in control.
And that was what this morning had been about for him. Making sure that she didn’t have too much time to think about her story. He meant to ensure that she kept her focus on Conner as her lover, not the subject of an interview.
He turned off the shower and realized that he smelled sweet. Glancing down at the bottle of shower gel she’d given him, he groaned when he saw it was “birthday cake”–scented. Damn, he didn’t want to walk around all day smelling like this.
He got out of the shower and found a clean towel in the small closet. He dried off and then wrapped it around his waist. He needed a shave and didn’t have deodorant or a change of clothes, but that was okay—he’d already sent a text to Randall asking him to pick up those items and bring them over.
The telephone rang and he hesitated for a moment before leaving the bedroom. He heard the muffled sound of Nichole’s voice.
When he entered the bedroom, he found Nichole standing in front of her closet with a cordless phone tucked between her shoulder and her ear.
“Yes, Mom, I’m doing fine. I’m sorry I didn’t call you last night,” she said.
Nichole listened again as she pulled a dark sapphire-blue sheath dress from her closet. She hung it on a hook and then turned, but stopped midstride when she saw him standing there.
“No, I wasn’t out on a date. I just went to a dinner party at Jane Macafee’s.”
She smiled at something her mother said.
“She’s just as charming in person as she appears on the show,” Nichole said. “I have to go. I’ll call you at lunchtime.”
Nichole listened again.
“Love you, too.”
She hung up the phone and tossed it onto the bed. It seemed to Conner that she and her mother had a really good relationship. But how could that be, based on her past?
“My mom calls me if I don’t talk to her every day. Even though I’ve been living here for more than ten years, she’s still afraid something bad will happen to me,” Nichole said.
“My mom is the same way,” Conner said. “She pretends she’s calling to ask me about business or other things but she manages to talk to me every day.”
She walked over to her dresser and pulled out a matching bra-and-panty set. This one was cream-colored and had a lace trim on the edge. He knew he should be getting dressed as well, but he enjoyed the intimacy of watching Nichole slowly clothe herself.
“Are you going to keep staring at me?” she asked.
“I can’t help myself. You’re gorgeous,” he said.
She gave a quick curtsy. “I’m so glad you think so.”
She was funny and quirky and every second he spent with her made him want more.
And that made her dangerous.
Who would have thought that this woman would be able to rock his world the way she had? He was used to dealing with powerful, beautiful women, but Nichole was different.
She dressed quickly and he went over to his own clothes and began putting them on. When she was seated at her vanity table, he glanced over at her and noticed that she had been watching him in the mirror.
She quickly picked up a makeup brush and drew it across her face, refusing to meet his eyes in the mirror. He understood that she was a complicated woman and that no matter how much she’d enjoyed the sex with him, there were bound to be some heavy emotions inside her this morning.
“Are you okay?” he asked, thinking he probably sounded pretty inane. “I guess we can see that I’m definitely not a reporter given my lame questions.”
She gave him a sad half smile. “That’s for sure. And I’m fine. A little tired.”
“Tired sounds like an excuse,” he said as he buttoned his shirt. “Do you regret last night?”
She shook her head. “Not at all. Since the first moment we talked at the Fourth of July party, I’ve thought of nothing else but getting you into my bed.”
“Me, too. But that doesn’t mean that this morning you might feel differently. When I was first starting out in business, I set all these financial goals for myself and in my mind I thought once I have this amount of money I’ll feel secure. But the truth was the money didn’t make a difference.”
She turned on her vanity stool to face him. “What did make the difference?”
“A sense of confidence in myself. I had to trust that I would continue making the right decisions and that I didn’t need to stop at one good deal to ensure the future.”
She nodded. He’d told her something personal that he hadn’t meant to. Dammit, he needed to be more on his guard around her. And this wasn’t even her fault. He had to watch himself because she mattered to him.
He suddenly realized that he cared about her and not in the general way he’d thought he had. She mattered to him. Her happiness mattered to him.
“Thank you for sharing that,” she said.
“You’re welcome.” He finished dressing quickly. Now he was the one who felt awkward and that wasn’t like him. His cell phone beeped and he glanced down at the screen to see he had a text from Randall saying he was waiting downstairs.
“I’m going to get out of here. Are you free for lunch or drinks tonight?”
“Lunch would be better. I have to drop by the set of Sexy & Single.”
“Lunch it is—does the Big Apple Kiwi Klub at noon work for you?” he asked. “We can discuss the details of your moving in with me then.”
She nodded.
He stood up and walked over to her, pulled her into his arms and kissed her softly. “Have a good day, red.”
Then he turned and walked out of her bedroom, but he knew he couldn’t walk away from the new emotions that were flowing inside of him.
Nichole’s morning flew by. Her editorial meeting was long and boring as usual, but she was preoccupied with thoughts of Conner and the previous night. A couple of her
