life from the rut it was in?
Dare she hope that this would change things between them? That he would look at her and see the warm, loving—and sexy, damn it—woman behind the loyal assistant who’d been at his side like a faithful hound for the past ten years?
If not, maybe it really was time to move on.
Before leaving the room, she switched on his cell phone and turned the ring volume all the way up. If Diane had something to discuss, or if there was an emergency at work, he was damned well fit to answer the call.
In the hallway, she scrambled into her clothes, cramming her shirttail into her khakis and hooking the belt with shaking hands. The memory of her time in Buck’s bed already felt like some kind of crazy dream. It would be up to Buck to decide whether or not to make it real.
Downstairs, she fed the dog and changed his water. Then she left. She was no longer worried about Buck’s condition. He’d given her ample proof that he was going to be fine. She would go back to work and let him sleep off whatever was in his system. Meanwhile, there were plenty of other things to demand her attention.
Twenty minutes after leaving Buck’s place, she pulled into the hotel parking lot, switched off the Jeep’s ignition and took a moment to compose herself. Her pulse was still racing at the memory of the time she’d spent in his bed. When she’d driven to his canyon home, the last thing she’d expected was to sleep with the man. Getting back to normal was going to be a challenge. And she couldn’t repress the surge of excitement at the thought that they might be on the verge of a new normal.
But until then, she had to pull herself together. Glancing down, she smoothed her khaki shirt with the Bucket List logo on the front pocket, then climbed out of the vehicle and strode across the parking lot to the hotel entrance.
The hotel lobby was a showplace. Built in rustic style, like the lodges at the nearby Grand Canyon, it featured walls of red sandstone slabs, massive open-beam construction and a slate floor. At the far end, a stone fireplace rose to the ceiling. Between the entrance and the front desk, a waterfall cascaded down a face of natural rock. Exquisite Navajo rugs hung on the walls, and the gift shops sold real Native American textiles, jewelry and pottery. There was no tourist junk. Buck had insisted that everything sold here be not only authentic but of gallery quality.
Terri smiled a greeting to the clerks as she passed the front desk, then darted down a hallway to the women employees’ restroom. When she checked herself in the mirror, she expected to see her usual ordinary features—the copper-flecked brown eyes and no-nonsense brows, the square chin, the straight nose sprinkled with freckles, all arranged into the businesslike expression she wore at work. But the face gazing back at her was almost a stranger’s—cheeks flushed, moist lips swollen, eyes large and bright in a surprisingly sensual face. Nobody who saw her could help but notice the difference.
Good grief! Why not simply hang a sign around her neck reading I Just Had Hot Sex with the Boss?
With a shake of her head, she turned on the cold water, splashed her face and blotted it dry with a paper towel. Slicking her lips with the colored gloss she carried in her purse and smoothing her hair back with her damp hands, she called it good. Duty awaited.
The booking and management office for Bucket List Adventures was down the hall in its own wing of the hotel complex. It consisted of an open area for the staff, break and conference rooms, restrooms, a modest office for Terri, and a spacious office for Buck.
Terri breezed in from the covered hallway that connected with the hotel, trying to look as if nothing had happened. She found Bob in her office, sitting back in her chair with his boots on her desk and spilled coffee leaving a trail across the mahogany surface. A spark of annoyance flared. But she bit back a sharp comment. She’d asked the boy to cover the phones. He probably didn’t know how to transfer the calls to his own desk.
“So catch me up,” she said. “What’s happening?”
Making no move to get out of her chair, though he did at least have the grace to drop his feet off the desk and look a bit embarrassed, he picked up a yellow notepad. At least he knew enough to write down messages. “The skydive’s covered,” he said. “Jay called another instructor who was willing to take it.”
“That’s a relief.” And it was. After this morning, she was in no condition to parachute out of a plane with the seventy-year-old woman who was jumping to celebrate her birthday. “Anything else?” she asked.
“Diane called again. She wanted to know where Buck was. I told her you’d gone to look for him.” He glanced up at her. “Did you have any luck?”
Terri willed her expression to freeze. “Buck isn’t feeling well. He’d turned off his phone so he could get some rest, that’s all.”
“Well, I guess I should give you your desk back.” He stood then, a gangly figure who towered over Terri by a head. “Hey, did you lose your earring?” he asked.
“Oh!” Terri’s hands went to her earlobes. One earring was in place. The other was missing.
The little turquoise-inlaid silver earrings in the shape of Kokopelli, the Native American flute-playing deity, were her favorite pair. She’d received a lot of compliments on them. Even Buck had noticed them.
The missing earring could have fallen off anywhere. But it hadn’t. Terri’s gut feeling told her exactly how and where she’d lost it.
Buck would be sure to recognize it. And that meant that he’d have to acknowledge what had occurred between them. Her stomach roiled in fear and anticipation. This could be a disaster...or it could be the start of something amazing. And she had no way of knowing which until Buck finally arrived.
Buck’s ringing cell phone blasted him out of a sound sleep. Cursing, he fumbled for the device on the nightstand and sent it clattering to the floor.
Damn! He could’ve sworn he’d turned that phone off before collapsing into bed last night. And he would never set the ringer up to its full, earsplitting volume. What the devil was going on?
Grabbing the phone from the floor, he pushed the answer button. “Hullo?” he mumbled.
“Where’ve you been, Buck?” As always, Diane’s voice scraped his nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard. The worst of it was, between the daughter they shared and the chunk of his company she owned, he’d likely be hearing that shrill voice for the rest of his life.
“Sick.” He forced the word through a throat that felt as if he’d swallowed glue.
“Well, get unsick. It’s almost noon. Did you get my voice-mail messages? I must’ve left you three or four.”
“Haven’t checked.”
“I’ll save you the trouble—I need you to pick up Quinn.”
His daughter’s name jarred him to alertness. “Weren’t you supposed to bring her here?”
“I’ve got people coming for a retreat. I could bring her up next week, but she’s all packed and ready to go. If she has to wait, she’ll be so disappointed.”
“Fine. I’ll send
