Jennifer Greene: The Soon-To-Be-Disinherited Wife

“How could it only be eight, if-”

“No big sweat. All those places are on a time zone that works early in the morning here. If I need to call Tokyo, it’s a whole different story.”

That was interesting information, she thought. Even fascinating. But the crazy thing was she hoped he’d keep on chitchatting. Just like this. For another few time zones or two. Waking up to him was even better than the dream. How corny was that?

“Note that I didn’t climb back into bed with you,” Garrett said. “For which I think you should give me at least seventy-five brownie points.”

“Because?”

“Because I knew you were exhausted. In fact, you were sleeping so deeply that I kept checking to make sure your heart was still beating.”

“That’s the most creative excuse I’ve heard for feeling a girl up.”

He nodded solemnly. “It’s the best I could come up with on a moment’s notice. But if it were up to me, I’d stand guard so you could sleep all day. This kind of tired isn’t fair, cookie. You’ve been carrying too heavy a load. But I wasn’t sure if I could let you sleep much longer, because I didn’t have any idea what commitments you had today or when they started.”

She closed her eyes. “I’ve got a project I’m involved with for Lily Cartright this afternoon. You know Lily, don’t you? She married Jack Cartright, partner in that big law firm? And since Lily’s pregnant now-” A cup of tea seemed to have made its way into her hands. She took a sip, found it hot, strong, sweet. Perfect. “She’s been farming out projects whenever she can find a-”

“Sucker.”

“Exactly. Anyway, she’s got a group of troubled kids. Teenagers about age thirteen and fourteen. Not in trouble with the law yet but aiming there-truants, cutting class, that kind of thing.”

“Don’t tell me you finger paint with them,” he teased.

“No. I’m doing a wall with them. A mural. Free-form. Not art exactly but using colors and shapes that work for them. It’s their therapy room, so they’re creating the whole thing, from floor to ceiling.”

“So you get to work with a handful of ornery, belligerent, smart-mouthed defiant teenagers for-”

A bowl of dewy-fresh raspberries lightly sprinkled with sugar appeared on her lap. “A couple hours a week. But Lily needs the help. And they love it, Garrett. How could I say no?”

“You frame your mouth like this.” He demonstrated. “It’s just a one-syllable word. You used to be great at saying it. Especially to me.”

She had to laugh. “That was a different issue, you devil. The kids are great to me. They’re no trouble at all.”

“I didn’t want to be trouble for you when we were teenagers either. I just wanted to get in your pants.”

“Well, sheesh. The last couple days, I’ve let you do anything you wanted. You just had to wait a couple of years before I changed my vote.” She added thoughtfully, “Come to think of it, I was stuck waiting a couple of years, too.”

“So what do you think? Was the wait worth it?”

“It was more- more -than worth it, Mr. Keating. In fact, if you’ll climb back under the sheets with me for a couple of minutes, I just might show you how worth it it was. I might even show you what I can do with a fresh raspberry.”

“My God. You are trouble.” He took the tea, stashed it on the table and then dived for her. Raspberries spilled everywhere. The bowl tipped on the carpet. His arms went around her and he kissed her, winding her on top of him, then beneath. As if all that teasing had been lots of fun…but not half as much fun as the reality of touching her.

Emma hadn’t realized any of those truths before. Such as when a man needed to touch his woman, the rest of the world didn’t need to exist.

And when a woman needed to touch her man, it was exactly the same.

They tussled and romped and played, until the friction and heat under the sheets caused a spontaneous combustion.

He’d seduced her with infinite patience and sensuality and tenderness the night before, but this morning was a hot, wild ride.

Power outages should have occurred from the amount of sizzling bright lightning between them.

Eventually she crashed against the pillow, all sweaty, an insanely beatific smile on her face, and he crashed on his back, one arm still thrashed over her, as damp as she was, the same beatific smile on his face.

Until his telephone rang.

They both ignored it. Eventually it stopped ringing. Garrett never acted as though he’d even heard it, never stopped looking at her for even a moment.

But the jangling sound slapped her back to reality. For hours she’d completely forgotten the shock and panic of her real reality. “Garrett, I need to tell you something serious.”

“Okay.”

“I tried to tell you yesterday.”

“I know you did. And I never meant to cut you off, Em. I just honestly thought you needed some rest. You’ve had nonstop stress.”

He carved a hand around her temple and cheekbone, smoothing away her damp hair. “It wasn’t hard to figure out what you were going through yesterday. I know Eastwick. The whole town found out about your broken engagement and was on your back all day to get the details.”

“That’s true. In fact, it was the reason I couldn’t get time to talk to you yesterday. But that’s not the problem I need to share.” She took a breath, intent on gathering her thoughts, but he went on, as if believing she needed soothing and reassuring.

“Reed’s going to be on your mind for a while. You care for him, cared for him. The town isn’t going to let you forget his name right away even if you wanted to. I promise I’m not going to add to that problem for you.”

“I didn’t think you would-”

Again, he interrupted. “If we come out publicly as a pair right now, the town will think you left Reed for me. I know how they are, believe me.” Clearly he’d worried about the kind of issues she had to live with in Eastwick. “So I realize we’ll have to be discreet for a while. But I can’t imagine either of us wanting to be anything but discreet anyway.”

“That’s true.” She hadn’t even thought that far ahead. Garrett obviously had. When she ducked her head, though, his knuckles gently chucked up her chin so their eyes were meeting again.

“Emma. I’m in love with you. It’s a new feeling for me. Terrifying and terrorizing. But I know this is right.”

A lump filled her throat. A lump both of joy and dread. “I never expected to feel anything like this, either. It was good when we were kids, Gar. But nothing like what I feel for you now.”

He nodded. “Still, we can take this as slow as you want. I don’t know how to do this courtship thing. So I’ll have to learn. I want to do it right. I admit, I’m a slow developer, but honest to Pete, I’ve got a decent IQ. So if you’ll just be patient and not freak out if I do something wrong now and then-”

She sat up, shook up now. “Garrett.”

“What?”

“Hush.”

“Okay.”

“Something happened yesterday. My parents-I knew they wanted to see me. I knew they wanted answers about why I’d broken the engagement to Reed, so I went there.” She sighed, then just blurted it out. “I found out I’m going to lose everything.”

“Lose what? What do you mean?”

God. It was so good to talk to someone who wasn’t going to heap judgments on her head, who wasn’t so close to Eastwick society that he’d be influenced by anything beyond…well, beyond her. “All this time, Garrett, I thought I had a trust fund, set up by my grandmother, that I’d inherit when I was thirty.”

“Okay.”

“It’s hefty. Several million dollars.”

“So. That’s great.”