Lynnette Kent - Expecting the Best

“Oh, yeah? So’m I.” His gaze stroked over her as she came closer, and her skin heated everywhere he looked. “We’ll have a playoff sometime. But right now...” The sheet fell to his waist as he sat up and reached for her. Shelley sighed as their bare bodies touched. “Right now I’ve got other amusements in mind.”

“Show me,” she invited. And he did.

MUCH LATER that morning, room service delivered brunch while Shelley was still in the shower. “If you don’t hurry, I’m going to start without you,” Zach called through the door. “I’m starving!”

“I’ll be right out.” Turning off the water, Shelley wrapped up in a towel and used another one to wipe off the mirror. The woman there wasn’t wearing her usual mask, but she didn’t have the supplies to recreate the image. No makeup, except powder and lipstick, no rollers and mousse and spray, no jewelry. No clothes, except the blue dress. And the robe.

She dried her hair and combed it as best she could, donned the robe and then gazed at her naked face. How could she go out there like this? What would he think?

This time, Zach knocked on the door. “Shelley, come on. Your eggs will be cold.”

“Okay, okay!” Maybe he’d be too busy eating to notice her. She took a deep breath and opened the bathroom door.

Zach waited for her outside, wearing an identical robe. He curled his fingers into her hair. “You look great.” His kiss was sweet and soft and so gentle she wanted to cry. When she opened her eyes, he grinned. “Now,” he said, “let’s eat.”

They sat beside the window, watching the storm. “I called my mom, just to check on her.” Zach crunched his bacon. “She’s fine. The TV’s saying this is the worst spring blizzard in twenty years.”

She suddenly remembered what he did for a living. “Do you get called into work on days like this?” Would the end come so soon?

“Sometimes. I checked in there, too. So far, the power’s stayed on and the situation’s under control. I left the station this number if they need me.”

So she could keep him for a while. Shelley relaxed a bit. “I’ll bet the ski slopes stay open until the end of April, now, even into May.”

“We can hope. I’ll have to see about taking my sisters up for a weekend.”

A chance piece of information she’d overheard long ago came to mind. “How many brothers and sisters do you have?”

“Eleven of us, plus two parents. We never went anywhere all together because there wasn’t enough room in the car.” He winked at her over the breakfast dishes. “Lucky thing church was within walking distance.”

His grin drove good sense out of her head. With his hair mussed and his blue eyes bright and the red robe setting off his tan skin, he looked like a magazine centerfold. His bare legs had somehow tangled with hers under the table, so even getting a decent breath took concentration.

Shelley struggled back to sanity. “That must be why you have such magic with kids. Allyson is always talking ‘Uncle Zach.’”

“Your daughter is a special case. I manage to see her whenever Dex and Claire bring her to town—we always have a good time.” He toasted Allyson with his coffee cup. “She reminds me of my 14-year-old baby sister, Carol. Both of them are bright, impulsive, a little hard to control.”

The description certainly fit Allyson. “Your parents have trouble with Carol?”

Zach’s smile faded. “My dad died of lung cancer four years ago. That’s when I left the army.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

He nodded. “No reason you should. Carol took it really hard, and she’s been tough to reach ever since. I get called in whenever there’s a problem—she listens to me more than anybody else. But that’s not saying much.”

“A big family must be fun. I didn’t have brothers and sisters.”

“There were plenty of times I wished I could be an only child.” After thinking a second, he shrugged. “Still are, for that matter. These days, at least, I can go home and get away. You couldn’t pay me enough now to give up my privacy.”

“You don’t want kids of your own?” That surprised her. She’d never seen more perfect dad material.

“You’ll have noticed I make pretty damn sure that’s not going to happen.” He flashed that sexy grin. “Families mean complications, and I’ve already got enough of those—along with plenty of brothers and sisters to carry on the family genes. I figure I’ll be known as eccentric Uncle Zach, who spent his life standing the line between right and wrong but wasted his free time on wild, wicked women.”

He shoved the table out of the way, drew her into his lap and loosened the belt on her robe. “Like you, lady,” he whispered roughly against her skin.

Shelley gripped his shoulders, shuddering as his tongue traced the arch of her throat. “I admire a man with a long-range plan,” she managed to reply before his wandering hands made words impossible.

THEY GOT new towels, shooed the housekeeper away and watched movies late into Saturday night. Zach picked the first one, a big budget historical he’d missed in theaters. Shelley’s choice was romantic comedy.

“Aha,” he crowed as the credits rolled. “You’re a closet romantic. The pragmatic and successful Ms. Hightower enjoys love stories. I bet you read them, too.”

She sat up, pointed the remote and clicked off the TV. “Who has time to read?” But her cheeks reddened.

“I like historical romance myself,” he said casually. “I’m into history.”

“You read romance novels? You’re kidding, right?”

Zach grinned at her skepticism. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“But—”

He stretched out on his side and propped his head on his hand. “Good stories, good research, an interesting relationship. Is that strictly female territory?”

“Maybe not.” Her gaze sharpened. “But you’re not planning ‘happily-ever-after’ for yourself?”

The lady had a way of getting to the heart of things. He turned the tables to make his escape. “Are you?”

She fell back against the pillows and put her arms over her eyes. “Not likely. I have lousy judgment when it comes to men.”

Zach decided to assume present company was excepted. “Hightower is a good guy.” He’d better be, since he was now married to Claire.

Lowering her arms again, Shelley sighed. “Dexter and I were terrible for each other. If Allyson hadn’t come along, we wouldn’t have stayed together at all.”

“You can’t count her as a mistake.”

“Oh, no. She’s the best thing I ever did.” The smile she’d started faded away. “I know she’s doing great in Wyoming, but I really miss having her with me.”

Zach put his free hand on her arm, stroked the soft skin on the inside of her elbow with his thumb. “Dex and Claire would probably bring her down even more often, if you asked.”

“My life’s so crazy, so...relentless.” She shrugged. “And Allyson’s happy on the ranch, or at their second home in Cheyenne. I’d feel bad to tear her away from her friends and life there.”

“That still doesn’t mean you have to be alone all the time.”

Her dark gaze hardened and she pulled her arm away. “So which wonderful candidate should I choose? The guy who steals my credit cards? Or the one who hits and threatens me and, incidentally, cost me custody of my daughter?”

“Shelley, those aren’t the only men who’d go out with you.” What the hell did she think he was doing here? Maybe she did put him in the same class with those jerks.

She wrenched away to the edge of the bed with what sounded like a snarl, found her robe and pulled it around her. Yanking the belt tight, she stalked to the window—a delicate, determined silhouette against the black sky outside. Zach waited out the tension.