She slid out from underneath Rick’s arm and scooted slowly out of bed. She grabbed her clothes and tiptoed quietly into the other room. She called a cab and dressed as quickly as she could. She arrived home and was thankful to discover her aunt sound asleep. She crawled into bed, her head spinning.
She had spent so much time hating Rick Parker. How could so much change so fast? As much as she was tempted to explain her behavior as an aberration, the truth of the matter was that she had known exactly what she was doing and to whom she was making love. And she hadn’t cared one iota. It had been worth every single orgasm.
After a nap and a shower, she headed back toward the office, eager to return to the normalcy of work. It was only six o’clock, yet she felt certain that a long, hard day was just what she needed to snap her back to reality. But as she made her way through the office, occasionally passing a half-empty glass of champagne, she couldn’t help but feel a little sad the evening was over. Although she knew she shouldn’t, she couldn’t help herself from wishing she could go back in time. That she could once again feel the strength of Rick’s arms around her and the emotional power of their lovemaking.
She stopped. There, standing in her office, leaning up against her desk as if waiting for her, was Rick. His normally slicked-back hair was tousled and he was unshaven, wearing jeans and a black turtleneck. He had, she thought, never looked so good.
“Good morning,” he said.
“What are you doing here so early?”
He paused for a moment and said, “I came looking for you.” He sighed. “I have a meeting and I wanted to talk to you before everyone else arrived.”
But she didn’t want to hear any I-don’t-know-what-got-into-me excuses. That was exactly the reason she had left so early.
“Look, Rick,” she said, raising her hand. “Let’s not make a big deal about this. It happened. Let’s just forget about it.”
She thought she saw him hesitate. That was what he was going to say, wasn’t it? She felt like kicking herself. Why had she cut him off? Why couldn’t she just let the man speak?
“Forget about it? Is that what you want?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said as confidently as she could, flashing him her best all-business smile as she sat behind her desk. “I thought I’d try and set up a look-through at Mara del Ray later today,” she said, referring to the Florida property she had told him about. “I figure including air time, it would take us about eight hours.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Rick, if you’re worried about what happened last night, you don’t need to be. It was just one of those things, a one-night stand, so to speak. We got it out of our systems and now we can move on.” She tried to sound as casual as she could.
“It’s not that,” he said.
Well then, what was it? Was he still mad at her about Antigua? “I thought we worked out our difficulties last night. You said you were willing to look at the property and we have to do it today. I don’t want to risk losing the buyers for Antigua.”
“Look, Lessa. I have…another commitment this afternoon. A personal commitment. I can’t make it.”
Her heart fell. Another commitment. “What’s her name?” she asked quietly.
He glanced toward her. “Her name?”
Normally she wasn’t a masochist but, in this case, she couldn’t seem to help herself.
He shook his head. “I don’t have a date,” he said. “Believe me, if that was the case, I’d cancel it. I have a family obligation.”
She felt a sense of relief wash over her. His family.
He smiled and said, “My sister’s getting married.”
“On a Wednesday?”
“She wanted a Christmas wedding and it was the only time she could get the reception hall she wanted. It’s a…well, a last-minute affair.” He hesitated a moment and said, “Maybe you should come.”
“What?” He wanted to introduce her to his family?
“Makes sense. The wedding’s in White Plains at two o’clock. There’s an airport in Westchester. After it, we’ll leave directly for Florida. We should get there before sundown.”
“I’d love to, but-” She hesitated. “Do you think it’s a good idea? How’s your sister going to feel about you bringing a co-worker to her wedding?”
“She knew she ran a risk having her wedding in the middle of a work week. She’ll just be happy that I’m there.”
She saw herself surrounded by his devoted and loving family, all asking the same questions: Who are you and what are you doing with Rick?
“It’s business,” he said, summing it all up.
He made it sound so simple, as if meeting his family would be the most inconsequential event of the year.
Ten
Lessa arrived home shortly after lunch. She had given herself less than a half hour to get ready for the wedding and throw some items into a bag on the off-chance they ended up staying over. It was a time squeeze, but she had no choice. Her aunt had a lunch date and Lessa wanted to arrive home after she was gone so that she could postpone the confrontation she knew was coming. After all, she would have to confess her love affair to her aunt. She couldn’t keep something that big a secret.
Unfortunately for her, Gran’s lunch date had been postponed and she was still there when Lessa got home. As Lessa hurried to get ready, her aunt took a seat on the bed and wasted no time starting her interrogation.
“Well?” Gran asked impatiently. “I want details.”
“The party was a bust. I certainly tried, but it doesn’t seem to do much good.” She pulled her blue dress over her head and said, “Sometimes I think I’m fighting a losing battle. I don’t think anyone will ever see me as anything more than Howard Lawrence’s daughter.”
“You have to prove yourself.”
“I haven’t done a very good job so far. A board member accused me in front of everyone of destroying the company and I almost took him out. Nothing like punching an old man I could’ve blown over by whistling.”
“Fire him,” her aunt said defiantly, crossing her arms.
“I can’t go around firing people. That’s not going to solve anything. I think it was a mistake to fire Rick.”
“I’m sure you do.” Her aunt shook her head as she continued, grumbling, “You arrive home all disheveled at two in the morning. I wasn’t born yesterday, you know.”
“All right, here’s what happened,” Lessa said resignedly, taking a seat next to her. Whether she liked it or not, her aunt deserved an explanation. “During the party, Rick found out about my proposal to buy Mara del Ray. He was pretty upset so I volunteered to go over it with him.”
“At his place?”
“We couldn’t come here, you were sleeping. And the party was still going on at the office.”
“So you went to his place.”
“And…one thing led to another.”
“You’re not a virgin anymore?” her aunt asked calmly.
“Gran, I’m twenty-six years old. I haven’t been a virgin for a long time.”
“Tommy Winston?” her aunt said with a grin.
“Tommy Winston? No! I was in seventh grade when I dated him. We didn’t even really date.” In reality, she’d lost her virginity when she was in college, at the ripe old age of twenty-one, with Kevin Blane. He had been a popular fraternity boy with whom she’d had little emotional attachment. She had endured the whole thing with a let’s-get-it-over-with attitude. They had slept together exactly twice.
“So now Rick wants to take you home to meet his family?” Gran asked. “Sounds serious.”
“It’s not like that. It only makes sense. I want him to see this property before sunset.”
“And you couldn’t take separate flights and meet him there?”
Gran had a point. “But there’s only one corporate jet,” Lessa said.