Falling for You (21 page)

“What are you doing?” Alli remained in the doorway, staring at the room as if it held all the demons from hell.

“Sorry”—Rory offered a weak smile—“I couldn’t help myself.”

Alli nodded and averted her eyes. “We’re um... ready to check out.”

“I’ll be right there.” Rory started to put the angel back in the playpen, but the doll was gazing up at her with that sweet face, and she just couldn’t do it. Pulling it to her chest, she headed for the front of the store.

“Rory, you can’t buy that,” Alli said in a frantic whisper. “What will Paige think?”

Just ahead, Rory could see Paige at the register helping the volunteer worker sort out all the items in the cardboard boxes. “I’ll tell her it’s a gift for a friend.”

Alli started to object, but by then they were within earshot of Paige, so she subsided. Fortunately Paige accepted Rory’s “for a friend” story without batting an eye.

“Well,” Paige said once they’d loaded everything into the car. “I don’t know about y’all, but I’m starved. How about if we stop for something to eat on the way home?”

Alli and Paige decided on a popular Mexican restaurant that was on the road back to Galveston. By the time they arrived, the place was hopping with the happy hour crowd. They placed their orders at the counter, then managed to find a table in a reasonably quiet corner.

“I can’t wait to tell Chance about our good luck today,” Paige said as they settled in their chairs.

“I’m sure he’ll be thrilled about how much money you saved us,” Allison said.

“Oh, it isn’t just the money,” Paige said. “It’s the whole project. I haven’t seen him enjoy himself this much since he got his first Monopoly board.” Paige’s eyes twinkled with laughter. “Whenever we played with the other kids in the neighborhood, he always insisted on being the banker.”

Rory folded her arms, thinking if she had to listen to many more of Paige’s stories about Chance, she’d scream.

Their order number came over the loudspeaker. “I’ll get it,” Allison offered. “Who wants salsa?”

Paige said she did and Allison took off to weave her way through the crowd.

Alone with Paige, Rory shifted with discomfort. She should have offered to go get the food. Although this was a good opportunity to get the answers to some of the doubts that had plagued her since her talk with Alli yesterday. She had to know once and for all if winning Chance’s heart was a lost cause.

But how to start? “Um, you and Chance, you’ve known each other a long time,” Rory said.

“Forever, it seems,” Paige answered offhandedly.

Rory tapped her fingertips on the tabletop. She wanted to ask if their relationship was as dispassionate as it seemed. Or if they were wild for each other when they were alone. But how to ease into that? “I was just wondering... what was he like, you know, as a boy?”

Paige thought for a while. “Serious,” she finally said. “Quiet, but not shy. He was always very self-sufficient, and perfectly happy with his own company, even though he’s always had plenty of friends.”

Yes, but when did you two become more than just friends?
Glancing toward the counter, Rory tried to judge how much time she had alone with Paige. Her sister had picked up their order but the line at the salsa bar would take a while to get through.

She racked her brain for a subtle way to ask what she needed to know. Only there didn’t seem to be a subtle approach, so she steeled herself and jumped right in. “I know you and Chance aren’t officially engaged, but there seems to be an understanding, and well... I just wanted to know how you felt about that.”

Paige sighed. “Like I said, Chance and I have known each other a long time. It’s always been assumed that we’d marry someday.”

“Yes, but...” She leaned forward, desperation making her heart pound. “Do you
want
to marry him?”

Paige sat back, her face going pale. “Well, yes, of course.” Her eyes darted from side to side. “I mean, I guess I do.”

“You
guess
you do?” Rory repeated in stunned disbelief. If Chance wanted to marry her, there’d be no guessing how she’d feel. She’d be brimming over with so much joy she wouldn’t be able to contain it all. “What do you mean, you ‘guess’ you do?”

“I mean—of course I want to marry Chance.” Paige fumbled with her napkin. “Why wouldn’t I? I’d be a fool if I didn’t. Besides, I don’t have a choice. My mother’s already planning the wedding, and Daddy is practically handing out cigars and birth announcements for his first grandchild. It’s too late to back out now.”

“Paige—” Rory fought the urge to shake her. Chance deserved more than a wife who would join him at the altar only because her parents were pushing her there. He deserved someone who loved him beyond reason, someone who would do anything to be with him, someone who could barely face the thought of life without him. He deserved...
her
, dammit! She sat back, seething. “It’s never too late to break off an engagement.”

“But it is!” Paige’s eyes filled with tears. “You don’t understand. Chance and I
have
to get married. We don’t have a choice!”

The words slammed into Rory with the force of a physical blow. Paige was pregnant. With Chance’s child. The son of a bitch! Chance hadn’t just gotten her pregnant. He’d gotten Paige pregnant, too.

She wanted to murder the man, cut off his vitals and the hands that had touched another woman after he had touched her. Or maybe even before. It didn’t matter that he and Paige were dating, that Paige had more claim to him than she had. Logic had nothing to do with the sense of betrayal burning through her veins. As soon as they returned to Galveston, she’d hunt Chance down and kill him.

Chance realized he was in trouble. After showering, he fixed himself a drink and took it out on the balcony hoping to ease the tension in his shoulders. They’d all planned on taking the evening off since Adrian had to work and the women didn’t know how long they’d be in Houston. But then the construction foreman had called to say the desk they’d ordered for the office had been delivered.

Allison had searched through an ungodly number of furniture catalogs before she’d found a desk that would work, one with the look of an antique but the functionality of a computer desk. He couldn’t resist setting it up as a surprise for Aurora, so he’d headed out to the inn as soon as he’d gotten off work.

The crew had gone by the time he arrived, so he had the place to himself. It was the first time he’d ever been alone in the house, he’d realized as he settled in the parlor-turned-office. With only the creaks and pops of an old house to keep him company, his mind had had too much time to wander. He’d been sitting cross-legged on the floor, attaching two panels when a strange sense of aloneness came over him—like an odd hush in the air.

He’d looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of his uneasiness. Even with evening sunlight pouring through the tall slender windows of the tower, the house had felt like a vast cave lacking the life that normally pulsed in the air. It lacked life because Aurora wasn’t there. Of all the people who usually filled the house, she was the only one he missed.

Fast on the heels of that unsettling thought had come the knowledge that she was the real reason he’d become involved with the inn. There was still the thrill of a challenge to start a new business, but that paled when compared to his need to simply be near Aurora.

Rattled, he’d redoubled his efforts to finish the desk and think about Paige, the woman he should have been missing. He’d managed to get the massive L-shaped piece of furniture together and standing before the fireplace, then he’d gone about setting up the computer system. When he’d finished, he’d stepped back to consider the placement of the keyboard and monitor. An image of Aurora sitting there, working away, had risen clearly in his mind. He’d pictured her glancing up, smiling at him, and something warm and thrilling yet frightening in its strength had filled him so swiftly, he’d nearly staggered backward.

And that’s when he’d finally accepted that he was in trouble. Serious trouble. The woman was taking over his brain. It was the only explanation for why he couldn’t stop thinking about her. No matter what he did, his desperate need to be near her kept growing, pushing everything else out of the way, until he feared soon there would be nothing left but the ache of wanting to be with her.

He’d quickly finished setting up the office, and had headed straight home for a shower and a break from the inn. But even now, standing on the balcony, he couldn’t shake the nerves that made his hands tremble.

To escape his thoughts, he concentrated on the sounds of traffic seven stories below. On the other side of the busy seawall, sun-bathers and surfers were packing up their ice chests and beach bags.

How long had it been since he’d whiled away a day on the beach with friends? Years, he realized with disgust. Lately he hadn’t even had time to go jogging on the seawall, dodging bicyclists and camera-toting tourists. He spent his weekdays rushing through work so he could spend his evenings and weekends working at Pearl Island. With Aurora.

His thoughts went instantly back to her.

God help him, he was in trouble. And he didn’t know what to do about it. He couldn’t look at her or even hear her voice without wanting to touch her, to feel her body pressed against his, to taste her lips and go on tasting them until she filled his senses. Resisting her was becoming more of a torture, not less of one, as he had hoped.

In the midst of his whirling thoughts came the echo of her voice: “... life would be boring if we never gave in to temptation. Don’t you think?”

Reckless thoughts followed. Memories and fantasies blended to form an image of life with Aurora at his side. It would be a far cry from the order he preferred. But the chaos would be balanced by the contentment of waking up each morning with her beside him. Of seeing her smile before he even had his first cup of coffee. Of walking into the inn every evening when he finished at the bank, and having her take him into her arms and kiss him with all that passion she had for life.

Staggered, he leaned forward and braced his hands against the rail. How easy it would be to give in to temptation and let himself fall in love with her. For a second, he thought he
was
falling, literally, off the balcony to the hard pavement below.

He jerked back from the rail just as the doorbell rang. Taking a breath, he tried to calm the racing of his heart. The last thing he wanted was company, but at the moment, he’d welcome any distraction. Returning to the coolness of his air-conditioned apartment, he set his glass aside as he moved toward the door. The bell rang again, several times in a row.

“Goddammit, Oliver Chancellor.” A fist pounded on the panel. “Open this door!”

“Aurora?” His pulse quickened as he rushed forward, alarmed. “What is it? What’s wrong?” He opened the door and had only a moment to absorb the shock of seeing her angry face before she threw herself against his chest with her fists clenched.

“You son of a bitch!”

“Aurora! What’s happened?”

“I hate you!” She hit his chest with the side of her fist.

“Ouch! That hurt!”

“Good! I hope it did.” Tears welled up in her eyes, making her voice wobble. “Because you hurt me!”

“What are you talking about?”

“I just found out.” She swiped angrily at her cheeks. “Paige told me!”

“Paige told you what?”

“That she’s—that you—that she’s pregnant!”

“What!”
Another punch from her fist couldn’t have knocked him back as far. “Paige is pregnant?”

“As if you didn’t know, you son of a bitch!” She hit him again, but the gesture had lost its heat. “I just want to know, were you already sleeping with her when you went to bed with me?”

“Whoa, wait. Back up.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Who told you Paige is pregnant?”

“She did! Barely an hour ago.”

He pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to take it all in.
Paige pregnant?
Her parents would kill her. “Did she tell you who the father is?”

Aurora stared for half a second, then erupted. “What do you mean?
You’re
the father, you jerk!”

“Me!” He froze, confused, then a burst of stunned laughter escaped him. “I’m afraid that’s impossible. Unless it was immaculate conception.”

“What?” She went still, frowning.

“Aurora.” He smiled as the world settled back into place. “Paige can’t possibly be pregnant. She and I have never been together, and I doubt she’s seeing someone else.”

“But she said—” Her brow dimpled. “At least I thought she said...”

“Why don’t you come have a seat and tell me exactly what she did say?”

Looking a bit lost, she let him lead her to the sofa. “Now”—he sat beside her—“tell me what happened.”

“I went shopping with Alli and Paige today.”

“Yes, I know that.”

“When we were done, we stopped to eat. Paige and I started talking about things. Well, you mostly. And she said the two of you
had
to get married. That’s exactly what she said, that you
had
to. Everyone knows when a couple says that, there’s a baby on the way.”

Chance shook his head. “Not in this case.”

“I don’t understand.” Her eyes searched his for answers.

He took a breath and let it out in a noisy rush. How to explain something that had always just been? “Paige and I were close growing up. At first because our mothers were such good friends, so I spent a lot of time over at her house, and she spent a lot at mine. As we grew older, we started doing things on our own because we enjoyed each other’s company. You know, movies, school dances. At some point, one of our mothers said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if Chance and Paige got married? Then we wouldn’t just be friends, we’d be family.’ Somewhere along the way it quit being a question and turned into an assumption.”

She frowned at him. “You and Paige are going to marry because your mothers think it would be neat to be related?”

“No, of course not. There’s more to it than that.”
Isn’t there?
The thought stopped him cold. A realization that had hovered on the edges of his mind moved full blown into the light. Marrying Paige had never been his idea. She’d always been more his friend than his girlfriend. Which was why kissing her felt so wrong—like kissing a sister.

The knowledge brought relief that swamped him like a tidal wave. He shook his head to clear it and nearly laughed. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. Not anymore.”

“What do you mean?” She frowned as if he’d gone mad.

He looked at her and felt as if he were back up on a precipice, but this time he knew nothing would pull him back. He was ready to take the final step over the edge. “Aurora, I’m not going to marry Paige.”

“What?” she whispered as her expression filled with hope.

“I can’t. I can’t do that to her. Or me. I’m not in love with her, and I realize now I never will be. I think I know what love feels like, and it has nothing to do with the comfortable, easy things I feel for Paige. In fact, it feels more like having the flu—you know, dizziness, nausea, cold sweats—not something I particularly like, but it’s there, and I can’t stop feeling it.”

The look of hope shifted to confusion. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying”—he smiled gently and cupped her cheek with his palm—“you ruined everything. I had my whole life carefully planned out. What I’d do for the next five years, ten years, even what I’d do when I retired. Then you came along and changed it all. Because you changed me. I don’t know anything about the future anymore or if this has a chance in hell of working out. I only know I love you.”

His heart pounded as he waited for her eyes to go soft. Waited for her to sigh and say she cared for him too. Love was too much to ask for so soon, but he suspected—hoped—she cared.

Instead, she kept staring at him as if she couldn’t believe what he’d just said. He could hardly believe it himself. Dizzy with emotion, he tipped his head and started to lower his lips toward hers.

“Hold on.” She braced a hand in the center of his chest. When he pulled back, he realized her eyes were narrowed with something that looked like anger. “Let me get this straight. You’re in love with me—a fact that makes you nauseous—and because of this unpleasant, and unwanted emotion, I’ve ruined your life. Is that about it? Or did I miss something?”

“Only the part about me not wanting to marry Paige because I want to be free to spend time with you.”

“Well, now, isn’t that just too bad. Since I suddenly have no desire to be with you.”

“Excuse me?” He pulled back in disbelief as she stood and stalked toward the door.

“Don’t bother to show me out. I know the way.” She reached the door and turned to him. “I’d tell you to have a nice life, but I guess it’s too late for that, since I’ve already ruined it, so I’ll simply say goodbye.”

“The hell you will.” Before he knew how, he was across the room with one hand on the door to keep her from opening it. “I tell you I love you and you walk out on me?”

“You also said that being in love with me made you sick at your stomach.”

“Dammit, Aurora!” He struggled to find the right words. “I’m no good at this, all right? I don’t know how to explain what I feel because you terrify me to the point I can’t think straight. The only thing that scares me more than the thought of being with you is the thought of being without you.”

“I frighten you?” she asked in a small voice.

“I said ‘terrify.’ ‘Frighten’ is too mild a word, trust me.”

“But... why?”

“Because you could hurt me so easily. Because I can’t imagine you ever feeling something this huge for me.” He cupped her face in his trembling hands and stared into her eyes, willing her to understand, because he couldn’t handle it if she walked out that door. “I want you so much. I’ll take whatever you’ll give, if you’ll just let me be part of your life.”

“You idiot.” Tears welled in her eyes. “You really don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“How much I do love you.” She clutched the front of his shirt as if she wanted to shake him, but clung instead. “I love you so much, it’s eating me up inside. I’ve been dying of love for you for weeks. Do you know what it’s been like, feeling this way, wanting you so desperately, and having to watch you with Paige?”

The words and the tears were like knives to his heart. “Oh God, Aurora...” He gathered her in his arms, cradling her head on his shoulder. “I didn’t know.”

“How could you
not
know?” She sniffed. “I love you so much, I hate you. Every day you’ve hurt me more than anyone has ever hurt me.”

“I’m so sorry, baby. Don’t cry. I’m so sorry.” He kissed her forehead, her cheek. “Forgive me. Please. Hate me all you want, but please, don’t stop loving me.”

His mouth settled over hers and he poured everything he could into the kiss, praying for forgiveness, praying she still loved him. To learn he’d had her love all along only to lose it now would kill him. He pulled back enough to cradle her face in his hands. “I’m sorry I hurt you.” He kissed her cheek. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” He kissed her forehead. “Forgive me.” His lips touched each corner of her mouth. “Let me love you.”