Sealed With a Kiss (31 page)

“I’ve got a question for you. Why did you
tell everyone what happened? You could have kept quiet. The Fire
Department would have investigated the alarm and found nothing. No
one would have known that we opened the door.”

Rachel shrugged her shoulders. “Friday night
is one of the busiest at the bar and grill. If half of Charlie’s
customers had gone to other restaurants and bars, it would have
made a big difference to his weekly earnings. The Fire Department
was able to check the building a lot faster because I told them
that we’d opened the fire exit by mistake.”

“Did you think about the media interest that
information would cause? Half of the town’s reporters were
there.”

Rachel nodded. “Charlie is more important.
He’s a good man and I didn’t want to make his life difficult. ”

John thought about what she’d said, the
things that were important to her. “What about the Facebook
page?”

“I heard about the photos before school
started. Most of the parents of my students saw the images as they
were posted. The flowers you sent to school fueled the gossip mill
even more. And the final end to a perfect day was meeting Doris
Stanley in Tess’ café. She told me that you, above all other men,
would appreciate me.”

“I always thought Doris was an astute
woman.”

“She winked at me and gave me a hug.”

John ran his hand along Rachel’s arm.
“Responsive and caring. What more could you want?”

Rachel held onto John’s hands before they
could do any more wandering. “Committed and honest?”

“We’re not talking about Doris, are we?”

“No. We’re talking about us. I thought about
what you said last night, and I want to be your friend. If you
still want to be friends, that is?”

John shook his head. “I don’t want to be your
friend.”

Rachel’s eyes widened. “You don’t?”

“I’ve changed my mind. I want more.”

“How much more?”

“If you’d be my girlfriend, I’d like to be
your boyfriend.”

Rachel’s hands tightened around his fingers.
“Just so we’re clear, what would a boyfriend and girlfriend status
mean exactly?”

John didn’t need his hands to show Rachel
what the difference was. She was already standing close enough for
him to lean down and kiss her. “Well, it might mean that you could
be my Scrabble partner. Grant and Bella are competitive, so we’ll
have our work cut out for us. I could cook you dinner, rub your
feet, and buy you extravagant gifts.”

Rachel took half a step toward him. “That’s
an impressive list of opportunities. I can see the benefits for me,
but what do you get out of the relationship?”

“This.” He leaned forward and slid his lips
along Rachel’s mouth. With a soft sigh, her hands wrapped around
his shoulders and pulled him close.

John had been thinking about kissing her all
day. He was going to take it slow and easy, savor each touch and
taste, show her how much he cared about her. But within seconds, he
forgot about his plans, forgot about taking things slowly, forgot
to breathe.

He stumbled backward when Rachel’s teeth
started nibbling on the skin below his ear. “My knees just gave
way.”

He felt Rachel’s breath against his neck as
she laughed. “You’re either getting old,” she whispered, “or you
need more practice.”

John had to hold back the groan that rumbled
through his chest. He walked across the room and closed his office
door. “I vote for more practice.”

“I like a man who knows what he wants.”
Rachel stood in front of him and held onto the end of his tie. “How
long have we got?”

“Ten minutes.”

She grinned, and his heart rate soared. “We’d
better make the most of our time, then. Do you have any
suggestions?”

“One or two.”

Rachel stepped forward. “Show me.”

He cupped the side of her face in his hand
and kissed her with a hunger that left them both breathless. Rachel
pressed her body close to his and he wrapped her in his arms.

Ten minutes might not be long, but he knew
they could make it memorable.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

A week later, Rachel looked at the color charts and
fabric samples on the table. “You weren’t joking when you told me
you were desperate for help.”

The light in John’s eyes made her smile. “If
I don’t tell the interior designer what I want, they’re going to
find another client. Bella’s color choices are all various shades
of pink and purple.”

“And yellow,” Bella added from between them.
“I like yellow because it reminds me of sunshine.”

Rachel thought that was as good a reason as
any to like a color. She glanced down at the house plans before
picking up one set of colors. “Is this for your room, Bella?”

Bella nodded. “Princess pink for these three
walls.” She pointed to the walls she was talking about. “Mrs.
Daniels helped me choose just the right yellow for this wall. It’s
going to look so pretty.”

Rachel smiled. “You’re right. They’re
beautiful colors. What other rooms have you helped choose paint
for?”

Bella picked up the other color samples that
Rachel had put in alphabetical order. “The kitchen, my bathroom,
the garage, and the mud room.” She pointed to the kitchen colors.
“Mrs. Daniels likes yellow, too. So we chose a creamy yellow for
the kitchen walls. My bathroom is purple. Dad’s cars are all bright
colors, so I chose white for the garage, and the mudroom is the
same color as the kitchen. Mrs. Daniels said it would look really
nice.”

“That’s a lot of great colors.”

John ran his hands through his hair. “Do you
think it will work?”

“I think it will look amazing.” Rachel picked
up the samples that the kitchen company had left with him. “I like
the stone counter that you chose. I’d maybe go a shade lighter on
the cabinets, so they’re a warm white rather than a soft
yellow.”

John frowned. “There’s a difference?”

Rachel picked up a color chart and showed
him. “A big difference. If it were my kitchen, I’d want the counter
to look fresh and sparkly. If the cabinets are too yellow, they
might make the stone counter look yellow, too.”

John pointed to the living rooms. “What about
these rooms.”

Rachel looked at the colors John had
short-listed. “What furniture are you putting in the rooms?”

John leaned against the table. “That’s the
other problem I’ve got. When we rented this house, it was fully
furnished. Apart from the beds and a few photos, the rest of the
furniture will stay here when we move out.”

Bella was practically bouncing on the seat
beside Rachel. “Do you want to come shopping with us?”

“For furniture?”

John sighed. “I know it’s asking a lot.
You’ve probably got things you need to do. But I really need to get
this sorted. We don’t need to buy anything, but if we take photos
of what we’d like, the interior designer will handle the rest.”

“Why don’t you ask the interior designer to
help you? They’ll know more about what looks good and what
doesn’t.”

Bella looked up from the table. “Because we
want you to help us. It’ll be fun. Please.”

Rachel looked between John and Bella. It was
hard to say no when two pairs of eyes were pleading with her.
“Okay, I’ll do it. I just hope you can live with what we choose.
What’s your budget?”

John raised his eyebrows.

“No budget? Not even a little idea of how
much money you want to spend?”

“Nope.”

Rachel looked at the house plans in front of
her. Walking into a store and choosing whatever you wanted,
regardless of the price, would have been most people’s idea of
heaven. But all it did for Rachel was stress her out. “I have one
condition.”

John smiled. “Only one?”

She narrowed her gaze and his smile grew
wider. “We have to visit at least two second-hand stores. You can
find some lovely pieces of furniture that you wouldn’t see anywhere
else.”

“Poppy’s mom bought a chair from an estate
sale,” Bella said in her sing-song voice. “She put some different
fabric on the outside and gave it to Poppy for her room. It’s
really pretty.”

John started stacking the papers in front of
them. “It sounds like we’ve got a deal. We have to be at the
airport in an hour. Does anyone want a drink?”

Rachel put her hand on his arm. “Wait. What
do you mean? I thought we were shopping in Bozeman?”

“Not enough choice. We’re flying to
Denver.”

“Denver?” Rachel felt a little woozy. No one
she knew flew hundreds of miles to go furniture shopping.

Bella patted her hand. “It’s okay. We’re
going on a plane, not in a helicopter. You can’t see the ground so
much in a plane.”

Rachel looked at John. “You’d already decided
to go to Denver before you asked me?”

John cleared his throat. “We needed to
register our flight plan. I booked the plane yesterday.”

“What if I didn’t want to go?”

“Bella and I would have gone on our own, but
it wouldn’t have been the same without you.”

Bella leaned toward Rachel and whispered,
“We’ve got tickets for
The Wizard of Oz
, too.”

“The movie?” Rachel said weakly.

John shuffled some papers. “At the Buell
Theatre,” he mumbled.

“You bought theater tickets as well? Are we
staying overnight?”

Bella opened her mouth to say something, but
John jumped in ahead of her. “Why don’t you ask Mrs. Daniels for a
suitcase and choose a dress to wear tonight?”

Bella slid off her chair. “Okay. Will you and
Rachel come and help me?”

John nodded. “As soon as we’re finished in
here.”

Bella grinned at Rachel and left the
room.

John’s gaze followed his daughter. “I’m sorry
about that. It was supposed to be a surprise.”

“I just…I guess I’m a bit…overwhelmed. I was
happy to help choose paint colors, even furniture from stores in
Bozeman. But Denver? Today?” Rachel tried to explain how she was
feeling. “Most people don’t fly to another city to buy furniture.
Except if they get cheap seats on an airline. But we aren’t flying
economy, are we?”

John shook his head.

If she hadn’t known him as well as she did,
his expression would have passed for neutral indifference. But she
recognized it for what it was. He was trying not to push her,
trying hard to let everything about his billionaire lifestyle soak
into her budget sized brain.

She took a deep breath and looked around the
table. “I guess we’d better hurry. We don’t want to miss our
flight.”

John’s face relaxed. “Thank you.”

“Remember that when I walk you off your feet.
Shopping for furniture is a painful process.”

“Only if you don’t know where to look,” John
said carefully. He pulled a piece of paper out of a folder.
“Courtesy of the interior designer. We’ll be met at the airport by
a chauffeur-driven Hummer and taken to some of the best stores in
Denver.”

“You forgot my special condition.”

“Only temporarily. I’ll have a list of
second-hand stores emailed to me before we land. Would auction
houses count?”

“Okay. But we’re not paying collector’s
prices for furniture we can buy cheaper somewhere else.”

“The price doesn’t matter. I could buy every
auction house in Denver if I wanted to.”

“Don’t remind me.” Rachel slid the last few
color charts into a folder and handed them to John. “I bet Bella’s
already packed Miss. Snuggles.”

“And one of her
Anne of Green Gables
books,” John added. “If we’re lucky she’s remembered a dress for
tonight.”

Rachel sighed. “She’s almost nine-years-old.
I can guarantee that she won’t have forgotten.”

John held her hand as they walked up the
stairs. “It’s just as well it’s not my money that you’re attracted
to.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I’ll have a little less after our new house
is built.”

Rachel frowned. “I don’t think it will make
much difference.”

John kissed the side of her face. “Neither do
I.”

***

Rachel smiled as she walked out of the Buell
Theatre. John had his arm around her waist and Bella was holding
her hand. Tank was following a few steps behind them.

After she’d seen Tank at the airport, John
admitted that he still had a small team of bodyguards looking after
them. Rachel was more relieved than annoyed. All week she’d felt as
though someone was watching her. But each time she turned around,
she couldn’t see anyone. At least she knew she wasn’t going crazy
and imagining things that weren’t there.

Bella swung Rachel’s hand high in the air.
She hadn’t stopped talking about
The Wizard of Oz
since the
musical had ended. “I loved Dorothy’s shoes,” Bella said. “They
were so pretty. What did you like the best, Rachel?”

“I liked the songs. The actors were so good
that I kept looking around the theater, wondering who was really
singing.”

“What about you, dad?”

“I liked the Tin Man,” he said quietly.

“If only he had a heart,” Rachel said as she
gazed at John. He smiled, and she felt a warmth seep through her
body and settle in her own heart.

Bella hopped over a crack in the sidewalk.
“But it was there all along. Do you think the Tin Man knew?”

John looked into the distance. “Sometimes you
need someone to show you.”

“The Wizard of Oz was scary before he showed
Dorothy and her friends who he really was.” Bella gazed up at
Rachel. “He looked like Tank,” she whispered.

“I heard that.” Tank’s gruff voice made Bella
giggle.

Bella looked over her shoulder at her
favorite bodyguard. “But you’re more handsome.”

Tank nodded. “Good save.”

They continued walking along the sidewalk.
The huge glass windows of the theater were lit from inside the
building, making everything look bright and festive. They stopped
every now and then to look in the windows and take photos of their
night out together.