Finding Our Forever(32)
“You know me already,” Dallas responded. “It’s great to see you again. You’re Darci, right? The English teacher?”
They’d met at the school Christmas party. Aiyana insisted that the entire family get together for the holidays—no matter what they had going.
“Yes,” Darci replied. “It’s great to see you, too.”
Dallas slid off his stool and stood, his gaze shifting to Cora. Eli could tell he found her attractive. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you before.”
“I noticed you at the football game last night, down on the field with Eli.”
“If only I would’ve known you’d be in the stands,” he said.
Darci introduced Cora, and Cora smiled politely as she shook first with Dallas and then Gavin. “Nice to meet you both.”
“You must know Eli,” Dallas said.
“Yes. Eli hired me.”
“I can see why.” Dallas pulled over a stool and began looking for a second one. “Any chance you’d like to join us?”
Cora started to decline. She looked as though she couldn’t get away fast enough. But Darci didn’t seem to be paying any attention to her discomfort. She overrode Cora’s response with an eager, “Sure. Why not? We were looking for some entertainment.”
Gavin pulled over another chair while Dallas gave her a bow. “We’re happy to provide that, aren’t we, boys?”
Darci took the seat closest to Dallas, which left the stool between Eli and Gavin for Cora. She sat down, but Eli got the impression she was being careful not to touch him, even incidentally.
Darci and Cora ordered a drink. Then they all talked for an hour—about Dallas’s climbing, the places he’d visited, that he’d be leaving in three days, the fact that Seth, another brother who was a sculptor, had secured a gallery showing in San Francisco, one he’d been working hard to parlay into a second and third showing in Chicago and New York, which was why he hadn’t visited this summer as he’d originally intended.
Darci brought up her kids and her divorce and how much better she was feeling now that she was getting beyond it, but Cora didn’t say much. She mostly listened—and focused on Dallas or Gavin, anyone but him. When Dallas asked her to dance, she agreed, but Eli had a difficult time watching. He didn’t care to consider the reason.
Eventually, while they were having a second drink, she mumbled something about having to go to the bathroom and crossed to the far side of the bar, where the restrooms were located. Eli held off for a few seconds, so it wouldn’t appear as if they were going together. Then he followed her and waited in the hallway until she came out.
She took one look at him and stopped.
“Have I done something to offend you?” he asked.
“Of course not.”
“Then why haven’t I heard from you?”
“No reason,” she said. “I’ve been...busy. I figured you were, too.”
He shoved a hand through his hair. He was so confused by her abrupt reversal. “You didn’t get back with your boyfriend when you went to LA last weekend...”
She shook her head. “Didn’t even see him. I went to my folks’.”
“So...what is it?” he asked. “Something’s different.”
“Nothing. Not really. I just... I think you were right.”
A trickle of foreboding went through him. “About...”
“You’re my boss. It isn’t wise to get so intimately...involved when we work together.”
That wasn’t the reason she’d stepped back; he could tell. “So... I screwed up somehow. You don’t want to see me anymore.”
She rubbed her forehead. “You didn’t screw up.”
“I must’ve done something, because I thought everything went...well. Better than well. Great.” He lowered his voice in case someone else happened upon them. “Maybe I came too soon that first time and disappointed you, and you have every right to be frustrated that I wouldn’t be more sensitive to your pleasure, but I hadn’t been with anyone in a long time. That isn’t how I usually behave. Trust me. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“I’m not like that, Eli. I wanted you to come—to do whatever you were compelled to do. That first time has nothing to do with it.”
“Then there’s something else...”
She said nothing, so he stepped closer.
“I’d really appreciate it if you’d take two seconds to explain, so I don’t have to keep wondering why everything was fine and then...”
After tucking her hair behind her ears, she lifted her chin to confront him. “Being with you did go well. Too well. Every night before I go to sleep, you’re all I can think about—the way you touched me, the way you kissed me. Even the way you smell.”