"I never saw him again. I kept looking, though. For a week, I scoured that park," she mused. "Under every bush, behind every rock. I looked everywhere. Finally, a week later, I was so worried about him, I told my mother and asked her to help me look for him."
"Did she?" His voice was quiet, as if he was trying to keep from shattering whatever spell was spinning out around them.
"No," she said with a sigh. "She told me he had probably been hit by a car."
"What?" Simon sounded horrified. "She said what?"
Tula choked out a laugh. "Thanks for the outrage on my behalf, but it was a long time ago. Besides, I didn't believe her. I told myself that he had found a lady bunny and had moved away with her."
She set the drawings down onto the table and turned to him, tucking her hands into her jeans pockets. "When I decided to write children's books, I brought Lonely Bunny back. He's been good for me."
Nodding, Simon reached out and tapped his finger against one of her earrings, setting it into swing. "I think you were good for him, too. I bet he's still telling his grandbunnies stories about the little girl who loved him."
Her breath caught around a knot of tenderness in the middle of her throat. "You surprise me sometimes, Simon."
"It's only fair," he said. "You surprise me all the damn time."
Seconds ticked past, each of them looking at the other as if for the first time. Simon was the first to speak and when he did, it was clear that the moment they had shared was over. At least for now.
"Do you have everything you need?"
"Yes." She took a breath and an emotional step back. "I just need to move my chair into place and-"
"Where do you want it?"
She looked up at him. He was just home from work, so he was wearing a dark blue suit and the only sign of relaxation was the loosening of the knot in his red silk tie.
"You don't have to-"
He shrugged out of his suit jacket. His tailored, long-sleeved white shirt clung to a truly impressively broad chest. She swallowed hard as she watched him grab hold of the chair and she wondered why simply taking off his suit jacket in front of her seemed such an intimate act. Maybe, she thought, it was because the suit was who he was. And laying it aside, even momentarily, felt like an important step.
As soon as that thought entered her mind, Tula pushed it away.
Nothing intimate going on here at all, she reminded herself. Just a guy, helping her move a chair. And she'd do well to keep that in mind. Anything else would just be asking for trouble.
"Over there," she said, pointing to the far corner.
"You want to move that box out of the way?"
She did, pushing the heavy box of books with her foot until Simon had a clear path. He muscled the oversize chair across the room, then angled it in a way so that she'd be facing both windows when she sat in it.
"How's that?"
"Perfect, thanks."
He looked around the room again. "Where's the baby?"
"In his room. He took a late nap today."
"Right." He wandered around the room now, peeking into boxes, glancing at the haphazard stacks of papers on her desk. "You know, I've got some colored file folders in my office you could use."
She bristled. "I have my own system."
Simon looked at her and lifted that eyebrow again. "Chaos is a system?"
"It's only chaos if you can't find your way around. I can."
"If you say so." He moved closer. "Is there anything else I can do?"
"Um, no thanks," Tula whispered, feeling the heat of him reach for her. This was her fault, she told herself as tension in the room began to grow. If she hadn't given him that impulsive kiss, they'd still be at odds. If she hadn't opened herself up, causing him to be so darn sweet, they wouldn't be experiencing this closeness now.
So she spoke up fast, before whatever was happening between them could go any further. "Why don't you go check on Nathan while I finish up in here? I've still got a lot of unpacking to do."
She stepped past him and dug into a carton of books, deliberately keeping her back to him. Her heart was pounding and her stomach was spinning with a wild blend of nerves and anticipation. Pulling out a few of the books, she set them on the top shelf and let her fingertips linger on the bindings.
But Simon didn't leave. Instead, he went down on one knee beside her, cupped her chin and turned her face toward him.
"I don't know what's going on between us any more than you do. But you can't avoid me forever, Tula. We're living together, after all."
"We're living in the same house, that's all," she corrected breathlessly. "Not together."
"Semantics," he mused, a half smile tugging at one corner of his mouth.
Oh, she knew what he was thinking because she was thinking the same thing. Well, actually, there was very little thinking going on. This was more feeling. Wanting. Needing.
She shook her head. "Simon, you know it would be a bad idea."
"What?" he asked innocently. "A kiss?"
"You're not talking about just a kiss."
"Rather not talk at all," he admitted, his gaze dropping to her mouth.
Tula licked her lips and took a breath that caught in her lungs when she saw his eyes flash. "Simon … "
"You started this," he said, leaning in.
"I know," she answered and tipped her head to one side as she moved to meet him.
"I'll finish it."
"Stop talking," she told him just before his mouth closed over hers.
Heat exploded between them.
Tula had never known anything like it before. His mouth took hers hungrily, his tongue parting her lips, sweeping inside to claim all of her. He pulled her tightly against him until they were both kneeling on the soft, plush carpet. His hands slid up and down her back, dipping to cup the curve of her behind and pull her more tightly against him.
Tula felt the rock-hard proof of just how much Simon wanted her and that need echoed inside her. Her mind blanked out and she gave herself up to the river of sensations he was causing. She tangled her tongue with his, leaning into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on as if she were afraid of sliding off the edge of the world.
He tore his mouth from hers, buried his face in the curve of her neck and whispered, "I've been thinking about doing this, about you, ever since you first walked into my office."
"Me, too," she murmured, tipping her head to give him better access. Her body was electrified. Every cell was buzzing, and at the core of her she burned and ached for him.
He dropped his hands to the hem of her sweater and slid his palms beneath the heavy knit material to slide across her skin. She felt the burn of his fingers, the sizzle and pop in her bloodstream as he stoked flames already burning too brightly.
Oh, it had been way too long since anyone had touched her, Tula thought, letting her head fall back on a soft sigh. And she'd never been touched like this before.
"Let me," he murmured, drawing her sweater up and off, baring brea**sts hidden beneath a bra of sheer, pink lace.
Cool air caressed her skin in a counterpoint to the heat Simon was creating. One corner of her mind was shrieking at her to stop this while she still could. But the rest of her was telling that small, insistent voice to shut up and go away.
"Lovely," he said, skimming the backs of his fingers across her nipples.
She shivered when his thumbs moved over the tips of her hardened nipples, the brush of the lace intensifying his touch to an almost excruciating level of excitement. Tula trembled as he unhooked the front clasp of her bra and sucked in a quick breath when he pushed the lacy panel aside and cupped her brea**sts in his hands.
He bent his head to take first one nipple and then the other into his mouth and Tula swayed in place. Threading her fingers through his thick hair, she held him to her and concentrated solely on the feel of his lips and tongue against her skin.
She wanted him naked, her hands on his body. She wanted to lie back and pull him atop her. She wanted to feel their bodies sliding together, to look up into his eyes as he took her to-
An insistent howl shattered the spell between them.
Simon pulled back from her and whipped his head around to stare at the doorway. "What was that?"
"The baby." Still trembling, Tula grabbed the edges of her bra and hooked it together. Then she reached for her sweater and had it back on in a couple of seconds. "I've got the baby monitor in here so I could hear him while I worked."