No Romance Required(52)

Her cell rang and she snatched it off the coffee table. “Hey, Dill. Is Nellie okay?”

“She’s fine. She and Jake—and Lex, who’s in full fret mode—went home to relax. It was just those Braxton-whatever contractions. And gas. Man, I hate when my mom’s right.”

Dillon’s tone was so dry that she had to chuckle. “In this case it’s a good thing though, since her being right means Nellie and the baby are okay.” She added a little happy dance. “Tell Nellie to give me a call when she’s got some time. I told her I’d help her plan out the nursery.”

“Will do. Pass on the info to Mr. Inscrutable if you don’t mind.”

Vicky snuck a look at Cory, biting her lip. “Sure thing, handyman.” Her endearment made Dillon laugh and Cory scowl. “Thanks.”

She turned off her phone and started to speak, but Cory cut her off. “Nellie had some sort of women’s issues this evening, I presume? The baby is fine?”

It only took ten sentences for Cory to sound like a jerk. She had to hand it to him. “You presume correctly.”

“Glad to hear it.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth. “You only met the lot of them tonight, right?”

She frowned. “Nellie and Jake and Lex? Yeah. I’ve seen them around when I’ve stopped into Divine Flowers, but this is the first time we got to hang out.”

“Yet they’re your new best friends.” He shook his head. “You are a wonder.”

Before she could respond, he tilted his head. “You’ve told Jill and Bryan and your sister about…us?”

“Yeah. Seems like necessary info for my family and a close friend, doesn’t it? The photos told a good part of the story and I filled in the rest. Especially since if I hadn’t, they would’ve heard the scuttlebutt around town and then gotten pissed.”

Rather than looking less uncomfortable, he looked more. “I know this is awkward for you, lying to your friends and family. Even lying to mine bothers you. I’m sorry to put you in that position.”

She slanted him a sly smile. “The only position you put me in tonight involved being legs-up in the barn. I didn’t mind.” When his serious expression didn’t change, she gave him a not-so-gentle push toward the door and yawned again. “Sorry to be such a bad host.”

“I’m not a guest.”

“No. For now, you’re the love of my life.” She stepped around him to pull the chain off the door and opened it to a chilly wind. It really was late, and she probably should’ve asked him to stay. Knowing he wouldn’t alleviated some of her guilt. Some.

She looked back and found him studying her, his eyes hooded. “Maybe we should both take some time to think about what that means, Cory.”





Chapter Ten

Monday morning’s magazine meeting went off without a hitch.

All right, there were a few hitches, Vicky acknowledged. For all their supposed eternal love for each other, they still bickered like angry cats about light fixtures and magazine advertorial articles and everything else under the sun. The only difference was that this time Cory got his way in an argument by fisting his hand in her hair and covering her still-going mouth with his. And she let him.

She spent the afternoon at the furniture store with Jill, arranging for a few last pieces for the cover photo shoot to be delivered Thursday afternoon. The Chinese screen and the pair of ornately carved mirrors she’d ordered from another store were due in Wednesday. Not only did she love them, they would contribute to the staged room’s positive feng shui.

Now if she could just feng shui her head, she’d be in business.

“You don’t really like that, do you?��

Vicky looked up at Jill’s approach, noting the shock of lavender that now layered through her assistant’s baby-fine blond bangs. At twenty-two, Jill still hadn’t lost her desire to grab attention by any means necessary. She was lucky many people thought interior designers had a little room for creative personal expression or she would’ve had to settle for a more natural hair color. Not that Vicky was that kind of boss. Even if Jill hadn’t been her best friend, she wouldn’t have made her change. Changing was no bueno, except when it came to the one thing Jill sought to change most—her status as a virgin.

That V-card was a boulder on Jill’s back she tried to shed on a regular basis. Vicky wasn’t about to allow such a thing to happen on her watch. If she herself couldn’t have a long-term, stable, normal relationship, she was going to make sure Jill didn’t throw away what should be a special occasion on somebody who wasn’t worthy of her. She could just forget it.