The Wedding Rescue, Book Five(15)

He stared at me, his gaze penetrating, giving me the unsettling feeling that he was reading my mind. After what felt like an eternity, he said, “I’ll take a break from buying you things. For a while, not forever. And only if you promise me two things.”

“What two things?” I asked, suspicious of his easy capitulation.

“One, you accept the car that’s downstairs in the garage.”

“What kind of car?” I asked. If the man could go overboard with a dress, what would he do when he decided to buy a car? His Maserati wasn’t exactly a Ford Focus.

“An Audi TTS roadster, white with camel leather interior.”

Wow. I wanted to say no. At least, the good girl in me wanted to say no. The rest of me was too busy drooling.

“Is that the convertible?” I asked, afraid I sounded too greedy.

“Yes.”

Oh, I was in trouble. I liked that car. A lot. I’d looked at the TT a few years before, but it had been both impractical and way out of my budget. Every time I saw one, I drooled a little. How had he known? I shouldn’t accept it. But I was going to.

“What’s the second condition?” I asked, stalling.

“Agree to the car first,” he answered. The elevator hit the ground floor with a barely perceptible shudder. Dylan reached out and hit the STOP button. Suddenly nervous, I said,

“Okay. I shouldn’t, but okay.” Then, after an awkward pause, “Thank you.” He rewarded me with a brilliant smile.

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”

“And the second condition?” I asked, a little anxious.

“Move in with me.”

“What?” What? I couldn’t move in with him. “I can’t move in with you,” I said, my voice loud and high pitched in the small space.

“Why not? You don’t have anywhere to go right now. And it’s going to take time to get the insurance settled. So stay with me.”

“Are you asking me to move in, or just to stay for a while?” I asked, suspicious.

“Whichever one will get you to say yes.”

“You’re freaking me out,” I confessed.

“No I’m not. You think you should be freaked out. You think this is too much. But if you take a deep breath, I bet you’ll realize you’re not actually freaked out. A part of you knows this is right. That we’re right together.”

His eyes on mine were intense, yet calm, as if he could will his own certainty into me. Closing my eyes to shut him out, I did what he’d suggested and took a deep breath, or as deep as I could in the tight bustier.

With nothing to see but the dark of my closed eyes, I tried to steady myself. Was I nervous about this because I was scared? Because I’d never imagined a man like Dylan would ever be interested in me? Or because this was all sex and the thrill of adventure, destined to wear off as soon as we went back to our normal lives?

I thought of the past three days together. It had started with need and want. I’d needed a date. And the moment we’d met, we’d both wanted sex. That was the simple part. If this was just about sex, I would have been shouting yes.

But I knew myself. I couldn’t live with a man if all we had was sex. Even the best orgasm wouldn’t make up for all the annoyances that came with sharing living space with a virtual stranger. And if sex was all he wanted, he could install me in one of his hotel rooms and have me close, but not in his space. So this was more than sex. I took another deep breath, remembering my favorite times with Dylan that weekend. Not counting the sex - I’d already covered that part.

It wasn’t the shopping, though that had been fun. And it wasn’t walking into the rehearsal dinner and seeing jealousy on the other women’s faces. No, it was the conversation over lunch the day before. His hand rubbing my back in the hospital. The way he’d brought me to my house that morning, knowing I’d need to see the fire for myself, then brought me back home and tucked me into bed, already knowing I’d needed a nap.

It was his intelligence, his kindness, his sweetness. It was that beneath the movie star good looks, he was a man worth loving. And if he saw even a fraction of that in me, I really would be crazy to walk away just because I was scared. Still, I was nothing if not sensible, even when I was ready to take a huge risk. Opening my eyes, I said,

“Okay. I’ll move in with you. But once my insurance stuff is worked out, we’ll talk about how it’s going and if either of us is having second thoughts, we’ll make other arrangements.”

“Deal.”

Dylan’s arms came around me, drawing me close, the look in his eyes one of heated tenderness. At that moment, I was ready to ditch the wedding and head right back upstairs. His lips took mine in a kiss of pure possession. I kissed him back, ready to be brave, to claim this man as my own.