When Lightning Strikes (Whiskey Creek #1)(81)
Author: Brenda Novak

If she thought he had Simon’s best interests at heart, she wouldn’t mind so much, but she didn’t believe he did. “Possibly.”

“If you ask me, you should be more worried about Sophia than Ian,” Callie said, still flipping pages. “She might be more of a test than he can handle.”

“Thanks a lot!” Giving up her vigil at the window, Gail went back to the couch and grabbed the magazine. “Let me see this.”

“You know what she was like,” Callie said. “No boy was off-limits.”

Gail leafed through the pages. Simon looked gorgeous, as always, and she looked…determined, like she was executing a business deal. For good reason…

“That was a long time ago.” She tossed the magazine on the table so she wouldn’t obsess about her own imperfections, which seemed obvious when she was standing next to her movie-star husband.

Husband… She couldn’t get used to thinking like that, to feeling she had such a strong claim on him. “Sophia’s been through a lot in the past few years. Maybe she’s changed.”

“And maybe she wants to get lucky with your guy. Skip’s always gone. She’s probably trolling for any form of entertainment.”

Gail opened her mouth to respond but didn’t bother when she heard a car pull up. “They’re back,” she said, jumping to her feet.

Sure enough, Ian’s red Porsche was parked by the picket fence. He wasn’t getting out of the car, but Simon was.

“Looks like he’s in one piece,” Callie said, speaking over Gail’s shoulder.

Gail breathed a sigh of relief. But she knew that the stronger Simon became, the more Ian’s pleas would tempt him to return to his regular life. They’d planned on staying married for two years. But she doubted it would last that long.

28

Simon wanted to give Gail the ring, but he didn’t want to do it while Callie was there. The edge of the hard little box dug into his thigh as he sat down to visit, but the whole time they talked he was thinking about making love to Gail later, maybe in the shower again, and then having the ring waiting on her pillow.

He hoped she’d like it. He couldn’t imagine that she wouldn’t, but there was a chance. He already knew she wasn’t the type of woman who’d want it just because it was expensive. Giving it to her had to mean something. And it did now. He couldn’t say exactly what. Everything was too new for labels. But…he wanted her to have it. That told him there had to be a reason.

When Callie asked about the renovation, he and Gail walked her through the house and talked about some of the changes they’d planned. He was getting excited about the possibilities, enjoyed challenging himself in a whole new way. He even liked how exhausted he was at the end of the day. It made curling up with his no-nonsense, tough-as-nails wife, who’d turned out to be as sweet as a woman could be, that much more enjoyable. One thing he knew—those don’t-mess-with-me suits of hers hid a very tender heart.

After about thirty minutes, Gail said they had to get ready to go to Sophia’s and Callie left. They were alone at that point. He could’ve given her the ring then and almost did. He felt like a kid with a really great Christmas gift he couldn’t wait to present. But she was in too much of a hurry for him to be able to do it right. He certainly didn’t want her to think he was trying to pay her for giving in on the sex issue. He’d asked Ian to buy the diamond before they’d ever made love, but she wouldn’t know that and if he had to explain it, the whole thing would be ruined.

“You all set?” When she came out of the bedroom, she was wearing a pair of tight-fitting, skinny jeans and a sleeveless black sweater with a leather jacket. With her hair pulled back and pearls at her neck and ears, she looked classy, prettier than ever. But he liked the way she looked just as much when she wasn’t wearing any makeup—or clothes, for that matter. He especially loved her smooth skin and how it felt beneath his hands. He loved her eyes, too, and the emotion they conveyed. She cared about him. Maybe too much. But he didn’t want to think about that.

“You look great,” he murmured, and pulled her into his arms long enough to breathe in her perfume and kiss her neck.

She didn’t resist, but she glanced up at him as if she was a bit hesitant to respond. “What did Ian have to say?”

“Nothing new. He wants me back in L.A. You probably guessed that.”

“What for? Can’t he see how great you’re doing here?”

“Great is a relative term. In his mind I’m not working, so I can’t be doing too great. I think he’s mostly reacting to the fact that things have changed. He feels he’s lost control of his biggest client.”

“You mean he feels threatened by me.”

“He doesn’t like the influence you have.”

She caught his face between her hands. “We’ll be able to remain friends when this is all over, won’t we? I mean, I know we won’t be able to keep working together, but we’ll still like each other, right?”

Why worry about later? Why not just be grateful for now? After all, he was so much better off than before. “I hope we will. The hardest part about bumping into you will probably be stopping myself from carrying you off to the bedroom.”

“Why? At that point, you’ll have a huge selection again.”

“No one else makes love like you.” There’d never been anyone with whom he could completely let down his guard, no one he could trust in quite the same way. “In case you haven’t noticed, I can’t get enough.”

He was afraid she’d reject that compliment like she had so many others. He expected her to say he wouldn’t care who he was with as long as he got what he wanted—which was what he’d heard her say before—but she didn’t. Her hand cupped his cheek as she kissed him, openmouthed.

“You keep this up, we won’t make it to dinner,” he said.

With a laugh, she stepped away. “I can’t help it. I am so…” She seemed to catch herself.

“What?” he asked.

She hesitated, then blinked. “Glad I married you. It’s been the best mix of business and pleasure I’ve ever had.”

* * *

God, she’d almost told him. Right there, while her brain frequencies were all jammed up by the sexy look on his face and her body was growing warm in anticipation of his touch, she’d almost blurted, “I am so in love with you!” Every time she looked at him, she grew a little more intoxicated.