ELEANORA FELT BETTER as she warmed herself in the steam of the hot shower, but she was not happy that they hadn’t really discussed their situation. If anything, his suggestion that she could work from the corporate office made her believe he was veering them off in a direction that would cost her the job she’d worked so hard to get.
She dressed in sweats and an oversize T-shirt, more convinced than ever that she had to get away from him before he’d subtly guided her back to Manhattan. She agreed that her staying in the penthouse gave them private time to talk things through. But that meant they had to start talking. Otherwise, she’d be here forever, making her situation worse because doing things together only reminded her of why she liked him. She needed to get rid of those feelings so they could return to their normal friendship. If they couldn’t, he’d be right. Their night together would have ruined a very happy friendship that stretched the whole way back to their childhood.
Neither one of them wanted to lose that.
Her determination restored, she entered the front room at the same time the elevator doors opened, and a gorgeous woman stepped inside. About twenty-five, with big blue pixie eyes, wearing yoga pants and cute boots, she unzipped her winter coat. With a hood trimmed in fur, the sexy little jacket made her look like a ski bunny. Her broad smile warmed the room.
Marco raced to the elevator. “I’m so sorry! I forgot to text to let you know I’d come home early.”
She smiled beatifically. “That’s okay.”
The cats appeared out of nowhere. Like crazed males, they raced to the pretty girl and wound around her ankles. She stooped down to pet them.
“Hello, gentlemen.”
As if finally realizing she was there, Marco glanced at Eleanora. “Oh, Eleanora, this is Wisdom...my pet sitter.”
Eleanora stifled a groan. She even had one of those ethereal names that all beautiful women had. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Wisdom, this is my friend, Eleanora.”
Still stooped in front of the cats, happy Wisdom smiled. “Nice to meet you too.” She looked up at Marco, as the cats rubbed up against her and purred as she petted them. “So, you’re back?”
“Yes. Probably for a whole month. I’ll pay you for the two weeks I was supposed to be gone.”
Wisdom nodded, rose and pressed the elevator button to open the door again. “Okay. Call when you need me.”
Eleanora knew she was talking about Marco calling for pet sitting services, but Eleanora’s vivid imagination took that all wrong. The doors opened and the pet sitter got in and waved goodbye to the cats, then disappeared behind the closing doors.
“I feel like an idiot for forgetting to text her, making her come here when she didn’t need to.”
Eleanora settled into the sofa, feet tucked beneath her bottom, trying not to be jealous. “She didn’t seem to mind.”
Marco ambled over. “Yeah. She’s a good person.”
Eleanora glanced right, then left. There wasn’t a thing around her to pretend interest in, so she could feign indifference. Unless she wanted to fixate on a lamp, she had no recourse but to look at him. “Cats seemed to like her.”
He laughed. “Of course they do. She feeds them. And speaking of food, are you ready for dinner? We can order just about anything you want and have it here in an hour.”
“An hour?” Her stomach picked that precise second to growl.
He laughed. “It’s good to see you get hungry. How about this? I always have things in the refrigerator. Cheese. Deli meat. Stuff for salad.”
“Got any bread?”
He nodded.
She rose from the sofa. “I can make us toasted cheese sandwiches.”
He motioned her back down again. “No. This is my house. I’m host. You can turn on the TV or pick a book.” He pointed to a low bookcase along a back wall that she hadn’t noticed. “I’ll have sandwiches ready in ten minutes.”
She slowly sat again. She wasn’t in the mood for television or a book, but she wasn’t going to argue with him about her being in one room while he was in another. The fire he’d set created a warm, cozy feeling that seemed to be intensifying her romantic feelings for him. Even her jealousy over gorgeous Wisdom disappeared in a wave of happiness at being alone with him.
She squeezed her eyes shut. She either had to get rid of these feelings, or she and Marco had to get down to business with their discussions so she could go home.
Marco left the living area and walked to the kitchen where he began to prepare their simple dinner. He loved the fact that Eleanora so easily got comfortable in the penthouse, but her behavior was still off—
And she’d made that comment about Wisdom.
He thought that through as he gathered bread, cheese and butter and two cans of tomato soup his housekeeper had stocked just in case. Today was a just-in-case day if he ever saw one. His hormones were popping around a woman he’d always considered a friend and she’d reacted oddly about Wisdom.
He didn’t like to speculate but he seriously wondered if she had been jealous.
He almost laughed at the idea of gorgeous, successful Eleanora being jealous of anyone—except things had changed between them since they’d slept together. She might not want to be jealous, but her hormones—like his—might be pulling more strings than she let on.
He rolled the idea around in his head as he buttered bread and set it sizzling into a frying pan before covering it with cheese and topping it with another slice of buttered bread.
What if she was jealous?
He laughed with delight at the possibility, as a much-needed boost of pride surged through him. That would mean she wasn’t as unaffected by their night together as she continually led him to believe.
He finished the sandwiches, heated the soup and set everything out on the table before calling her to dinner.
She sluggishly sat on one of the chairs at the round table. He swore he could see a dark cloud over her head. Something obviously bothered her. It didn’t take a genius to realize she could have been thinking about the pregnancy, custody and visitation discussions ahead of them. She might have even been thinking about her job.
Unless she really had been jealous of Wisdom?
She gave him a weak smile. “I’m sorry I left dinner to you, but the plane ride really seemed to take something out of me. Plus, I’m still on Italy time. Technically, I should be going to bed right now.”
He sat beside her. Being tired might have made her unable to hide her feelings about Wisdom—which, now that he took a minute to think it through—really meant she had feelings for him. “And you’re pregnant. I understand tiredness is one of the complications of the first trimester.”
She sighed. “I forgot how much you like to research.”
“It always helps to know what you’re dealing with.”
For the first time since she’d told him she was pregnant, the scales felt balanced. Being attracted to each other was a problem, but it was a better problem than believing he was the only one who was suffering. He supposed misery really did love company, or in this case misery made them even, putting them on a level playing field.
With that rationalization making him feel better, he could hold a normal conversation with her. But about what? What didn’t slide up against their attraction—which neither one of them would want to discuss? Even her pregnancy related back to sleeping together so that had to be out. Plus, discussing her pregnancy brought its own problems. Like living on two different continents. Would he have to fly to Rome every time it was his turn to have the baby? And what about child support? He could pay her a small fortune, enough that she wouldn’t have to work if she didn’t want to. But would that insult her? Would it make her feel he was easing her out of her job because she had a baby?
That was a lawsuit waiting to happen. Everything else was a potential fight. They needed a little more time to chill and get comfortable with each other before they faced some of their thorny issues.
“I know a way to perk you up.” He reached for his sandwich. “We never did fully discuss your hotel’s numbers yesterday. What do I need to know?”
“Wouldn’t it be better to start sorting through some of the baby stuff?”
He’d already decided that was still too risky of a subject. “Let’s save that for when you have a little more energy. Hit me with your numbers.”
With a belabored sigh, she launched into a report of the hotel’s progress. They had both been in the industry long enough they had a shorthand of a sort that made the discussion easy—a lot less complicated than trying to decide who’d get their baby when and what kind of child support he would provide.
“Those numbers are amazing.”
“I think Rome was just ready for the type of hotel we built.” She ate a bite of sandwich.
“Upscale?”
“Yes. Upscale but comfortable. A resort in the middle of the city.”
He took a spoonful of soup. Though from a can, it was delicious on the cold night.
She gave her reasoning behind the hotel’s success, not just advertising but word of mouth, connections with travel professionals and how she made them work in her favor. By the time she was done, they were finished eating. Color had also come back to her cheeks. She appeared to have energy.
“You look better. I think you just needed to eat.”
She laughed. “Maybe.”
He smiled at her. She smiled back at him. Their normal feelings for each other seemed to return. But he couldn’t forget his suspicion that she might have been jealous about Wisdom. God help him, he was smart enough to recognize that only made their problem worse. But his male pride had taken such a beating over how easily she accepted his decision to remain friends that he didn’t think his private recognition of their attraction was out of line. He’d just keep the conversation on work, and they’d be fine.
“Talking to you about your job is always easy. You don’t hide anything like some of our other managers, so there’s no pulling teeth.”
She shrugged. “You’re the same way. Always up front with me.” She stopped. Her forehead wrinkled as she frowned.
He frowned too. Was she rethinking that compliment because she believed there was something between him and Wisdom? Something he was keeping secret?
That wasn’t good. If they really were going to be fair with each other about raising their child, she had to know he wasn’t keeping secrets.
“There’s nothing going on between me and Wisdom.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Well, you just seemed to have an odd reaction to her—”
“Odd reaction?”
He didn’t want to say the word jealousy. “You know. You’re usually chipper when you meet new people. Even women—”
“Even women?”
She would not let him finish a sentence and that was bad. Very bad. If he said the word jealousy right now, she’d probably pop him.
Her eyes widened. “Oh, I get it. You thought I was jealous.”
There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that he’d admit that.
Too much time passed. Her face reddened, then she rose and began gathering their dishes and soup bowls. “Let’s clear the table.”
He cursed in his head. He’d certainly screwed that up and there wasn’t even a wisp of an idea in his frozen brain for how to fix it. He grabbed their glasses and followed her into the kitchen and set them by the sink.
She rinsed the bowls and stacked them in the dishwasher. He stood behind her, so confused he didn’t know what to do. But one thought did pop into his befuddled brain. If she hadn’t been at least a bit jealous, she’d have ribbed him about being wrong. Instead, she said nothing...
And continued to say nothing.
There was definitely something there.
She turned to walk away from the sink before he had sufficient time to shift away and suddenly they were face-to-face, two inches away from each other. If he moved forward a fragment of a step or she edged up a bit, they’d be touching.
Just thinking about touching her sent his nerve endings into a spasm. The pull of his need to make things right coupled with his attraction to her. They latched onto him and wouldn’t let go. He swore he could feel himself being sucked toward her as if she were a magnet.
She didn’t move. He didn’t even think she was breathing. With their gazes locked, he let his body inch ever closer to her. He should be fighting this, but he couldn’t seem to combat instincts so strong his muscles quivered from the effort.
When she didn’t protest or move away, he saw the longing in her eyes. Not anger. Longing.
Relief poured through him, and he realized they needed this moment of pure honesty. They weren’t the kind of people who were supposed to be at odds, fighting an attraction, hesitating about how they would raise a child together. They were meant to click. To be good to each other. To like each other.
Their mouths met slowly, cautiously. The touch of their lips became a reverent acknowledgment of how special this was. But the sweet relief quickly morphed into need. He caught her upper arms and eased her closer. She melted against him.
The kiss shifted into a frenzy of desperation. One minute they were fighting the longing that arched between them. The next they had given in, and the pleasure of kissing her made him even hungrier for everything they’d had the night of the grand opening.
He stopped thinking. He refused to consider the ramifications and simply enjoyed the softness of her lips, the warm ridges of her tongue, as desperation gave way to aggression, and he took what he wanted.
Then suddenly she was gone. His eyes popped open to see she was by the kitchen island, as if she’d jumped back, getting as far away from him as she could in one frantic move.
For a second, they stared at each other. The consequences he’d chosen to ignore bounced into his head. Kissing confused their relationship. In twenty-odd years of friendship, they’d never kissed. Now they hadn’t merely had an ill-advised night together; they’d kissed. They hadn’t just crossed the line once; they’d crossed it again.
Or he’d crossed it.
Something that looked a lot like disappointment filled her eyes.
She turned and walked toward the hall that led to the bedrooms. “I’m exhausted. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He watched her go, his mouth falling open in confusion. He’d seen longing in her eyes. He’d sworn she’d been jealous of Wisdom.
Yet she was disappointed in him?
Was this what had happened the night of the grand opening? Had he misinterpreted that night, too?
Memories from their night together crowded his mind. Kissing her had happened naturally then too, and he’d had enough champagne to let himself go and enjoy. Still, she’d been right with him, as happy as he was.
Then after that ill-fated night, they’d talked about not getting romantically involved—
No. He’d been the one to suggest it. Actually, he’d more or less demanded it.
Then he’d kissed her again?
No wonder she was disappointed in him. He’d broken his own rule.
He shook his head as he bent down to stroke Sunset’s fluffy fur.
He had to fix this.