Chapter 19
She had no words. Am I dreaming? She blinked several times. This was not a dream.
“It’s you.”
“No, it’s you,” said a very familiar, sexy voice. “The girl from the Christmas store.”
Lauren couldn’t find words. All she could do was stare at Mr. Hunk. John. With the girlfriend whose birthday was on Christmas.
“I’m confused,” she said, and she was. “Very,” she added.
“You look different,” said Mr. Hunk.
“You’re the pilot?” she asked, seeing his uniform.
“Copilot.”
“Oh.”
“Yep.”
“You were late,” Lauren announced. As if it mattered.
“I was,” he agreed.
“Why are you here?”
“I fly the plane.”
“Oh.”
“Yep.”
“No, I meant, why are you here in this room?”
“Uh, you don’t know?”
“No.”
“I was going to take a nap.”
Lauren didn’t know where this conversation was heading. Something was not right.
“I’m sorry. I was told the executive suite was mine for the duration of the flight.”
“Obviously. Look,” Mr. Hunk said, “I don’t know what’s going on here, and from the look on your face, you don’t either. Let’s say we start over. Properly.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Hello, Lauren, the girl from the Christmas shop. I’m John Giampalo, the guy who collects music boxes.”
“What?” She raised her voice several octaves. “Who?” Another knock at the door.
They both said, “Come in,” at the same time.
The door opened. “Oh, boy. I think we have a problem,” Felicia said.
“Looks that way,” John Giampalo agreed.
“I’m clueless,” Lauren informed them.
“I think you two could use a drink. I’ll be right back.” Felicia turned to exit the room.
“Not so fast,” John said. “We have a mix-up, and someone has a bit of explaining to do. Felicia? Are you in on this?”
“John Anthony Giampalo, I swear I’m going to tell your father what a . . . I don’t know, a shit you are!”
Lauren laughed. This is beyond crazy.
JAG Enterprises. John Anthony Giampalo.
“Have a seat, Felicia. Lauren, please remain in my, your seat.” He grinned when he said it. Her heart melted like ice in fire.
“I can move,” she offered.
“I’m teasing,” he said, and winked at her.
Lauren felt a warm glow spread throughout her body.
“Dave Grill, he’s our regular copilot. He was late.”
“I thought you were the copilot,” Lauren said.
“I am. Today.”
“What about tomorrow?” she asked, realizing how silly she sounded the instant the words were out of her mouth.
“Both of you, listen up, and don’t say a word until I’m finished.”
They nodded and directed their attention to Felicia. “Lauren Montgomery is going to write your father’s biography. He sent the plane to bring her to Seattle. Bad weather in North Carolina. You were . . . I don’t know what you were doing there, but Lauren, Dave Grill, the regular copilot, had to have an emergency appendectomy. John, I am going to assume your father contacted you? Asked you to fill in for Dave?”
“I think that about sums it up,” he said.
Lauren was confused. “Then why were you in Fallen Springs?”
“Coincidence?”
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Lauren said.
“Me either, but you can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“Trying what?” she asked.
“Felicia, can we have a minute? Alone?”
Lauren stood up. “No, stay,” Felicia said, rising from her seat.
“Felicia, could you bring us a Coke or something? I’d like a few minutes alone with Lauren.”
Lauren sat down, relieved for some odd reason.
“Of course. I’ll be right back.” She whirled out of the room.
“Felicia is awesome,” he said.
“She’s been very kind to me,” Lauren acknowledged.
He raked a hand through his blond hair. She was totally mesmerized.
“I went to Fallen Springs to check you out,” he admitted. “Dad has hired a couple of authors in the past, who, well, let’s just say they weren’t on the up-and-up. He’s desperate to get his life story on paper. I had to make sure you were who he thought you were.”
Silence.
Lauren took a minute to absorb his words. “Why did you buy all of the music boxes?” That was the first thought she had, and the words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them.
“I collect them.”
“Oh.”
“Yep.”
“You’re really a pilot?”
“I am. Copilot today. Not my normal job, but I was where I needed to be.”
“Coincidence?” Lauren said, grinning.
“I don’t believe in coincidence. I think you just said that.”
“Me, either.”
“Then what do you think we should call this?” he asked her, all traces of humor gone. “Me. You. Here.”
A vague, yet sensuous tension passed between them. She knew he felt it from the tender look in his eyes.
“Luck?” she suggested.
He nodded. “I think it’s more than that. I thought so when I saw you in the store, and then again, when I saw you eating that grilled cheese sandwich at the diner. And now, if this is luck, it’s the luckiest day of my life.”
“Mine too,” Lauren agreed.
“How old are you?” he asked out of the blue.
Her mouth formed an O. “Didn’t your mother tell you never ask a lady her age?”
“No. She died before I was old enough to need that kind of advice.”
Lauren closed her eyes. She’d read that Mr. G had lost his wife when his son was very young.
“I knew that. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
“No, I should think before I speak. And to answer your question—wait a second, why do you want to know my age?”
“I don’t know. You’re so young.”
“Like how young do you think?” she asked in a teasing tone.
“Twenty-eight?”
“I’ll take that,” she said.
“Okay, well, it’s a bit young.”
“So you say. What about you?”
“I’m thirty-nine.”
“Perfect, because I’m really thirty-five. Is that too old?”
“It’s perfect, Lauren.” He stood, closing the distance between them. He reached for her hand, gently pulling her out of the chair. He lowered his head and touched his lips to hers.
At a knock on the door, Lauren fell back into the chair, a wicked grin on her face. “Felicia?”
“Probably,” he said, returning her wicked grin with a wicked and sexy one of his own.
“Come in,” he said.
Felicia entered, carrying a tray with three glasses filled with ice and three cans of Coke. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Yes, we were discussing Dad’s life,” he said, taking a can of Coke and a glass of ice from the tray. He popped the tab, filled the glass, and gave it to Lauren.
“Well, I can assure you, he is one of the nicest men you’ll ever meet,” Felicia said as she poured a soda for John, then one for herself.
“I’m excited to meet him,” Lauren said. She was feeling so many different emotions. This morning, she’d told her mother that when she met a guy who knocked her socks off, blew her away, she’d tell her. Lauren was pretty darn sure she’d just met that guy, and even better, she knew he felt the same. Actually, she’d known that she had met him the second he’d entered Razzle Dazzle.
“He’s a piece of work, that’s all I’m saying,” John said, a grin on his face. “Speaking of which, I better get back to the cockpit and get this biographer to Seattle safely because something tells me we’re going to be seeing a lot of one another in the future.” He looked at her, and once again, she turned to mush.
“Yes, and I’d best let Lauren rest,” Felicia said. “We’ll be landing soon.” She hurried out of the room with the tray and empty soda cans.
“Thanks for the Coke,” Lauren called out to her.
“So, you’re good with this?” John asked.
“This what?”
“Us,” he said.
Lauren knew that he felt whatever it was she was feeling. This was a knock-your-socks-off moment, or love at first sight. Whatever one called it, she would meet it head-on. “Yes. I’m good with us,” she said, knowing these words were about to change her life forever.
“Then let’s seal the deal,” he said, and once again pulled her into his arms, touched his lips to hers, and sealed the deal of a lifetime.