AN EMOTION FLASHED across Delano’s face that Mellie couldn’t recognize and didn’t know how to interpret. All she knew was that it sent a wave of goose bumps down her back, and made her heart turn over.
She’d been unsure about how to express what she thought, and now she realized how it might sound. That he might think she was speaking personally, rather than professionally, and a wave of embarrassment rose from her chest into her face.
Quickly, before he could comment or question her, she said, “Of course I’m hoping to carry on the practice when your father retires. I’ve put my all into it, helping to modernize and expand it, but that’s just business. Your father means a lot to me—even more than the practice—and I know how happy it would make him if you decided to move back here and take over his work.”
Delano nodded, leaning back in his chair, and his hooded regard made her want to squirm.
She’d spent far too long the night before reliving their kiss, to the point where she’d almost forgotten their frank and confiding conversation. If she were being totally honest, she’d have to admit that was where the real intimacy had bloomed between them.
She was ashamed to admit how judgmental she’d been when, realistically, she’d known very little about him. It brought to mind the way her mother acted, and Mellie had always promised herself never to emulate that behavior. Getting to know Delano had changed her attitude toward him, although part of her still wondered if she could trust him.
Her judgment of character was suspect, after all.
It was the kind of conundrum she really didn’t need. But she was in the middle of it, whether she liked it or not, and had to find some way to navigate through to the best solution for them all.
How to manage that was the question.
Maybe the conversation would be easier if they weren’t sitting so close together, and she had something to do with her hands other than hold her cup. Setting down her coffee, she stood up.
“Do you mind if I check on the kittens while we talk?” she asked, heading back into the living room without waiting for his agreement. “I’ve already fed them but might need to clean them up a bit before I leave for work.”
He didn’t reply, but she heard the scrape of the chair legs as he got up, and his measured footsteps as he followed her down the short hallway to the powder room door.
“It’s a good thing I don’t have a lot of visitors,” she said, knowing she was babbling but not able to stop herself. “My guest bathroom seems to constantly be in use as a nursery.”
Delano snorted: a sound she’d come to recognize denoted amusement, and somehow it made her relax, just a little.
When she pulled open the door, a tiny ball of black fur rocketed out, scooting between her feet then past Delano to disappear down the passageway.
“Gilligan!” They both shouted at the same time, just as an almighty crash sounded in the living room.
Mellie closed the bathroom door before rushing after Delano into the next room, and what she saw there brought her to a screeching halt.
The curtain rod across her large living room window was hanging down on one side, clearly brought down by the kitten, who was hanging onto the fabric with what looked to be one claw. The falling curtain had also knocked a metal lamp off a side table too.
“Good grief,” Delano muttered, stepping over the lamp and reaching up for the kitten, who tried to scramble farther up the curtain but couldn’t get his claw free. “Gilligan, you’re more of a menace than your namesake was in the show.”
For an instant, Mellie couldn’t move, or even breathe. Delano was at full extension, both arms raised as he extricated the kitten from the curtain, and the view was mouthwatering. Shoulder and arm muscles flexed and his shirt rode up, revealing not just that perfect ass, but also a toothsome strip of dark, smooth skin above his low-slung jeans.
What was it about this man that caused her to burn inside, even while she knew it was best to stay away?
Closing her eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath, she sought calm although inside emotions tangled around her brain, making her wonder how to move forward. Delano drew her in by his magnetism and his seeming understanding of what drove her to rescue. Part of her wanted to run away before things went horribly wrong, but the other, larger part, wanted to get to know him intimately.
The dichotomy was enough to drive her a little insane.
A touch on her arm brought her back to herself, and her eyes flew open.
“You okay?”
He was close—too close—looking at her with such concern and curiosity, she felt herself blush furiously.
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine,” she said. While she was trying to sound firm, she knew her voice was more breathless than she’d like. Sinking down onto the couch put some necessary distance between them. She’d been tempted to lean forward and kiss him.
Which was the last thing she should do.
“Listen,” he said. Still holding the kitten close to his chest, he sat in the chair across from her. “I know you’re thinking of my father’s feelings, and I’ll really think about what you said last night, but St. Eustace isn’t the place for me. When I left, I decided I wouldn’t come back to live here, and that hasn’t changed.”
Looking down at her hands, Mellie chewed on her bottom lip, wanting to ask why, but knowing it wasn’t any of her business.
“On a totally different subject,” he said suddenly, making her look up in surprise. “Will there be a repeat of that kiss?”
All the breath left her lungs, and once more heat stained her cheeks and gathered low in her belly.
Damn him for making her feel like a giddy and unsophisticated schoolgirl!
“I don’t know,” she said, watching his expression—the slow upturn of those sinful lips, the gleam deep in his dark eyes—her heart rate spiking. “It probably wouldn’t be wise.”
His smile deepened into a grin, and he shook his head. “Wisdom is overrated, and a very minor part of my portfolio.”
“I’ve learned to look at least twice before I leap,” she rebutted. “We’re working together. That complicates things.”
“Not much,” he replied. “Since I’ll only be here for another week or so. Give me another excuse.”
There were a hundred other reasons why kissing Delano should be on her no-no list, but for the life of her, when he looked at her with that smoldering intensity, she couldn’t think of another one.
“It’s not an excuse. I don’t need an excuse not to kiss you.” She made her voice as firm as she could, but it still wavered a little. “I need a reason to kiss you again.”
He chuckled, and got to his feet in one lithe move. Holding Gilligan out to her, he said, “Well, I can give you a really good one, if you’re interested.”
Automatically taking the kitten and cuddling him close, Mellie met his gaze, and felt like she was drowning in it.
“What?” was all she could manage to ask, with her heart in her throat.
Delano bent, so his mouth was right beside her ear, and whispered, “It was superb.”
Then, before she could catch enough breath to respond, he’d touched his lips to her cheek, and was on his way out the door.
“Dammit,” she said to Gilligan, once Delano was gone. The kitten was looking at her with his bottle-green eyes, as if waiting for her verdict. “He’s right.”
Darn him!
Delano strode out, threading his way through the dogs, happily making a fuss over them the way they demanded. Going out through the gate, he unlocked the car then got in, grinning as he starting it, although his hands felt a little shaky.
Okay, so he’d done a complete one-eighty to what he’d intended when coming to Mellie’s home, but that wasn’t a bad thing. He had, after all, reiterated his determination not to stay and take over the practice, so Mellie could feel assured of her place there. As far as he knew, she had no reason not to believe him when he said he’d be going back to Trinidad.
But, even more importantly—to his mind anyway—he’d let her know he’d be more than happy to repeat their mind-blowing kiss. And take it further, if she was game.
Just the thought had his body hardening, and sent a wave of goose bumps along his back. He’d need a cold shower if he didn’t stop thinking about Mellie. Those soft, full lips and silky skin. The way she’d pressed closer to him the night before and tangled her tongue with his in the most erotic of duels.
Whew.
She was one in a million, and if he was offered the privilege of an intimate, erotic encounter with her, there was no way he’d refuse.
His phone rang just as he drew up to his father’s house and, recognizing his cousin’s name and glad of the distraction, Delano answered it once he’d parked.
“Hey, Jason. What’s up? Are you back?”
His cousin, who was an attaché to the minister of local government and culture, had been in Jamaica for a conference.
“Yes. Got in last night. Looking forward to seeing you. What you doing Saturday night? There’s a big fundraiser out at Cable Farm. I thought we could go together. It’ll be like old times.”
“I hope not,” Delano replied with a chuckle. “We drank way too much back in the day.”
Jason laughed, the hearty sound buoying Delano’s spirits even more, albeit in a very different way than his time with Mellie had. “We tore up the place, for sure. I’ll make sure you don’t overdo it at the fete. You’re not as young as you used to be.”
“Man, you’re only a few months younger than me, so I don’t get what you’re yammering about.”
“But I am younger than you, so there’s that,” his irrepressible cousin teased, making Delano laugh again. “I’ll pick you up at about eight, if that works for you?”
“Sounds like a plan.” It would be good to do something fun. “I’ll see you then.”
He was about to hang up and get out of the car when Jason said, “Wait, there’s something else I need to speak to you about.”
Sinking back into the driver’s seat, Delano said, “Oh?”
“Yeah.”
Jason paused, and the hair on the back of Delano’s neck stirred. His cousin was usually both frank and completely self-assured. For him to hesitate didn’t bode well for the conversation.
“Go on,” Delano urged, wanting to get whatever was coming over with.
Jason’s indrawn breath was loud enough for Delano to hear through the phone.
“For the last few years Uncle Milo has been talking about setting up a scholarship fund in Aunt Iris’s memory, to help kids who want to go on to tertiary education. It was something he wanted to do long ago, but...”
When his cousin’s voice faltered, Delano repeated, “But...?”
“Honestly, he wasn’t in the financial position to do it.” Jason’s voice was firm, as if he’d come to a decision to tell it like it was. “After you left, the practice started to deteriorate a little at a time. Uncle Milo’s heart wasn’t in it. It’s only since Mellie came to work with him, and started making improvements, that it’s picked up again.”
Delano leaned his head back against the seat, heartsore and swamped with guilt.
As if he didn’t have enough of that on his plate.
“Anyway, he and I have been talking about how he wants the trust structured and other issues about the administration of it, and we’re planning a big fundraiser next year.” There was another pause, but brief this time. “Uncle Milo wants you to head it up.”
“The fundraiser? Me?” He didn’t know why he was so surprised, but shock had ricocheted through his body at his cousin’s words.
“Not just the fundraiser. The entire thing.”