Читать книгу The Bachelor's Bed - Jill Shalvis - Страница 8

COLIN WOULDN’T HAVE SAID desperation was a personality trait of his, but he felt the cold fingers of it now. Frustrated, he stared at the calculated mess in his office. The building was deserted except for him. Even the downtown streets beyond the darkened windows were quiet on this late-summer evening.

His favorite time to work.

If he could, he’d work all night. Every night. Whatever it took to finish this project, he would do it, it was that important.

But he had to go home, had to ward off trouble.

It wasn’t often he felt so helpless, and he hated that. There was only one thing to do—fight it.

Fight them.

The them in this case wasn’t some terrorist threat or even a horrific viral infection, but something far worse.

It was his mother and her two meddling sisters.

The three of them had come together in their mutual campaign to ruin his life.

They wanted him married and they wanted him married yesterday, and to further this mission, they had sent woman after woman to him. They’d created parties, blind dates, “surprise” visitors, chance meetings, anything and everything to drive him insane.

He had no idea what the latest plan of attack was, but they’d been too quiet since the last one, when they’d sicced Ms. Mary Martin, the town librarian and closet nymphomaniac, on him. She had made his life a living hell for a month, smiling wickedly every time she ran into him, which had been disturbingly often. When she had goosed him in his office elevator one night, practically stripping him before he managed to separate himself from her, he had drawn the line.

No more interference by his family.

They had to be stopped.

LANI’S CAR barely made it, but that was little surprise. The poor clunker had been threatening to go all year and since she’d just recently put her cleaning business into the black for the first time, transportation had taken a low priority to other things, such as eating.

Carmen glanced at her with a raised eyebrow when the car lunged and jerked.

“Hey, it got us here,” Lani told her worker as she shut it off. Barely.

Carmen read her lips, looking not so much grateful as doubtful. The woman was sixty years old and deaf. She also had a bit of an attitude and didn’t do windows—not exactly perfect maid material.

But Lani was so short-staffed that she, too, was out in the field cleaning today. Not that she minded since this was his house.

In fact, for a glimpse of his rugged, athletic body she’d clean every toilet in the house. With his dark, thick hair, even darker, fathomless eyes and full, sexy mouth, Colin West was truly the stuff secret fantasies were made of.

Sometimes she pretended that he noticed her for something other than the weekly maid. That he wondered how he could have employed her for a full year and not seen her mind-shattering beauty, her sharp wit. But in the end that was a cruel fantasy because he was perfect and she was…well…not.

Still she never stopped wishing, because someday she was going to take her great-aunt Jennie’s advice—she was going to stop living life so carefully and purposely, she was going to jump up and take a risk and not worry about getting hurt.

Carmen sighed theatrically at the delay while Lani daydreamed. Lani knew she was going to have to stop hiring people just because she felt sorry or responsible for them. But it was a difficult habit to break. Besides, Carmen could be sweet.

The older woman stared at the huge house they were to clean and shook her head sharply, glaring at Lani. She huffed with indignation, which made Lani laugh. Okay, not sweet exactly. But she was company, which was nice.

It’s going to be a scorcher of a day, Lani thought as she tugged and yanked at the heavy bucket in her trunk, panting a little under the weight of it. The mountain air was supposed to make a person strong, but Lani had lived here all her life and she was still on the puny side of petite.

Sierra Summit was located at the base of the Los Angeles Crest Mountains above the sprawling Los Angeles area, but still the July hot spell penetrated the altitude.

Lani swiped at her sticky forehead and hefted the bucket higher while Carmen watched, probably relieved she hadn’t been asked to carry anything. The bucket was filled with sponges and cleaners and Lani wrinkled her nose when the strong aroma of pine and lime caught in her throat.

She had nothing against cleaning—it was her livelihood. But if Colin wasn’t going to sweep her off her feet, which she had to admit was highly unlikely, then she might as well be back in her small but cozy office in town, working on her very-behind bookkeeping.

A sponge bounced from her bucket to the ground. Lani nearly killed herself in the juggling act she had to perform just to get it back in.

Carmen simply watched.

“Hey, don’t worry, I’ve got it.” Silence met this dry statement, and Lani found herself yearning for someone, anyone, to speak to.

The blast of unexpected self-pity was startling. She never allowed it, so why was she wallowing in loneliness today? “Because I just had my twenty-sixth birthday,” she realized, speaking out loud.

Carmen watched her speak then snorted her opinion of that.

But, twenty years after losing the family that had been her entire life, Lani was just realizing something disturbing. Despite her inherent sunny disposition, despite her determination to live her life as though each day was precious, she had never again fully opened her heart to another. Guilt stabbed at her because she did have Great-Aunt Jennie, who’d taken in a traumatized six-year-old Lani instead of enjoying her retirement years. But still, Lani ached for something that continued to elude her.

Truth was, she wanted more from life. She wanted to follow Jennie’s advice and take a chance, lower her guard. Risk. And if, in the process, she managed to have a hot, wildly passionate love affair with a man as dreamy as Colin, then so much the better, because she had to face facts—orgasms were but a blissful figment of her imagination.

Cleaning bucket in tow, Lani followed Carmen up the long, bricked walk of the upscale home, the early morning sun beaming down on her. She should be used to waking up on one side of the tracks and working on the other, but she still stopped to gawk at the incredibly beautiful home.

Her own place was a tiny modest apartment in an older part of town. Not seedy or even dangerous, just…cheap. She lived there for nearly nothing because Jennie owned the building and never let Lani pay what she charged everyone else.

But Colin’s two-story, sprawling house took her breath away. The cedar siding had aged to the color of expensive whiskey. There were no less than three chimneys to conjure up the imagine of hot, crackling winter fires. Decking surrounded the bottom floor. Lani could close her eyes and imagine the swing she’d place where Colin would draw her down and whisper husky promises in her ear on warm summer nights. Then, beneath a sliver of a moon, he’d make good on those promises, using his hands, his tongue, his body until she was limp….

In the real world, she plowed into Carmen, who’d also stopped short to admire the house.

Icy liquid flowed down Lani’s front, cooling her off.

Carmen frowned down at her own splattered tennis shoes and worked her lips in what Lani was certain was a colorful Spanish oath.

“Sorry,” she muttered and, ignoring her wet shirt, kept moving, her gaze back on the fabulous house. She knew that Colin never used the fireplaces. He hadn’t placed a swing on the deck either. His work was his life, and while Lani appreciated and understood his dedication, she wondered if he didn’t sometimes yearn for more, the way she did.

As she came to the back door, she felt a strange thrill in her belly.

Would she see him? Would she catch a glimpse of his deep mysterious eyes? Would she hear his low, mesmerizing voice, the one that turned her inside out?

She hoped so because he was the highlight of her week. He was incredible. Okay, maybe a little dark and moody, but positively magnificent. Maybe he’d be wearing those soft, faded jeans again, the ones that fit him like a glove, emphasizing…

Carmen tsked deep in her throat and Lani jumped guiltily, knowing her thoughts had been plastered across her face. “Oh, like you don’t think it, too.”

Carmen made the equivalent of a grumpy old woman’s laugh and wagged her little finger at Lani. Then she wiggled her ample hips suggestively, pausing in her dance to shake her head. Lastly, she gestured to the cleaning supplies.

“Yes, yes, I know.” Lani rolled her eyes. “We’re here to clean. Clean, clean, clean. No hanky-panky. You know, it’s amazing how well you can communicate when you want to. Maybe while you’re in the mood, you can explain to me how you have the energy to make fun of me, but the minute we get inside you’ll suddenly tire and let me do all the hard work.”

Angelic now, Carmen smiled with a lift of one shoulder and a vague shake of her head. No comprende.

Right. Lani shook her head in disgust at the both of them. Every woman, young and old, within thirty miles sighed over the thought of Colin. He was rich, amazingly intelligent, gorgeous and, most importantly, he was single. That he kept his distance from people only fueled the constant rumors about his love life. It was said that he went through a different woman every day of the week—but that only made Lani all the more morbidly curious.

He invented things, for lack of a better term—electronic robotics. She knew nothing about that.

It didn’t matter. She didn’t need to understand to appreciate him. Colin worked hard, a good quality in anyone. He was driven and successful. His dark, dangerous fallen-angel looks didn’t hurt, either.

Too bad he was so involved in his work. But unlike some of her other clients, who preferred to pretend that their maid was invisible, Colin West always nodded politely to her, spoke easily, and never made her feel less than the woman she was. They’d had many pleasant conversations over the months, and she could remember every one of them.

Enough, she told herself firmly. Ignoring the overwhelming heat, she headed quickly up the steep walk to the kitchen entrance, leaving Carmen huffing far behind.

Just as she reached the door, it whipped open, sending blessedly cool air into her damp face. Standing there before her in all his somber glory was Colin, looking unexpectedly wild, rumpled and just a little desperate.

“Thank God it’s you.”

“Instead of?” she asked in surprise.

“One of your non-English-speaking employees or, God forbid, the older woman who can’t speak at all, the one who always sticks her tongue out at me.”

“Well…” She thought of Carmen making her way up the walk right this very moment.

“Come in,” he said a bit impatiently, his voice deep and rumbling. His dark, wavy, collar-length hair was more disheveled than usual and standing on end as if he’d been plowing his fingers through it. His eyes, so deep blue they looked black and fathomless, shimmered with what she might have suspected was nerves, if she didn’t know better.

From what she’d seen, Colin West never suffered from nerves.

So why was his tall, well-built frame—which she couldn’t help but notice was beautifully packed into a well-worn T-shirt and those snug old Levi’s she loved—so taut with tension?

Lani opened her mouth to speak, but it fell shut again when his huge, warm hand closed over the heavy bucket she held. He set it aside as though it weighed no more than a penny.

His mouth was grim.

“What’s the matter—” Lani squeaked in surprise when he pulled her the rest of the way into his kitchen, slammed the door and, with a gentle but inexorable force, pressed her back against it.

She should have spared a thankful thought for the deliciously cool house. She should have thought about Carmen, who was going to wonder why Lani hadn’t waited for her, but her attitude-ridden helper was the last thing on her mind at the moment.

“Mr. West!” she gasped, even as she closed her eyes to fully enjoy the sensation of his incredibly hard body against hers. After all, if this was a dream, she didn’t want to wake up. “Did I forget my money again?”

“No.”

Lord, she felt good against him. He felt good. “So…this is to thank me for the job I did last time?”

“No.” For a brief moment he pressed closer, and the almost-embrace spoke of a desperately needed comfort. She lifted her hands to his waist and squeezed reassuringly, trying to remember that he was a client.

“She’s not going to let up,” he said gruffly. “And I can’t take it, not now, not in the middle of this project. It’s too damn important.”

Reluctantly, Lani opened her eyes because a she definitely ruined the fantasy. “Who won’t let up?”

“It’s enough to drive me insane.” His voice was low, edgy and spine-tinglingly rough. “Only one way to stop her and—damn, you’re wet!” His dark brows came together in a sharp line as he jerked back, staring down at his T-shirt, now clinging damply to his broad chest.

“I spilled. I’m…sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, still staring down at himself.

Lani stared too, because wow, with his wet shirt pasted to that fabulous chest, the blood rushed right out of her head, which made thinking a tad dangerous to her health.

“It’s the project that’s so important.”

She concentrated on his words with effort. “Project?”

“I’m designing a laser-surgery process,” he said, pulling at his shirt. “It’s so close.”

“Laser surgery. They already have that.”

“This is different—better.” His voice told her how important this was to him. “Less cutting,” he said earnestly. “Less time under anesthesia. It’ll revolutionize the way surgeries are performed.”

And would help countless numbers of people. Lani’s save-the-world heart squeezed.

Her crush on him tripled.

“You’ll save so many lives,” she marveled. A modern day hero, she thought.

“The surgeons will save the lives.” He moved close again, his eyes flashing with passion, and though she knew it wasn’t directed at her, it made her dizzy anyway. Capturing her head in his big, warm hands, he tipped it up to stare down into her eyes. “But I can’t finish, they won’t leave me alone. No one will leave me alone. They want me out socializing, dating, spending the money I don’t care about. I need help.”

“You do?” With his long, powerfully built body against hers it was hard to imagine him needing help from someone like her.

“I need a fictional fiancée.” His gaze held hers captive. “I know how this sounds, Lani, but will you marry me? For pretend?”

The situation finally overcame Lani’s sensory pleasure. Yes, she was plastered up against the door, held there by the fabulous body she’d fantasized over for months, but had he just really asked…“M-m-marry you?” She hadn’t stuttered since kindergarten, nearly twenty years before, but suddenly her tongue kept tripping over itself. “B-b-but…”

At that moment, Carmen finally made it to the back door and knocked with enough pressure to wake the dead.

Lani ignored her. “Did you really just ask me to…?”

“Yes.” Colin drew a deep, ragged breath. “I’ve thought about it, planned it all out. I know this is a huge imposition, and I promise to compensate you….” At her soft sound of dismay, he hurried on. “I’m not trying to insult you, but I’m aware of what I’m asking and that it’s an inconvenience, to say the least.”

She couldn’t help it, she laughed.

He frowned. “This isn’t funny.”

“No, it’s not,” she agreed. An inconvenience to be married to him? Not likely.

“It won’t be easy, but I’ve watched you all year now. You’re smart, funny and, best yet, even-tempered. We can do this.”

He’d watched her all year.

At her expression, he hesitated. “You understand, this is pretend. I just need the pretense of being engaged while I finish my project.” His hands were still on her face. Rough skin, tender touch. “Lani?”

Maybe she ought to vow to risk more often because, holy cow, this was more like the thrilling life she’d dreamed about for herself since she’d been a young girl remembering her happy, romantic parents. During those first painful years she’d wondered what kind of man would eventually sweep her off her feet. She’d wondered as time had gone by as well, even as she put up mental barriers to avoid the intimacy she so feared.

Now Colin wanted her.

No, she corrected, he needed, not wanted. There was a difference and she would do well to remember it. His proposed arrangement was too easy to romanticize. Colin needed time for his laser project, which would save countless thousands. She could be a part of that altruistic cause by helping him out.

And be married to him at the same time.

Carmen pressed her face against the window in the door, ruining the moment, glaring over Lani’s shoulder as she tried to see. When she caught sight of Colin wrapped around Lani, her eyes widened comically.

Lani turned her head and concentrated on the warm male pressed against her.

“I just need your agreement,” Colin urged in that rough yet silky voice.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t paying attention, she was. Yet she couldn’t help but wonder—how did an inventor get such a great body? She’d seen plenty of great bodies before, but she so rarely had one held against her this way. It made thinking curiously difficult.

“I know this is really sudden, and a big decision, but I can’t work like this.” Colin dropped his forehead to hers. “I have to have more peace and quiet. It’s crucial.”

“I understand.” His mouth was close enough to kiss if she just leaned forward a fraction of an inch. Her heart raced.

“It’s urgent we resolve this before—” The phone rang, echoing strangely in his large house. “Damn.”

It rang and rang, in tune now to Carmen’s persistent and annoying knocking.

Colin’s eyes seemed even more wild, more desperate, and because she’d never seen him anything less than completely put together, it startled her.

“Will you help me?” he asked.

“Well…”

“We’re not strangers.”

“Uh…no. But…”

“And you know I’m not a mass murderer,” he urged. “Or a criminal of any kind.”

“Yes. But…”

“Lani.” He stepped close again, but didn’t touch her. “I’ll give you anything in my power, just name it. Money?”

“No!”

“A trip somewhere?”

Lani knew her eyes had lit up; she’d never had the chance to go anywhere. “I would never accept such a thing.”

“Hawaii,” he said rashly.

Hawaii. A personal fantasy of hers. “No. No, thank you,” she added gruffly, knowing she was going to regret this in the deep dark of the night.

“I’ll do anything for you in return,” he assured her. “Your business…could you use another client?”

Only desperately. “Sure.”

“Then please, add my downtown building to your client list. Daily.”

Just like that, he’d upped her income. Not only upped it, probably tripled it. He could have no idea what that meant to her, and though she knew it was a pity that he felt he had to offer a bribe, she shamelessly took it, thinking of the extra hours she’d be able to offer her employees. “That’s…very generous. Thank you.”

“Will you do it?”

Despite her little fantasies, Lani was commitment shy, always had been. She was intelligent enough to realize that most of what made her life so good was the fact that she concentrated on others rather than on herself. The town of Sierra Summit was fairly small, only about seven thousand people in all, and she mothered, sistered and babied a good many of them. Her business was struggling constantly to break even, but only because she didn’t charge enough and hired people who needed her more than she needed them. Her business handled mostly industrial work because there weren’t too many residents who needed or could afford a housecleaner—Colin being the exception, of course. It wasn’t much of an effort to keep everyone happy and satisfied, and Lani genuinely cared about them all, but even so, she still managed to hold everyone at a distance.

This came from a deeply ingrained fear of getting involved, of getting hurt. Whether it went back to losing her family so young or to something much more simple—her own basic shyness, for example—she didn’t know and didn’t often try to analyze. Colin had said this would be just for show, but she didn’t fool herself, it would be complicated, and as a rule she didn’t do complicated well.

Stalling, she offered a crooked smile as he once again pulled his wet shirt away from his body. “I don’t really know you,” she said finally.

The phone rang again and Colin cursed under his breath. His shoulders sagged and his eyes went even more wild.

Carmen knocked.

Colin growled and yanked the door open. In contrast to the tension pouring from him, he spoke slowly, distinctly, and appeared surprisingly calm, considering how white his knuckles were on the knob. “I need another moment with your boss,” he said through his teeth, which were bared in a mockery of a smile. He waited until Carmen read his lips and nodded reluctantly. “Alone,” he added firmly when Carmen would have entered.

The older woman’s eyebrows disappeared into her hairline, but she backed off the threshold. As she turned away, she stuck her tongue out at him.

Lani held her breath, but he didn’t seem to notice.

Colin shut the door. His gaze whipped back to Lani, and there was no mistaking his recklessness now. “It’s not all that difficult an issue,” he assured her. “I’m an open book. Truly.”

Lani let out a little laugh, for he was the most closed-mouthed person she’d ever known. And also, something else bothered her—why her? Surely he could have asked anyone and got a resounding oh boy, pretty please, yes!

Her silence must have scared him. “All right.” He plowed his fingers through his hair as he turned in a slow circle. “You want to know me.” He faced her and shrugged. “It’s simple, really. I’m…technically inclined. I don’t drink or do drugs…I like fast, sleek, sexy cars…and I’m fairly certain I don’t snore.”

When the phone rang yet again, his words came faster. “I like classical music, smart dogs and spicy Mexican food. And I always put the seat down. Now,” he added tightly over the annoying phone, “will you agree?”

Lani would never know what came over her, whether it was the unexpected flash of loneliness she’d experienced that morning, or just the deep, inexplicable yearning she felt for this man.

Risk, she reminded herself.

Help him with his great project. Help him help you out of the rut your life has become. “Okay,” she whispered. Because that sounded weak, she licked her lips and simply, confidently said, “Yes.”

Surprise flitted across his features and he held himself very still, clearly unsure if he’d heard correctly. “Did you just say yes?”

“Yes.” Oh, God, she couldn’t believe she was going to do this. “I mean, what the heck. I love spicy Mexican food, too. Let’s do it.”