Читать книгу Sultry Escapes: Waking Up to You - Leslie Kelly, Janelle Denison - Страница 16

OVER THE NEXT couple of days, Candace found herself falling into a routine. She would get up early, and spend the morning with Grandpa, cheering him on with his rehab. Then she would come back to the house, have lunch with Oliver, have sex with Oliver, have orgasms with Oliver, do a little drawing, then go back to have dinner with Grandpa. Often Oliver accompanied her for dinner, though they left the sex and the orgasms at home.

She couldn’t remember a time when she’d been happier. Oh, she was still very worried about her grandfather, and was now busy dealing with her newest assignment. The studio had called, saying they loved her sketches and wanted her for the project. She knew as well as anyone that this could be the film that got her some major attention. Aside from that, she was also busy talking to appraisers and auctioneers about the wine collection. And surrounding all that business and activity, a happy glow of personal contentment swirled around her just about every minute of the day.

She and Oliver did more than just have the most amazing sex. They cooked together, walked together, laughed together. She’d gotten him to open up a little more about his savaged career, and even got him to admit that, with his change in lifestyle, he probably could afford to put out a shingle and take on only the clients he truly believed were innocent.

Only one thing could pierce her glow of contentment: thinking about what awaited her back in L.A.

“Hey, chickie, whatcha doing?” Tommy asked when she’d answered the phone late one afternoon.

She hadn’t told him about Oliver. The only person she’d even hinted to about her relationship with him was Madison, to whom she talked every other day or so. Her sister had been her other half since birth. They had the kind of bond few people ever experienced with a sibling. Madison knew how to keep a secret, so they usually told each other everything. But even Madison didn’t know the whole story. Candace had kept some things from her, the most intimate things. She’d protected the relationship, wanting to keep it private for as long as it lasted. But the fact that it couldn’t last much longer was crushing her.

“I’m shopping,” she admitted. “I’ve got to buy a new dress.”

“For?”

“There’s a big winery owner’s ball tomorrow night,” she said, still wondering if she’d made the right decision in saying she would attend with Oliver.

Their relationship so far had been mostly about sex. Drinking wine, talking about Grandpa and him teaching her what he’d learned so far about the wine business had taken up some time, too. But other than that one dinner/ dessert they’d shared at Wilhelm’s, they’d never actually gone on a date. So last night, when her grandfather had told them he wanted the two of them to go to the event, since he had already RSVP’d for himself and Oliver, her first instinct was to refuse. Then she’d met Oliver’s eye from across the hospital room and had seen the gleam of interest there.

She couldn’t deny being curious. She’d gotten to know him as a working man. This formal, black-tie event might be her only chance to catch a glimpse of the man Oliver had been before his life imploded. Not that she didn’t adore the man who’d taught her things about her body she’d never even known, but she wanted to learn as much about him as she could, while she could. She wanted to discover all his facets and imprint them on her memory, to tide her over for the long and lonely years that stretched ahead.

It was getting harder to think about those years, harder to envision the life she’d chosen for herself. Even the sound of Tommy’s voice, which usually made her happy, twisted the knife in the wound. For a few days, she’d been able to pretend she was at the start of a relationship that could change her life.

Maybe it still would. Maybe she’d change from a normal, happy woman to a heartbroken, never-able-to-love-again sad case.

Love? What the hell are you thinking, girl?

“Sounds fancy.”

She was still too busy tripping over the word love in her mind to respond.

“Where is it?” he asked.

She finally shook her head, forcing away thoughts she wasn’t ready to deal with, and replied, “At a hotel in San Francisco.”

“Nice. I love that city.”

A faint smile tugged at her lips. “I can’t imagine why.”

“Do you think anyone would notice if I walked in the parade? I could blend in with the crowd.”

“Maybe…if you covered yourself with gold body paint from head to toe and wore a rubber gorilla mask on your face.”

“Party pooper.”

She shrugged as she walked around the square in Sonoma, eyeing the windows of various boutiques. “Have you been behaving?”

“Define behaving.”

“Staying out of the news?”

“Babe, I’m always in the news. I can’t take a piss in a restaurant bathroom without some jackass trying to snap a picture he can sell to the tabs.”

“That really sucks, Tommy,” she said, hearing the note of sad resignation he couldn’t disguise.

“Yeah, poor, poor me,” he said, his dark mood lifting quickly, as always. “Remind me of that next time I get a contract for a ten-mill picture.”

“Will do.”

“Considering half of it will be yours, I’m sure you will!”

Right. His millions would be her millions. Somehow, that had meant something to her once upon a time. It just didn’t now.

“Hey, have you heard from the studio?”

One bit of bright news. “Yes. I got the job.”

“Congrats, girlfriend!”

“Thanks. They sent me the script and I’m starting on some prelims.”

“Excellent. We should celebrate.”

“We will. When I get back.”

“When’s that going to be again?”

She swallowed hard, knowing she had to say the words aloud—not just for his sake, but for hers.

“I’m coming home in a few days. Grandpa gets out of the rehab facility on Sunday. The last time I talked to Mad, she was booking a ticket to come out and spend some time with him. She should be here sometime this weekend.”

“So there’s nothing keeping you there?”

No. Nothing keeping her.

Nothing at all.

She wished she could talk to Tommy. Other than her sister, he was the one to whom she could always spill her darkest secrets and woes. And since her sister lived clear on the other side of the country, and they seldom saw each other, it was Tommy who she usually relied on.

But she couldn’t talk to him about this. Couldn’t admit anything about her amazing relationship with Oliver. It was too personal, too vulnerable, and she had to concede, too heartbreaking. Telling him would mean revealing her feelings—she could never keep those from him. If she revealed how she really felt, she would be putting Tom in a hell of a position.

Would he urge her to follow her heart, tell her he’d deal with the fallout?

Maybe.

Or maybe he’d panic and beg her not to bail on him.

Either way, she’d end up feeling like the worst friend in the world. Because she’d promised. Agreeing to marry him was not the kind of promise she could go back on, not when so much was riding on it for him. If she didn’t follow through, his career could be over, and so could their friendship. So no matter how deeply she feared she was falling for Oliver McKean, her old friend had to come before her new lover.