Remember Me. Laura Browning

wouldn’t be skiing down even advanced trails. You’d be on the expert slopes.”

      The waitress stopped by to get their order. After Lucy ordered a skim latte with an extra shot of espresso, Brandon smiled. “Make it two, and bring a couple of those chocolate croissants.”

      “Brandon!” Lucy protested. “I can’t eat that.”

      He arched a brow at her. “Who said it was for you? And the first thing you should understand about me is I never do anything I don’t want to do. Spending time with you? That’s something I want. And I would like nothing better than to fly us both over to Coyote Creek tomorrow.”

      She leaned back and crossed her arms across her chest. “To look at pottery?”

      He leaned forward, his arms crossed on the table. “To look at you looking at pottery. A distinction that makes it all worthwhile for me.”

      She flushed. Another thing he liked about her. Even though she oozed confidence in herself and her body, there were times when he had to wonder if some of it wasn’t simply an image she forced herself to project. Now she nibbled her lower lip, worrying it until he wanted to lean forward and kiss her.

      “All right,” she said at last.

      Brandon smiled. “Well, since I have your agreement, let me try something else. Care to spend the night with me? I want to make love to you right in front of the fireplace.”

      Her lips parted, but she was forestalled from a response when their waitress showed up, setting their lattes and the two chocolate croissants right in front of them. Once she had departed, leaving the check facedown on the table, Brandon raised his brows.

      “Well?” Inside, he worried for an instant she might say no. Then she grinned and tilted her head.

      “You don’t snore, do you?”

      “Not that I know of. What about you?”

      “My cat will never tell.”

      * * * *

      Lucy had to keep reminding herself what was between Brandon and her was only a little vacation romance. She couldn’t consider this as serious because what was happening was a slice out of time. He was like a dream, the fulfillment of a fantasy, but when this week was over, reality would return. She would return to taking her clothes off for money, and he would no doubt be back in the boardroom, his adventures with her no more than a memory.

      “So, will you stay with me tonight?”

      She should say no. That would be the safe way, but when she looked into his hazel eyes, there was only one answer. “Yes.”

      Those eyes of his heated, like watching the glow of a fire when a log had been tossed on top. The heat warmed her, made her feel the answer she’d given was the right one. Brandon cut a bite of croissant. “Eat, Lucy.” She started to shake her head. “Let me feed you. Just this once.”

      She took the flaky delicacy from the fork, her eyes closing with bliss at the combination of buttery crust and smooth chocolate filling. She swallowed. “You are a dangerous, dangerous man.”

      He carried her hand to his lips. “If we were someplace a little less public, I would show you how dangerous.”

      “Brandon?” A woman interrupted in a drawl of bored sophistication. Lucy caught a trace of a scowl cross Brandon’s lean features before his expression assumed a bland social veneer she had never seen.

      “Taylor. Slumming? I thought Aspen was a little more your speed.”

      “Mother wanted someplace quiet and said she needed my support, so here I am.”

      “Well, I hope you have a marvelous time. We were just leaving.”

      They were? Lucy kept a pleasant smile on her face. Brandon got to his feet, so she followed suit. The smaller woman eyed Lucy’s height as if she were akin to a giraffe in the zoo.

      “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

      Brandon eyed the other woman with what appeared to be distaste and then did something Lucy would never have imagined.

      “No.” Taking Lucy’s hand, he tossed a twenty on the table and pulled her out onto the street. She let him march her along the sidewalk in the direction of their parked car for about a hundred yards and then planted her feet.

      “Would you like to explain the little scene back there?” Although she tried to ignore it, some of those insecurities from an adolescence spent being bounced from home to home surfaced once more. “Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?”

      Brandon spun and stared at her, his brows drawn together in a thunderous frown. “What? You think blowing her off was because of you?” He grabbed her, holding her for a moment as if he wanted to shake her. Instead, he snatched her to him and buried his face in her hair. “Never, Lucy,” he growled. “I didn’t want to introduce you to her because she’s a first class bitch. My sister Anna went to school with her. Taylor was one of a group of girls who tormented the hell out of her. You are too good for the Taylors of this world.” He leaned back and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Come on, lady. Let’s get to Falcon’s Summit. I’d like to spend the evening and the night making love to you.”