My life has changed since you first met me. I have responsibilities now that I didn’t have then.”
“Sure, whatever you want,” he said, wondering what bothered her. For a few minutes downstairs she had let down that guard. He intended to find out why she was now being distant with him. “See you at seven.”
“Bye, Aaron,” she said, and stepped inside her suite, closing the door.
As he rode down in the elevator, his thoughts were on her. He knew she had regretted their night of lovemaking. It was uncustomary for her and in the cool light of day, it upset her that she had allowed herself to succumb to passion. Was she still suffering guilt about that night?
He didn’t think that was what had brought on the cool demeanor at the door of her suite. Maybe partially, but it had to be more than that. But what else could it be? He intended to find out.
He took the elevator back down and crossed the lobby, determined to get a suite on the sixth floor even if he had to pay far more to do so.
It turned out to be easier than he had thought because someone had just moved out.
My lucky day.
Stella Daniels walked through the living room of the suite in the Cozy Inn without seeing her surroundings. Visions came of Aaron when he had strolled to the table where she sat with Cole. Looking even better than she had remembered, Aaron exuded energy. His short dark blond hair in a neat cut added to his authoritative impression. The warmth in his light brown eyes had caused her heart to miss a beat.
She had a mixture of reactions to seeing him—excitement, desire, dread, regret. She hoped she’d managed to hide her tangled opposing emotions as she smiled and greeted him. Her first thought was how handsome he was. Her second was happiness to see him again, immediately followed by wishing he had stayed in Dallas where the company he shared with Cole was headquartered. His presence complicated her busy life more than he knew.
She’d offered her hand in a business handshake, but the moment his fingers had closed over hers, her heartbeat had jumped and awareness of the physical contact had set every nerve quivering. Memories taunted and tempted, memories that she had tried to forget since the one night she had spent with Aaron in October.
It had been a night she yielded to passion—which was so unlike her. Never before had she done such a thing or even been tempted to, but Aaron had swept her away. He had made her forget worries, principles, consequences, all her usual levelheaded caution, and she had rushed into a blissful night of love with him.
Now she was going to pay a price. As time passed after their encounter, she suspected she might have gotten pregnant. Finally she had purchased a pregnancy kit and the results confirmed her suspicions. The next step would be a doctor. Tomorrow she had an appointment in Austin. Her friends thought she was going there to visit her sister; Stella hadn’t actually said as much, but people had jumped to that conclusion and she had not corrected anyone. She did not want to see a doctor in Royal who would know her. She didn’t want to see one anywhere in the vicinity who would recognize her from her appearances on television since the storm. If a doctor confirmed her pregnancy, she wanted some time to make decisions and deal with the situation herself before everyone in Royal had the news, particularly Aaron.
Tomorrow she would have an expert opinion. Most of the time she still felt she wasn’t pregnant, that something else was going on. It had only been one night, and they’d used protection—pregnancy shouldn’t have resulted, regardless of test results or a missed period.
She studied herself in the mirror—her figure hadn’t changed. She hoped the pregnancy test was wrong, even though common sense said the test was accurate.
Given all that was going on, she should have turned Aaron down tonight, but she just couldn’t do it.
She looked at her hair and thought about what he had said. She would keep it up in a bun as a reminder to stop herself from another night of making love with him. In the meantime, she was going to have dinner with him, work with him and even have fun with him. Harmless fun that would allow them each to say goodbye without emotional ties—just two people who had a good time working together. What harm could there be in that?
Unless it turned out that she was pregnant. Then she couldn’t say goodbye.
She showered, took down her hair to redo it and selected a plain pale beige long-sleeved cotton blouse and a dark brown straight wool skirt with practical low-heeled shoes. She brushed, twisted and secured her hair into a bun at the back of her head. She didn’t wear makeup. Men usually didn’t notice her and she didn’t think makeup would make much difference. The times she had worn makeup in high school, boys still hadn’t noticed her or wanted to ask her out except when they were looking for help in some course they were taking.
An evening with Aaron. In spite of her promises to herself and her good intentions, the excitement tingled and added to her eagerness.
When it was time to go meet Aaron, she picked up a small purse that only held necessities, including her card key, wallet and a list of temporary numbers that people were using because of the storm. She wouldn’t need a coat because they wouldn’t be leaving the Cozy Inn.
When she stepped off the elevator, she saw him. She tried to ignore the faster thump of her heart. In an open-neck pale blue shirt and navy slacks, he looked handsome, neat and important. She thought he stood out in the crowd in the lobby with his dark blond hair, his broad shoulders and his air of authority.
Why did she have such an intense response to him? She had from the first moment she met him. He took her breath away and dazzled her without really doing anything except being himself.
He spotted her and her excitement jumped a notch. She felt locked into gazing into his eyes, eyes the color of caramel. She could barely get her breath; realizing how intensely she reacted to him, she made an effort to break the eye contact.
When she looked again, he was still watching her as he approached.
“You look great. No one would ever guess you’ve been working since before dawn this morning.”
“Thank you,” she answered, thinking he was just being polite. Nobody ever told her she looked great or gorgeous, or said things she heard guys say to women. She was accustomed to not catching men’s attention so she didn’t give it much thought.
“I have a table in the dining room,” he said, taking her arm. The room had been transformed since they’d left it. Lights had been turned low, the tables covered in white linen tablecloths. Tiny pots wrapped in red foil and tied with bright green satin bows held dwarf red poinsettias sprinkled with glitter, adding to the festive Christmas atmosphere.
A piano player played softly at one end of the room in front of a tiny dance floor where three couples danced to a familiar Christmas song. Near the piano was a fully decorated Christmas tree with twinkling lights.
Aaron held her chair and then sat across from her, moving the poinsettia to one side even though they could both see over it.
“I haven’t seen many Christmas trees this season,” she said. “It’s easy to even forget the holiday season is here when so many are hurting and so much is damaged.”
“Will you be with your family for Christmas?”
“No. My parents don’t pay any attention to Christmas. They’re divorced and Christmas was never a fun time at our house because of the anger between them. It was a relief when they finally ended their marriage.”
“Sorry. I know we talked about families before. Earlier today you said you are going to see your sister in Austin tomorrow. Do you see her at Christmas?”
“Some years I spend Christmas at her house. Some years I go back and forth between my parents and my sister. Mom has moved to Fort Worth. She’s a high school principal there. After the divorce my dad moved his insurance business to Dallas because