From the first moment he’d seen her, he’d been unable to escape her. He’d tried. But here he was, in her bed. Trapped by a desire he couldn’t control and a need he couldn’t explain. He should be running, or at least looking for an exit. But he wasn’t. He couldn’t leave. Not yet.
Was it possible she was who she seemed? She never looked at other men, she was funny, sexy and sweet. Maybe it was time to accept that and give them both a chance.
He got out of bed again and walked into the living room. Once there he strolled behind the wet bar and started coffee. He used the half bath and the spare toothbrush that housekeeping had thoughtfully put into a drawer. When he returned to the bedroom, the main bathroom door was closed. Seconds later it opened and Annabelle appeared.
“Morning,” she said with a shy smile. “You know, the hotel provides robes.”
“You’re not wearing one,” he said, taking in the delicious view. Full breasts, a narrow waist and round hips. She was all curves and attitude.
“Neither are you.”
“I’m a guy.”
Her gaze dropped to his growing erection. “Well, that explains the anatomical differences.”
“I made coffee.”
She smiled. “See, this is why you’re such a fun date.”
They were standing about ten feet apart. He was aware of her body, of the bed and the fact that he wanted her again. He also knew that she was probably tired, sore and not in the mood. Damn.
“Shane?”
“Yes?”
“I know what you’re thinking.”
“No, you don’t.”
The smile widened and her eyes brightened. “Yes, I do. I can see it on your face. And other places.”
He glanced down. There was no hiding that, he thought, knowing if he got much harder he would explode.
“The coffee is going to take a few minutes,” she told him. “Until then, do you remember what happened when you asked me to get the champagne? Back when we first got here?”
He remembered every detail of her walking across the room, turning around and touching herself, first with ice and then her hands. He swallowed.
“Uh-huh.”
“That was just my breasts.” She moved her hands to her belly and laid them against her soft skin. “Remember?”
His gaze locked on her slow moving fingers. How they were inching down and down. His breath caught. She wouldn’t… She couldn’t…
She did.
Her right hand slipped between her legs and moved in a slow circle. Her gaze locked with his and he saw passion in her eyes.
He didn’t remember moving. One second he was on the other side of the room and the next he was pulling her close, kissing her deeply, his hand nudging hers away.
“Me,” he insisted, wanting to be the one to feel her swollen, damp flesh.
Then she was urging him toward the bed.
“Touch me everywhere,” she breathed, lying down, then opening her arms to him. “Touch me, Shane.”
And he did.
* * *
CHARLIE WATCHED THE twin girls play with their terry-cloth stuffed animals. Rosabel, otherwise known as Rose, sat next to her sister, Adelina, each holding a worn cat.
“I can’t believe they’re a year old,” Charlie said.
Pia Morena leaned back against the sofa. “Me, either. It’s going so fast. Peter’s already twelve. Next year he’ll be a teenager. When did that happen?”
“Kids grow up.”
“I know and I don’t like it.” Pia smiled. “I plan to send off a sternly worded letter of protest.” She pointed at the twins. “They’re walking and starting to talk. I feel like in thirty seconds they’ll be dating and borrowing the car.”
“You have a little time.”
“I hope so. I’m loving the whole ‘Mom’ thing. I don’t want to become obsolete.”
Charlie raised her eyebrows. “You’re being a little dramatic.”
“I know. I have moments when I’m completely normal. This would not be one of them.” She sighed. “I think it’s because we’re getting a family picture taken tomorrow. It reminds me of the passage of time. Plus, we’re talking about having another child and while I want that, I know it means the twins are growing up.”
“They’re a year old, Pia. Get over it.”
Pia laughed. “This is why I like you, Charlie. There’s no drama. You’re a completely rational person.”
Charlie knew that wasn’t true. She had as many demons as the next person. Maybe more. Which was why she’d stopped by.
Pia’s smile faded. “So it is serious.”
“What?”
“Why you asked to come over. What’s wrong? How can I help?”
Pia Moreno was in charge of the festival calendar in town. She coordinated the million little details that went into making Fool’s Gold a tourist haven. Without Pia there would be no Winter Festival or Book Festival. No vendors selling jewelry and lemonade. No rides, no horse-drawn carriages in the winter.
But Pia also illustrated the best of the people in town, Charlie thought. Without even knowing what was going on, she offered to help.
“I’m thinking about having a baby,” Charlie said slowly. “On my own.”
She paused, to give that information time to sink in.
Pia’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh, wow. That’s great. You want to know about IVF, right?”
“Yes, and I’m surprised you’re not going to try to talk me into waiting for a man.”
Pia grinned. “Charlie, you’re incredibly capable. If you want to have a child on your own, you’ll do great. That whole gruff, crabby thing is just a facade. In case you were wondering, no one is fooled.”“Thanks for telling me.”
“You’re welcome. Okay, in vitro fertilization. There are needles. I’ll warn you up front. Hormones and shots. Your body has to be prepared.” She straightened. “Wait. Before that, you need an in vitro. I mean, a fertilized egg. Are you planning to use your own egg?”
Charlie nodded.
“Then you’re going to need sperm.” She motioned to the twins. “We already had that part taken care of.”
Several years ago, Pia’s friend Crystal had lost her husband in Iraq. The young couple, aware of what could happen to a soldier in a war zone, had prepared by storing several embryos. After her husband’s death, Crystal had decided to implant the embryos, only to find she was seriously ill herself. When she died two years ago, she’d left the embryos to Pia.
It had taken Pia all of fifteen minutes to realize she had to have her friend’s babies. Three embryos were implanted and two of them survived. Rosabel and Adelina had followed nine months later.
“I can get sperm,” Charlie told her. If not through a volunteer she knew, then through a sperm bank.
“Okay. Then they’ll harvest your eggs, about which I know very little and then fertilize them. Once you have a couple of viable embryos, they’ll put them back in and then you wait. Dr. Galloway handled it for me here in town.”
“I already go to her,” Charlie said.
“Good. Then I would say talk to her.” Pia tilted her head. “I have to ask. Are you sure you don’t want to just have sex with a yummy guy? It would be easier. And cheaper.”
“I have savings.”
Pia raised her eyebrows in a silent question.
Charlie didn’t want to go into her past yet another time. “There are reasons that the old-fashioned way doesn’t work for me,” she said instead.
“Enough said. Dr. Galloway will walk you through the procedure and then you’ll have the information. Once you’re actually pregnant, things should go along for you pretty much like they would if you’d done it the regular way.”
“Meaning if I weren’t a high-risk candidate I wouldn’t be doing this in vitro?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s right. I had the multiple birth thing, which could be an issue for you, as well. If they implant more than one embryo, it’s always a possibility.”
Charlie glanced at the twins playing happily together. Two kids? She wasn’t sure how she would make that work, but she could figure out a way. It would be worth it. She needed to belong, to give her heart. Hell, having a baby was biological. Why should she have to fight the need?
“Thanks for the information,” she said. “I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. And hey, if you want to get in some practice by babysitting, that would be great, too.”
“So you and Raoul can have an evening out together?”
Pia grinned. “Of course.”
“I may take you up on that. Would I have to stand in line?”
“There are a lot of women in Fool’s Gold who do love to babysit. Peter complains he has too many grandmothers. Not that he objects when they show up with cookies.”
Charlie knew she would get the same kind of support from the community.
“What’s going to happen when you and Raoul want to have one of your own? Are you going to be able to handle four kids and your job?”
Pia slumped back against the sofa. “No, and believe me I’m very aware of the problem. The marketing department at the college has been great about giving students credit when they come work for me. They need three units of actual experience to graduate and I’m now an easy way to get that. So I have two or three interns at any given time. But if I have another baby, there’s no way I can be responsible for the town’s festivals. We’d have to hire someone else.”
Charlie wanted to say she couldn’t imagine another person in charge. That it had been Pia the past eight or nine years and that it should always be Pia. But that was unrealistic. Things changed. Look at her. A year ago she would have said she was perfectly happy being on her own. Now she was seriously considering starting a family.
“You don’t have to decide today,” she told Pia, but speaking as much to herself.
“I don’t. And I won’t. So there.”
Pia laughed. The twins both turned toward the sound, their expressions delighted.
“Mama!” Rosabel said, holding out her arms.
“Duty calls.” Pia rose and collected her daughter. When Adelina also raised her arms, Pia turned to Charlie. “Can you get her?”
Charlie picked up the toddler and held her close. Adelina smiled at her. Chubby fingers reached for Charlie’s short hair and hung on.
“Not letting me go, huh, kid?” Charlie asked.
Adelina laughed.
The sound cut through her, making her happy and sad at the same time. Happy to be with the little girl and sad about the journey she would have to take to get a child of her own.
But it would be worth it, she promised herself.
* * *
“THE DISCO BALL IS a nice touch,” Annabelle said, staring up at the slow-moving silver ball.
“I found it at a garage sale,” Jo told her. “It seemed perfect for the party room.”
“Not the banquet room?”
“I thought party room sounded better.”
“It does.”
Annabelle glanced around at the big room. Jo had leased the space next to her bar. Her future plans were to break out a wall and expand the bar itself. For now, she’d cut in a doorway that led to stairs. On the second level was the party room. A big, open area with a view of the town and the mountains beyond. There was a bar in the back, a small stage, a great sound system and plenty of tables and chairs. Rumor had it one of the walls was really a false front, with a big TV behind it, but tonight it was covered up. The bridal shower would provide its own entertainment.
Annabelle and Charlie had spent most of the afternoon setting up. Balloons were tied together in clusters in the corners of the room. Paper tablecloths covered the round tables. Jo was providing all the dishes, flatware and glasses. Charlie had stayed in the room to accept the flower delivery while Annabelle had gone to get the cake. The two-tiered replica of a wedding cake was done in three kinds of chocolate and had a special place of honor near the front of the room.
By the window, a long table held the goodie bags and the supplies for the games. There were scissors and tape and a stapler to make a wrapping paper dress and inexpensive plastic tiaras so everyone could be a princess.
Jo picked up a clipboard from the bar and grabbed a pen. “Okay, just to confirm. You’re having champagne as your only liquor. I have twenty bottles chilled, but I’ll only charge what you use.”
Annabelle laughed. “Twenty? We’re only having about thirty people at the shower.”
“Uh-huh. Trust me. I’ll make sure everyone is either walking or has a ride.” She moved to the next item. “The menu. We have lasagna, fried ravioli, raw vegetables with dip so we can pretend to be healthy, garlic bread, cut fruit with melted chocolate, individual cups of tiramisu and cake. The champagne I mentioned along with soda, coffee and tea.”
Annabelle looked at the menu. “Where did the fried ravioli come from?”
“I’m trying it. That’s on me. I want to see if people like it.” Jo put down the clipboard. “I’ll be in and out all evening. I know I’m technically a guest, but I’ll want to check on the bar, as well. Two servers will be assigned. The sound system is set.” Jo went behind the bar and handed her a remote. “Adjust the volume with this. If anyone hates a selection, push the ‘next’ button and it will skip the song. You know where the bathrooms are, right?”
“End of the hall.”
“Then we’re good.” Jo glanced around at the banner proclaiming “Happy Wedding, Heidi,” the flowers, the cake and balloons and shook her head. “I was right to elope.”