The Best of Us (Sullivan's Crossing #4)(38)

“I’m probably not,” he said. “But I wondered where you were all day yesterday—on account of we never talked about where you’d be spending the day. My daughter turned up, as she’s prone to do when she’s not in Denver, and I craned my neck looking for your car coming down the road so many times she asked me if I had a cramp in my neck.”

Helen laughed. “I think what you’re looking for is communication.”

“I don’t mean to pry,” he said.

“I have very few secrets actually. I had several phone calls scheduled and I wanted to have dinner with Leigh so I could probe her about her new relationship with Rob. And she’s not talking much, but she’s dreamy as all hell. I think the girl might be falling in love. At last! I’ve been waiting forever for that girl to fall in love!”

“Why?” he asked, taking a big bite of his sandwich.

“Why? Look at her! She’s smart and beautiful and in the prime of life! She should have a partner! Someone who appreciates her, supports her, gives her a chance to be a mother. She says she doesn’t care about being a mother and maybe she doesn’t, but I can tell you, the best part of my life was raising Leigh. And being her friend now that she’s a true adult.”

He cocked his head. “I can relate to that. Maggie is my reason for living. Has been since she came along.”

“I can’t wait to meet her,” Helen said. “Leigh has talked about her.”

“She’s something special,” Sully said, and Helen noticed his chest did puff up a bit.

“How wonderful,” Helen said.

“Helen, what are you planning for dinner? I bought a bunch of prawns and vegetables and some rice...”

“Are you inviting me to dinner?” she asked.

“I don’t want to take up all your time but... But I do want to take up all your time, but feel free to invite Leigh. I’d be happy to have her, you know that.”

Helen laughed. “I told her she was on her own for dinner and I’d be home at about eight thirty. If you were busy, I’d have gone out to dinner...”

“Alone?” he asked.

“Why, yes, alone. I’m an unmarried woman and I’ve spent many a lunch or dinner as a single diner. But if you’re offering a shrimp and rice dinner, I’m in. I’ll help.”

“Helen, I was cranky all day yesterday,” he said. “I was up late reading your book. It kept me awake.”

She clapped her hands in front of her chest. “Sully! How lovely!”

He was shaking his head. “Listen, you swear a lot. A lot.”

She laughed at him. “No, I don’t swear a lot. Okay, I do—I swear whenever I want but I’m pretty good at judging my audience. Have I offended you somehow?”

“No, no. I hadn’t noticed you swearing...” He was shaking his head. “I meant in your book. You swear like crazy.”

“Oh, for pity’s sake, that’s not me! That’s the character! Under the circumstances, dead bodies, hell and fury, fear and such, it’s totally appropriate. Expected, in fact! Of course, as I said, I do swear. All the time.”

“And dead bodies. And they’re kind of grisly. I mean, I’ve seen a lot out here in the wilderness, but whew! This book.”

Helen arched a brow. “Sully, what is it you really want to ask me?”

He leaned his elbows on the bar. “You’re not wanted for anything, are you?”

Helen laughed her ass off. And that was the moment she began to fall in love with Sully.

Leigh had just finished with a patient when she noticed she had a missed call from Rob. She closed her office door to call him back.

“Are you taking a lunch hour today?” he asked.

“I was going to do paperwork,” she said. “Do you have a more appealing suggestion?”

“I want to take you to lunch, but if we eat here, people will want to talk to us. What if I brought lunch to you? At your house?”

“That sounds lovely. What time?”

“Noon. I know what you like but what can I bring Aunt Helen?”

“Let me call her and ask her what she’d like,” Leigh said. Then she called Rob one minute later and said, “Aunt Helen won’t be home for lunch today.”

“Oh God,” he said. “Is it noon yet?”

“Almost,” she said in a whisper.

She left her office door closed. She couldn’t remember ever feeling like this. She could feel the heat on her cheeks, a thrill vibrating through her. She could not remember feeling this with Johnny, but surely she must have since they couldn’t wait to live together and pushed Helen so hard. And she was hardly a prude—she’d dated, she’d slept with a few men, nice and sexy men. That they weren’t forever men didn’t mean she hadn’t been sexually driven. Leigh, being fussy and disciplined and cautious, wouldn’t have found herself in that position had she not been driven. But chemistry like this? She was trying to remember ever feeling like this. Since the first time she touched Rob, her libido had been soaring.

She walked the few blocks home, thinking it might be a good idea to burn off some of the sexual energy she seemed to be always feeling. But when she got to her house, he was already there sitting in his car in the drive and, all over again, sunshine filled her up inside. They walked to the front door together, asking after each other’s day. The minute the door closed behind them, the brown paper bag that held lunch dropped to the floor and she was in his arms, his lips hungrily devouring hers. And she was devouring him right back. In ten seconds she was naked and on her back on the bed being completely worked into a frenzy. Within minutes, she was fully satisfied, as though she hadn’t been satisfied in decades.