Нора Робертс - Bed of Roses

She clouded his mind like a silver mist, sparkled in his blood like champagne. Every languorous move, every whisper, every touch seduced, entranced.

When she broke for him, rising up like a wave, she breathed his name. And she smiled.

Something inside him stumbled.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured. “Impossibly beautiful.”

“I feel beautiful when you look at me.”

He skimmed his fingers over her breast, watched her eyes glow with fresh pleasure. He lowered his mouth, a gentle taste with teeth and tongue, and felt her body quiver with fresh need.

“I want you.” Her breath caught as she arched under him. “You’re what I want, Jack.”

She surrounded him, taking him in, moving with him in slow, savoring beats. Surrounded, he lost himself in her.

Sated, he rested his cheek on her breast, let his mind drift.

“No chance of playing hooky tomorrow and staying right here?”

“Mmm.” Her fingers threaded through his hair. “Not this time. But what a nice thought.”

“The way things stand we’ll have to get up at dawn.”

“I find I often do better on no sleep than with a few stingy hours.”

He lifted his head, smiled at her. “That’s funny. I was thinking the same thing.”

“It would be a shame to waste the rest of that champagne, and those lovely chocolate-covered strawberries.”

“Criminal. Stay right here. Don’t move. I’ll get them.”

She stretched, sighed. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Five minutes after Emma got home, Mac came through the door.

“I waited until he left,” Mac called out as she climbed the stairs. “That’s herculean restraint.” She scowled when she walked into Emma’s bedroom. “You’re unpacking. Putting everything away. I hate this level of efficiency. Why can’t at least one of you be a slob like me?”

“You’re not a slob. You’re just a bit relaxed with your personal space.”

“Hey, I like that. Relaxed with my personal space. Okay, enough about me. Tell me all. I left my own lover to his lonely bowl of corn flakes.”

With last night’s dress in her hands, Emma spun a happy circle. “It was fabulous. Every minute.”

“Deets, deets, deets.”

“An elegant French restaurant, champagne, a suite at the Waldorf.”

“God, that’s all so you. Snazzy date wise. Casual date-wise, maybe moonlight picnic at the beach, red wine, candles tucked into little shells.”

Emma closed her empty suitcase. “Why aren’t I dating you?”

“We’d make a lovely couple, it’s true.” Draping an arm over Emma’s shoulder, Mac turned to the mirror and studied—Emma in her trim jeans and soft shirt, and herself in the cotton pants and T-shirt she’d slept in. “Stunning, really. Well, we can keep it in reserve if things don’t work out otherwise.”

“Always good to have a backup. Oh, God, Mac, it was the most perfect night.” She turned, squeezed Mac into a hug before doing another spin. “We didn’t sleep. At all. It’s amazing, really, that we have so much to talk about, to find out about each other still. We talked all through dinner, then took a long walk. And he’d had them bring up champagne and light candles, put on music.”

“Wow.”

“We drank more champagne and we talked, and we made love. It was so romantic.” On a humming sound, she closed her eyes, hugged herself. “Then we talked and drank more champagne, and we made love again. We had breakfast by candlelight and—”

“Made love again.”

“We did. We drove home through horrible traffic with the top down, and the traffic didn’t matter. Nothing did. Nothing could.” She gave herself another hug. “Mac? I’m a happy person most of the time.”

“Yeah, it can be annoying.”

“I know, but too bad. Anyway, I’m a happy person, but I never knew I could be this happy. I didn’t know I could feel like this. Like I just want to jump and dance and spin and sing. Like Julie Andrews on a mountaintop.”

“Okay, but don’t do that because that’s seriously annoying.”

“I know, so I’m only doing it on the inside. All the times I imagined what it would be like to be crazy in love, I never knew.”

She dropped down on the bed, grinned up at the ceiling. “Do you feel this way all the time? With Carter?”

Mac flopped down beside her. “I never thought I’d be in love. Not really. I never imagined it the way you always did, or looked for it. In some ways it snuck up on me, and in others it fell on me like a ton of bricks. It’s still a shock to the system to realize I have this inside me—not the spinning and singing part, because even inside it would annoy me. But I’ve got the jumping and dancing going on. And somebody has it inside for me. Talk about shocking.”

Emma reached out to take Mac’s hand. “I don’t know if Jack has it back for me, not the way I do for him. But I know he cares. I know he feels. And I have so much, Mac. I have to believe all this love I have will . . . take root, I guess. I thought I loved him before, but now I think that was a kind of infatuation mixed up inside lust. Because this is different.”

“Can you tell him?”

“I would’ve said no, even a couple of days ago. Don’t want to ruin anything, don’t want to tip the scales. Actually did say no when Parker and I talked about it. But now I think I can. I think I should. I just have to figure out how and when.”

“It scared me, when Carter told me he loved me. Don’t be upset if it scares him a little, at least at first.”

“I don’t think you tell someone you love them because you expect something. I think you tell them because you have something to give.”

“You unpack as soon as you get home from a trip. You have a happy nature. And you’re wise about love. I’m surprised the three of us haven’t ganged up and beaten the hell out of you regularly.”

“You can’t. You love me.”

Mac turned so they faced each other. “We do. I’m pulling for you, Em. We all are.”

“Then how can I go wrong?”

The knock interrupted Emma halfway through processing the morning delivery. Grumbling only a little, she left the flowers holding. She winced when she saw Kathryn Seaman and her sister through the glass. Wet and messy weren’t ways to impress important clients.

Trapped, she fixed an easy smile on her face and opened the door. “Mrs. Seaman, Mrs. Lattimer, how nice to see you.”

“I apologize for dropping in on you this way, but Jessica and her girls decided on the bridesmaids’ dresses. I wanted to bring you the swatch of the material.”

“That’s perfect. Please come in. Can I get you something to drink? Maybe some sun tea? It’s a warm day.”

“I’d love some,” Adele said immediately. “If it’s no bother.”

“Not at all. Why don’t you sit down, be comfortable? I’ll just be a minute.”

Tea, Emma thought as she hurried into the kitchen. Lemon slices, the good glasses. Crap, crap. A little plate of cookies. Thank God for Laurel’s emergency tin. She scrambled everything onto a tray, shoved at her hair.

She pulled her emergency lip gloss out of a kitchen drawer, glided some on, then pinched her cheeks.

As that was the best she could manage under the circumstances, she took two deep breaths to make sure she looked un-rushed. She strolled back in to find both women wandering her greeting area.

“Kate told me what a pretty setup you had here. She was right.”

“Thank you.”

“And your private rooms are upstairs?”

“Yes. It’s not only convenient, but very comfortable.”

“I noticed your partner—Mackensie—is expanding her studio.”

“Yes.” Emma poured the tea, then continued to stand as neither woman seemed inclined to sit. “Mac’s getting married this December, and they’ll need more room in their private space, so they’re expanding the studio space as well.”

“Isn’t that exciting?” Sipping tea, Adele continued to wander, fluffing at flowers, studying photos. “Planning a wedding for one of your own.”

“It really is. We’ve all been friends since we were children.”

“I noticed the photo here. Is that you, and two of your partners?”

“Yes, Laurel and Parker. We loved playing Wedding Day,” Emma told her as she smiled at the photo. “I was the bride that day, and Mac, in a glimpse of the future, official photographer. She’ll tell you it was that moment—the blue butterfly moment—when she knew she wanted to be a photographer.”

“It’s charming.” Kathryn turned to Emma. “We’ve interrupted your work, and are taking up entirely too much of your time.”

“It’s always lovely to have an unexpected break.”

“I hope you mean that,” Adele put in, “because I’m dying to see where you work. Are you arranging today? Making bouquets?”

“Ah . . . actually I’m processing a morning delivery, which is why I’m a little messy.”

“I’m shameless, and I’m going to ask if I can see where you work.”

“Oh. Of course.” She shot a look at Kathryn. “Don’t panic.”

“I’ve seen where you work.”

“Yes, but not while I was working,” Emma pointed out as she led the way. “Processing is . . . Well, as you can see.” She gestured to her work counter.

“Just look at the flowers!” Flushed with excitement, Adele moved forward. “Oh, and smell the peonies.”

“The bride’s favorite,” Emma told her. “We’ll be using this wonderful rich red for her bouquet, contrasted with the bold pinks down to the palest blush. It’ll be hand-tied with wine-colored ribbon and candy pink studs. The attendants will carry smaller versions, in the pinks.”

“And you keep them in these buckets?”

“In a solution that hydrates and feeds. It’s an important step to keep them fresh, and to help them last after the event. I’ll keep them in the cooler until we’re ready to start designing.”