Chapter 11 Read Her Mind
READ HER MIND
“No fair,” she said later that afternoon. “You’ve had a lot more practice than me playing pool.”
Rowan lined up the cue ball, then hit it and sunk the eight in the right middle pocket.
Game number three he’d won.
She wasn’t even close to holding her own, barely able to get half her balls in each time and most of it was by sheer luck.
“Where did you learn to play?” he asked. “I can’t see you going to pool halls.”
“College,” she said. “There were a few tables around campus in the halls and gathering places. It was something to do during breaks.”
It’s not like she played with boys often. Just her and her friends. Her friends were doing it to get the attention of boys. She could have cared less, but it was still fun.
“Did the guys come over and try to teach you how to play? You know.” He moved closer to her, standing behind her, putting the stick in her hand, then taking her arms and leaning with her to show her how to line up. “Just like this.”
His crotch was against her ass and she was fighting everything she had not to turn around so they were facing each other.
Did she want another kiss?
Yes, please!
Rowan Carlisle sure had some scrumptious lips on him and knew how to use them.
“If you did that to me in college, then I’d be more receptive. But not the boys back then.”
He turned her, picked her up and put her butt on the pool table, then stepped between her legs.
It was as if he read her mind.
“There were no women like you when I was in college.”
She laughed. “You’re fibbing and we know it.”
He closed one eye at her. “My tastes then and now are completely different.”
She wasn’t sure what to believe.
She’d heard the comment by his one brother. The one about always finding a way.
There was no reason to ask what that meant. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know either.
Her time here was going to be fun, and nothing to take seriously. She did that too much in her life.
She put her arms around his neck. “I could say the same.”
His mouth lowered to hers, his tongue invading, then dancing, her head angling to the side to let him get better access.
He didn’t move closer to the apex between her legs. She would have liked it but wasn’t in the habit of throwing herself at men.
When he stopped kissing her, he dropped his forehead to hers.
“Tell me I’m not alone with what I’m feeling,” he whispered.
“That’s an open-ended statement.”
He laughed. A forced one. “Based on the way you’re kissing me, the physical attraction is shared. But that isn’t what I wanted to know.”
She leaned back on her palms, the green felt rough on her skin. “What do you want to know?”
His eyes were searching hers. “Maybe it’s only me.”
She didn’t want him to think that. “It’s not,” she said as quietly as he’d been talking. “It feels as if it’s a dream. Then I have to ask myself if it’s just the forced proximity we find ourselves in.”
The two of them were alone in this gorgeous mountain retreat.
The power had gone out two hours ago, but the generator kicked on just fine. She wouldn’t have even known if Rowan hadn’t told her with the quick flicker of lights.
“It is a pretty romantic setting,” he said. “Two lovers getting away with nothing but nature around them.”
“I’m sure you’ve brought a lot of women here for weekends just like this.”
He laughed and stepped back, his hand reached for hers to bring her closer.
“Actually, no. That would be Nelson. We don’t make a habit of bringing strangers to West’s homes.
Nelson got his ass reamed for it the first time he’d done it.
He was twenty-two and it was a winter break from college.
He let people in town he didn’t know come up for a party. ”
She couldn’t imagine having this at her leisure now, let alone in college.
“So West is going to be mad I’m here?” she asked.
“No. I’m not Nelson. First off, I’m more responsible even though my family might have given the impression I take nothing seriously.”
“Meaning you’ll take care of the property?”
“Yes,” he said. “I’m the closest to this and come here the most. West actually likes that I stop in as often as I do. But I’ve done nothing more than bring a few guys with me to hit the slopes. I like my space. Space I got little of growing up. This is my sanctuary to get away from work.”
“I can understand that. For me it was my grandmother’s house.”
They moved to the couch in the basement and sat to look out at the snow that wasn’t stopping. There was over a foot there already, moving close to two if she was guessing. Rowan had already gone out and plowed the driveway twice and together they shoveled off the decks.
He’d been mad she’d done it, but she told him she’d be fine. She knew how to manage her blood sugar with activity and the last thing she was going to do was sit around while he was out in the cold.
Thankfully, there was extra winter gear here that she’d put on.
“You don’t talk much about your family. Can I ask why?”
She sighed. “Lots of drama with my sister,” she said. Did she really want to share this? She never had before.
“Her kids in the house?” he asked. “She had to have started young.”
“Sandy is a whore. It’s horrible to say that, but I’m going to because it’s the truth rather than try to count the number of men I know about. Her whole life was about getting attention any way she could and from whoever.”
“Yikes. That means men.”
“Yep. She was having sex at fifteen. I think she had more sexual partners before she graduated from high school than I’ve had now at twenty-six.
Half the guys she was with my parents would never approve of.
So like a double whammy. And she almost was never without a guy on the hook before she ditched the current one. ”
“Since you brought it up,” he said, nudging her arm. “What’s your number?”
“Really? You want to go down that path? How many have you had?”
His eyes got wide. “Put my foot in it there. But I’m sure not nearly as much as you think.”
“Still a lot more than me, I’m positive. I’ve had four. I was a slow start and didn’t have sex until college. All my partners were relationships. Bet you can’t say that.”
“Actually,” he said, “I can. I’m not into one-night stands. I’ve never had sex with a woman without intending it to be exclusive or developing into something.”
But that didn’t mean it did. Only that he was open to it.
He was older than her. Hotter. Probably crazy popular.
He spent a lot of his time on the beach with his shirt off.
Women had to be throwing themselves at him. Most men would seize the opportunity.
She wouldn’t judge him on that.
Or didn’t want to.
She was leaving in a few days anyway and wouldn’t see him again.
When she thought of that, her heart actually hurt.
“Not a lot of men your age or in college think that way.”
“I’m not like a lot of men,” he said. “What’s going through your brain? I can see a change in your eyes.”
“Nothing,” she said.
Saylor went to stand, but he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back down, his arms coming around her and holding her in a hug close to his chest.
His lips went to her ear, whispering, “I think you’re lying to me. Or maybe yourself. What we feel isn’t trivial. Don’t think that.”
Her body relaxed against his, the truth escaping before she could stop it. “I’ll be gone from your life in a few days. I was just thinking that.”
“About that,” he said.
He turned and had her on her back, him leaning over her on the couch. “What about it?” she asked, her eyes roaming over his face. He was so handsome with the scruffy beard he was sporting. Her hand went up to touch it and she was right, silky like his hair.
“You said you’ve got two weeks left and then are moving again. You don’t know where yet, right?”
“Correct,” she said.
“Go to California. Give us a chance. There are hospitals in Long Beach. I know people.”
He was wiggling his eyebrows at her.
“I’m sure you know many people, but California is not part of the NLC. I’m not licensed to work there.”
He frowned. “How long does it take to get a license?”
Her head went back and forth. She didn’t want to admit that she actually looked on her phone last night before bed.
She might have been thinking of this herself and was shocked that she was considering it.
But it could work. She was used to moving.
“I can apply for an endorsement. It takes a few weeks, if I’m lucky. I just pay the fee and they do backgrounds, fingerprinting. Things like that.”
“What’s stopping you from doing it? Other than you need to fly there to do that stuff, right?”
“I can do that online. But I’ve got to find a place to stay. With the agency I work for, I got a stipend for living costs.”
She’d be giving that up and the cost to live in California would be much more than other states, she was positive.
But she had money put away that would help in the short term.
“Live with me,” he said.
“What?” She couldn’t have heard him correctly.
“We get along great. Look at us here. I’ll be gone working a lot, you will too. I’m sure you won’t be a normal Monday through Friday day shift.”
“Most likely not. So we’d be roommates?”
He sent her that sexy smirk again, his lips landing on hers briefly. “I’d like it to be more, but you know, if that is how it starts, whatever gets you to do it.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I’m not ready for this to end. I’m just not. You can come to me and give it a shot. You were going to move anyway. Does it hurt anything to work in California? I can’t move.”
The fact he’d thought of this and even said he couldn’t move, told her it might not be such a passing thought for him.
She knew he couldn’t pick up his life and travel like her. Not owning a business.
He’d checked on something for work after lunch, then shut his computer down again. She didn’t ask too much, but she was positive he rarely had much time away and the holiday was the only reason he did now, saying his company was closed yesterday and today.
“It doesn’t hurt,” she said. “Are you sure? We’ve known each other for twenty-four hours?”
She still had to return to Iowa for two weeks. So by the time her vacation was done, they’d have time to change their minds.
The worst case would be she wasted her time getting her license in California. What was the big deal?
She took few risks, and if she was going to, why not for this? A man that understood her more than any other man in her life.
If it didn’t work out, she could find an apartment in the short term and figure out her next step.
She’d have a backup plan in place like she normally did in life.
“I know what I know,” he said. “But maybe you don’t feel the same. Stay with me for the rest of your vacation here. We can consider this a trial run.”
“I could,” she said. Once she got a flight out of here, it wasn’t worth going home for a few days. Her grandmother would understand. Her parents wouldn’t care.
“Then it’s settled. I don’t think the airport is going to be scheduling flights until tomorrow if you’re lucky. We still have to get down the mountain. Once it’s clear, we can get to town and buy more supplies.”
“I need more clothes,” she said. “I can’t just keep washing what I’ve got.”
“And I’ll take anything that doesn’t fit in your bag to California with me. You can get it there.”
“You’re being awfully accommodating.”
“Persistent,” he said. “Give it a chance.”
“You’ve talked me into it,” she said.
He gave her a quick kiss.
She’d be his lover before the end of the week without a doubt.
No way she could stay here that long without them getting naked together.
Nor would she pick up her life and move to another state for a man without knowing if they were compatible.
She’d had that before and refused to settle again.
If he had a problem with the devices on her during sex, she’d rather know before she gave him more than her body, because her heart was already in play.