All They Ever Wanted (16 page)

He shook his head. “It's not worth repeating.”

Will blew out a resigned sigh. “Well, then what would make you an ass would be if you went into this without letting Greer know the score up front.”

Miles nodded. If he went through with this marriage, the one thing he could give Greer was his honesty. She'd likely take that as a challenge to secure his heart, but she'd only be disappointed in the end.

“One more thing, though,” Will cautioned him. “Even when I married Julianne for convenience, I gave her my word
I'd be faithful. If you decide to go through with this madness, you can't go around
scratching any more itches
. You'd better hope Lori really does have one foot out the door.”

“She does.” Ironically, with everything he faced, that thought troubled Miles the most.

*   *   *

“Careful with the sprinkles, sweetheart.” Lori caught the bottle of rainbow-colored sugar before Emily accidentally knocked it off the counter with the oversized sleeves of her princess costume. Patricia's granddaughter was piling the sprinkles on the heart- and star-shaped sugar cookies that Lori had rolled out. “Maybe we should use a little less on each one so we have enough for all of them,” Lori suggested.

“I have to make these stars extra sparkly.” Emily pushed out her bottom lip, giving Lori that look that said she wasn't going to be denied. Lori glanced across the kitchen for reinforcements, but Kate was on her phone talking about a patient. Patricia had hobbled into the library where guests were enjoying afternoon tea.

“Those are lovely, Em,” Ginger said over Lori's shoulder. Emily beamed at her future aunt, her smile shouting,
I told you so
. “Even if they are extra cavity-inducing,” Ginger whispered to Lori. Both women shared a smile.

“What are you doing out of the studio?” Lori asked. “I thought Audra had you teaching camp all week.”

Ginger snitched one of the cookies, discreetly dusting off the excess sugar into the sink.

“They're watching
Cinderella
this afternoon. It's the dance they're breaking down in camp.”

She lowered her voice so that only Lori could hear. “I ran up here because something came in the mail for you today. It's from Diesel.”

Lori's pulse skipped a beat. She'd been waiting for the letter from her friend for days now. It likely contained the details of her next job. It also meant that as soon as she found her grandmother's ring, she could move on. The thought made her nauseous.

She took the envelope from Ginger. “Will you keep an eye on her for a minute?” she whispered.

Ginger nodded and Lori made her way out to the sunny veranda. Thankfully, it was empty of guests. She tore open Diesel's letter and read his carefully laid out plans for the next phase of her life. He'd gotten her a job as a personal chef to a country singer. The position came with a small apartment. Diesel had thought of everything, including sending ample money for her to buy a bus ticket to Nashville. The whole process would be easy.

Too bad it wouldn't be painless.

When Lori had left Oregon, she'd felt little remorse at breaking her mother's heart. She'd been a callous, reckless teenager wanting the life she figured she'd been denied. Wealth and independence were waiting for her with a father she'd barely known. The only emotion she'd felt was the thrill of the glitzy life and excitement for the career that awaited her.

Eight years later, when she'd escaped New York, panic and anger were the emotions weighing her down. Those were tempered by the relief she'd felt when she'd found a safe haven in Chances Inlet, and the Tide Me Over Inn. Despite her best intentions, she'd become attached to the people here. It would hurt not to be a part of their lives any longer. There was no way for her to repay Patricia's kindness. Lori would miss the ease of Ginger's friendship and Cassidy's quirkiness.

It's for the best
, she told herself. Once they found out who and what she was, they wouldn't want her working here any longer. Worse, they wouldn't want her in their lives, period. Their rejection would be even more painful than slipping off in the middle of the night without so much as a good-bye.

And then there was Miles. A flush warmed her body just thinking about the things they'd done to each other between the sheets of his big bed. Last night had been a one-night stand for the ages—hasty and wild. But like Miles, Lori had no regrets. Except that the circumstances of both of their lives meant their relationship could never be anything more. They'd just been using each other to escape the real world that was closing in on both of them. She squeezed back the tears building behind her eyes.

“Hey.”

Lori jumped at the sound of Miles' voice. She shoved the letter into her pants pocket.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Sure,” she lied.

He made a noise that sounded like he didn't believe her. Leaning a hip against the railing, he crossed his arms over his chest. Miles was casually dressed in a pair of well-worn jeans and a faded Duke T-shirt, which stretched nicely over his muscled chest. Lori's eyes roamed over him and her mouth went a little dry. She'd never seen this version of Miles. It was almost as appealing as the naked version.
Almost.

“Casual dress at work today?” she asked, hoping to distract him from probing.

The corners of his mouth turned up into a grin. “Still avoiding any direct questions, I see.” Miles shook his head. “At least you're predictable.” He looked down at his Sorel work boots. “Not so much casual as necessary. I was helping the local housing authority restore one of the older houses for a family in their system.”

Of course he was.
“That had to make a fantastic campaign photo op. I hope Greer captured you showing off your McAlister skills with a tool belt. The video should definitely gain you some rating points.”

Miles dropped his chin to his chest and reached around to squeeze the back of his neck. Lori immediately felt guilty for accusing him of manipulating his image. It was in Miles' DNA to help others, regardless of whether he was running for office or not. He genuinely cared about people despite the decision he had to make. Unlike her father, who wore a false persona like a cloak and used everyone around him.

“Sorry,” she said. “That was snarky of me.”

“No. It was fair. Especially after everything I told you yesterday.”

She didn't want to ask, yet the not knowing was killing her. “Have you come to any decisions?”

He lifted his chin so that his eyes met hers. She nearly shivered at the intensity in them. “I'm still weighing my options.”

Lori wasn't sure which aggravated her more: that Miles would marry Greer without loving her or that he'd once loved another woman so much he'd closed off his heart to everyone else. Rationally, she knew she had no claim to him, even after last night. But that didn't stop her from wanting to see one of them happy.

“Midas, no! Bad dog,” Ginger shouted from the kitchen, followed by a wail from Emily.

The screen door shot open and the golden retriever came bounding out. He trotted over to Miles, wagging his tail and sporting a snout covered in rainbow sprinkles.

“Oh, Midas, what did you do?” Lori got to her feet, shoving the dog away as he made a beeline for her crotch. “I should go clean up whatever disaster he made in there.”

She headed for the door, but as she passed Miles, he reached out and gently wrapped his fingers around her upper arm. The warm feel of his skin on hers made her catch her breath. He stroked his thumb in a slow circle and heat shot to her core. Staring down at where his fingers brazed her skin, she slammed her eyes shut so he wouldn't see the sadness building in them.

“I'm leaving soon, Miles,” she whispered. “My plans have been firmed up.” She skimmed her fingers over the letter tucked in her pocket.

“Have dinner with me tonight, then.”

Lori's eyelids snapped open at his words. A refusal hovered on her tongue but she couldn't seem to make the words come out.

He leaned in closer so that his words rasped against her cheek. “I know you said yesterday that we're both going in different directions. But right now our paths have intersected. I'm not asking you for any promises and I'm sure as hell not making any. I just want to be with you for however many moments we can carve out together. Tell me you don't feel the same way?”

However many moments we can carve out together.
Her common sense was telling her that she should be satisfied with the moments they'd spent together last night; that it would be
risky to get any closer to Miles. But he was right—they might not ever get to another time or another place. When she opened her mouth, she was as surprised by the recklessness of her words as he was. “I guess dinner would be okay. I can make something here.”

He shook his head. “I have a better idea.”

Panic raced through Lori. She wouldn't risk going out in public. Not even for Miles.

“Don't worry,” he said, rubbing his fingers up and down her arm to calm her. “I have someplace very private in mind. Meet me at the garden shed at seven thirty.”

The sound of Emily crying filtered through the screen door. Lori gave him a quick nod before hurrying back into the B and B.

L
ori was late. Miles glanced at his phone again. Seven forty-five. He kicked a tuft of grass with his sneakered foot. Sure, he was the Rhodes Scholar, but Lori was probably the smarter one tonight. She was wise to stay away. Miles clearly hadn't been thinking with the correct body part when he'd invited her to dinner. But she'd looked so forlorn and worried sitting on his mother's veranda earlier that he said the first thing that had come to his mind.

Not that he didn't want to have dinner with Lori. Hell, he wanted to do that and a whole lot more with her. The zipper on his jeans became painfully tight recalling how gorgeous she looked the night before with her hair spread out on his pillow, her face relaxed with rapture when she came. She'd been a welcome and willing distraction.

But Lori was also practical and forthright. She'd probably come to her senses minutes after returning to the kitchen this afternoon.
I'm leaving soon
, she'd said. Miles' gut clenched just thinking about it. Her words had sounded so desolate. So final. Whatever she was running from guided the direction of her life and Miles was a jerk to want to use the chemistry
between them for his own diversion. He needed to focus on the mess his campaign had become.

The governor had given him a stay of execution of sorts. Miles had until the next set of polling data was released to make a decision about how he wanted to proceed. That meant he had five days to come up with an alternative plan. While marrying Greer wasn't the most abhorrent idea, Miles would be damned if he'd let the governor dictate his campaign. Or his career. Miles lifted up the picnic basket he'd had prepared at the gourmet market in town. He'd just take it over to the office and munch on its contents while he pondered a new strategy.

Tessa suddenly rounded the corner of the garden shed followed closely by Lori. At least he thought it was Lori. The white Keds were familiar but the rest of the outfit didn't jibe with the mousy woman who worked in the inn. She was dressed in a pair of Capri jeans that hugged her ass so well Miles had to adjust his own jeans again. Instead of her usual baggy cast-off T-shirt, she was wearing a sleeveless blouse decorated with little anchors. It showcased her lean arms and was all tied up at the waist, making Miles want to tug at the bow to get at the body beneath. He stifled a groan just thinking about the sexy underwear he hoped she was wearing. Her hair was in a high ponytail beneath a worn baseball cap that likely belonged to his brother Ryan at one point. Dark sunglasses shielded her from being recognized. Not that any red-blooded male wouldn't do a double take with her in that outfit.

Miles playfully lifted the ball cap back from her face. “Lori? Are you in there?”

She yanked the hat back onto her head. “Sorry I'm late. I had to wait for the McDaniels to leave for dinner so I could finish the turndown service in all the suites.”

An unexpected shot of pleasure burst within Miles. She hadn't been waffling on whether or not to meet him tonight. Lori had only been doing her job.

“Thanks,” he said.

Lori's face had a bemused expression on it.

“For always being on task at the B and B.” He slipped his empty hand into hers. “And for agreeing to have dinner with me.”

She looked around at the shed. “We aren't eating in there, are we?”

Miles pulled her fingers up to his lips. “No. You seem to be a pretty brave woman, but even I don't want to have dinner with spiders.”

Lori's laugh was guileless but he felt the potency of it in his groin, nevertheless. Miles led them along the bramble path that snaked through the trees behind the inn. Tessa ran on ahead of them, circling back to check on her master every ten yards or so.

“Why do I get the feeling that I'm Little Red Riding Hood and you're the Big Bad Wolf?”

Miles smiled at that. “You're about to pass a very famous landmark in our town. See that live oak tree over there?” He pointed to her left. “The one with the intertwined trunks?”

“It's in the shape of a heart,” she said wistfully.

“Legend has it, that if you walk by it with a beautiful woman, you have to kiss her or risk never knowing true happiness in your lifetime.” Miles was pretty sure Will had made the whole thing up to score with Allison Baker back in high school, but he wasn't sure if he could hold out until they got to their destination without a quick taste of Lori's lips.

Her expression was dubious when she lifted the sunglasses off her face before securing them on top of the baseball cap. “Is that so? Well, we don't want to risk eternal unhappiness, do we?” She stretched up on her toes and brushed a chaste kiss over his mouth. “Hmm. We'd better not take any chances,” she whispered. Suddenly her whole body was pressed up against Miles and she was opening up his lips with her own. He growled low in the back of his throat, depositing the picnic basket on the ground with a thud so he could sneak his fingers beneath the cute little top she was tied up in. She sighed into his mouth when his fingers came in contact with her skin.

Miles took control of the kiss then, walking her backward toward the nearest tree trunk. She arched her body into his and he had to suck in a deep breath in order to maintain his composure. Lori was practically crawling up his body and he gave her ass a firm squeeze with both hands. She wrapped her arms
and legs around him, plunging her tongue deep into his mouth. He slid his erection back and forth against her core.

Lori tossed her head back with a gasp, dislodging both her hat and her sunglasses. “Please tell me that basket is full of condoms,” she begged.

He nipped at her exposed collarbone and she thrust her hips forward, nearly shattering his control.

“I like the way you think but we're not doing this here.”

“I thought you were a Boy Scout, Miles,” she moaned.

Miles untangled her legs from behind his back and let out a harsh breath as she slid down his body. “I am,” he said through clenched teeth. “An Eagle Scout, in fact. But we're still not doing this here.”

“Why not?” Her question was practically a wail.

“Chiggers.”

Lori jumped away from the tree trunk at the mention of the bugs and Miles bit back a smile. He grimaced when he leaned down to retrieve her hat and sunglasses. His body needed time to recoup from their heated exchange. Tessa was sitting quietly guarding the picnic basket, circumspectly eyeing Miles as he approached. “Good dog,” he said. “Midas would have devoured everything inside by now.”

The dog swiped her tail over the ground as Lori scratched her behind the ear. She returned her hat to her head and Miles reached for her hand. His body twitched again with the contact and Miles set an urgent pace out of the woods. They emerged facing a row of backyards along one of the residential streets in town. Lori hesitated, pulling her hat down lower on her head.

“Don't worry, no one will see you,” Miles reassured her. “We're going in the back way.” He led her through a very familiar gate into a fenced backyard. Tessa sniffed around the rosebushes and rhododendrons lining the fence. Miles surveyed the landscaping and shook his head. “My mother would be disappointed with how this place has been maintained.”

“This is your mother's house?” she asked as he led her up the flagstone steps he and his brothers had installed one hot weekend while his father shouted out directions.

“Technically, yes. It's the house I grew up in.”

He reached beneath an old planter attached to the laundry room window and pulled out a key.

“Does someone live here?”

Miles shook his head. Placing the key in the lock, he opened the door, gesturing for her and the dog to precede him inside. He guided her through the laundry room and into the spacious eat-in kitchen. The sunny yellow his mother had painted the room had been covered up with heavy floral wallpaper. Miles set the basket on the white Corian countertop his mother had been so proud of all those years ago. Tessa wandered through the great room with its wide pine floors. He smiled at the memory of his family camping out in the backyard for three days while his father meticulously laid the tongue and groove planks.

Lori trailed her fingers over the keys of the antique carved upright piano in the corner of the room. The piano was too delicate to be moved, so it had remained in place. It was the only piece of furniture in the house. “Did you play growing up?” she asked.

“My mother insisted that we all take lessons. Evil Mrs. Dickerson came over every Thursday to teach us.” Miles shuddered at the memory.

“You didn't like it?”

“Music wasn't my thing. Ellie is the gifted one. Kate mastered it so she could be better than me at something and Gavin is actually a passable player. I'm a little tone deaf and Ryan wouldn't sit still long enough.”

She smiled coyly. “So there is actually something you're not good at.”

He leaned a hip against the island in the center of the kitchen. “It's a short list.”

Lori meandered toward the front of the house. “Has it been empty since your father died?”

Miles swallowed roughly. “No. We've had a couple sets of renters come through. The last ones moved out at the end of the month.”

“Will your family keep it?”

“Gavin's talking about renovating it. The loft won't be big enough for them to live in once they start a family.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “You'll need a place for your family, won't you?”

And with that, the elephant had arrived in the room. One of them, at least.

“I told you, I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet.”

Lori eyed him astutely. “You'll do what's right, Miles. You always do.”

Something about her innate trust in his judgment irked him. He didn't want to be Squeaky Clean Miles McAlister this evening. Miles didn't want Lori being the stealthy, secretive mystery woman, either. Instead he just wanted them to be the two people they'd been last night: erotic and intimate without all the damn pretense.

He stalked over to where she was studying the craftsman door his father had made as a Mother's Day present one year. “Do you want the grand tour?”

She spun on her heel and placed her palm on his chest. Gnawing on her bottom lip, she dragged her fingernails along his shoulder. “As long as it starts in your bedroom.”

Miles' cock jumped at her words. He wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Grabbing her hand, he headed for the stairs, leading her upstairs after taking a quick detour through the kitchen to grab the blanket he'd brought along for their “picnic.” Lori's steps slowed when they reached the landing. Miles breathed in a few disappointed gulps of air before he realized she was just busy taking in the rooms at the top of the stairs. His sisters' room was still painted the delicate pink with its random Hello Kitty border. A Jack and Jill bathroom stood between the girls' and boys' bedrooms.

“One bathroom for five kids. That must have been cozy,” she said.

“Especially when we got into high school. Gavin, Ryan, and I lived to torture Kate by taking all morning in there.” As fun as those memories were, Miles was eager to make new ones with the sexy woman next to him. His body was telling him just how eager it was as all the blood rushed to his crotch. He tugged her toward the room he once shared with his brothers.

No trace remained of the three rambunctious boys who'd
shared the space for most of their lives. Miles thought briefly how that was probably a good thing. Especially since the room had smelled like a locker room for most of those years.

Lori stepped inside. “So Miles, did you ever bring a girl up here?” she asked as she slowly began unbuttoning her blouse.

Miles reached over and yanked on the bow tying it shut. “No,” he answered. It came out more as a groan when he caught sight of the candy apple red bra she was wearing beneath her clothes.

“Of course you didn't, Dudley Do-Right.” She kicked off her shoes and shucked the blouse.

His zipper had grown excruciatingly painful again. “I'm pretty sure Ryan had Tracy Waterman here a time or two,” he managed to say despite the fact that his mouth was suddenly dry as the Sahara watching her shimmy out of her tight jeans.
Damn.
The panties—at least what there were of them—matched the bra. He wanted to take a big bite of them.

“Well, I think I can help you remedy that tonight.”

Miles stepped out of his sneakers before stripping his shirt over his head, all the while saying a silent prayer that he wasn't in some crazy dream. Lori reached out and slid her fingertips along his chest. A little puff of air escaped her lips when she did and Miles grew painfully hard.

A flush stained her cheeks and she hid her eyes from his. “You must think I'm very forward.”

He gripped her waist in his hands and pulled her body in contact with his. “Forward works for me,” he managed to say despite the fact he was feeling a little light-headed with her warm skin rubbing up against his.