Alex checked his watch. “All right, but just one drink.”
“Great!” Louie dug out his keys. “You know of a place around here?”
Following them to the Lexus, Alex nodded. “There’s a tavern about three miles off the highway. I haven’t been inside, but it looks decent.”
“Who said we want decent?” Louie asked with a laugh.
“I’ll drive and you guys follow.” He wasn’t taking a chance on being without wheels if his old drinking buddies decided to make a night of it.
“Like old times, eh, Alex?” Glenn asked, opening the car door.
“Yeah,” Alex answered thoughtfully. “Like old times.”
Megan heard a car engine leap to life, then the squeal of tires. She waited to hear Alex’s footsteps coming into the kitchen. After several minutes of silence, she wiped her hands on a towel and walked to the front to look out. Both cars were gone and Alex was nowhere to be seen. He’d gone with his old friends.
And why wouldn’t he? she asked herself, going back to the kitchen. He couldn’t resist the pull of the good old boys. Neal had been coaxed out by his so-called friends easily and often until he’d run out of money. Only Alex would probably never run out of money. She had no idea if his two friends had big bank accounts, but not to worry. Alex was flush.
Megan blinked back tears. How could she have let herself believe, even for a short time, that he’d prefer her over the world he’d come from? Unlimited money, fast boats and flashy cars, women willing and able, and the time to indulge oneself. Who was she to compete with that?
The disappointment was that she’d thought he was different. From Neal, from those two lunkheads with the greedy eyes. She’d wanted desperately for him to refuse their offer and turn instead to her.
How foolish, how stupid, how naive!
It was time she grew up, Megan thought, swiping at a tear that trailed down one cheek. She was who she was and Alex was light-years different from her. And never the twain shall meet.
Alex was angry. Furious, actually. He’d been sitting in the lounge for over an hour in the dark, fuming.
Where in hell was Megan?
He’d returned from his short reunion with his old friends around five o’clock, having grown tired of listening to exaggerated tales of their endless conquests. Maybe if he’d been drinking along with them, he’d have been more receptive. But since his surgery, since having to take fourteen pills a day, he’d steered clear of alcohol. He hadn’t told them about his transplant, his need to take it easy, so they’d tried repeatedly to coax him away from iced tea, but Alex had stuck to his guns.
An awakening, that’s what tonight had been. He’d listened to his old buddies and tried to take part.
“Remember that weekend in Madagascar?”
“Hey, how about the time we took over a whole car on the Orient Express?”
“Alex, do you ever hear from that babe in London, the one who sang in that smoky little club and couldn’t keep her hands off you?”
Memories surfaced and were reflected in the faces of his friends, and there he saw himself. And what he saw didn’t please him.
Alex had grown bored all too quickly with their growing hilarity as they’d ordered round after round. Under intense questioning, he’d finally confessed that he’d met someone special, that he was in love. They hadn’t believed him, had knowingly remarked that he’d outgrow it. That hadn’t set well with Alex.
When he’d announced he was leaving, he’d suggested they go, too. Driving under the influence in California could cost you your license in a heartbeat. But neither Glenn nor Louie seemed worried and waved him off.
Had he been that foolishly stubborn back in his early years? Alex asked himself. But then, he’d never been a heavy drinker like many of his friends. True, he’d been adventurous and ready to try new things, go new places, but alcohol hadn’t been high on his list of requirements. Some of the dangerous stunts he’d done had given him a natural high that no drink could match.
Even that appeal had somehow disappeared, replaced by a soft-eyed woman and her gap-toothed son who’d quietly, stealthily and permanently moved into his heart. And his mind.
But when he’d hurried back to Delaney’s, quickly parked the Porsche and dashed inside, Grace had told him that Megan wasn’t there. She’d left Ryan with Grace and gone to her mother’s. Some family emergency, Grace said.
That had been nearly five hours ago.
He’d worked on the tree house with Ryan, eaten dinner with Ryan and Grace and listened to Ryan read two chapters of
Goosebumps
to him before bedtime. Ryan had insisted Alex tuck him in instead of Grace, which had brought a frown to the woman’s face, but she’d allowed it. Then he’d settled down to wait for Megan.
He was still waiting.
Grace had been reluctant to say much about Megan’s family, only that Megan was the one her mother and two sisters turned to whenever there was a problem. There must be one hell of a problem for her to be gone so long, he thought.
Alex flicked on the television, channel surfed a bit, but nothing held his interest. He was too annoyed to fall asleep. And a bit worried. The country roads around Twin Oaks were winding and twisting, dark and dangerous. Maybe he should ask Grace for Megan’s mother’s phone number and call over there. Just to offer his services if needed. Nah. He could just imagine how Megan would react to that, as independent as she was. Propping his feet on the footstool, Alex settled back and closed his eyes.
It was some time later when he heard a car turn into the parking lot There was no mistaking Megan’s wheezing old Mustang. Alex sat up and waited for her to come inside.
And waited. When several minutes had gone by and the front door hadn’t opened, a puzzled Alex got up and walked outside. Megan’s car was in its usual spot, but she was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, he went around to the side, looking every which way. There was a nearly full moon in an inky sky tonight, lighting the way even after he’d walked past the lampposts in the parking lot.
He was on the garden path when he spotted her climbing up the hill, her slim figure silhouetted in the pale moonlight. She was probably on the way to her favorite spot, Alex decided, and hurried to follow. Something was going on in her head, maybe more than a family crisis, and he was determined to find out what it was.
He moved slowly, quietly, not wanting to spook her, for he imagined she thought herself alone. When he cleared the ridge, he saw she’d climbed onto a six-foot-high boulder and was sitting with her shoulders slumped, her head down. It was a moment before he realized she was weeping.
“Megan,” he whispered, and hurried to her.
Her head swiveled around and she quickly swiped at her cheeks. “What...what are you doing up here?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” She looked even paler in the silvery moonlight, her eyes haunted. “What’s wrong? Is it your mother?”
Of course, he’d have learned where she’d gone from Grace. “No, she’s fine.”
Standing alongside the boulder, he reached up and helped her down. “One of your sisters, then? Is someone hurt?”
“My youngest sister, Jeannie. She’s pregnant and wants to marry the guy. Mom doesn’t want her to.” Megan dug for a tissue in the pocket of her slacks, wiped her face.
“Is that why you’re crying?”
“No.” She didn’t want to tell him why, that he was the reason. She was so tired after listening to her mother rant and rave for hours, both her sisters crying. She had no easy answers to offer, steeped in her own problems, her own worries.
After the euphoria of yesterday, today she’d learned that Alex wasn’t what she’d thought. He was a playboy like Neal, only with money. Even if there had been a future for them, her discovery today dashed all hopes. She couldn’t go through all that again.
“Then what is it? Tell me.” He tipped up her chin, forced her eyes still swimming with tears to meet his.
“Tell me.
”
Her defenses down, feeling exposed and vulnerable, Megan closed her eyes. “I can’t!”
“Yes, you can. Tell me, Megan. There’s nothing you can’t tell me.” What could be so terrible, so frightening?
All right, she would. And then it would really be over for all time. She met his intense gaze, her heart in her throat. “It’s you. You went with those men. That’s the life you want, drinking with your buddies, boat rides, lots of willing women. Just like Neal. I...I thought you were different, but now...”
Hands on her shoulders, he shook her gently. “No! That’s not true. I don’t drink at all anymore, Megan. I went with Glenn and Louie to explain to them that I’ve outgrown all that. It’s true, I used to be pretty wild. But not anymore. I used to want to go out all the time, but now, I want to be with you. Only you.”
She wanted to believe him Lord, how she wanted to believe him. “But you left, you didn’t come back, and I—”
“I did, but you were already gone. I made reservations for us to have dinner together, just the two of us, at a place called the Hideaway. Smell my breath, Megan. I drank iced tea. They laughed at me, but I didn’t care. I told them I was in love and no longer interested in playing the field. They didn’t understand and I feel sorry for them.” He studied her face, but still she held back. “Tell me that you believe me.”
“I want to. But...but, Alex, you’re rich. You have so much money and I...I owe everyone. You’ve been everywhere, traveled, gone to the opera, the ballet, Europe. I’m a simple woman.”
Was his money what all this was about? “I’m a simple man, too, even though I’ve traveled. I hate opera and I’ve never been to the ballet. We can go to Europe anytime you say, or anywhere else.”
“No, you’re just saying that now. But later on, you’ll tire of me. We...we’re not compatible.”
“Not compatible?” Anger rose in him, white-hot and fierce. “I’ll show you compatible.” He yanked her to him and crushed her mouth with his. The kiss was hard, unyielding, nothing like the others they’d shared. He plundered, ravished, his strong hands touching her possessively.
Megan was pummeled by sensations that threatened to overwhelm her. She tasted frustration and desperation in his kiss. She felt him back her up to the huge boulder behind her, then he lowered his head to her breast, drawing deeply, savagely on her. The wild heat spread downward until she was writhing and twisting under his relentless onslaught.
Alex was beyond slow loving, beyond gentle. He needed to convince her and maybe himself. He wanted to brand her, make her his, to let her know. Needing to taste her flesh, he ripped the blouse down the front, felt the buttons scatter, and then he feasted. He heard her cry out, her breath coming in short, ragged spurts, but he recognized not fear, not pain, but shocked pleasure.
His fingers fumbled to open his jeans, then shoved her slacks down and off her trembling legs. Her chest was heaving now and her hands gripped his shoulders. His blood swam hot and tormented as he struggled to free himself. His fingers found her and he heard her cry out, a strangled sound.
Megan felt his hard, rough hands travel over her, sending shivers of sensations throughout her sensitive system. She’d never known this kind of passion, never been wanted like this, never craved this dark, fierce mating. Until now. Boldly, she reached for him and heard his fierce intake of breath, felt him buck as her fingers curled around him.
He was on the verge of exploding, Alex knew. But this was Megan, the woman he loved more than his own life, the one he desired more than his next breath. He looked at her in the moonlight, a question in his eyes.
The expression on her damp face was utterly female. “I want you inside me,
now
.”
With one fierce thrust, he was inside her, anchoring her legs around his body, feeling her heels dig in. Alex closed his eyes on the sheer pleasure of it, the raw beauty of it. He was exactly where he belonged. Never had he felt so certain.
. He began to move then, wildly, ruthlessly. In a frenzy of need, he pounded into her, her body braced against the solid rock at her back. Her breathing was as ragged as his own as she climbed with him. Blood thundered in his veins like the savage sea in the distance. Her release came quickly, fueled by her emotions, driven by an urgency that totally controlled her. When she shuddered and her head dropped to his shoulder, he let himself follow.
He held her there, leaning into her, barely able to keep them both upright as the afterwaves trembled through him. He clung, letting his breathing settle, hoping he hadn’t been too rough.
Megan felt fiercely alive, her body glowing. She was outdoors in the moonlight, her blouse ripped open and her slacks and underwear scattered on the ground somewhere, nearly naked in the arms of a man who’d made love to her in a way she’d scarcely imagined, much less experienced. She should be angry, outraged. Instead, she was gloriously happy.
For she’d watched his face, looked into his eyes, heard the sensual sounds he’d made at the moment when he’d emptied himself into her. Now she knew for certain just how well and completely she could satisfy a man. Neal’s infidelities hadn’t been her fault as she’d feared all along.