Falling for Gracie, page 8
She pressed her lips together and blinked several times. “I didn’t want to go. I felt like I was being permanently punished. I know what I did to you was wrong and twisted. I saw somebody, a counselor, for a while. She really helped me put things in perspective. But even after that, my mom said I couldn’t come home. So then I decided to stop wanting to. And now they’ve asked me to come back, and I thought it was because they missed me, but it’s just to do work on the wedding and it’s like losing my family all over again.”
It took him a second to realize she was crying. The tears fell silently down her cheeks. Riley felt a combination of compassion and anger. He knew all about being forced to do something he didn’t want to do. The only reason he’d married Pam fourteen years ago was because his mother had guilted him into it. But he knew that even if he’d refused, she wouldn’t have turned her back on him. At least not for long.
“I’m sorry,” he said, feeling stupid for the useless words.
She nodded, as if she couldn’t speak right then.
Riley reached out a hand toward her, then let it fall on the console. He swore silently, cursed himself for getting into this position in the first place, then leaned forward and pulled Gracie against him.
She resisted at first, then she sagged against him. He’d always thought of her as larger than life, but as he held her he realized she was kind of on the small side.
Her body felt warm against his. Her hands clutched at his shirt and her forehead pressed against his shoulder. He could smell the sweet scent of her body, along with a hint of maybe vanilla from her baking.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she trembled. “I’m actually more together than this.”
“I believe you.”
And he did. She’d grown her business from nothing, which meant plenty of hard work and talent on her part.
He rubbed her back and felt the smooth length of her hair brushing against his hand. She shifted and wrapped her arms around his waist. Then she was looking at him with tears in her eyes and her mouth was swollen and the need to kiss her got so big that he—
“Pam,” he said as some movement caught his attention.
“What?”
“Pam. She just got in her car.”
“Oh. Oh!” Gracie straightened, brushed her checks, then turned to look out the window. “We have to follow her.”
“Already on that.”
He waited until Pam had pulled out and driven down the block before going after her. He nearly caught up with her at the stop sign, then drove more slowly as she headed into town.
“She could be going anywhere,” Gracie said. “I hope she doesn’t get on the freeway. It’s already dark and I don’t think I could take losing her.”
“We won’t lose her. Pam never paid much attention when she was driving. I doubt that has changed. I’m going to stay close enough to keep her in view.”
They drove through Los Lobos, coming out on the ocean side. When Pam pulled into the parking lot of a small motel, Riley pulled up on the street in front of the low, one-story building.
“Why would she come here?” Gracie asked.
Riley just looked at her. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
“No,” she moaned. “Don’t even think that she’s meeting Zeke here. A motel? It’s tacky. Plus, why couldn’t he just go to her house?”
“His car would be recognized.”
“Oh, right. Because no one will notice it here?”
Gracie had a point. Still, there had to be a reason Pam had gone inside.
“We need to check it out,” he said.
Gracie nodded. They stepped out of the car and moved toward the long, skinny building. He noticed Gracie had her damn camera with her, but he knew better than to suggest she leave it behind.
They moved slowly, cautiously, staying in the shadows and stopping to listen before stepping through the carport to the main office. Pam’s car sat at the far end of the parking lot, but she couldn’t be seen.
“She’s gone into one of the rooms,” Gracie whispered. “We have to find out which one.”
Riley debated going to the manager’s office and bribing the guy into giving them the information. But with him running for mayor, he wasn’t sure that was a good idea.
“We could go look in all the windows,” Gracie said. “A lot of them have open curtains.”
“I’m guessing Pam’s in one where the curtains are closed.”
“Oh. Good point.”
Before they could make a decision, there was a loud pop and all the lights went out. Darkness descended with a suddenness that disoriented.
“Don’t move,” Riley said, instinctively reaching for Gracie’s hand. “We need to get back to the car. Stay close.”
His fingers closed around hers. He felt her other hand on his back.
“Lead on,” she said quietly. “I’ll be...” Her hand tugged his and he heard a thunk. “I’ll just be tripping behind you.”
Despite their pressing need to get out of here, Riley wanted to turn around, pull Gracie close and kiss her until she went boneless. If he hadn’t had a bad feeling about the sudden blackout, he would have given in to the urge. Instead he walked in the general direction of the car.
“It’s through here,” he said and rounded a corner.
Just then the night exploded with a brilliant flash of light. Riley instinctively raised his arm to ward off the attack, only to realize whoever had been there was gone. He heard the sound of someone running, then a car door slammed. All the lights in the complex came on just as the car raced out of the parking lot.
“What was that?” Gracie asked.
“Someone took our picture. What I want to know is who would do it and why.”
CHAPTER SIX
“IT WASN’T ME,” Gracie said quickly, waving her Polaroid.
“I know that,” Riley said with a tone of impatience that made her wonder how much she really bugged him. “The flash came from in front of us.”
He frowned, as if considering possibilities, then led the way to the car.
She wondered if he noticed they were still holding hands. She liked the way his fingers laced with hers and how warm and strong he felt. If she was interested in him, this could be a significant development and more than a little thrilling. Except she wasn’t intrigued or thrilled. She was mildly interested in how nice he was to her and occasionally thought of him as good-looking, but that was it.
They drove back to her place. Riley followed her inside without being asked, which could have been another mark in the thrilling column, but, of course, wasn’t.
“I want to know what that was,” he said as they moved into her kitchen and she put on a pot of coffee. “Were we set up? Was it some jerk out for a good time by turning off the lights and taking pictures?”
She pulled out a small cake very much like the one she’d taken to Riley earlier that day only this wasn’t decorated. “Both sound really crazy. How could we be set up?”
“Maybe Pam led us to the motel for a reason. It’s the picture. It has to be. But so what?”
He paced the length of her kitchen and came to a stop in front of the schedule she’d taped up on the wall. “What’s this?” he asked, then read aloud. “Three hundred and sixty point-two dots. Seventy gum paste roses, seventeen small, twenty-three medium, thirty large.”
“What I have to do for a cake I’m making this week.” She walked into the dining room and came back with a large portfolio, then pulled out a sketch of the cake. “It’s really simple. Just three tiers with these little dots scattered and a wreath of roses at the base of each tier. I make all the decorations in advance, even the dots.” She smiled. “To be honest, making the cake is the least of it. All the time is in the decorating.”
“Speaking of your cake,” he said with a smile as he moved toward the one she’d left on the counter. “Are you saving that for a special occasion?”
She grinned. “Knives are in that drawer.” She pointed. “Help yourself.”
She grabbed a couple of plates and two coffee mugs, then pulled out two forks.
“You seem calm,” he said when they both had dessert and coffee and were seated at the small table in the corner.
“About what happened?” She shrugged. “I’m not sure there’s anything to get upset about. The Pam thing is weird, though. Why would she go to a motel in town? I still think she could meet the guy at her house. It was dark. If he pulled into her garage and they shut the door, who would have known he was there?”
“Maybe this had nothing to do with Zeke. Pam talking to him earlier could have meant she needed insurance.”
“Try telling that to Alexis,” Gracie said with a sigh.
He took a bite, chewed, then swallowed. “Want to tell me the secret to your success?” he asked. “I’ve never tasted cake this good.”
“Sorry, no. Besides, you don’t strike me as the baking type.”
“You’re right.” He pointed at the article from People. “You didn’t tell me you were famous.”
“I’m not yet, but I’m becoming better known. That’s nice. More work, but I can handle it.” She glanced over at her schedule. “At least for now.”
“Have you thought any more about expanding?”
“I haven’t had time. I think it would be exciting to be a big company doing wedding cakes all over the world. Then I remember how much I enjoy talking to my customers, figuring out the perfect cake for them and then making it myself. Do I want to give that up? Plus are couples really interested in a cake from a big company?”
“There are a lot of options between doing everything yourself and being multinational.”
“I haven’t decided what I’m going to do.”
He finished his cake and reached for his mug of coffee. Gracie took a moment to mentally pinch herself. Riley Whitefield was in her kitchen, visiting. Just talking and smiling. After all the years she’d had a crush on him, and then even more years of completely not thinking about him, it was strange to be here now, with him. What would her mother’s octogenarian neighbor have to say about it?
She winced. “Maybe we should have pulled your car into the garage,” she said.
He raised his eyebrows. “Worried about your reputation?”
“Pretty much. This is Los Lobos and I’m who I am and you’re, well, you know who you are.”
“I have for a long time now.”
She laughed. “Good point. I’m just saying that if people knew you were here....”
“They’d talk.”
“Right. And you don’t want that any more than I do. For me, it’s just a matter of everyone questioning my mental capacity, but you have an election to win.”
“Are you kicking me out?”
He looked good sitting in her kitchen. Handsome, masculine. She got a little shiver in her belly every time she looked at him. Which meant if she was actually attracted to him, she would be in big trouble. But she wasn’t.
Still, when he stood and said, “Why don’t you walk me out?” she couldn’t help the flicker of anticipation that rippled through her, and as she trailed after him, she took a moment to appreciate the great butt Jill had mentioned on their lunch date.
He stopped by the front door and faced her. “We don’t have any answers. Not about Zeke or Pam or who took the picture.”
“There were always rumors of alien landings up on the bluff. Maybe they’re responsible.”
“I’m sure that’s it.”
As he spoke, he stared deeply into her eyes. There was an intensity to his gaze that made her swallow hard. She felt unable to look away—like a small creature trapped by a predator. Only she had a feeling her fate was going to be a lot more thrilling than any field mouse.
“Were you always this pretty?” he asked as he reached out and cupped her cheek and jaw. “Weren’t you skinny back then, with braces?”
“Oh, yeah. I had quite the ugly duckling phase. It lasted six long, painful years.”
His fingers were warm and gentle against her skin. Her heart rate had increased to a beat per second far more normal for a hummingbird than a twenty-eight-year-old woman who knew better.
“You used to watch me,” he said, moving a little closer. “I remember those big, blue eyes following my every move. You scared the hell out of me back then.”
“I’m really sorry about that.”
“Apology accepted,” he murmured right before he bent down and kissed her.
A part of Gracie’s brain refused to comprehend this was happening. There was no way Riley was in her house, kissing her. The cosmos simply didn’t work that way. Yet she felt the tender brush of his lips against hers, along with the accompanying tingles as her body responded. She felt his hand leave her cheek as he wrapped both arms around her and drew her close.
She went because she wanted to and found herself pressing against him.
They’d hugged before. In the car when she’d lost it and he’d been so kind. But this was different. This was body against body, her arms around his neck, breasts flattening, thighs brushing and her tilting her head to make the kiss go on forever.
He read her mind—or maybe he wanted it, too—because he settled his mouth on hers as if he had no intention of moving. Heat blossomed inside of her and seeped into every cell. She breathed in the scent of him, felt the smooth texture of his shirt beneath her fingers and the thick, strong muscles that tightened.
When he teased her bottom lip with his tongue, she had the sudden thought that this was destiny. As she parted for him, she told herself it was closer to insanity. But when he swept inside to claim her, she couldn’t think at all.
He moved with the confidence of a man used to pleasing a woman. He tasted of coffee and sugary frosting and something else even more delicious. As he explored her mouth, he rubbed his hands up and down her back, drawing her closer, making her want to arch against him and purr.
One hand slipped down to her butt and cupped the curve. When his fingers squeezed, she suddenly wanted more than just a kiss. Need swept through her, making her swell, making her weep, making her want him. And just like a man, he decided that was the moment to stop kissing her.
He pulled back a little and looked into her eyes. “That was something,” he said.
She liked that he sounded a little breathless, as if he’d been caught off guard by the passion as well.
He brushed a loose strand of hair off her forehead, then kissed her lightly. “You’re not in my plan,” he said.
“You have a plan?”
“Always.”
“Want to tell me what it is?”
“Want to tell me the secret ingredient to your cake?”
“Okay. No. So how do I get in the way?”
He cupped her face in both hands and pressed his mouth against hers. Instantly liquid desire made her want to melt.
“That’s how,” he said as he withdrew. “We can’t do this, Gracie. I have rules and one of them says the woman in question is easily forgotten. We both know you’re not that.”
She pressed her hands flat against his chest. “Are you referring to my stalker girl past? Haven’t we talked about you letting that go?”
“This has nothing to do with your past. Good night.”
He opened the door and walked away. She stood there for a good three minutes as she replayed their conversation, and the kiss. Then she shut the door and twirled through the small living room.
In the words of Sally Fields (sort of) at the Academy Awards—He liked her. He really liked her.
* * *
DOING HER BEST not to think about the kiss interspersed with castigating herself for thinking about it had kept Gracie up most of the night. The good news was she completed all the dots and roses she needed for the wedding cake. The better news was the kiss had been about a million times more fabulous than what she’d imagined all those years ago, and she sure had done her share of imagining. The bad news was she was dead on her feet by the time dawn arrived and she heard the thunk of the local paper being tossed onto her porch.
She tightened the belt on her robe and opened the front door. After pushing her hair out of her face, she shuffled to the edge of the porch and picked up the paper. She was back inside before she’d pulled it out of its protective plastic wrap and flipped it open.
Her shriek was involuntary, as was her anger and sense of disbelief. This could not be happening! It was impossible. It was grossly unfair. It was there in black and white.
The front page of the Los Lobos Daily News showed a somewhat grainy but very viewable picture of Riley and herself standing in the middle of the motel parking lot and holding hands. They both looked incredibly startled—which was about the flash, not getting caught, but no one looking at the picture would know that.
Just as bad as the picture, was the headline. “Mayoral Candidate Caught in Love Nest.” Even worse was the note that a reprinting of the fourteen-year-old “Gracie Chronicles” could be found starting on page nineteen.
Gracie rolled up the paper and pounded it against the wall. “Why? Why? Why? What is going on?”
She didn’t have any answers, which only made her more frustrated. She paced the house, then, with sleep impossible, showered and dressed for the day.
A quick glance at the clock told her it was barely after seven. What time did Riley get up? She didn’t know his number so she was going to have to head over to his house. She wanted to catch him before he left for the bank. But she wasn’t excited about the thought of her car being parked in his driveway. Not now. Not when—
Her cell phone rang. Wary about who could be calling at this hour, she let it ring twice more before answering with a cautious, “Hello?”
“It’s Riley. Did I wake you?”
It took him a second to realize she was crying. The tears fell silently down her cheeks. Riley felt a combination of compassion and anger. He knew all about being forced to do something he didn’t want to do. The only reason he’d married Pam fourteen years ago was because his mother had guilted him into it. But he knew that even if he’d refused, she wouldn’t have turned her back on him. At least not for long.
“I’m sorry,” he said, feeling stupid for the useless words.
She nodded, as if she couldn’t speak right then.
Riley reached out a hand toward her, then let it fall on the console. He swore silently, cursed himself for getting into this position in the first place, then leaned forward and pulled Gracie against him.
She resisted at first, then she sagged against him. He’d always thought of her as larger than life, but as he held her he realized she was kind of on the small side.
Her body felt warm against his. Her hands clutched at his shirt and her forehead pressed against his shoulder. He could smell the sweet scent of her body, along with a hint of maybe vanilla from her baking.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she trembled. “I’m actually more together than this.”
“I believe you.”
And he did. She’d grown her business from nothing, which meant plenty of hard work and talent on her part.
He rubbed her back and felt the smooth length of her hair brushing against his hand. She shifted and wrapped her arms around his waist. Then she was looking at him with tears in her eyes and her mouth was swollen and the need to kiss her got so big that he—
“Pam,” he said as some movement caught his attention.
“What?”
“Pam. She just got in her car.”
“Oh. Oh!” Gracie straightened, brushed her checks, then turned to look out the window. “We have to follow her.”
“Already on that.”
He waited until Pam had pulled out and driven down the block before going after her. He nearly caught up with her at the stop sign, then drove more slowly as she headed into town.
“She could be going anywhere,” Gracie said. “I hope she doesn’t get on the freeway. It’s already dark and I don’t think I could take losing her.”
“We won’t lose her. Pam never paid much attention when she was driving. I doubt that has changed. I’m going to stay close enough to keep her in view.”
They drove through Los Lobos, coming out on the ocean side. When Pam pulled into the parking lot of a small motel, Riley pulled up on the street in front of the low, one-story building.
“Why would she come here?” Gracie asked.
Riley just looked at her. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
“No,” she moaned. “Don’t even think that she’s meeting Zeke here. A motel? It’s tacky. Plus, why couldn’t he just go to her house?”
“His car would be recognized.”
“Oh, right. Because no one will notice it here?”
Gracie had a point. Still, there had to be a reason Pam had gone inside.
“We need to check it out,” he said.
Gracie nodded. They stepped out of the car and moved toward the long, skinny building. He noticed Gracie had her damn camera with her, but he knew better than to suggest she leave it behind.
They moved slowly, cautiously, staying in the shadows and stopping to listen before stepping through the carport to the main office. Pam’s car sat at the far end of the parking lot, but she couldn’t be seen.
“She’s gone into one of the rooms,” Gracie whispered. “We have to find out which one.”
Riley debated going to the manager’s office and bribing the guy into giving them the information. But with him running for mayor, he wasn’t sure that was a good idea.
“We could go look in all the windows,” Gracie said. “A lot of them have open curtains.”
“I’m guessing Pam’s in one where the curtains are closed.”
“Oh. Good point.”
Before they could make a decision, there was a loud pop and all the lights went out. Darkness descended with a suddenness that disoriented.
“Don’t move,” Riley said, instinctively reaching for Gracie’s hand. “We need to get back to the car. Stay close.”
His fingers closed around hers. He felt her other hand on his back.
“Lead on,” she said quietly. “I’ll be...” Her hand tugged his and he heard a thunk. “I’ll just be tripping behind you.”
Despite their pressing need to get out of here, Riley wanted to turn around, pull Gracie close and kiss her until she went boneless. If he hadn’t had a bad feeling about the sudden blackout, he would have given in to the urge. Instead he walked in the general direction of the car.
“It’s through here,” he said and rounded a corner.
Just then the night exploded with a brilliant flash of light. Riley instinctively raised his arm to ward off the attack, only to realize whoever had been there was gone. He heard the sound of someone running, then a car door slammed. All the lights in the complex came on just as the car raced out of the parking lot.
“What was that?” Gracie asked.
“Someone took our picture. What I want to know is who would do it and why.”
CHAPTER SIX
“IT WASN’T ME,” Gracie said quickly, waving her Polaroid.
“I know that,” Riley said with a tone of impatience that made her wonder how much she really bugged him. “The flash came from in front of us.”
He frowned, as if considering possibilities, then led the way to the car.
She wondered if he noticed they were still holding hands. She liked the way his fingers laced with hers and how warm and strong he felt. If she was interested in him, this could be a significant development and more than a little thrilling. Except she wasn’t intrigued or thrilled. She was mildly interested in how nice he was to her and occasionally thought of him as good-looking, but that was it.
They drove back to her place. Riley followed her inside without being asked, which could have been another mark in the thrilling column, but, of course, wasn’t.
“I want to know what that was,” he said as they moved into her kitchen and she put on a pot of coffee. “Were we set up? Was it some jerk out for a good time by turning off the lights and taking pictures?”
She pulled out a small cake very much like the one she’d taken to Riley earlier that day only this wasn’t decorated. “Both sound really crazy. How could we be set up?”
“Maybe Pam led us to the motel for a reason. It’s the picture. It has to be. But so what?”
He paced the length of her kitchen and came to a stop in front of the schedule she’d taped up on the wall. “What’s this?” he asked, then read aloud. “Three hundred and sixty point-two dots. Seventy gum paste roses, seventeen small, twenty-three medium, thirty large.”
“What I have to do for a cake I’m making this week.” She walked into the dining room and came back with a large portfolio, then pulled out a sketch of the cake. “It’s really simple. Just three tiers with these little dots scattered and a wreath of roses at the base of each tier. I make all the decorations in advance, even the dots.” She smiled. “To be honest, making the cake is the least of it. All the time is in the decorating.”
“Speaking of your cake,” he said with a smile as he moved toward the one she’d left on the counter. “Are you saving that for a special occasion?”
She grinned. “Knives are in that drawer.” She pointed. “Help yourself.”
She grabbed a couple of plates and two coffee mugs, then pulled out two forks.
“You seem calm,” he said when they both had dessert and coffee and were seated at the small table in the corner.
“About what happened?” She shrugged. “I’m not sure there’s anything to get upset about. The Pam thing is weird, though. Why would she go to a motel in town? I still think she could meet the guy at her house. It was dark. If he pulled into her garage and they shut the door, who would have known he was there?”
“Maybe this had nothing to do with Zeke. Pam talking to him earlier could have meant she needed insurance.”
“Try telling that to Alexis,” Gracie said with a sigh.
He took a bite, chewed, then swallowed. “Want to tell me the secret to your success?” he asked. “I’ve never tasted cake this good.”
“Sorry, no. Besides, you don’t strike me as the baking type.”
“You’re right.” He pointed at the article from People. “You didn’t tell me you were famous.”
“I’m not yet, but I’m becoming better known. That’s nice. More work, but I can handle it.” She glanced over at her schedule. “At least for now.”
“Have you thought any more about expanding?”
“I haven’t had time. I think it would be exciting to be a big company doing wedding cakes all over the world. Then I remember how much I enjoy talking to my customers, figuring out the perfect cake for them and then making it myself. Do I want to give that up? Plus are couples really interested in a cake from a big company?”
“There are a lot of options between doing everything yourself and being multinational.”
“I haven’t decided what I’m going to do.”
He finished his cake and reached for his mug of coffee. Gracie took a moment to mentally pinch herself. Riley Whitefield was in her kitchen, visiting. Just talking and smiling. After all the years she’d had a crush on him, and then even more years of completely not thinking about him, it was strange to be here now, with him. What would her mother’s octogenarian neighbor have to say about it?
She winced. “Maybe we should have pulled your car into the garage,” she said.
He raised his eyebrows. “Worried about your reputation?”
“Pretty much. This is Los Lobos and I’m who I am and you’re, well, you know who you are.”
“I have for a long time now.”
She laughed. “Good point. I’m just saying that if people knew you were here....”
“They’d talk.”
“Right. And you don’t want that any more than I do. For me, it’s just a matter of everyone questioning my mental capacity, but you have an election to win.”
“Are you kicking me out?”
He looked good sitting in her kitchen. Handsome, masculine. She got a little shiver in her belly every time she looked at him. Which meant if she was actually attracted to him, she would be in big trouble. But she wasn’t.
Still, when he stood and said, “Why don’t you walk me out?” she couldn’t help the flicker of anticipation that rippled through her, and as she trailed after him, she took a moment to appreciate the great butt Jill had mentioned on their lunch date.
He stopped by the front door and faced her. “We don’t have any answers. Not about Zeke or Pam or who took the picture.”
“There were always rumors of alien landings up on the bluff. Maybe they’re responsible.”
“I’m sure that’s it.”
As he spoke, he stared deeply into her eyes. There was an intensity to his gaze that made her swallow hard. She felt unable to look away—like a small creature trapped by a predator. Only she had a feeling her fate was going to be a lot more thrilling than any field mouse.
“Were you always this pretty?” he asked as he reached out and cupped her cheek and jaw. “Weren’t you skinny back then, with braces?”
“Oh, yeah. I had quite the ugly duckling phase. It lasted six long, painful years.”
His fingers were warm and gentle against her skin. Her heart rate had increased to a beat per second far more normal for a hummingbird than a twenty-eight-year-old woman who knew better.
“You used to watch me,” he said, moving a little closer. “I remember those big, blue eyes following my every move. You scared the hell out of me back then.”
“I’m really sorry about that.”
“Apology accepted,” he murmured right before he bent down and kissed her.
A part of Gracie’s brain refused to comprehend this was happening. There was no way Riley was in her house, kissing her. The cosmos simply didn’t work that way. Yet she felt the tender brush of his lips against hers, along with the accompanying tingles as her body responded. She felt his hand leave her cheek as he wrapped both arms around her and drew her close.
She went because she wanted to and found herself pressing against him.
They’d hugged before. In the car when she’d lost it and he’d been so kind. But this was different. This was body against body, her arms around his neck, breasts flattening, thighs brushing and her tilting her head to make the kiss go on forever.
He read her mind—or maybe he wanted it, too—because he settled his mouth on hers as if he had no intention of moving. Heat blossomed inside of her and seeped into every cell. She breathed in the scent of him, felt the smooth texture of his shirt beneath her fingers and the thick, strong muscles that tightened.
When he teased her bottom lip with his tongue, she had the sudden thought that this was destiny. As she parted for him, she told herself it was closer to insanity. But when he swept inside to claim her, she couldn’t think at all.
He moved with the confidence of a man used to pleasing a woman. He tasted of coffee and sugary frosting and something else even more delicious. As he explored her mouth, he rubbed his hands up and down her back, drawing her closer, making her want to arch against him and purr.
One hand slipped down to her butt and cupped the curve. When his fingers squeezed, she suddenly wanted more than just a kiss. Need swept through her, making her swell, making her weep, making her want him. And just like a man, he decided that was the moment to stop kissing her.
He pulled back a little and looked into her eyes. “That was something,” he said.
She liked that he sounded a little breathless, as if he’d been caught off guard by the passion as well.
He brushed a loose strand of hair off her forehead, then kissed her lightly. “You’re not in my plan,” he said.
“You have a plan?”
“Always.”
“Want to tell me what it is?”
“Want to tell me the secret ingredient to your cake?”
“Okay. No. So how do I get in the way?”
He cupped her face in both hands and pressed his mouth against hers. Instantly liquid desire made her want to melt.
“That’s how,” he said as he withdrew. “We can’t do this, Gracie. I have rules and one of them says the woman in question is easily forgotten. We both know you’re not that.”
She pressed her hands flat against his chest. “Are you referring to my stalker girl past? Haven’t we talked about you letting that go?”
“This has nothing to do with your past. Good night.”
He opened the door and walked away. She stood there for a good three minutes as she replayed their conversation, and the kiss. Then she shut the door and twirled through the small living room.
In the words of Sally Fields (sort of) at the Academy Awards—He liked her. He really liked her.
* * *
DOING HER BEST not to think about the kiss interspersed with castigating herself for thinking about it had kept Gracie up most of the night. The good news was she completed all the dots and roses she needed for the wedding cake. The better news was the kiss had been about a million times more fabulous than what she’d imagined all those years ago, and she sure had done her share of imagining. The bad news was she was dead on her feet by the time dawn arrived and she heard the thunk of the local paper being tossed onto her porch.
She tightened the belt on her robe and opened the front door. After pushing her hair out of her face, she shuffled to the edge of the porch and picked up the paper. She was back inside before she’d pulled it out of its protective plastic wrap and flipped it open.
Her shriek was involuntary, as was her anger and sense of disbelief. This could not be happening! It was impossible. It was grossly unfair. It was there in black and white.
The front page of the Los Lobos Daily News showed a somewhat grainy but very viewable picture of Riley and herself standing in the middle of the motel parking lot and holding hands. They both looked incredibly startled—which was about the flash, not getting caught, but no one looking at the picture would know that.
Just as bad as the picture, was the headline. “Mayoral Candidate Caught in Love Nest.” Even worse was the note that a reprinting of the fourteen-year-old “Gracie Chronicles” could be found starting on page nineteen.
Gracie rolled up the paper and pounded it against the wall. “Why? Why? Why? What is going on?”
She didn’t have any answers, which only made her more frustrated. She paced the house, then, with sleep impossible, showered and dressed for the day.
A quick glance at the clock told her it was barely after seven. What time did Riley get up? She didn’t know his number so she was going to have to head over to his house. She wanted to catch him before he left for the bank. But she wasn’t excited about the thought of her car being parked in his driveway. Not now. Not when—
Her cell phone rang. Wary about who could be calling at this hour, she let it ring twice more before answering with a cautious, “Hello?”
“It’s Riley. Did I wake you?”
