Second Chance for Romance полностью

She scooted into place between my feet, and I began massaging her shoulders and neck. She moaned and lolled her head forward.

After a while she finished her drink and set it aside. Then she wordlessly climbed into my lap, where she curled up with her head on my chest and fell asleep in minutes.

I carried her downstairs once I was sure she was good and asleep. I met Wren and Trip on the way up.

“She okay?” Wren asked quietly.

I nodded. “Just tired. Fell asleep in my lap.”

“You’re a good guy,” Wren said. “I don’t care what people say.” She brushed back a strand of Christy’s blonde hair with surprising tenderness.

“Come on, I’ll help put her to bed.” She turned and rose on tiptoe to give Trip a kiss. “Go on to bed yourself. I’ll be there shortly.”

He nodded.

I carried Christy into her bedroom and waited for Wren to clear a pile of clothes from the bed. I grinned to myself and surveyed the chaos.

“Here you go,” Wren said. “Let me take off her shoes first.”

Christy sighed and snuggled deeper into the hollow of my shoulder.

“Okay. Set her down and then help me get her jeans off.”

“Better if you do it,” I said as I laid the sleeping girl on the bed.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. You’ll see everything eventually, but…”

“It needs to be her decision.”

“Right.”

“I’ll wait in the hall.”

Wren emerged a few minutes later. She stretched upward and kissed me on the cheek. “Seeing you with her makes me love you even more.”

“But in a sisterly way.”

She chuckled, low and suggestive. “Only if your sister wants to screw your brains out.”

My eyebrows shot up. My sister did, in fact, want to do just that. But Wren didn’t know that. Not unless she could read minds.

“Down, boy.” She laughed and patted my arm. “As soon as you and Christy are together and she’s ready.”

“You don’t need a doubleheader tonight?” I teased.

“Oh, God, I’d love a doubleheader! You have no idea how much I want you and Trip together. But we can’t. Christy wouldn’t understand. Not yet.”

“I know.” I glanced at her closed bedroom door and thought for a moment. “You really think she has the makings of a swinger?”

“Totally. She’s so hot for you she’d do just about anything.”

“Yeah, but she has to want it. And not just for my sake. You remember how it was with Trip.”

“Yeah. And I’ve talked to Susan about it too.”

My eyebrows headed north again.

“Of course. She gave me her phone number. Told me to call any time I wanted to talk.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“She thinks you and Christy would make a good match.” She grinned, but I saw the barest flicker of irritation at the corners of her eyes.

“Lemme guess,” I said with a low chuckle, “she also thinks Gina and I would make a good match.”

The flicker flared to life. “I didn’t say that.”

“But you were thinking it. I know Susan—better than you do—and she’d’ve said it was up to me.”

“So what if she did?”

“Take her advice. All of it. Yeah, Christy and I might make a good match, but we’re a long way from that. Gina and I have a history together—a pretty good one, too—and she isn’t out of the picture yet.”

“No, but she’s in California. And Christy’s here.”

“You know, I think I noticed something like that,” I said with gentle sarcasm.

“Well, it gives her home field advantage. Soon enough you’ll be undressing her for bed. Then you’ll climb in beside her.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

“No maybe about it.”

“Goodnight, Wren,” I said firmly.

“Ugh. I hate it when you’re like this.”

“What? Thinking and acting for myself? Yeah, I can see how that would drive you crazy.” I kissed her forehead. “Just let me do things my way, okay?”

“All right,” she said ungraciously. “But hurry up. I’m dying for that doubleheader you mentioned. And Christy…! Oh, God, Paul, you have no idea what she does to me.”

“Then be patient. Good things come to those who wait.”

The next two days passed in a blur. Christy and I spent both evenings in Siobhan’s studio. My biggest complaint was that I couldn’t really do anything while I posed. When I did the original Gaul’s pose, I could put a book on the floor between my hands. But I was kneeling in the new pose, which meant I couldn’t hold anything without changing the lines. So I spent a lot of time designing fanciful but completely impractical buildings in my head. Trip and Wren stopped by to check on us and bring us dinner, but that was about it.

On Thursday we had to inspect the house across the street. I didn’t really have time for it, but Trip had already delayed once, and the contractor wanted to get his invoice paid. So we met him and Sayuri for a final walk-through.

He was a lot friendlier than the foreman, but I still had the feeling that he didn’t like us.

We added about a dozen things to the punch list, although most were cosmetic. The foreman and his crew had done a good job and hadn’t cut any corners that we could see. The contractor was polite throughout and treated us like we controlled the money (which we did). Still, we were all happy when it was over.