ALL HE DESIRES (Voluptuous Woman Series) (32 page)

“No.”

“Would you like to talk some more then?”

Megan shook her head. “Preferably not.”

Tyler’s heart began hammering wildly in his chest and he felt his body get harder. “Then give me an idea what you want to do.” He flashed a grin when he added. “Excluding going all the way.”

She leaned forward. “Is there such a thing as almost going all the way?”

He nodded. “Yes, that’s what we did on prom night. We came as close as it gets.”

She smiled remembering. She also recalled they had gotten completely naked. But more than anything she remembered how she had come apart in his arms while experiencing her first and only orgasm. Even then Tyler’s brand of foreplay had been out of this world. She didn’t want to think about how it would be now. “Then let’s do it again.”

Thinking that wouldn’t be such a bad idea, he reached out for her a second before his cell phone rang. Giving her an apologetic smile, he answered it.

Megan only heard part of the conversation, but she knew an emergency had come up and she wouldn’t be getting the second orgasm of her life tonight. When he hung up the phone she spoke before he could say anything. “Duty calls, right?”

He nodded regretfully. “Right. There’s an emergency out at the Bailey’s place, so it seems I’ll be taking you on home after all.”

Disappointed, she settled back in her seat and put on her seat belt, thinking there would be a next time. There had to be and she would be ready.

“Flowers for Megan James.”

Megan stared at the man standing in the doorway. Over the past three days she had gotten flowers every single day. She wondered if Tyler realized that he was plying this courtship thing on a little too thick.

She reached out and took the flowers from the man she remembered as owning a flower shop in town. “Thanks.”

The man rubbed his chin as he studied her. “You must be mighty special to Tyler Savoy. I don’t ever recall him ever doing business with us before, and if he keeps this up, he’ll become one of our best customers.”

She smiled at the man. “Thanks again and here’s your tip.”

“You’re welcome and I’ll see you again tomorrow,” he said, turning to leave like it was a foregone conclusion that he would be delivering more flowers to her. She sighed as she closed the door.

“More flowers, Megan?”

Megan turned around and met Florence Baker’s curious gaze. “Yes, aren’t they beautiful, just like the others?”

Florence chuckled. “Yes. Tyler Savoy has good taste and it seems there’s more on his mind lately than taking care of animals. Thelma ought to be overjoyed.”

Megan frowned. “About what?”

“About the fact that Tyler is evidently interested in you again. From what his grandmother told me the other night at church, the two of you used to be boyfriend and girlfriend some years ago.”

“Yes, but now we’re just friends and nothing more,” Megan said, placing the vase of beautiful cut flowers next to the others on the table after reading the card. The room was filled with a beautiful fragrance.

Florence snorted like she didn’t believe her. “Well, it must be some kind of friendship that makes a man send a woman flowers every day.”

Megan said nothing as she watched Florence leave the room. When Tyler had first mentioned the courtship part of their relationship, she had become hesitant for this very reason. People would start getting ideas about them. They would quickly assume there was more going on than there really was.

She was about to go outside and check on things when the phone rang. She quickly crossed the room and picked it up. “Hello.”

“How’s my girl?”

Megan’s breath caught. Tyler’s greeting was the one he’d always used whenever he saw her years ago. She had been “his girl” and very proud of it.

“I’m doing fine, what about you?”

“I can’t complain. We’re still on for dinner tonight, right?”

She smiled. “Yes and thanks for the flowers again. You shouldn’t have.”

“Maybe, but I wanted to. You’re special.”

“Thanks.” And he was making her feel special. In fact that’s what he wrote each time on the card that accompanied the flowers.
You’re special
. “I’ll be ready when you get here.”

“Okay, I’ll see you at seven.”

After hanging up the phone, Megan smiled. She couldn’t wait to see him again.

***

“Sounds like you’ve been quite busy today at the Richardson’s place,” Megan said, as she sipped on her wine.

Tyler chuckled. “I have and I appreciate this time when I can relax.”

Megan smiled. He had picked her up exactly at seven and they had driven into D.C. for dinner at B. Smith’s, a restaurant that was located on the east side of Union Station that was simply elegant. The huge room that used to be home to U.S. presidents waiting for their trains was now one of the most successful restaurants in Washington. It was well known that the owner was a former model and a friend to nearly every celebrity you could think of. That was evident in the numerous photographs that lined one section of the restaurant’s wall.

She and Tyler had enjoyed a wonderful dinner of lemon pepper catfish and a very tasty salad. Since they were still full they had both declined desert. Tyler leaned back in his chair and looked at her. “So, what are your plans when you return to California?”

Megan shrugged. Already she was regretting having to leave. This was the longest period of time she had spent in Alexandria over the years and hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed being home. It seemed that every time she went out she would run into someone she’d known. “I’ll have another month before the semester starts and I plan on taking it easy. I enjoyed being home.”

Tyler nodded. “You ever thought of moving back?”

His questioned surprised her, but Megan decided not to tell him she had thought about it that very day. “Why do you ask?”

“Because with your credentials I bet you could get a job teaching at any of the universities around here with no problem. And I’d think your mother would want you living closer to home now that your father and grandfather are gone.”

Megan smiled. She had thought of that, too. But her mother had Winston now, and she knew he loved her mother very much and would make her happy.

“And then there are the grandkids?”

Megan looked perplexed as she stared at Tyler. “What grandkids?”

“The ones I’m sure you’re going to have one day. At some point your mother would want to see them more often than once a year.”

Megan frowned, wondering where Tyler was going with all of this. “Tyler,” she leaned over the table and whispered. “Let me take care of being a virgin first before you make me a mother.”

He reached out and tucked a strand of her hair back that had fallen in her face and whispered, his voice low and husky. “Umm, that’s not a bad idea.”

She lifted a brow. “What?”

“For me to make you a mother.”

His words caused the ambers that had been smoldering low in her belly all evening to spark into flames and scorch her insides. It had always been her dream to give birth to a son or daughter who had their father’s hazel eyes. Her and Tyler’s babies. And for him to speak her innermost desire out loud almost made her ache for the possibility. “Would you even consider it if I wanted that to happen, Tyler?” she couldn’t help asking. The way his eyes were holding her captive was making all her senses meld together.

Tyler decided now was not the time to let her know that not only had he considered it, he planned to make it happen one day. But she was right. They had to take care of this virginity thing first; however, he wasn’t ready to let the subject rest. “Yes, I’d considered it, but what about your husband?”

She blinked. “What husband?”

“Don’t you plan on ever getting married? Usually baby making is something a husband and wife do together.”

She shrugged. “The same thing can be said about love making. It’s something a husband and wife are supposed to do together, too.”

He nodded. “Yes, that’s true, so what does that mean? Are you suggesting that to do things right we should get married so we can make love and have a baby?” he asked as a smile curled his lips.

A sudden and intense pull tugged at Megan’s heart. She didn’t want to admit it, but over the last couple of days her mind had been playing a game of,
what ifs,
and the main thought that kept flowing through her mind was... what if she moved back to Alexandria, took a job at one of the universities and she and Tyler reignited their romance, eventually resulting in marriage and babies.

“Megan?”

When he said her name she realized he still had a question out there and was waiting for an answer. She knew she had to be fair to him and stop things right here. It wouldn’t be right to place him in a position that would make him feel that on top of everything else, he owed her marriage as well. “Of course not, Tyler. I’m sure you have an idea of what you want in a wife, and I’m sure I’m far from it.”

He looked at her strangely, as if pondering what she’d said. “And just what type of woman do you think I’d want?”

She shrugged again. “Tall with a model figure, a perfect ten, all legs, medium sized breasts, small waist. The way I used to be.” Regret burned her cheeks. She hadn’t meant to add that last part. Now she would keep her mouth shut for the rest of the evening. Not wanting to look at Tyler, she began studying the wine in her glass.

“Megan,” Tyler whispered, leaning forward to make sure he had her attention. “If that’s the type of woman you figure I want, then why is my body at the point of losing control for wanting you so much? If you had any idea just what you do to me, you wouldn’t be sitting there as calmly as you are knowing I’ve considered clearing the table and taking you right on it.”

He knew his words had probably shocked her but she needed to know what she was dealing with here. There was no way he would let her think that she wasn’t what he wanted. Whispering lower still he added. “I’d do just about anything to take you somewhere and get you naked. You don’t know how often I’ve fantasized about those luscious looking hips of yours, and how those dresses, like the one you have on now, mold to every conceivable crease and curve you have. And if that’s not bad enough, I now know your scent. It’s distinctive, intoxicating and arousing.”

Megan’s body responded to Tyler’s words, making her feel dizzy, breathless. No man had ever said such things to her before. She was satisfied with her size but had figured a man like Tyler would want a certain type of woman – but he had just let her know that without a doubt he was attracted to her, voluptuous body and all. And she knew he wasn’t just saying what he thought she wanted to hear. There was so much sincerity in the way he was looking at her that a special warmth spread all the way through her.

She leaned across the table toward him and whispered. “If you want to take me somewhere and get me naked then what’s stopping you?”

“The realization that you’re not ready for that part of a relationship with me. “

Megan’s brow furrowed. As far as she was concerned she was more than ready and had been ready since that first day he had arrived on the ranch. “What makes you think that?”

“Because I do, and that’s all I’m going to say on the matter. You will have to figure out the rest on your own.”

She was about to ask him what there was to figure out when the waiter brought them their bill. Tyler then glanced at his watch. “Come on. I need to get you home. I have to fly to Philadelphia early tomorrow.”

“Will you be gone long?”

He started to tell her that when he usually went to Philadelphia once a month to rotate his services at the zoo there, he was usually gone for a couple of days. But this was one time he intended to go and come back in the same day. “No, I won’t be gone long. I plan to come back tomorrow night.”

She nodded, missing him already. “I hope you have a safe trip.”

He smiled. “Thanks.”

The ride back to the ranch was done mostly in silence. She was hoping he would take her to Lover’s Peak again and strip her naked, and was somewhat disappointed when she saw that he was taking her back home. But he did walk her to the door and the kiss he gave her was so incredibly gentle it almost brought tears to her eyes. When she tried to deepen it, he reluctantly pulled away.

“Don’t tempt me, Megan,” he growled quietly near her ear. He took a step back. “I’ll call you when I return. Go on inside before I do something I might later regret.”

She did as he requested and then stood at the window and watched as he drove off. She sighed deeply. She knew she was falling in love with Tyler all over again and had known it for weeks. If she was completely honest with herself, she would admit she had known ever since she had seen him that day while tending Moonshine. Now she had less than two weeks before she returned to California and she wondered what, if anything, she was going to do about it.

Megan sat on the wooden fence and watched a ranch hand attempt to break in one of the horses. Although she was seeing everything being played out before her, her mind was elsewhere as she remembered the reason Tyler had given as to why they hadn’t made love.