Cinderella Christmas (7 page)

“May I speak frankly, Eve?”

“Sure,” she said, but she sounded a little apprehensive.

“That night – was the best night of my life. There was something different about Darcy, something I’ve never had with any other woman. I feel like I have to find her.”

Silence for a minute, then Eve said, “If she were here in the car with you, right now, instead of me, and you’d just found her, what would you say to her?”

“I’d tell her that no other woman has ever affected me the way she did. I’d let her know that, deep inside, I’m a one woman man and I treat women with the utmost respect. I’d let her know she was safe with me, that I’d treasure her, that I desire her, and that I definitely want to see where this relationship can go.”

Again silence, while Eve digested this.

He’d been totally truthful in what he’d said. He did want to see Darcy again and he wanted to take their relationship as far as it could go. The brutal irony of it all was that he
was
in the car with Darcy -- only Eve didn’t know that he knew it yet.

Yet.

“May I be honest with you, Nick?”

That’d be a first.

“Sure.”

“Your reputation – everyone knows that you’re a man who’s said you’ll never marry.”

“Yeah, well, that’s self-protective bullshit and probably has something to do with the way my mother died. I’ve never been to therapy, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out. I’ve been living a life that’s self-protective. But after that one night with Darcy – I felt so alive. I’ve decided I want more. And if I have to risk it all to get it, that’s what I’ll do.”

She stared out the passenger side window and Nick sensed he’d pushed her to the limit for tonight.

“Humor me, Watson, I have to find her. Besides, we make the perfect sleuthing team. Holmes and Watson? You never thought of the way our names connect?”

“I never thought to bring it up,” she said, and he could hear the relief in her voice that the subject of Darcy was over – for now.

“We’ll find her, Watson. I’m not going to give up. Besides, I have a feeling that she’s very close. I’m closer to finding her than I think.”

#

Eve breathed a sigh of relief when they arrived at the resort. Nick went into professional mode, asking questions, having her take notes, getting them checked into their lavish suite. Stunningly gorgeous flower arrangements graced each room.

A fruit basket awaited them along with a box of decadent chocolate truffles and a basket of gourmet doggie treats. “Attention to detail, I like that,” Nick remarked. “I told them I was bringing a dog. Can he have one?”

“These look fabulous! Look Maurice, they’re dipped in carob!”

“I’ll give the little guy one,” Nick said, then handed Maurice one of the treats. For a moment he just stared at it as he held it between his paws, then he slowly began to lick the carob coating off one side of the bone-shaped biscuit.

“He really likes it,” Eve said. “Thank you, Nick.”

“How about a late dinner so we can check out the food?”

“I’d like to grab a shower first.” She had to get away from him, if only for half an hour or so. She had to emotionally regroup.

“Go ahead.”

#

It was absolute torture, thinking of Darcy – no,
Eve
-- in the shower, naked, covered with bubbles. So close, yet so far.

Nick had no idea what he was doing. He didn’t really want to play with Eve’s feelings anymore, he just wanted to get to the bottom of why she’d chosen to leave him after the incredible night they’d had.

Obviously she was scared.

But of what? After what they’d shared that night, she had to know he’d never want to do anything to make her leave. In a way, the night they’d shared made him as vulnerable as she was.

Though Nick had plenty of experience with the opposite sex, he was completely lost with this woman. He had no idea how to proceed.

He glanced up as Eve walked into the room. She’d blown her hair dry and it flowed gently around her shoulders, gleaming softly. He had to force himself not to walk over to her and bury his fingers in it, bring her mouth up to his.

How was he going to get through this weekend?

“I think I’ll hop into the shower myself. How was the water pressure?”

“Terrific. It’s going right in my notes.”

He nodded and left the room, intent on reaching the privacy of his shower.

#

They went down to one of the five-star restaurants and had a late dinner. Maurice had been left up in the suite with a dinner of broiled steak strips and the enormous television on for company.

“He’s come a long way in a short amount of time,” Nick remarked. “You have quite a way with him.”

Desperate to keep the conversation off Darcy, she told Nick the truth about how she’d stolen Maurice.

“It’s an interesting thing,” Nick remarked after taking a sip of wine. “Stealing is stealing, but in this case I think it was perfectly justified. You said he was pretty bony when you found him.”

She nodded.

“He might have been put down right away. When the shelters are so full, they make decisions like that. I’ve been working with a group of people to get all the shelters in the Southern California area converted to no-kill, but it’s still a ways away. You did the right thing, rescuing Maurice.”

“Thank you.” Eve hesitated, then said, “Have you ever done something you thought was right, where you thought you knew what you were doing and yet it all went horribly wrong?”

“All the time. It’s called being human.”

“No, but I mean – did you ever do something that really hurt someone you cared about. Hurt them badly.”

Something softened in his expression, she saw such kindness in his eyes that Eve thought she might just put her head down on the snowy linen and weep. How had she got herself into this mess? She was such an emotional coward.

“What was it you did?” he said quietly. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

“I can – really relate to Darcy because – I did something pretty similar.”

“Really.” He took another sip of his wine. “Then ‘fess up, please, because I’m dying to know why. Maybe it will help me understand why Darcy did what she did.”

“I was – I had some friends who told me I was letting life pass me by. I wasn’t making any effort to find a good man. They didn’t want to see me waste my life and end up all alone. So they asked me why I wasn’t out dating and I made some excuse. But when I got home I realized it was because I was in love with a man and he didn’t even know I was alive.”

#

Nick’s breath stilled. Eve was talking about her feelings for him. This might be as close as he ever got to having her admit what she did and why she did it.

He had to know.

“Did you ever tell this man the way you felt about him?”

“I couldn’t. The relationship was too – unequal.”

He’d said the exact same thing about office relationships. He was the boss, so by default he was in the power position.

“To make a long story short, I went to a party and got him to kiss me and then we – then we – “

“I get the picture, Watson. So you snuck out on this guy the same way?”

She nodded her head.

“Why? Was the sex lousy?”

“No. No, it was – wonderful.”

“Then why did you run?” Everything inside him was waiting for her answer.

“He – he could never love me.”

“How do you know that, Eve?”

“Because – he’d never really seen me before that night. And I wasn’t really myself.”

“You were bolder.”

She nodded.

“You took what you wanted.”

She nodded again.

“It probably thrilled him,” he said.

“You think so?”

“I know so,” he said. “I may not know much, but I know the male mind.”

“It was – magic,” she admitted.

“But you got scared.”

“Yes.”

“Could you ever tell this man the truth?”

Her eyes widened and he could see the fear in them. He frowned. Eve’s eyes were the most beautiful blue, while Darcy’s had been a dark brown. Well, she’d worn a wig so she’d probably sprung for colored contacts as well.

“I – don’t know.”

“Do you still see him?”

“Yes.”

“Is he seeing anyone else?”

“No.”

“Then clearly that night meant something to him as well.” He leaned forward in his chair. “Eve, one thing my mother’s death taught me is that the people we love – we never know how much time we’re going to have with them. We never know when they may be taken away. I don’t believe in wasting time. If you care for this man, let him know. I have a very strong feeling he still has feelings for you and would be delighted to find you.”

She took a deep breath. “You make it sound so easy,” she finally said.

“It is,” he said, touching her hand lightly. “When it’s right between two people, it is easy. It feels right. You can’t over think these things, Eve, you have to trust your heart.”

She thought back to the conversation she’d had with Maddy and realized Nick knew what he was talking about. There was nothing like losing a loved one to put life in perspective.

“So,” Nick said. “You’re going to tell this man, right?”

“I am.” She hesitated. “I am.”

She sounded as if she was trying to convince herself.

“Don’t wait too long,” he said.

#

Nick was right. She had to tell him. Their dinner conversation had been the weirdest yet most wonderful talk they’d ever had. It was almost as if he knew she was Darcy. Her intuition had been screaming the jig was up, but her rational mind knew there was no way Nick could know what she’d done to him.

Yet he’d given her good advice.

Eve lay in bed that night, Maurice snoring softly on the pillow beside her. It was torture, knowing Nick was just a bedroom away and she couldn’t go to him.

I have to tell him.

She eased herself out of bed, put on her slippers and walked silently out of her bedroom in just a plain white cotton nightgown.

Note to self – you need to spring for some sexy nightwear.

She made her way to Nick’s bedroom door. It was ajar, the lights were off, and when she peered inside the bedroom she could barely see him sprawled on the king sized bed, his naked body dark against the soft white bed linen. He’d drawn the blackout curtains shut and the only light that illuminated him came from the lamp that was on in the suite’s main lounge.

Do it. Tell him the truth. No matter what happens, you can’t hurt this man any longer. Come clean.

She stepped inside his bedroom and shut the door softly. When she did, Nick’s room was plunged into utter blackness.

It would be easier to tell him the truth in the dark.

#

Nick came awake at the sound of his bedroom door being shut.

He sensed her in the room immediately. For one wild moment he thought,
is it Eve or Darcy?

He sat up slowly in bed, barely making a sound. Stayed silent. Listened. He could hear her breathing. Something, some instinct, told him not to make a sound, not to say a word.

It had to come from her.

“Nick,” she said softly.

He heard her move, heard her nightgown rustle as she headed toward his large bed and sat down on the edge of it. What was going on? What game was Eve playing now?

#

She was shaking with desire.

He’d never believe she was Darcy. He’d laugh in her face. Darcy was sexual, Darcy was emotional, directly connected to her heart. Darcy didn’t think, Darcy just did.

Darcy took what she wanted and wasn’t afraid.

The room was completely black. She couldn’t have seen her palm in front of her face. Nick might not believe she was Darcy in the light of day, but Eve knew with an instinct as old as time that as soon as he touched her, he’d know who she was. Then when he turned on the light, he’d be shocked to discover it was her.

But he wouldn’t be able to deny that she and Darcy were one and the same.

“Nick,” she said again, a little louder. She was so close he could reach out and touch her. When he did, when he took hold of her arm and pulled her toward him, she didn’t resist. She couldn’t.

This was what she’d been waiting for, needing, obsessing over. There was no man on this earth who could make her feel the way Nick did. He could do more to her with a simple touch than another man could with his whole body.

She didn’t protest when he eased her down on the large bed and threaded his fingers through her hair. Eve moaned softly when he kissed her and it was exactly the way she remembered it, the flash fire of desire that sprang up between them so effortlessly. He only had to touch her to completely weaken her resolve.

Eve had wanted to tell him the truth, but as he took her mouth she knew the only way she could convey what she’d done and what she felt for this man was with her body.

Explanations could wait for the morning. Right now they were in their own little world where no one could interrupt them. They had all the time they needed to let their bodies express what words could never adequately convey.

#

He couldn’t stop kissing her.

He’d been dreaming of Darcy, he’d been making love with her and halfway through she’d turned into Eve, on top of him, looking down at him, kissing him with a passion so unlike her. But he’d answered that passion in his dream and made love to her with a ferocity and then a tenderness that had expressed the way he felt about her.

He’d come awake so hard, so restless with desire, so full of a raging frustration that the woman he wanted above all others was a room away and only a thin wall separated him from the source of his arousal, from the satisfaction he craved that only she could give him.

Then he’d heard her come in and everything had clicked for him. She wanted him as badly as he wanted her. Eve was a smart woman. She’d never come into his bedroom if she didn’t feel the same way. She respected boundaries. She certainly wouldn’t sit down on his bed. She wouldn’t say his name with that soft voice, a voice so intimate and personal, for his ears alone.

One kiss, two, three . . . His hands were already coming up underneath her nightgown, he couldn’t stop himself from touching her all over as he stripped the flimsy garment off her lush body and pulled her beneath him. There was a roughness in the way he handled her, as if it had been too long since he’d been free to touch her and he had to touch her, over and over again, to ensure she was here with him, in this bed, in this room, his alone.