The Brightest Star - Fern Michaels Page 0,76
don’t know what you were doing there, but Lauren, Dave Grill, the regular copilot, had to have an emergency appendectomy. John, I am going to assume your father contacted you? Asked you to fill in for Dave?”
“I think that about sums it up,” he said.
Lauren was confused. “Then why were you in Fallen Springs?”
“Coincidence?”
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Lauren said.
“Me either, but you can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“Trying what?” she asked.
“Felicia, can we have a minute? Alone?”
Lauren stood up. “No, stay,” Felicia said, rising from her seat.
“Felicia, could you bring us a Coke or something? I’d like a few minutes alone with Lauren.”
Lauren sat down, relieved for some odd reason.
“Of course. I’ll be right back.” She whirled out of the room.
“Felicia is awesome,” he said.
“She’s been very kind to me,” Lauren acknowledged.
He raked a hand through his blond hair. She was totally mesmerized.
“I went to Fallen Springs to check you out,” he admitted. “Dad has hired a couple of authors in the past, who, well, let’s just say they weren’t on the up-and-up. He’s desperate to get his life story on paper. I had to make sure you were who he thought you were.”
Silence.
Lauren took a minute to absorb his words. “Why did you buy all of the music boxes?” That was the first thought she had, and the words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them.
“I collect them.”
“Oh.”
“Yep.”
“You’re really a pilot?”
“I am. Copilot today. Not my normal job, but I was where I needed to be.”
“Coincidence?” Lauren said, grinning.
“I don’t believe in coincidence. I think you just said that.”
“Me, either.”
“Then what do you think we should call this?” he asked her, all traces of humor gone. “Me. You. Here.”
A vague, yet sensuous tension passed between them. She knew he felt it from the tender look in his eyes.
“Luck?” she suggested.
He nodded. “I think it’s more than that. I thought so when I saw you in the store, and then again, when I saw you eating that grilled cheese sandwich at the diner. And now, if this is luck, it’s the luckiest day of my life.”
“Mine too,” Lauren agreed.
“How old are you?” he asked out of the blue.
Her mouth formed an O. “Didn’t your mother tell you never ask a lady her age?”
“No. She died before I was old enough to need that kind of advice.”
Lauren closed her eyes. She’d read that Mr. G had lost his wife when his son was very young.
“I knew that. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
“No, I should think before I speak. And to answer your question—wait a second, why do you want to know my age?”
“I don’t know. You’re so young.”
“Like how young do you think?” she asked in a teasing tone.
“Twenty-eight?”
“I’ll take that,” she said.
“Okay, well, it’s a bit young.”
“So you say. What about you?”
“I’m thirty-nine.”
“Perfect, because I’m really thirty-five. Is that too old?”
“It’s perfect, Lauren.” He stood, closing the distance between them. He reached for her hand, gently pulling her out of the chair. He lowered his head and touched his lips to hers.
At a knock on the door, Lauren fell back into the chair, a wicked grin on her face. “Felicia?”
“Probably,” he said, returning her wicked grin with a wicked and sexy one of his own.
“Come in,” he said.
Felicia entered, carrying a tray with three glasses filled with ice and three cans of Coke. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Yes, we were discussing Dad’s life,” he said, taking a can of Coke and a glass of ice from the tray. He popped the tab, filled the glass, and gave it to Lauren.
“Well, I can assure you, he is one of the nicest men you’ll ever meet,” Felicia said as she poured a soda for John, then one for herself.
“I’m excited to meet him,” Lauren said. She was feeling so many different emotions. This morning, she’d told her mother that when she met a guy who knocked her socks off, blew her away, she’d tell her. Lauren was pretty darn sure she’d just met that guy, and even better, she knew he felt the same. Actually, she’d known that she had met him the second he’d entered Razzle Dazzle.
“He’s a piece of work, that’s all I’m saying,” John said, a grin on his face. “Speaking of which, I better get back to the cockpit and get this biographer to Seattle safely because something tells me we’re going to be seeing a lot of one another in the future.” He looked at her, and once again, she turned to mush.
“Yes, and I’d