The Inconvenient Bride - By Anne McAllister Page 0,24
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“I didn’t know where you’d want things,” Dominic was saying as he led the way up the stairs, “so I just told them for now to put everything in here.”
He went into the room directly across from the stairs and flipped another switch. As light spilled into the room, Sierra stopped dead.
It was as if her apartment had been recreated right here. Her futon with its faded striped madras bedspread was against one wall. Against the other was her fish tank, complete with Buster and Gomer.
“Hi, guys,” she said in an oddly breathless voice to the imperturbable goldfish swimming around just as if they’d always been here.
Her own bookcase, hand-painted blue, complete with clouds, and filled with her most loved books, was tucked next to the fish tank. She spied her tiny television, her portable stereo. Everything. Even the rather rickety old oak table that she loved—the one that had been in her grandparents’ house when she was a child—the one that everyone else she knew was always threatening to throw out.
Dominic hadn’t had it thrown out.
He set her tackle box full of makeup gear on it now. “Okay?”
Sierra was still walking around touching it all, wondering at it, awed that, with one wave of Dominic’s checkbook her whole life seemed to have moved uptown.
“Did they forget anything?” he asked. “They said they left the stove and refrigerator there, but that your neighbor said they stayed with the apartment.”
“They do,” Sierra said absently. Then she realized what he’d said. “They asked Pam?”
Dominic shrugged. “They asked a neighbor. Someone who came to see what was going on.”
“Pam,” Sierra said. She’d seen Pam at lunch and her friend hadn’t said anything about it. She must have been amazed that Sierra hadn’t said anything either. “When did they do all this?”
“This afternoon.”
How could they have done it so fast?
As if he’d read her mind, Dominic said, “It didn’t take long. There wasn’t that much. You can go through it and decide what you want to keep. I told them to bring everything that was yours.”
And they’d set it up exactly as it had been in her apartment. Amazing.
Sierra grinned. “So we can come in here anytime and recreate our wedding night?”
He actually blushed, and the heat of the kiss they’d exchanged at Gibson’s—which had been burning gently but persistently ever since—flamed suddenly once more to life.
Dominic grabbed her hand and towed her to the door. “Not on your life, sweetheart,” he said. “I have a lot bigger bed right this way.”
His bedroom was vast. Simple. Almost, but not quite, stark. Unlike the other rooms in his apartment, it had a thick plush carpet on the floor. She could feel her boots sinking into the pile as she stood and stared at the bed.
It was approximately twice the size of her whole apartment. With its hunter-green duvet, it didn’t look so much like a bed as a playing field.
And that thought made her blush. It sat against the far wall on a raised black lacquer platform. And against the matching black lacquer headboard was a scattering of pillows in toning colors. For an instant Sierra’s gaze flickered upward, just to be sure there were no mirrors on the ceiling.
Dominic caught the movement and grinned. “Wishing?”
“No!” She blushed hotly again.
“I always thought it was tacky. But there might be times…” His voice trailed off suggestively, speculatively, and their gazes locked together so fiercely it seemed to Sierra they were almost welded by the heat of the exchange.
After a long moment she cleared her throat. “There might be times,” she agreed.
His eyes widened for an instant, and the color in his cheeks deepened. He hesitated just for a second, then he took both her hands in his and drew her close. “I imagine we can manage without.”
He knew he shouldn’t be so eager.
They hadn’t even had dinner yet. And it wasn’t like he was going to have to take her home, for God’s sake!
She was home. In his home. Permanently.
But telling himself so made no difference.
He tried to think, to be rational, but he couldn’t. It was impossible to think when he had Sierra Kelly—Wolfe!—in his bedroom.
There would be plenty of time to be rational—and have dinner—later.
He slid his hands up her arms, then down her back. Then he hooked his fingers under her tube top and peeled it over her head. Her bare breasts brushed against his chest.
He swallowed hard. Then he bent his head and kissed first one and then the other, felt her