If You Dare (26 page)

God she missed him sometimes. Especially days like this when the sun was beating down and the temperature was bordering on one hundred and ten. And she remembered how hot he made her with one simple word or look.

“You know, someone might walk back her and see you standing there looking like that and take it as an invitation.”

Cordelia turned toward the voice in shock. Was she dreaming? “Joe?”

Judging by the way his shoes were soaking up the water she’d turned toward him, he was very much real. She dropped the hose. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect…”

He laughed and shrugged. “I know. Our sisters are something when they get together on a dare. I like your garden. You look sexy in it.”

A dare. Their sisters. She looked sexy in the garden? She looked down at the cutoff shorts she was wearing along with the burnt orange tee shirt.
 

Lord she was a mess.

“I…you…what are you doing here?”

He didn’t answer for the longest time. Just stood looking at her with this crazy grin on his face and she wanted to keep him right there so she could memorize this exact moment for all time.

And then a determined look washed over him and he walked right up next to her, filling her space with his scent as he bent his head toward hers before answering with on word. “This.”

Her lips were soft and pliant. Her skin still as white as he remembered. Her hair a mystery under the ridiculous garden hat he instantly fell in love with.

This was Cordelia.

How had he ever not known? How had he ever thought the red dressed vixen he’d picked up at the airport was the real her?

She swayed into him, held on to his shoulders and met the kiss with one just as determined, just as deep as his.

He wanted to hold her like this forever. In her garden with the birds singing and the scent of wet dirt and honey suckle all around them.

Maybe he’d convince her to make love out here before the day was over.

But first…He pulled back and settled her away from him. If he didn’t he’d never stop touching her. And he had to if he was going to talk.

“Damn, I’ve missed you.”

“Me too. I can’t believe…”

“Shh.” He held his finger to her lips and tried not focus on how soft they were. How good she felt. “We really need to talk.”

A worried look crossed her face. “Do we have to right now? Can’t we just…”

He shook his head. “No. We have to talk and then if you want we can just all you want.”

“How long are you here?”

“Why?”
 

She bit her bottom lip for a second and he wanted to pull her close again. Skip the words altogether. Lord talking was going to be difficult.

“Because I’m trying to figure out how much time I’m going to give you to talk.”

He laughed. She was something else, and if she’d have him, she was his. “That’s what I want to talk about.”

“Out here? We can go in the house if you want. I can’t believe you’re here.”

He grabbed her hand and walked with her to the porch he’d passed on the way back. He didn’t trust himself to go inside with her. Too many temptations.

“I’m a little shocked myself. But our sisters sent me a top ten list of reasons I should come. They labeled it the oddest thing. If You Dare. As if I were afraid to come visit for the weekend.”

She was so going to kill her sister over this one day. But then again, maybe not. “Irene strikes again.”

“And I hear you have a thing for dares. So I thought I’d give you one of my own.”

She felt her heart race at the idea of a dare issued by Joe as she sat beside him on old green chairs that desperately needed a paint job.

“I also hear you’re quite the planner. That taking your sister up on dares is the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done, and both times you’ve been somewhat burned.”

What was she supposed to say to that? Yes, the dares had ended up with lasting results. But she wasn’t sorry for the week with him. And after the week, she wasn’t sorry for the tattoo from the earlier dare. In fact, she’d grown to like it.

“So you might be opposed to what I’m going to propose. But hear me out. Okay?”

She eyes him warily. “Is this another of your games?”

He laughed. “Figures you’d think so. Maybe this would go better if I made it one. Maybe we could go into the house after all. No telling what I could come up with inside.”

She didn’t bother to answer that just waited.

“I’ve spent the last month missing you. It’s been hell.”

Me too. The worst hell ever.

“And then I got this top ten list.” He handed the wrinkled paper to her and she read the items one by one.

Oh lord.

“And I realized everything on it was true. I love you, Cordelia. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

That was impossible. But maybe…

“I’m not asking you to move in with me, Cordelia. I’m not saying let’s see if this works. I’m saying let’s make this forever. Let’s make it forever here.”

“What?” She whispered the word, not understanding.
 

And he repeated the last sentence. “Here. Let’s make forever here.”

He wanted to move here. “But…”

He held up his hand. “We do know each other. But if you want to wait, I can deal with that too. I’ve already turned in my letter of resignation. So it looks like I’m moving to Texas one way or the other.”

“But you hate it here.”

He shook his head. “How could I hate it anywhere you are? And how do I know what I think about it here? I’ve let my entire life be controlled by the past. I’m not letting that continue. I want to be with you. Where ever you are.”

“But you’re a partner now. And the pay cut…”

“Is worth it to be with you.”

She was stunned beyond belief. Never in her wildest dreams, well, okay, in her wildest dreams, but still.

“Before you decide, let me say something. You said you weren’t who I thought you were. That you were completely different with me because you let yourself be wild. Well, I’m not my normal self with you either. I’d never done half the things I’ve done with you. And I’ve never wanted to spend time talking, just talking, with any woman.”

He stopped and she felt him take her hand in his. “I was hurt when you said you wanted our relationship to be all about sex. Do you have any idea how crazy that is? I thought about it for a long time. Most guys would kill for a woman like you to want a one time, no strings attached fling. And that week was great. But I want more. And I’m willing to wait to get it. If you’re willing to take a risk and see what happens next.”

Cordelia looked at him sitting beside her, asking her to take the biggest risk of her life. He’d already taken the biggest of his.
 

She threw her hat on the chair behind her. “You did say forever, didn’t you?”

He nodded. “I did.”

A million reasons why she should say no flew through Cordelia’s mind. One week. That’s all they’d known each other. The entire week was based on make believe. Trying to move from fantasy to reality was craziness beyond compare.

But when she looked at him it didn’t feel like make believe. When she heard his voice, it wasn’t just a fantasy.

He wanted forever if she was willing to risk it.

And then she realized the perfect rebuttal for the million reasons to say no. They loved each other. That was answer enough. “Do you think we could get started on that forever right this second?”

He laughed and dropped his lips to hers in a kiss that seemed to stop time. But it really didn’t matter if it did or not. They had all the time in the world.

Maybe the magazines had it all right after all. Cordelia grabbed his hand and started walking toward the house. “Now how about we go check out my bathtub. It really needs breaking in, and your sister sent me these new flavored body paints…”

“Did you say my sister?”

She laughed. Boy did they have a lot to talk about.

Later. For now she had a new fantasy to work on. And this time, it was forever.