The Playboy's Proposal (Sorensen Family) (15 page)

“Nothing. You look beautiful.” He said it with such utter sincerity that she dropped her hands, knowing he was being honest. “I’m just not used to it is all. You look…different. But beautiful.”

“Thank you. Wow. I have to stop saying that to you. That’s the last one you get.” But she was smiling again, feeling infinitely happier than she had in a long time. Things were on track, and Henry Ellison, eternal bachelor and playboy, thought she was…beautiful.

“I’ll let you go. I just wanted to see how things went,” Henry said and backed toward the door.

She was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to have him stay. To keep her company. She hadn’t quite realized before now how much she appreciated and enjoyed having him over, whether in conversation or just watching something on TV. “Are you sure you can’t stay? I can put on an episode of
Property Brothers
, open a bottle of cheap wine?”

“Nah. I have an early meeting. Another time.”

She nodded, tamping down her disappointment. “Oh. Before I forget. Luke asked me out Saturday. I hope that my saying yes didn’t mess anything up. I know you said make him work for it, but I thought I’d have more time to prepare before he asked again, so…I just kind of said yes.”

“You scored the next date before the first was over? I’d say that’s a victory. He’s on the hook. Just go with what feels natural. We’re still on for golf Sunday? Or should I wait to make sure you aren’t having a…late night with the good doctor,” he said and smiled salaciously.

“Don’t try and wiggle out of another coaching session with me. I can promise you that no matter how well things go between Luke and I, I will not be sleeping with him. At least not on the second date.”

“Really? And is there some magical formula for when you will sleep with a man? Is three the magic number?” he asked teasingly.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

He wasn’t far from the mark, though. Magical
was
what she was looking for. Because before she was ready to take that big step of sleeping with Luke or anyone, she wanted to be sure there were real feelings there. She wanted it to mean something to them both. And to be more precise, that couldn’t happen until at least date number four.

Or so the book she’d read a few years ago had said.

“Okay, then. I’ll leave you to it. ’Night again. Don’t let the bedbugs bite and all that.” He had a slight smile on his lips as he said this, the same smile that she’d seen on him dozens if not hundreds of times. Only the sudden beating of her heart and the way she had to catch her breath for a moment was something entirely different. And unsettling.

It had to be the effects of the sushi. Or of kissing two entirely different men twenty-four hours apart.

She forced a nice, neutral smile to her own lips. “’Night, Henry.”

Chapter Fifteen

“You may not be the most talented chef, but you do make a mean omelet. Even if it is seven o’clock at night,” Morgan said and ate the last bit of her spinach and goat cheese omelet.

“Thank you. I don’t do a lot of dishes, but eggs are my specialty.”

“Does that have anything to do with the fact that it’s probably the only meal you know how to prepare? You know, on those mornings when you’re trying to impress the latest goddess.”

“You wound me,” Henry said, touching over his heart. Even though his sister had hit the nail on the head with that assessment. Omelets of all varieties, eggs Benedict, scrambled, sunny side up…you name it and he could cook it.

“I think you’ll survive. Ella, did you want any more scrambled eggs?” Morgan asked her daughter.

“I don’t know. Do you have Lucky Charms, Uncle Henry? Like you did last time?”

Morgan lifted up a brow. “I thought I left you a bag of cereal for her to eat.”

Of course she had. A no-sugar-added, high-grains concoction that looked like something he should feed a canary, not a little girl. “I must have missed that,” he said vaguely.

“What is a goddess?” Ella asked and looked at him with curiosity. “Is that someone you pray to?”

“You could say that,” Henry said and bit back a laugh as his sister shot him a warning glance.

“Never mind, Ella. And no, you’re not going to have any Lucky Charms. You can have more eggs if you’re still hungry.”

“No, thanks. But can I watch some TV? Uncle Henry has a billion more channels than we do.”

“I suppose,” she said, and they watched as Ella scooted from her chair, went to the couch and expertly turned on the TV and began flipping through channels.

“So how are things going with you, Morgan? You seem to have a pretty full schedule these days.”

“Better than even I expected. In fact, my publisher approached me just a couple of days ago and asked me if I’d be interested in writing two more books. A pretty generous advance was mentioned as well.”

He could see that despite the modest delivery, she was excited about the news. As she should be. “That sounds terrific. Congratulations. What did you tell them? Yes, I take it.”

“I haven’t yet answered. It is a great opportunity, really. But it would mean I’d probably have to cut back a little on my speaking engagements. You know, if I’m to write the kind of word count I’d need to get these finished in the next two years.”

“Sounds like a win-win to me. You get a healthy advance and you get to spend more time around here with Ella. Instead of having to travel to thirty different cities in a few months.”

Like Henry, Morgan had wanted independence and separation from the Brighton family and wealth and had chosen to keep her own vast inheritance untouched. She planned on leaving the entire sum to Ella once she was a little older and without all the baggage that the money had for Morgan and Henry.

Not that Morgan was hurting for money, since Henry knew she was making quite a bit in her recent ventures, not to mention the generous child support payments her NHL superstar ex-husband sent her every month.

“I suppose.” She picked up her glass of white wine and took a sip. “I just get a little worried if I take myself off the circuit whether I’d be undercutting any gains I’ve achieved so far. I like getting out there and engaging with readers. With an audience.”

Because it’s on a superficial level. Nothing actually intimate. Or real. But he couldn’t tell her that. “No one said you couldn’t. But you would be able to be more selective. I’m sure Ella will be thrilled. I know she misses you.”

“Ella is doing just fine,” Morgan said a little too quickly, a definite edge to her tone.

He’d have to step carefully. “She is doing fine. Better than fine, I’m sure. I just want to make sure you’re not throwing yourself too much into your work that you’re forgetting about the other more important things, important moments. Ella is only young once, and you and I know what it can be like to be left in the care of other people while our mother busied herself with work. Missing everything important in our lives.”

Her eyes were hard now as she answered. “I know very well what it was like living with an absent mother, Henry. More than you might know. I am nothing like her. And besides, who are you to talk? Outside of your work, what kind of personal life do you have? Other than the brief interludes you have with”—she glanced over to Ella—“the goddesses.”

“Uncle Henry has Benny,” Ella chirped from the couch, her gaze still on the cartoon playing on the TV, but obviously still in tune with their conversation. How did kids do that? “She’s really nice and helped get the candy from my nose and read me bedtime stories when I couldn’t sleep and we picked out clothes for her at the mall, then she bought me a corn dog.”

His sister looked surprised…and amused. “Who’s Benny?”

“No one,” he said too hastily. “I mean, we ran into her at the pediatrician’s office after the whole…Skittle fiasco,” he said quickly diverting his eyes. “She was the attending physician. We’ve become friends is all, not surprising since she lives next door. That’s it.”

“But you two went shopping together.” She brought her wine to her mouth to cover a smile. “That’s a little…unusual. Yet you’re just friends?”

“Long story, but yes. She actually is completely hung up on some doctor at her practice and—”

“You mean Dr. Seeley,” she interrupted, her eyes wide. “Oh, he is pretty cute.”

He paused. “Yes, thanks for that clarification. Anyhow, she needed some tips, some suggestions, really, on what she might do to help draw his attention her way.”

“And since you are a proverbial…connoisseur of women,” she said again after a quick glance to Ella, “who else to be her coach, is that it?”

“Something like that,” he said. He needed a change in topics and quickly. He wasn’t comfortable talking about Benny like this, not sure if he was violating some confidence. “How’s your own dating life coming? Seeing anyone?”

“No, I’m not. I don’t really have the time right now. But getting back to your new friend—Benny, was it?—tell me. What’s she like? Maybe I’ve seen her around.”

“Benny is super nice and pretty and tells Uncle Henry when he’s being dumb.”

“Ella, we don’t talk about anyone like that and we don’t use the word ‘dumb,’” Morgan said in disapproval before turning back to Henry with her eyes shining a little more. “I think I like her more already. Someone resistant to your charms?”

Unfortunately, that was a truth that was niggling under his skin a lot more recently. It wasn’t like he’d set out to seduce Benny Sorensen or anything, but the time they’d spent together had been more interesting than he’d thought possible. And in spending so much time with her, getting to know her, he’d found that he not only liked hanging out with her, but that he’d opened up to her more than any other woman.

So the fact that she didn’t seem to have the slightest attraction to him was a point of contention.

Although that kiss…that had been good. Something he was thinking about too much. And her response? The way her legs had wrapped around him and she’d pulled him into her, wanting more? Hot.

Which might have been why, when he heard Benny and Luke Seeley get off the elevator and head down the hall to her place the other night, he’d had a hard time staying away from his door, trying to hear and see whatever he could with his face pressed to the peephole. To see if she would kiss Luke just as responsively, so entirely, as she’d kissed him.

And although he’d denied it later, Henry sure as hell had intended to put a wrench in Luke’s plan to kiss Benny good night. The thought of Luke’s lips on Benny’s had churned a strange emotion in him, and he had been unable to
not
do something. The garbage, he thought, had been a good idea, something he was certain would wreck whatever mood had been set.

Unfortunately, that had not been the case, when seconds after he’d returned to his place, he could hear Luke’s words, then the silence that followed. He knew what was happening even if he couldn’t necessarily see it.

And it had killed him.

He’d thought about that feeling, his anger and frustration, trying to make sense of it, and could only come to one conclusion.

Plain and simple, he didn’t want anyone kissing Benny Sorensen but him.

But that was ridiculous. Stupid. He couldn’t have feelings for this woman. Feelings that would eventually turn to pain when the inevitable happened and things ended. When, as was human nature, one or both partners grew tired of the other and started looking elsewhere.

Then the heartache set in. The disappointment. The bitterness.

He’s seen it before in the years leading up to his dad’s passing.

Sad was how Henry would have described him.

Suddenly he realized that his sister was staring at him with a wide smile, waiting for some response. What had she asked?

Right. What was Benny like, this woman resistant to his charms.

“Benny Sorensen is…I don’t know, a pain in the ass sometimes. Did I tell you what she tried to pull with the home owners’ association?” He detailed her complaints, starting with the moment she first stepped into his party in her pajamas and asked him to keep the music down.

“Good for her. You are so used to people—women especially—just giving in to whatever whim you have. It’s about time someone withstood your persuasion. So that’s why you did this, then? This makeover? So she’d drop her complaints against you.”

His sister knew him better than he thought. He nodded in agreement.

“Only I think you got more than you bargained for. You seem a little…different.”

He laughed. She was really reaching here. “I’m different, huh. I assure you, I’m the same person I have always been, Morgan.”

“No. Not really. You’re a little more…sincere? No, that’s not the word. Well, like tonight. You having us here? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you called, but it isn’t like you to be this big family man. I—I like it.”

“Glad I have your approval.” He stood and grabbed his plate and put his hand out to take hers, not sure if he was altogether pleased to hear her assessment.

He was no different than before.

“I’ve got mine,” she said coming to her feet. “You do dishes, too?”

“Actually, I have a lady who comes in every morning to clean up. I just place everything in the sink.”

Morgan laughed. “Of course you do. You know, it isn’t very hard to operate the dishwasher. Here, I’ll even show you.”

Ten minutes later, the table was cleared off and Morgan and Ella were getting the movie ready while he made popcorn—microwave, of course—when someone knocked on the door. Morgan bounded from the couch and headed over with a sly smile his way before he could stop her.

For good reason. He didn’t get many visitors. Save for one, lately.

With twenty seconds to go on the microwave—the most tenuous of them all, unless you liked scorched, smelly popcorn aroma—he watched as Morgan opened the door.

…

Benny didn’t know what had brought her to Henry’s. They had no plans, and with Operation Luke successfully underway with tomorrow’s impending date, there was no reason for her to stop by Henry’s place.

But she hadn’t seen him since Wednesday night, when he made his hasty exit rather than hang out and discuss the finer details of her date or watch their favorite show. Then last night she’d listened for him, but by the time she finally turned in after ten, he still hadn’t come home. It was something of a surprise when she pulled into the parking garage tonight—a Friday night, no less—and found his car in its space. Even on his side of the line.

Sitting at her place, she’d fought the urge to come over. She normally couldn’t stand the guy and now she wanted to see him and talk to him and just…be with him. It was kind of pathetic. She’d become one of Henry Ellison’s groupies.

So she’d resolved to let him come and say hi first.

That had only lasted until two minutes ago, when she decided she was being silly. They were friends now. Why not stop and see if he wanted to chat? And she did have a couple of questions to ask him about golf, since tomorrow she was supposed to be teeing off with Luke, acting like she actually knew what she was doing. She still hadn’t figured out what she was going to do there.

What she hadn’t counted on when she pulled on her slippers and navy polka-dot pajamas and headed over was that he would have a guest.

Not just any guest, either.

A gorgeous, towering blonde with honey highlights and lovely dark eyes, who was watching Benny with curiosity.

What had she been thinking? Best just to cut her losses and make a quick escape, especially since the silence seemed to go on as the woman waited for Benny to say something.

“Hi, can I help you?” she finally asked when Benny’s tongue remained twisted.

Big-girl panties. Pull. Up.

Benny smiled brightly. “Sorry. I was going to ask Henry a quick question, but I didn’t realize he had company. I’ll just stop by another time.”

“No. Please. Don’t go. He’s just in the kitchen. Come in.”

Benny stared at the floor like it was lit with burning coals. No way was she going in there to stand next to this gorgeous creature when she looked like this—least of all when it was obvious the two wanted to be alon—

“Hi, Benny!” A small pixie face appeared at the woman’s side, and Benny looked at her in confusion for a minute. “Ella? What are you doing here?”

“So
you’re
the mysterious Benny. I’m Morgan. Henry’s sister.”

At that moment, Henry reached the door holding a bag of popcorn in his hand. The buttery smell was almost as good as the sight of him standing there in a relaxed jeans that hung from slim hips, a formfitting black tee, and an easy grin. Yum.

Whoa. Where did that come from?

Friends, Benny. You’re only friends. Henry Ellison is and will always be way out of your league
. No matter what she was wearing or how she styled her hair.

Still…she wished she’d gone with something less embarrassing than her pajamas.

“Sorry to just stop by unannounced. As I was telling your sister, I’ll catch you later.”