Alice couldn’t help but snort with relieved laughter. His lips tilted with humor.
“Okay?” he asked, still stroking her neck. Alice nodded, feeling both vastly pleased and reassured by his answer, but also still unsettled by her need to hear it in order to calm her doubts …
To silence her fears.
DEANNA Shrevecraft herself opened the front door to Twelve Oaks for them, her anxious, eager face telling Alice loud and clear that she considered the CEO of Durand Enterprises’ presence at her establishment a major coup. She was a pretty, thin woman in her early f
orties who wore her clothes in the carelessly elegant fashion Alice admired, but knew she could never hope to replicate. Deanna and Dylan conversed comfortably as their hostess led them through the attractive inn. Alice trailed behind, her new hygiene bag clutched in one hand, glancing all around with wary admiration at the interior of the beautiful inn.
“Here we are,” Deanna said breathlessly as she paused on the second floor before an antique table with a magnificent fresh flower arrangement. “Mr. Fall, I have this room over here equipped with everything you might need, and Ms. Reed, you’ll be in the Sunset Suite, our finest set of rooms,” she said, waving gracefully from right to left. “Mr. Fall has asked me to make sure your dress is fresh after your trip, so I’ll bring it up in a half hour or so?” Alice nodded, uncomfortable being the object of such gracious attendance. “Wonderful,” Deanna said, clapping her hands together. “Champagne will be served out on the terrace at eight thirty, with dinner to follow at nine. You two are going to have a lovely night for it. The sunset will be breathtaking,” Deanna said, beaming at them before she hurried down the hall.
“Why do we have separate rooms?” she whispered to Dylan, very aware of Deanna’s footsteps on the stairs behind them.
His dark brows went up. “Would you rather come shower with me? You’re more than welcome.”
Heat rushed into her cheeks. “No, it just seems strange, to take rooms in an expensive place like this when you don’t even plan to sleep in them. And not even one room, but two.”
“So you’re worried about the money,” he clarified, deadpan.
“That’s not what I mean,” she said, scowling. She was lying a little. In truth, she felt awkward in this luxurious setting, unsure of what to expect. She wasn’t used to such opulent surroundings or careless spending. Castle Durand was the height of luxury and good taste, but when she was there, it was just Dylan and her. The heat between them always eclipsed her sense of awkwardness.
Dylan stepped into her and brushed his smile against her heated cheek. “I reserved two rooms so that I wouldn’t be in your way while you got ready for the evening. I thought you might appreciate a little space. But maybe you’re right,” he murmured, his firm moving lips on her skin distracting her. “You can come shower with me if you do one thing.”
“What?” she asked, turning and lifting her face upward, her lips seeking him like a hardwired instinct.
“I’m getting a little tired of having to interpret what you want, Alice. So tell me you want to shower with me, and you will,” he told her quietly, his lips brushing hers.
Alice opened her mouth to do just that, but hesitated at the last second. Their fierce, sweet sexual exchanges out at the stables and Dylan’s enigmatic but powerful declaration in the car just now had left her overwhelmed. She could use a little space from him, to gather her thoughts, to solidify a willpower that always turned to melted goo in his presence.
“Well, you’ve already gotten the rooms.” He kissed her on the mouth softly. “And Deanna did say she’d bring the dress to the room she gave me,” Alice back-pedaled lamely.
“Fine,” Dylan said as he kissed her one more time, this time dipping his tongue between her lips in a fleeting, electrifying caress. Her sex prickled. He stepped back. “I’ll see you out on the terrace at eight thirty?”
“All right,” Alice agreed.
She hastened to her room, feeling some strange combination of anticipation, doubtful triumph, and breathless pleasure from Dylan’s kiss.
ALICE had finished her shower and was laying out some of her new cosmetics when she heard a soft tap on the door. She rushed through the suite, which seemed obscenely large and luxurious when its sole purpose for the night was for Alice to shower and put on a dress. Deanna stood in the hallway, holding the garment bag.
“Your dress looks perfect. It’s unbelievable, by the way. May I come in and hang it for you?” Deanna asked.
“Sure,” Alice said, because she sensed it would be rude to say the obvious. I’m capable of hanging a dress in the closet, thank you.
Deanna hurried into the room and opened the closet door near the bathroom. Quickly and efficiently, she removed the dress from the bag and hung it on the hook on the inside door over a mirror. She studied the garment closely, using her hand to smooth the flowing fabric.
“Beautiful. You’re going to be a knockout in that dress.” Deanna set the garment bag down on a dresser in the large closet and turned to Alice. Her gaze caught on the opened door to the bathroom and she did a double take. “You use Dior cosmetics?” Alice realized she’d seen her new makeup kit opened on the vanity. “That’s a great line of makeup. I have some of the eye shadows, and they’re amazing,” Deanna said as she walked toward Alice. Not for the first time since meeting her, Alice studied the older woman’s pretty brown eyes and her subtle, skillful makeup application.
“I just got that makeup,” Alice admitted awkwardly. Deanna was too elegant and polite to ever show an ounce of nosiness in regard to the nature of Alice’s relationship to Dylan, but she knew the polished woman wasn’t stupid. Dylan had ordered a romantic lakeside dinner for two and hadn’t bothered to hide the nature of their relationship from Deanna, despite the separate rooms. Deanna must suspect Alice herself could never have afforded that silk dress or the luxurious makeup. “It was a gift. The truth is … I never usually wear eye shadow.”
“You should, with those eyes,” Deanna stated unequivocally.
“Thanks,” Alice murmured. “I’ll give it my best shot.”
Deanna tilted her head, smiling. “I don’t suppose you’d let me do your makeup? Before I went to work in human resources at Durand, I worked at a cosmetics counter in a department store during summer breaks from college. I used to love it.”
“That must be why your makeup is so good,” Alice said.
“Thanks. I kind of miss it, to be honest. Well?” Deanna asked mischievously, tilting her head toward the bathroom. “Will you let me experiment on you?”