Then I heard some tapping against the glass in my room. Hail? Sleet?
Did it matter?
But why was it just hitting my window? Since our suite was on the top floor, when we had rough weather, I usually heard the patter on the roof. Strange.
The wailing of the wind caught my attention. It sounded isolated, as though it was just coming from my bedroom.
I muted the TV.
Was the wind calling my name?
I got up, walked into my room, and nearly had a heart attack on the spot. I hurried across the room to the window and yanked it open.
“Are you nuts?” I yelled at Jude. “How long have you been out there?”
“Just move. I’m coming in.”
He leaped across and barely got his head in before he lost momentum. I shrieked and grabbed him. His feet were scrabbling against the wall.
“Come on, come on.”
With a grunt, I gave a hard yank and pulled him in. He landed on the floor with a thud. I closed the window and crouched down.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded. “Just need a minute to thaw.”
I touched his hands. They were like ice.
I ran into the bathroom, turned on the hot water, and began soaking some hand towels. I carried them into my room and wrapped them around Jude’s hands and feet.
“Ah, lovely,” he said, stretching out on his back.
“What were you thinking?” I asked.
“That I needed to talk with you and you weren’t answering your phone.” He gave me a pointed look. “Did you finish your research paper?”
“Yeah, I did. Thanks to you. Pulling all those sources really helped to speed things along. Thanks.”
“Least I could do.” He pushed himself to a sitting position and leaned against the wall.
A few hours ago I’d thought I’d never again see him in my suite.
“I saw you in the restaurant,” he said. “Why’d you run off?”
I shrugged, feeling silly. “I don’t know. I was just going to thank you for your help with the paper, but you were busy. Everyone was busy. Wow. You really had a crowd—”
“Lys?”
I stopped my incessant babbling.
“You got all dressed up like that just to say, ‘Thanks, mate’?”
I felt so awkward. I’d always thought Rick was the one not communicating, but here I was not willing to reveal what I was feeling, what I was thinking.
“I had some empty blocks on my time grid, so I thought when you got off from work, we could go grab a pint or Coke or whatever.” I shrugged. “I wanted to look nice.”
“You did. You looked very nice from where I was standing. Wouldn’t have minded seeing you close up.”
He made me want to smile, but I’d made such a fool of myself.
“I saw you with Hailey.”
“I told you I don’t like her, but she’s a customer, so I can’t be rude to her, now can I? Plus she leaves a generous tip and everyone gets a piece of that, so I was just helping my mates out.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. He was right, of course. About so much. But not everything.
“How are your hands and feet now?”
“Better I think.” He removed the towels. “Want to move to the couch? It’s a bit more comfortable than the floor.”
“Okay, sure.”
I put the towels in the bathroom and joined Jude in the living room. He’d removed his coat and was sitting on the couch. He was wearing a black cable-knit sweater and black jeans, so I knew he’d gone to Boomer’s and changed after work. Did he want to impress me now like I’d wanted to impress him earlier?
“What are you watching?” he asked.
“Something silly.” I sat down on the couch and pulled my legs up beneath me. I looked at him, then looked away.
“You can watch it if you want. I don’t mind,” he said.
I picked up the remote and hit PLAY, then hit STOP.
“It wasn’t lost time,” I said.
“What?”
I forced myself to meet his gaze. “On your note. You said it was to help make up for the time I lost. But I didn’t lose it. The last thing I considered it to be was lost time. I’m sorry I made you think that. Any time I spend with you is fun and worthwhile and wonderful. I want more of it. I don’t know how to get it with my schedule, so I’m going to drop my classes.”
Jude stared at me. “No, you’re not. I didn’t spend four hours in the library so you could drop your classes.”
“But you’re not going to be here much longer—”
“Look.” He moved over until we were almost nestled against each other. He touched his fingers to my cheek. “Finish your classes. Study when you need to, and when you don’t need to, I’ll be here.”
“But I study all the time.”
“And I understand that. Or I should at least. If we were in Australia, I’d be the one with my nose in a book all the time.” He held up his hand as though he was frustrated. “This isn’t me, Lys. Well, it is, of course. I haven’t been faking having fun, but when I’m in school, all I do is study. Do you know why Shauna and I broke up?”
“Shauna?”
“The girl I told you about. We broke up because studying was more important to me than she was. And I study a lot. Aeronautical engineering isn’t basket weaving, you know?”
I smiled. “I know.”
“So when I go on holiday, I do nothing but have a good time. You weren’t expecting me. I wasn’t in your plans. I should have respected what you needed to do.”
I shook my head. “I don’t even know why you’d want to hang around with me. I’m so boring.”
“What are you talking about?”
I held up a finger. “Number One. Rick described me as—what was it? Oh yeah—considerate. What was the other thing? I was dependable? Or loyal? Something that made me sound like a dog.”
He chuckled. “It bothered you that he said that.”
“A little. It’s not very exciting.”
“The thing I’ve found about exciting is that it’s like fireworks. A big burst of color. It takes your breath away, and then nothing. But something that’s always there, while it might not be as exciting, like the stars in the sky, they can still steal your breath.”
The way he was watching me, I thought maybe he wasn’t really talking about the stars. My stomach knotted up with the thought that maybe he was referring to me.
“But I’ve never even left the country. B-OR-I-N-G.”
“That’s one perspective, I s’pose.”
“You have another?”
“I think I might.” He trailed his fingers slowly over my cheek.
“Care to enlighten me?”
He twisted around so he was facing me a little better. “I’m not saying that I’m laughing yet, but the night we met, the way we met, makes for a good story when I get home, and I like good stories. You’re fun. You like to go on walks and do extreme sports.”
I held up my hand. “One extreme sport.”
“All right. One extreme sport. You’re daring. Sneaking me into your suite so I can sleep on your couch. Getting me a job so I can have something to eat. Which also shows you’re kind. You’re brave. We were well and truly lost the other night. You never flinched. I’ve known girls who would have been crying up a storm. I think you’re marvelous. And if Rick didn’t see all that, he’s an idiot. And if he did see it and still let you go, then he’s an even bigger idiot. I’m glad you weren’t the one for him, because you deserve the right one, not just anyone.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I was overwhelmed.
He leaned forward a little more. “It won’t bother me at all if you tell me that I’m bloody marvelous, too.”
I released an awkward laugh. “You are. You really are. The timing is just…I’m confused and I don’t want to be. I need to find a way to have my studies and have you in my life, because you’re wonderful. Abso-bloody-lutely.
/> “I think you’re fun. You make me smile and laugh. And you’re adventuresome. I was only brave the other night because you made me feel safe.”
“Do you remember when we were sitting on Mel’s bench and I told you there was a girl I loved and she didn’t know it?”
“I remember.”
“It was you, Lys. You bowled me over, right off. I love you.”
I touched his cheek and said to him what I’d never said to any other guy. Not even Rick. “I love you too.”
He grinned. “All right then.”
I shook my head, confused. “All right then, what?”
“Then we figure out a way to make this work.”
I suddenly felt giddy. He wasn’t giving up on me.
“Any ideas?” I asked. “I mean to make it work?”
“I’ve got a few.”
Then he was kissing me. And I was kissing him back.
He put his arms around me, bringing me with him as he lay down on the couch.
Smooth move, Aussie, I thought as I snuggled up against him. Smooth move.
“Stephanie called. She’ll be back tomorrow,” I said.
He reached for the comforter, brought it up over us. “Then tomorrow I’ll move back over to Boomer’s. Fewer people inconvenienced.”
“But for tonight, my couch is your couch.”
His arm came around me and held me close.
“I really do think you’re wonderful,” I said quietly.
He kissed me again.
Maybe eventually we’d move into my bedroom. But for now, I was exactly where I wanted to be, with the one I wanted to be with.
About the Author
RACHEL HAWTHORNE is the author of CARIBBEAN CRUISING, ISLAND GIRLS (AND BOYS), LOVE ON THE LIFTS, THRILL RIDE, THE BOYFRIEND LEAGUE, and SNOWED IN. She lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and two dogs—a Golden Retriever and a Chow mix. Before writing full-time she was a programmer, but quickly discovered that creating stories was more fun than creating code. To learn more about Rachel and her books, visit her online at www.rachelhawthorne.net.
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Also by Rachel Hawthorne
Caribbean Cruising
Island Girls (and Boys)
Love on the Lifts
Thrill Ride
The Boyfriend League
Snowed In
Labor of Love
Credits
Cover art © 2009 by Sasha Illingworth
Cover design by Andrea Vandergrift
Copyright
SUITE DREAMS. Copyright © 2009 by Jan Nowasky. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Mobipocket Reader January 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-183636-7
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Rachel Hawthorne, Suite Dreams
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