Now, a few hours later, she realized that their very first date hadn’t shaken her nearly as badly as dressing for this one nearly sixteen years later. Of course, she’d never before prayed so intently for a date to wind up in bed. For once in her life, she wanted to make something happen, to risk everything to make her dream come true. She’d been obsessing on having his baby ever since the possibility had first crossed her mind. She wanted desperately for it to happen, wanted him to want her as he once had. But as badly as she wanted his baby, she wanted him more.
Her hands shook as she fumbled with the clasp on the gold locket. Would he remember? Mike had given her the locket on her sixteenth birthday. His picture was still inside. Glancing in the mirror as the locket settled between her breasts, she wondered if it was the wrong touch. Was she counting too much on sentiment and old yearnings, instead of the here and now? If so, her presents were all wrong, too, chosen to remind Mike of all he’d left behind.
If only she could be cold and calculating, intent only on getting pregnant by a man who had once been her best friend, as well as her lover. But five minutes alone with Mike in his office had told her that, for better or worse, she was still in love with him. It remained to be seen how he felt about her or whether they would be any better at compromise now than they had been a year ago.
Her fingers faltered when she heard the impatient knock on her door. She almost dropped the tiny, very expensive bottle of French perfume she’d indulged in. She managed one last dab of the scent between her breasts, then went to the door.
Mike never failed to startle her when he was all dressed up in a suit and tie. Used to seeing him in jeans and T-shirts for so many years or even in a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and his tie askew as he had been in his office earlier, she wasn’t prepared for the full impact of a light gray suit, white shirt and teal-and-gray silk tie with Mike’s dark hair and perpetually tanned skin. When she wasn’t looking, the boy next door had turned into a sophisticated man. Odd how she’d never noticed that before he’d left, even though he’d been thirty-one by then.
His approving gaze swept over her, heating her flesh. An impudent grin spread across his face and the boy next door was back. “Did you buy an entire new wardrobe for this trip?” he asked.
“Of course not,” she lied, unwilling to let him see just how much she’d invested in this supposedly impromptu visit. She wondered if he’d guessed that her new haircut and the glistening highlights were courtesy of a San Francisco stylist to the tune of over two hundred dollars. She’d turned pale when she’d seen the bill, but one glance in the mirror told her it had been money well spent.
“I’ve never seen that dress before,” he insisted. “I definitely would have remembered.”
“You’ve been gone a year. Naturally I’ve bought a few new things in all that time.”
His gaze narrowed perceptibly. “Was the dress for a special occasion?”
Jane couldn’t prevent the laughter that bubbled up. “Mike Marshall, you’re jealous.”
He looked appalled by the suggestion. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You are. You have never made such a fuss about my clothes before.”
“Because you were always in sedate little outfits suitable for teaching fifth-graders,” he muttered. He gestured toward the dipping neckline and clinging silk. “This is something else.”
“Want me to change?” she asked.
“Oh, no. You can wear that dress for me anytime.”
“Just not for anyone else.”
“I didn’t say that.”
She grinned. “You didn’t have to.” She linked her arm through his. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before you start getting ideas.”
“Honey, if you don’t want me getting ideas, you’d better pull a sweatshirt on over that dress.”
Jane shook her head, deciding she liked this newly discovered power she had to turn him on. “Not a chance. I’m all dressed up with a handsome man at my side. I want to go out on the town. I’m not wasting a single minute of this trip. I want to see and do everything.”
“Then we’d better get started. This isn’t our hometown, where we could cover everything in a weekend. San Francisco will take a little more time to explore.”
They started with dinner across the bay in Sausalito, followed by a stroll along Fisherman’s Wharf and an Irish coffee on the waterfront. Jane fell in love with the twinkling lights, the riot of sights and sounds and smells. Questions tumbled out so quickly that Mike had a hard time keeping up with the answers.
It was almost two in the morning by the time they made their way, exhausted, back to her hotel. He paused at the door to her room.
“I should say good-night here,” he said, his knuckles resting against her cheek as he toyed with a strand of her hair.
Familiar, never-forgotten sparks shot through her at his touch. “You should,” she agreed, then stood on tiptoe to brush a kiss across his lips. “But I hope you won’t.”
“Jane—”
“Don’t argue. Besides, I haven’t given you your birthday presents yet.”
It was exactly the right incentive. Despite his claims of indifference, Mike had never been able to resist a present. When they’d first met as kids, he’d been uncomfortable with the way her mom went all out on special occasions, especially birthdays. His own family barely acknowledged birthdays, maybe because there were so many of them and so little money for extras.
Jane had always treated Mike’s birthday as if it were a national holiday. She’d baked a cake, found half a dozen small, special treats and wrapped them as if they were solid gold trinkets. She’d done the same this year. She’d even arranged for the hotel to deliver
