Rachel smiled as she rolled over, hugging a pillow to her chest. She really should get up and pull on her pajamas. But just now, she was disinclined to move. So she sighed and snuggled deeper into the warmth of the bedding and promised herself she’d just close her eyes for a moment, then get up and put on some clothes.
Chapter 9
Rachel woke with a start, looking around at the sunshine streaming in through the huge windows in her bedroom. For a long moment, she couldn’t remember where she was. The sheets were white, the curtains white, the furniture white…everything in the room was white.
Then everything came back to her and she remembered. San Francisco. The massage! Tarin tucking her into bed last night with a sweet kiss goodnight. Just thinking about that kiss made her heart glow with tenderness.
“Not love!” she gasped, then sat up, not sure where that thought had come from. Looking around, she tried to orient herself, but the sheets wrapped around her legs made extricating herself from the bed difficult. Pushing everything off, she padded into the bathroom and stared at her image in the mirror. It wasn’t too bad, she decided. The mascara looked a little panda-ish, but her hair wasn’t going off in crazy directions.
She picked up her clothes from the previous night while she waited for the water to warm up in the shower. That’s when she noticed that her favorite pink bra wasn’t amidst the other clothes. And then she remembered the pink bra dangling prettily from Tarin’s finger last night. And that he’d stuffed it into his pocket!
Good grief, how was she to get her bra back? And why had he taken it?!
The questions continued to mount and she needed coffee in order to process. Stepping into the shower, she sighed as the warm water washed over her skin. “Saturday,” she whispered as she squeezed some shower gel into her hands and started scrubbing. “It’s Saturday and…” she closed her eyes, trying to remember Tarin’s schedule. “No meetings.” With a sigh of relief, she smiled. “It’s Saturday and we don’t have anything scheduled today.” She shampooed and conditioned her hair, considering possible activities. She didn’t need to do laundry because everything she wore was magically cleaned and returned to her closet the following morning. She didn’t need to pack because there were other magical people who would do that when they left. But Tarin still had meetings in San Francisco on Monday, so they’d most likely stay here over the weekend. Would he want to review the notes she’d taken? Probably, she thought with increasing dread.
Normally, Rachel loved her job. But after the marathon meetings and traveling over the past ten days, plus being with Tarin all day long, including for every meal, plus his self-defense lessons every morning and his dancing lessons in the evening…both of which she loved and, Rachel even acknowledged to herself that she was getting better at both…but she was wiped out! She needed a break.
Oh for the opportunity to just sit on a sofa with a good book and read all day long!
“Not gonna happen,” she muttered as she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. Glancing at the time, she wondered if Tarin was even here now. It was well past nine o’clock in the morning. That was pretty late, considering that he normally rose before five o’clock to head to the hotel gym to work out every morning. She suspected that he’d already gone through his brutal workout and was showered and off to…whatever it was that royal princes do on the weekends in foreign cities.
Pulling on a pair of leggings and, because the temperature was only getting up into the mid-fifties today, a sweatshirt, she grabbed a pair of thick socks and quickly brushed her hair, then dabbed on a touch of makeup. Just in case he was still here, she told herself.
“Just to look professional,” she whispered to the mirror. “The makeup has nothing to do with my emotional stupidity.”
Stepping out of her bedroom, she walked down the hallway, not exactly sure how she was going to face Tarin this morning. If he was even here, she thought with increasing hope.
Unfortunately, her hope was dashed as soon as she stepped into the main living area of the suite. Tarin was there, reading a newspaper and drinking coffee.
He was hidden behind the newspaper and, for a moment, she considered slipping away and hiding in her bedroom to wait him out. Last night’s massage and…well, everything else seemed to be a good topic to avoid. But she also knew Tarin and he wasn’t the kind who avoided problems. He confronted them head-on.
“Not gonna work, Rachel,” he called out, not even lowering the newspaper.
Darn it! How had he known she was standing here? And how had he read her mind so easily?
Scary man.
“I wasn’t…”
His paper flipped down and he folded it up, tossing it onto the low coffee table in front of him. “You were trying to avoid seeing me after last night, weren’t you?”
Yes! “No. Absolutely not.”
“Good. Then come get your coffee and let’s talk.”
Rachel was torn. The coffee was on the other side of the living room, over towards the dining room table. But safety was behind her. She’d have to walk all the way across the room with him watching her. Cowardly? You betcha! And unashamed.
“I think I’d rather…”
“We need to talk,” he told her, cutting off whatever she was going to say. “Get some coffee, Rachel,” he repeated, then stood up, resting his hands on his hips. “We need to clear up a few things.”
Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward, her stomach sinking with dread. Was he going to fire her? Did he realize the depth of her feelings for him? Surely he couldn’t
