“Let’s start with something simple,” he said slowly, his gaze locked on her expressive face. “Do you realize that never once in all these weeks have you told me your last name?”
This time there was no mistaking the panic that flashed in her eyes, even though, once again, she covered it almost instantly. He watched and waited, growing increasingly flustered when she continued to hesitate. What was the big deal about a last name? Most people who dated shared that much from their first meeting.
Finally, the casual note in her voice sounding forced, she said, “It’s Winters, Lauren Winters.”
“You said that as if there was some sort of secret about it,” he said, completely baffled by her uneasy reaction.
“No, of course not,” she said hurriedly. “I guess I hadn’t realized I’d never told you or that you hadn’t heard it from Grady or Karen. Funny how you can completely forget about something like that if it’s not out there at the very beginning, isn’t it? How embarrassing to think we’ve slept together and you didn’t even know who I was.”
She was babbling. Wade had never seen her react so nervously…and to what? He’d just asked her last name. Considering the fact that they’d shared a bed, this hardly seemed important. He was missing something here, something important, but maybe it could wait for a moment when she was less edgy. Her mellow mood of a few minutes ago had certainly vanished.
“Come on over here, Lauren Winters,” he coaxed. “Let’s get reacquainted.”
The full-fledged smile she bestowed on him was worth sacrificing a few more probing questions. She slipped into his lap and settled her head on his shoulder with a contented sigh.
“This is lovely,” she murmured.
It was, Wade thought. More than lovely, in fact. It was just about perfect. If only he didn’t have this increasingly sick sensation in the pit of his stomach that it was all going to blow up in his face.
Lauren had thought for a few minutes that her heart was going to leap straight out of her chest. When Wade had pressed her to reveal her last name, she had been consumed by a terrible sense of dread. It had taken every ounce of courage she possessed to say it aloud, to force a nonchalant tone into her voice.
Only when it had become clear that the name meant nothing to him had she been able to breathe again. Only then had her heartbeat returned to normal. Obviously Wade didn’t follow movies or the gossip about celebrities that had been a mainstay of her life for so many years. She had forgotten that there were people in the world to whom all of that meant less than nothing.
Why, then, hadn’t she told him the rest? Maybe he wouldn’t have realized just what being an actress meant. If he was so oblivious to that world, he might have accepted her past as easily as if she’d told him she’d been an accountant, as something of no consequence whatsoever.
But in her panic, she had frozen, and then the moment had passed. Now, cradled in his arms, she could almost convince herself that none of it mattered, that it would all turn out okay eventually.
“So,” he began, his fingers grazing her cheek as he gently brushed a wisp of hair away from her face, “where do you see this going?”
Her heart leaped. She wanted to be absolutely clear on what he was asking. “This?”
“You and me.”
She considered her answer. “Truthfully, I’ve been so content with where we are, I haven’t thought about where we might be headed. Have you?”
“Not until today,” he admitted.
“What happened today?”
“Grady asked if I intended to marry you.” He grinned at her. “He was being very big brotherly about it.”
“What did you tell him?” she asked, her heart in her throat.
“The same as what you said, that I hadn’t been thinking that far ahead.” His gaze captured hers. “Should we, though? Should we think about it?”
He looked so worried, so sweetly concerned about doing the right thing. “Only if you want to. I’m in no rush,” she reassured him.
He scanned her face intently, then smiled. “Liar. I suspect you’re the kind of woman who was born being in a rush.”
“No, I wasn’t,” she said, then reconsidered.
After all, she hadn’t been able to wait to finish school and take off. She had raced through high school with the same amount of impatience as Emma and Gina, eager to get out into the world. Of course, from the beginning they had been intent on making a name for themselves in their respective fields. She had only wanted to be away from Winding River. She had craved an adventure, but never in a million years had she imagined the kind of glamour and excitement that were in store for her. Nor had she known that eventually it would become such an albatross.
“Okay, maybe I was once,” she told him. “But no more. Since I’ve come back, I’ve learned to take one day at a time, to linger over life’s pleasures and savor them.”
She glanced up just as a vivid orange sun slid below the horizon, leaving a sky streaked with brilliant color. “There,” she said. “Just look at that. Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?”
“Yes,” Wade murmured, his gaze never leaving her face. “You.”
She reached up and touched his cheek. “You say the most amazing things. How did I ever get so
