“Really?” It was hard to breathe. She might need a pulmonologist too. Her lungs were struggling as much as her heart.
Grant sounded as breathless as she felt, and she was glad. Glad he missed her. Glad he’d been thinking about her. And very, very glad that he was standing in her driveway.
He rubbed his fingertips across his forehead. “Yeah, really. Do you suppose I could come in there or you could, I don’t know, come out here? Maybe? I managed to get your car back from the police, and I brought the suitcase that you left back in Bell Harbor.”
“You did?”
She could see he’d brought the car but it was still a surprise. A sweet, sweet surprise. But darn it! All that stuff she’d rehearsed to say, and still she couldn’t remember a word of it. She walked from the kitchen to the front door and glanced at Melody.
Melody fanned her face with both hands and mouthed the words, “So hot!”
Delaney nodded and yanked open the door. She set her phone down on the little table in the entryway and stepped outside. “You didn’t need to drive that lousy car all the way to California,” she said, walking down the brick sidewalk that connected the front porch to the driveway. She was dressed for yoga. Maybe he’d notice. He seemed to have liked the yoga. This was to her advantage. She stopped walking when she was a few feet away from him.
Grant lowered the phone and slid it into his front pocket, his eyes roving over her until they locked on her own, hot, intense. His were green in this light. She loved it when they looked so green.
“Well, I wanted to bring you your suitcase anyway. So . . . you know.”
She crossed her arms, not certain what to do with her hands because mostly what she wanted to do was twist up her fists in that white T-shirt and pull his mouth down to hers. But it seemed like they should talk a little more first.
“That was . . . um . . . that’s really thoughtful of you. It’s still a pretty long drive.”
“Well, I was heading this way anyhow. I have some LA producer types interested in financing my show so I’m meeting with them over the next couple of days.”
Her heart tripped and fell. Is that why he was here? But his gaze drifted toward her mouth and she knew he wanted to kiss her just as badly as she wanted to be kissed. He should just do it then. She inched a little closer.
“Your show? The one about the charities?”
He nodded. “Yes. I made a few calls and got the green light. Good news, huh?”
She nodded. “Yes. I’m happy for you.”
He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s a problem though. A big, big problem.”
She pressed a thumbnail to her lip. If being involved with her had somehow led to difficulties for him and his new show, she’d feel terrible. “What kind of problem?”
A shy but hopeful smile crooked one side of his mouth. “I need a host. A beautiful, adventurous host. Any chance you’re looking for a job?”
She heated up from the center outward and felt her own smile spreading slowly. “Um, I’d have to think about that. Are you sure you’d want me? I have sort of a lousy reputation with the public, you know.”
His hands reached out and grazed her hips, pulling her into the space between his feet.
“The public adores you, and anyway I don’t care about what the media says. I don’t buy into that sort of hype. I know who you are. I know about the stuff that matters.”
His fingers squeezed and he continued talking, which was a good thing because words were beyond her capability just then. “Lane, I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time back in Memphis. I was an ass. I was angry because . . . well, because I was so crazy about you and then when I found out about some of the lies, I just thought that maybe everything had been a lie. And I wanted what we had to be real.”
She closed that final distance because she couldn’t bear not to. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. His arms went tight around her waist and they were face-to-face. Blissfully face-to-face. Right where she wanted to be. She leaned back to gaze at him.
“It was real. I should have told you everything right from that very first night, but it all happened so fast. The truth is I’m not a very practiced liar, and the whole situation spun out of control before I could figure out what to do. It was stupid of me and I’m so sorry you got caught up in it.”