He swallowed and the smell of cedar and pine mixed in her nose. Her lips tingled in hopes of a kiss. "I don't know if I can handle being in the room with Peter," he said. "I don't know if I can trust him."
Perhaps there was a book she could read on how to get over a crush with pointers that might clear her head. Right now she was acting like some dog in heat and not herself. She stepped back and wondered if she spoke to Peter one-on-one, would that change anything with the contract? "You have to listen to your heart on that one. Is he like your father?"
John shrugged and closed her bedroom door. "He might be. I hardly know him."
She talked to Colt all the time. She watched his daughter for him without complaint. She blinked as she tried to understand. "He's your brother."
John's face turned red. "He stood right next to my father all my life. He's two years older than me, but I have no memory of Peter on his own without my father."
Strange. Colt led his own life, but she'd do whatever she could for him, too. Despite how Peter canceled their contract, family was family. "Maybe he's not that bad."
"Maybe he's worse. I don't trust him."
"Then you've made a decision."
"No, I'm just talking it through. I'm not sure how to take Peter or if I want a position in my father's company."
She reached out and touched his arm. Fireworks exploded inside her, but she stayed sharp. "You have to try. What happened to the determined guy I met at the hotel?"
He nodded. "You're right. I'd still like you with me tomorrow."
With luck his family might bond, now that Mitch was gone. "Of course. I'll be there for you. We're friends."
He turned and her back went against the wall. Her entire body ached with need as he leaned closer to her. "We're more than friends."
Her toes curled as his hands surrounded her. Her eyelashes fluttered. "I don't know, John."
He lowered his head, as if he'd like to kiss her. She closed her eyes and waited for his lips to brush against hers, again. Then he said, "I don't know what I'm doing near you."
His mouth brushed hers and she saw stars all around them. His body pressed against her and nothing else existed except the two of them.
He stepped back and looked like he was selected in a military draft, unable to escape. She tried to stand taller, but swayed on her feet from the too-brief kiss. His face was red. "Alice, you're someone who believes in happy ever after."
She shook her head, not wanting him to take on responsibility for her feelings. If she let her wild side dictate her emotions, she'd happily accept whatever small amount of time he offered her. Then she'd stop whatever fantasies she had of what might happen between them that sparked from her old crush. "I don't believe in love."
His eyebrows quirked like she said the silliest thing he ever heard. She'd straightened out her dress. She'd have to be more convincing.
"You have two stable parents."
She nodded. Parents didn't mean she was needy. "Yeah, and they love each other despite how they drive each other crazy."
His blue eyes clouded. "I never knew my mother. I have sketchy memories of a woman who might have been her, but I was two when she disappeared."
Disappearing wasn't the story that she remembered being told. She tilted her head. "Didn't she die?"
John shrugged. "So my father says. He said Vicki died too, so I don't believe anything he ever told me. Tomorrow's reading might be where he finally kicks me out of the Morgan family and does what he promised to do years ago."
His mind had to be on the reading of the will tomorrow. His father wouldn't cut him out. It would make it look like he'd been unable to keep his family, and Mitch Morgan was all about family appearances. In how many magazine pictures did Mitch Morgan present himself with his son or sons? She ran her fingers down his bare forearm and caressed the blond hairs near his wrist. "John, I don't envy you."
His dimples returned and the fire inside her flamed. "It's why I think you're the sexiest woman I ever met."
She shook her head. He was being ridiculous. "What?"
He inched forward, his hip pressing hers against the beige wall. "You are."
His hands traced her arms and her body tingled, hoping he'd kiss her again. She asked, "How?"
His head lowered and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Your blue eyes haunt my dreams. Your kiss is embedded on my lips."
John Morgan kissed her like she was the most important person in his life. Her toes curled as her entire body craved him. He tasted better than honey or chocolate or anything she'd ever had that was sweet. Then she pulled her head back and whispered, "Stop."
He froze though his blue eyes had flecks of lightning inside them. "Why?"
She tightened her hold and she tugged him close. Regrets were for tomorrow. Right now, she lived. "Because I want you to do it again."
He pressed her back against the wall, kissing her so deeply that she lost sight of everything else. All that mattered was how they'd become one.
Chapter Eighteen
In the kitchen, John set the table for breakfast in his designer jeans and short sleeve button up white shirt. She stood and watched him as he added coffee to a tray. Why would he take such good care of her but then interfere with her mother all at the same time? She lifted her chin. He added fruit to the tray as she walked in. With her hand on her hip, and no smile on her face, she gazed at him. "Why didn't we sleep together last night, John?"
He fixed the silverware. "You deserve better."
She came closer and placed her hand on his. His eyes met hers "How?" she asked. "Who would be better?"
Alice had to know how he felt. She deserved someone strong and capable of falling in love with her and wanting to spend the rest of his life next to her. Then he said, "I just quit my day job and I am about to start from zero."
Her gaze narrowed. "Would that bother you?"
He shrugged.
She knew Mitch Morgan had never once said a kind word to John, training Peter to be his replacement, but he hadn't cut out John either. Why would John expect him to change after death?
"I wouldn't expect anything less from dear old Dad."
She fiddled with the gold pendant Vicki gave her. Then she picked up some toast and sat. "What does that have to do with me and you and last night?"
"Everything." He stood as tall and still as one of the orange trees on the farm. "If there is to be a future, then we should know our finances."
Her mind whirled. Money was not a reason to say no to sex. "I don't care about that."
"I was cut off in all things except a bank account that was always supplied. I've never been poor a day in my life."
"What happened to the money, then, if you didn't touch it?"
"My rebellious side kicked in and I set up an investment portfolio. The millions grew much higher as my way of showing him that if he kept sending it to me, then I'd not touch a dime. I never told him though."
"So even if you get nothing, you're far from poor?"
"Let's not talk about the billion."