One Christmas Wish by Brenda Jackson
CHAPTER EIGHT
VAUGHNFINISHEDOFFthe last of his ale as he waited for Sierra to answer his questions. She had broken eye contact with him and was staring down into her teacup, but he refused to accept that as a bad thing. He was hoping she was merely giving his questions consideration. When she finally gazed back up at him she had an unreadable expression on her face.
“I haven’t dated since my divorce, Vaughn. After officially adopting Teryn I moved here and opened the restaurant. That meant hiring staff, managing the remodeling of not only the restaurant but my apartment upstairs. We arrived in the middle of the school year, so I had to make sure Teryn was situated in school, and then I had to get acclimated with the community.”
He moved his empty ale glass aside. “Sounds like you were busy.”
“I was.” She paused, then said, “But that wasn’t the only reason I haven’t dated. It was hard to accept the man I loved and who I thought loved me could betray me in such a manner.”
She took another sip of tea before she said, “But I should have suspected something. Now that I think about it, I can see that the clues were there, right under my nose and in eye view. I was too trusting and totally naive. But to be completely honest, our marriage began falling apart even before I discovered he was cheating.”
Vaughn could hear the pain in her voice. He figured she was not about to share any details of what happened and that was alright, but he also didn’t want her thinking she was the only person who’d been hurt by someone they thought they loved.
He said, “In a way I know how you feel. I told you about Camila and how she turned her back on me when I needed her the most. It didn’t matter that we were engaged to be married. The one person I had expected to believe in me and to stand by me, did not.”
He moved his eating utensils around as he thought about that time. “It took me a while to get over the pain. I had plenty of time while locked up. But still, I was hoping she would contact me, let me know she had freaked out initially and that she was good now and knew I was innocent and wasn’t capable of doing the things I’d been accused of. But that never happened.”
He stopped fiddling and met Sierra’s gaze. “The reason I shared that with you was for you to see that things happen in life we don’t have any control over. Things I’m sure we wish we could forget. But they are there with us, reminding us to be more cautious than we were before. But we can’t let our past dictate our future. I like you, Sierra, and would like to get to know you better.”
She hesitated. “I like you, too, but I’m not sure I’m ready to officially date again. I enjoy what we’re doing now. Sharing drinks as friends. To answer your question, I had not planned to go to the New Year’s Eve Ball.”
“Can I ask you another question?”
“Yes.”
“Are you still in love with your husband?”
Vaughn felt he could ask her that even after what the man had done because he’d still loved Camila for months after being incarcerated. He had honestly tried looking at things from her point of view, refusing to give up on her completely, although he’d not once heard from her.
He’d felt the need to cling to some kind of hope, even if it was one he’d fabricated in his mind. It was only when Zara visited him and broke the news that Camila had gotten married that he’d accepted her decision not to have anything to do with him as final. Just when he was about to give up, those pen pal letters from Marie had begun arriving. They had given him the encouragement and hope he needed.
“No, I don’t love Nathan. Right now, I just want to protect my heart from further heartbreak.”
He leaned back in his seat. “Will you do me a favor?”
Nodding, she said, “Depends on what it is.”
He chuckled. “Fair enough. If you do decide to go to the ball, will you consider going as my date?”
“I probably won’t change my mind, but if I do, Vaughn, I will let you know.”
“I appreciate it.” He looked at his watch. “It’s getting late, and I don’t want to take up any more of your time.” He hesitated a moment and then asked, “Do you mind if I have your phone number?”
She seemed surprised and said, “No, I don’t mind.”
He stood to ease his cell phone out of his pocket. “Okay, what is it?”
Sierra rattled off her number and he punched it into his phone, and when her phone rang, he said, “Now I have yours and you have mine.”
He slid his phone back in his pocket and pulled out his wallet to retrieve his charge card. “Do you need me to help you wash these dishes?” he asked, offering her his charge card.
She stood as well. “No, I’m good, and you don’t have to pay for this. You treated me to breakfast this morning so tonight was my treat.”
He returned his card to his wallet, put on his jacket and shoved his hands in his pants pockets. “Don’t think it will always be that way, Sierra Crane,” he said, stacking their bowls and gathering up the trash.
Tilting her head to look up at him, she asked, “What way?”
“That whenever I do something for you, that you feel the need to reciprocate.”
Before she could respond, he asked, “Will you walk me to the door?”
She smiled. “Yes, I can do that.”
Vaughn hadn’t realized just how long the walk was from where they’d been sitting to the door. It was then that he realized he had unintentionally grabbed a table in the back. He had no complaints since he was in no hurry to leave, although he knew he had to.
He kept his hands shoved in his pockets so he wouldn’t be tempted to reach out and take her hand in his. He could feel the distinct crackle of sexual energy flowing between them and if he were to touch her, he was certain he might lose control.
When they reached the door she said, “I enjoyed your company, Vaughn.”
He definitely thought that admission was a start. “And I enjoyed yours.”
They faced each other and said nothing as they gazed into each other’s eyes. Then after several tense moments he had to touch her and withdrew his hands from his pockets and placed them on her waist. The moment he did so, a hunger stirred in his gut at the same time she instinctively leaned into him.
Vaughn didn’t want to make the mistake of crossing any lines he would come to regret. But he had to do the one thing he’d wanted to do from the first time he saw her. He wanted to taste her to see if she was as sweet as she looked.
Unable to help himself, he lowered his head and captured her mouth and immediately thought that she tasted even sweeter than he’d imagined.
SIERRAWASCERTAINshe had never been kissed with so much passion and hunger in her life. Her arms automatically reached up and wrapped around Vaughn’s neck as she angled her head for a better fit against his lips—lips that smiled at her each night as she drifted off to sleep, lips she had often thought of doing this very thing to.
All kinds of things started happening to her. She could feel the magnitude of his kiss in every pore, cell and pulse. Desire was warming her to her very soul. His masculine scent was enveloping her so much she felt light-headed, and she was certain her heart was skipping several beats.
Her arms tightened around his neck and the kiss deepened. His tongue was making urgent demands, which she reciprocated. They needed to breathe but neither wanted to end the kiss.
When breathing became a necessity they could no longer ignore, he broke off the kiss then pressed his forehead against hers, and they both drew in long, deep, ragged breaths. Then they were kissing again, and she was convinced this was some type of lovemaking he was doing to her mouth. She heard a low growl that erupted from his throat as he finally dragged his mouth away from hers, but not before planting some kisses around the corners of her lips.
“I better go, Sierra,” he whispered against her wet lips.
She wanted to moan in protest but knew he was right. They couldn’t stand there and kiss like this all night. All she could do was nod. If she were to open her mouth, she would be tempted to tell him that his kisses had awakened something inside of her that she hadn’t thought she was able to feel. At least not of that magnitude.
Taking a step back, she drew in a deep breath. “Good night, Vaughn.”
“You’ll think about going with me to the New Year’s Eve Ball, right, Sierra?”
She loved the way he said her name, doing something most people didn’t do and that was to pronounce both rs. “I promise to think about it and let you know in a few weeks.”
He nodded and then leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her lips and whispered, “Good night.” Then he opened the door and was gone.
Sierra locked the door behind him and then leaned back against it, drawing in long, deep breaths while wondering what in the heck had just happened to her. She licked her lips, convinced she could still taste him there.
She’d always joked about Dani having all the passionate bones and Sierra not getting any. Now it seemed she just might have to rethink that. Vaughn had kissed her in a way that even made her toes tingle, and she had liked it.
By the time she had taken her shower and gotten ready for bed she figured she would have reclaimed her senses. However, a part of her liked the feeling of experiencing something new and different. Vaughn’s kiss had definitely been that. She hadn’t known men could kiss like that. Nothing had been rushed. He had taken his time and pleasured her mouth while applying just the right amount of pressure to her lips.
At what point had his hands moved from around her waist to cup the back of her head to take her mouth for all it was worth? He had kissed her like it had been worth everything to him. Or he’d definitely made her feel that way.
She shifted in bed knowing she would enjoy the best sleep she had gotten in a long time. A very long time.