Beyond Temptation - Brenda Jackson [4]
“Not particularly. How long do you think it will take?” he asked, coming to his feet as well.
“I don’t anticipate it taking long. There are several new subdivisions going up around Charlotte. Is there a certain price range I need to stay in?”
“No. If it’s something I want, then I intend to get it.”
Another heated sliver passed down her spine with his comment. It seemed he had been looking directly in her eyes when he’d made the statement, but of course she knew she was again imagining things after studying his impassive expression. “All right, then. I’ll be in touch when you return. I hope you have a nice trip.”
“Thanks.”
She gathered her briefcase and headed for the door.
“Lena?”
She glanced back over her shoulder. “Yes?”
“How’s your mother?”
Lena couldn’t help but smile. No matter when she saw Morgan, he was always kind enough to inquire about her mother. “Mom is fine. Thanks for asking.”
“You’re welcome.”
Lena quickly made it to the door. Without looking back she opened it and stepped out, grateful for her escape. She could handle only so much heat shivering down her spine.
When Lena made it to her car she leaned back against the seat, letting her neck relax against the headrest before snapping her seat belt in place. She had been in Morgan’s presence less than thirty minutes, but from the way her heart was beating it seemed longer.
There were times when a part of her longed not to be the responsible and sensible person she was. Every once in a while she was tempted to become her Gemini twin, the one who wasn’t the good girl; the one who wouldn’t hesitate to let her hair down, throw caution to the wind and walk boldly on the wild side. And the first thing she would do is take on a man like Morgan Steele and see if she could hold her own with him. Just the thought of having a one-night stand to feed the sudden, intense hunger she would get whenever she watched a romantic movie, or indulged in those romance novels her secretary would pass on to her, made her breasts tingle.
If she ever became her wannabe mischievous twin, that meant having the courage to trade her sensible four-door sedan in for that two-seater convertible she always wanted—and turning her nighttime fantasies into reality by behaving in such a way that would blow a fuse just thinking about. She didn’t want to dwell on all the naughty pleasures she would have.
Lena immediately dismissed the thoughts of her less than sensible twin, knowing she could never do anything like that. Her life was what it was and she couldn’t change it. She wasn’t the mischievous twin, she was the good one who had responsibilities that took precedence over anything else, including her desire to have Morgan Steele in her bed. Her mother came first.
She was her mother’s sole caretaker and had been since her father’s death six years ago. Her mother’s health began failing her soon after her husband passed, making it hard for her to get around at times. A part of Lena believed it was due more to loneliness than anything else because a lot of her mother’s problems were more emotional, especially the bouts of depression.
Her parents had had a rather close marriage and Lena was born after they had already been happily wedded for close to twenty years. A number of miscarriages had convinced her parents they would spend the rest of their lives childless, and Lena had been a big surprise to her forty-three-year-old father and her forty-year-old mother.
Growing up in the Spears household, she had always felt loved and cherished by her parents and she missed her father dearly. For that reason she clearly understood the depth of loss her mother felt and the bouts of occasional depression that had followed. Even now on occasion, Lena would wake up during the night and hear her mother calling out for her father in her sleep, and it always brought tears to Lena’s eyes that anyone could have loved someone that deep and strong. It was on those nights after getting her mother settled back down that she would acknowledge the depth of her own loneliness and restlessness and give