Make Me Over_ Getting Real - Leslie Kelly [51]
Robin crossed her legs and draped one long, elegant arm across the back of the small love seat. “I’m after exactly what I was after when I first came here, before we learned anything about the secret agenda and the bonus.”
Tori raised a brow. “You mean, you really just want to be named lady of them all and go to some party?”
Robin nodded. “Just because they added Dr. Bennett as a carrot doesn’t mean the original prize is no longer up for grabs. And I want to win it.”
Judging by the sincere expression, Tori had to believe she meant it. “I guess you would get some really nice clothes and jewelry.”
Robin waved that off. “The acknowledgement would be enough for me, even without the prizes. I was always the weird kid in school, looked down on, never attractive enough. Picked on. This would change all that.”
Tori didn’t think being called a lady by a bunch of TV people would suddenly make crappy high-school memories go away, but she didn’t want to burst Robin’s bubble.
With a throaty laugh, Robin added, “Though to be honest, the jewelry would be nice, too.”
“Not to mention the Manhattan shopping spree,” Tori pointed out.
“Exactly.”
They both laughed together, and Tori realized this was the third woman she’d met here in Vermont whom she actually liked. Funny. She’d always assumed she just wasn’t the type who could get along with other women—or that she needed to—since she’d never had any real girlfriends growing up. Or in her adulthood. She’d assumed the choice had been hers and that she wasn’t missing anything.
Now she had to wonder if she’d been wrong. Maybe being surrounded by men—at home, at work, on the circuit—had made her the one hardened to female friendships. Perhaps she’d been unapproachable, too rough and rowdy for women to reach out a hand in friendship to for fear of being rejected, ignored. Or slugged. A few weeks ago, Tori would likely have ignored such a gesture, or not even recognized it. Now she feared she’d greatly miss these friendships when she returned home.
Her eyes were suddenly opened in yet another area of her life. Another experience she’d never missed, having never known it, but now knew she didn’t want to lose. She liked having friends. As much as she liked learning, and dressing a little nicer, and using her brains instead of her hands for a change.
Which brought her full circle to the mental debate she’d been having before Robin had entered the room. Who, exactly, was she going to be next week when she left here?
More importantly, who exactly did she want to be?
Before she could give the matter any thought, she saw Robin rise from her seat, looking over toward the door.
She knew without asking who stood there. The smile on the other woman’s face clued her in. But so did Tori’s own physical reaction. The air grew thicker. Warmer. Her skin started to tingle. Only one man had ever made her react like that.
“Hi, Professor,” Robin said, “I was just leaving.”
And, God love her, she did.
“Hi,” he said softly after Robin had left the room. He walked over and took the seat the other woman had just vacated.
“Morning,” she said softly, not quite able to meet his eye.
They’d been so incredibly intimate just hours before. This man was her lover, for heaven’s sake, he’d touched her in ways she hadn’t been sure were possible, much less legal. He’d given her more pleasure in a three-hour period than she’d ever had in her whole entire life.
Yet now, she couldn’t even look at him.
It’s the cameras. Yes, the fact that those little peeping eyes were watching their every move had her completely on edge. Because if she gave him her full attention, no way could she hide her feelings, her reactions, her longing for more. Not from him. Definitely not from TV-watching America, who she was ready to send straight to hell by this point.
“Tori, is everything okay?” he asked, leaning forward in his seat to drop his elbows on his knees.
She nodded.
“What are you doing?”
She shrugged.
“This somehow seems familiar. Are you waiting for me to shut up for any