Make Me Over_ Getting Real - Leslie Kelly [61]
Her body soared, spiraling with pleasure like she’d never experienced and all her emotions sparked in reaction to what she felt and what she thought those whispered words had been. But her mind got the full picture. And knew she’d now reached the end.
His words meant a million dollars. But she also realized that in the long run they meant losing him.
10
A S D REW COULD HAVE PREDICTED , Teresa and Tiffany were both eliminated Monday morning. That left Robin, Sukie, Ginny and Tori in the house, the final four competing for the grand prize.
He didn’t have any doubt that Tori would win it. Everyone last night had been amazed by the change in her. Even Monahan had approached him Monday night, telling him he’d gone over the tapes from the dance and had been amazed by Tori’s grace, beauty and the way she’d charmed everyone she’d met.
He also asked where Drew and Tori had disappeared to during the brief time Sam had lost sight of them. Drew had simply said Tori’d needed some air. Not caring what Monahan made of the fact that it had probably been only ten degrees at midnight. Nor that when they’d returned to the party, Tori’s hair was down and loose around her shoulders. Not to mention that she looked like a woman who’d just been well and truly done.
The curiosity among the crew, and the rest of the cast, didn’t bother him a bit. But it appeared to bother her. Tori had gone back to avoiding him, not showing up for their private lesson, not even coming to his current events class. And when they did run into one another, she’d avoided his eye.
He really needed to do something about that—to convince her she had nothing to be embarrassed about. So they’d made crazy, loud love in a public restroom. And so there’d been a couple of wide-eyed old broads waiting in the corridor when they’d finally unlocked the door and come out.
None of that mattered. Not compared to what they shared. What they felt.
At least, what he felt. To his best recollection, he’d been the only one making any serious statement of feelings. He’d told her he loved her. Yeah, it’d been in the height of sexual pleasure, and some men would have blown it off as the heat of the moment. Drew, however, had been prepared to admit it in the cold light of day. But Tori hadn’t even asked. Never mentioned it, not there while they lay naked on the sofa. Nor while they dressed. Not during the rest of the dance or the limo ride home.
Even more surprising, when he tried to broach the subject, to assure her he hadn’t just been blowing smoke because of their physical relationship, she’d changed the subject. Not too discreetly, either.
It was as if she didn’t want to know how he felt about her.
“Ridiculous,” he told himself Tuesday morning as he came downstairs for the day. She wanted to know, just not publicly. He could understand that, and was fully prepared to wait until they were out of here before confronting her about his feelings—and her own, which he suspected were the same.
She’d hinted at her concerns over their differences, their backgrounds and lifestyles. He could understand that; after all, he hadn’t had a chance to convince her how very much they did have in common. The loss of a parent as a child, instability, lack of money. But they’d talk about that soon.
“Professor, I’m afraid we have a bit of a problem,” Niles Monahan said as he spied Drew at the bottom of the stairs.
Drew stiffened, knowing from past experience he wouldn’t like hearing about any of the director’s problems—or solutions. “What is it?”
“Well, it is snowing hard out there. You were supposed to have private dates….” The director swallowed hard, rushing to clarify. “I mean outings, with all the remaining contestants. But since Sukie was too sick last night, we’re already one behind. We’d planned for you to have lunch out with one and a dinner with another