One Special Moment - Brenda Jackson [27]
Her gaze moved from his eyes to his lips. The sensual shaping of his mouth reminded her of how it had felt molded masterfully to hers while driving her mad with passion.
“Colby?”
Sterling had said something. Colby shook herself out of her distraction and back into awareness. “What did you say?”
“I said I hope you’re enjoying dinner. I was somewhat disappointed that you didn’t show up in my suite as I’d asked.”
She lifted her chin. “You didn’t ask, Sterling, you ordered and I didn’t like that. I’m not a child but an adult. I would appreciate it if you remembered that.”
His slight smile held no pretension of humor. “Are you being difficult again?”
“No, you are. Evidently it bothers you that, unlike most women, I’m not in total awe of who you are. I told you at lunch, I could care less for you as an actor and the more I get to know you, the less I care for you as a man.”
Sterling’s eyes sparkled with amusement. Colby had just put him down. “That’s right, you did mention you favored Denzel over me.”
“Hands down,” she responded, deliberately meeting his eyes.
His gaze continued to hold hers. “In that case, I’d better get busy doing something about that. As my wife, I can’t have you preferring another actor over me, and I definitely can’t have you not caring for me as a man.”
“I doubt my opinion on either will change,” she said smartly.
“But I can at least try.”
“Yeah, go ahead and try,” Colby replied, offering him a sweet smile. “And if you try with as much gusto as trying to learn how to knock, I can relax in knowing that a year from now my opinion of you will still be the same.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Sterling’s fingers began toying with the stem of a wineglass that he’d picked up off the table. “Speaking of a year, I thought about what you said about needing more time to breast-feed my child.”
It seemed that automatically Sterling’s eyes lifted from his preoccupation with the wineglass and concentrated on the curve of Colby’s breasts outlined through the blouse she was wearing.
“What about it?” she asked in a hoarse voice when it became evident just where his gaze was dead-centered. The room suddenly became quiet except for their uneven breathing.
His eyes met hers again, and from their intense darkness she could just imagine where his thoughts were. He gave her a slow smile, which indicated she probably was right in her deduction.
“I’ve decided to extend your time in our agreement from six weeks to one year.”
The smile that lit Colby’s face at that moment, to Sterling’s way of thinking, was as sweet as wine and, like a fool, he drank it up.
“Do you really mean that?”
“Yes. And I’ve already notified Edward of the change. He’ll be by tonight to drop the papers off and give you a chance to look over them. He’ll return tomorrow for our signatures.”
Colby nodded. At the moment she was too happy to say anything else.
“I’ll leave you alone now to enjoy the rest of your dinner.”
He turned to leave the room but before closing the door behind him, he turned back around and said, “I think you’ll discover this extension may not be such a good idea after all, Colby.”
She lifted her brow. “Why?”
“The longer you stay around my child, the harder it will be for you when the time comes for you to leave. And you will be leaving. I don’t want you to ever think otherwise. The only reason I extended your time was because I want the very best for my child, not because I need a permanent wife.”
He turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Colby refused to let his words put a damper on how elated she felt. The Lord had answered her prayers and she’d been given more time. She was determined to use that time wisely. Somehow she had to convince Sterling that a permanent wife was the very thing he did need.
She stared blindly across the room at the closed door. For some reason, she wanted more than just the baby between them. An inner part of her wanted