Blindsided (Indigo Love Spectrum) (19 page)

Just as he’d punched in the first six digits, there was a
knock at the door.

“Norris,” said Agnes, sticking her head inside, “you
have a visitor.”

The goofy grin on the woman’s face had to mean one
of two things: Reese had arrived or . . .

Dahlia appeared at the door, looking very cute in blue jeans and a yellow baby-doll shirt. Norris’s agitated anx
iousness dissipated. Smiling, he walked over and ushered
her in. “Thanks, Agnes, that will be all,” he said, closing
the door on his beaming assistant before turning all his
attention to Dahlia. He wanted to take her in his arms and
k
iss her until her toes curled, but figured that response
might be a bit strong after everything that had happened.
So he smiled at her, feeling like a lovesick schoolboy.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he said. “You look calmer
than you did Sunday. Have you talked to your sister?”

“No, I haven’t, but I don’t want to talk about that. Norris, about the flowers and the cards . . .”

“I wanted to do something nice for you, and tell you
again how I feel.”

She dragged her hands over her face, groaning.
“That’s just it. I don’t want to hear about feelings. I don’t
want to read about them . . .”

“You don’t want to think about them. I know, I know,” Norris broke in, feeling as frustrated as she
looked. “But guess what, you have to. Because they exist,
and not talking about them won’t make them go away.”

“Norris, what we’ve shared these last couple of
months has been great, but . . .”

“No buts. It’s been great. It is great.”

“It was great. It’s past tense now. You made it so.”

“By saying I love you?”

“You don’t love me, Norris. You’re caught up in a
moment. For over two months we’ve been enjoying each
other’s company. A no strings, carefree physical relation
ship.
Physical.
It was sex. That’s all it was supposed to be.”

“Things changed, Dahlia.”

“You just think they have. It’s understandable. You have this new responsibility with Reese, you’re a father now, and it makes you want to create this life you think she should have.”

“You think I told you I love you because of Reese?”

“Nothing else makes sense. We have what can only
be described as earth-shattering sex, and the next
minute you’re professing love to me the day after you
find out you have a daughter. Woman plus child equals
family.”

Norris laughed. “You must’ve stayed awake all night
thinking up that one. My question is, do you believe it?”

Dahlia stuck out her chin and crossed her arms,
looking a lot more confident and determined than Norris
believed she felt. “It’s the truth,” she said. “Why wouldn’t I believe it?”

“Why? I’ll show you why.”

Norris pulled her close and claimed her lips in an
intoxicating kiss. He expected to find resistance, but she
offered none. Dahlia melted in his arms. The soft curves
of her body molded against his. Desire stirred in his loins.
It never took much effort for her to get him in the mood,
and now was no exception.

Dahlia’s hands slid over his back, moving to his back
side. A moan rumbled in his throat as her lips left his and
moved to his neck. She nipped at his earlobe before bringing it between her warm lips and suckling softly.
His moans grew louder and his knees weaker. He closed
his hands around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Letting her feel what she stirred in him.

“I miss being with you, Norris, and I know you miss
me,” she murmured against his ear. “Admit you were
caught up in the thrill of the moment and let’s get back
to the way things were.”

A
s if shut down by a power failure, Norris’s “On”
button flipped off. As much as he wanted Dahlia, and he
wanted her, he wouldn’t deny his love for her to make it happen. He stepped back and sat on the edge of his desk,
arms folded across his chest. “I’m sorry, Dahlia. I don’t want
things to be the way they were. I want more than that.”

She closed her eyes, groaning. “Why are you doing
this?”

“Why are you? Why are you so insistent I don’t feel what I feel? What I know you feel?”

“It’s attraction, Norris. It’s what it’s always been.”

“Argh!” Norris scratched his fingers through his hair
and stomped back to his chair. “You are the most infuri
ating woman I’ve ever met in my life. Norris doesn’t like
aggravation. And if I didn’t love you so much, I would
not put myself through this. But I do love you. I love
you, Dahlia. I love you! I’m not going to stop saying that.
One day, when you’re not afraid to own up to it, you’re
going to say those words back to me.”

“It’s not going to happen.”

“I beg to differ. And until you’re ready, I’m going to
be right here, thinking of new ways to show you every
day how much I do love you. You’ll just have to deal with
it.”

Dahlia sighed. Her dark eyes smoldered with anger
and frustration, two feelings Norris had in surplus.

“You know, I think it’s best we limit our contact to
my audit,” she said.

“Can’t do it. You’re going to be my daughter’s
guardian.”

“
Reese is sixteen and has a cell phone. We won’t need
to see each other for you to see your daughter. I really believe as little contact as necessary is for the best.”

“Of course you do. You’re running away. You can run,
but I have lots of sneakers and plenty of money to buy
more. I’m going to catch you, Dahlia. And I don’t mind
spending the rest of my life and all my money doing it.
Norris always gets what he wants, and this will be no
exception.”

Dahlia glared at Norris, both flattered and infuriated
by his arrogance. She used to get a kick out of his ego and
the way he referred to himself in the third person. She
knew he believed it, but before it hadn’t come off as con
ceited more than it had funny. Now, it wasn’t funny, it
was scary, because she knew he was serious. He was not
going to give up on having her, and the more she resisted,
the harder he would fight.

“Why are you doing this, Norris?”

“Why do you keep asking that? You know why. I’ve
said it over and over again. If you think this is fun for me,
you’d better think again. I don’t think it’s fun handing my
heart to you and you smashing it with a mallet and
handing it back to me. ‘No, thanks, Norris. This isn’t the
part of your body I want.’”

“You think I’m a tramp?”

“Far from it, Dahlia. In fact, I’m willing to bet you’ve
only been with two men your entire life, and I’m lucky
number two. Am I right?”

She stuck out her chin, saying nothing.

“Question answered.” Norris clasped his hands and
stared at her, smiling. “I think you’re the most amazing
woman I’ve ever met, and definitely the most beautiful.
It would take such a woman to steal the heart of Norris
Converse.” He flashed his biggest smile. “Gosh darn it, you’re special.”

The laugh escaped before Dahlia could stop it. Norris did that. He made her laugh. He made her care. He made
her feel.
Damn!
He made her sick because he could do
these things. She didn’t want to love him. Why did he
keep making it impossible not to? She frowned. “Stop it,
Norris!”

“Stop what?” he said, leaving his desk and making his
way over. “Breathing? That’s what I’d have to do to stop loving you. And you don’t want me to stop breathing, do
you?” He grinned.

She glowered at him. “Don’t tempt me.”

“Ouch.” Norris laughed. “I’ll let that slide, because I
know you don’t really mean it.”

He walked behind her and trailed his finger along her
cheek. Her body trembled and a soft gasp fell from her
lips. Norris pressed his nose to her hair, breathing deeply.
As usual, she’d become putty in his hands. She missed his
touch. She missed his company. She missed him.

“Just say it, Dahlia,” he said. “I’m not Jonah. I won’t
betray your love.”

She turned to face him. “How can you say that when
you’ve betrayed our arrangement? We said no strings.
Love is strings, Norris. I didn’t want that. I don’t want
that.”

“But it’s what we have.”

“No, what we have is a great understanding. We like
being together and we have fun. I miss that, Norris. I
miss you. But if you insist on bringing love into it . . .”

“
I didn’t bring it, it showed up. It developed, it grew,
it did whatever love does. I’m happy about this, and Gail
thinks Reese will be happy about it, too.”

“Gail? You told her?”

“She figured it out when you two had lunch.”

Dahlia groaned. She should have known. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. There’s no us, Norris, and I don’t
want Reese to know about this.”

“Why not?”

“Our relationship is sex.”

“That’s what it was.”

“
Was
is correct, because now it’s over. There’s nothing for you to tell Reese, and I don’t want her to know about
that.”

“I don’t want her to know about that either. The
arrangement you keep alluding to is not what I want my
daughter to celebrate with us. I don’t regret our begin
ning, it led to our love—”

Dahlia rolled her eyes. Was every other word out of
his mouth going to be
love
?

Norris closed his hands around her face, his smoky
eyes serious, intense, and filled with the love he had no problem expressing. Dahlia wanted to look away, to avert
her gaze, but she was drawn to the look in his eyes. “Our
beginning led to our love, but I won’t tell her about us
until I can mention my love for you to you without an
eye roll and groaning,” he said. “Dahlia, you can say
whatever you want with your words, but until I look into
those beautiful brown eyes, beyond the exasperation and
frustration, and not see the love I feel staring back at me,
I’m not giving up. Reese is going to know about us, but
it will be when it’s time. When you can say you love me
and not feel like your world will fall apart.” He pressed a
kiss to her forehead. “I’m expecting Reese at any
moment. We’re having dinner over at Ryan and Lara’s.
You are welcome to come.”

Dahlia shook her head as she willed her heart to stop
racing from the memory of his innocent but powerful
kiss. “That’s definitely not a good idea.”

“Fine, I won’t push.” He held up his finger and
returned to his desk. “I would like your opinion on
something, though. I had a designer come over yesterday
to work on a room for Reese. I don’t know what teenage
girls like, but Ms. Stone came highly recommended.” He
slipped on the reading glasses that made him look too
sexy for words, and extended several sheets with photos
and fabric swatches. “What do you think Reese would
like? I want her to be comfortable if she ever decides to
sleep over.”

Dahlia pulled her eyes from his bespectacled face and
looked through the samples. “These are very nice,” she
said.

“They are,” he said, moving next to her. “I especially
like this one.”