Connections of the Mind (7 page)

Rebecca slipped her arms around Jeremy’s neck. He kissed her. Just a wisp of a kiss at first then longer and more passionate. Her whole body responded to his kiss. Her heart felt like it would burst. Finally, she pulled away.

“Morning,” Jeremy said when she put an arm’s length of distance between them.

Rebecca could barely catch her breath to reply.

“Thought we’d pick up where we left off the other night.” He patted her butt.

Rebecca picked up her clothes, which had fallen to the floor. Her face was on fire, as well as the rest of her body. She wanted him as much today as ever. Wanted him but wasn’t about to give in. Good grief, she didn’t sleep with men so soon after meeting them. No matter what the physical attraction—she wouldn’t, couldn’t, give in. Heck, she hardly knew him. Yet she knew everything about him. Everything important that is. But still, she couldn’t give in. She had to put some space between them and darn quick.

Maybe moving to the hotel wasn’t such a good idea.

“I need to shower.” She started for the bathroom.

“Shower later.” He moved toward her, but she backed away.

“Look, Jeremy, I’m sorry, I can’t do this.” Running her fingers through her hair, she looked at him. How was she going to explain this? Yes, she desired him. Had almost given in. “I mean we hardly know each other.” Sure, in this day and age, casual sex was nothing unusual but not for her. “It isn’t that I don’t want to. I just can’t.”

“Okay, you have a point. But damn, I want you. It’s not just sex either. I like everything about you.” He shook his head. “I enjoyed spending time with you. Hell, I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. Okay, I can wait. For a while anyway. I won’t push you.” He walked toward her, patted her back. “Go take your shower, and we’ll get some breakfast,” he said.

Rebecca didn’t wait for him to change his mind. She hurried into the bathroom and almost locked the door but thought better of it. She trusted Jeremy. He wouldn’t do anything until she was ready. Damn, she was so close to ready. Yet she couldn’t, not yet.

She snapped off the water and pulled back the curtain. One thing she hated about hotel bathrooms, the exhaust fans never worked sufficiently. If Jeremy wasn’t here, she’d open the door and let some of the steam out. Dare she open the door? Why not? Jeremy understood her feelings. She cracked the door and wrapped her hair in a towel and grabbed another towel to dry off.

A sound from the other room stopped her. Jeremy was moving around. What was he doing? Not searching her stuff, she was sure. Heck if he had wanted to do that, he had ample opportunity when her things had been scattered all over the room at the motel.

She shrugged and blew dry her hair. Dressed and makeup finished, Rebecca pulled open the door, smoothed her shirt, and went out to her room.

Jeremy sat on the chair, just as she’d left him. On the table in front of him, a tablecloth was spread, and two trays sat on top with breakfast.

“Hungry?” Jeremy grinned.

“Actually I am. How did you do this?”

“Picked up the phone and ordered it. Hope you like scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, and orange juice.”

“Love them.” Rebecca sat down across from him and picked up the lid. “Smells delicious.”

“What do you want to do today?”

“You know, I’m thinking about taking a web designing class at Morrisville. Thought I might check more into it. Who knows, maybe I’ll even register.”

“Sounds like you’re planning on staying.”

“Well, for a while. The course is only eleven weeks.”

“Eleven weeks, huh? Are you going to live on campus or what?” Jeremy sipped his juice. “So, I have eleven weeks to convince you to stay permanently.”

Rebecca couldn’t believe it. He wanted her in his life. Little did he know, she was already a part of it.

“Not sure yet. I might just stay here.”

Her cellphone rang, interrupting their conversation.

Rebecca picked it up. “Hello.”

“Beck, what’s going on? Why did you change hotels?”

“Hi, Les, nothing’s going on.” She didn’t dare tell her brother about the break-in. “This is a nicer hotel that’s all.”

“When are you coming home? Now that you met the guy, what’s keeping you?”

“Actually, I was thinking about staying and taking a college course.”

“What kind of course? Damn it, Beck, if you want to take a course, come back and go to Tri-C or Cleveland State. Why do you want to stay there?”

“Web Design. It’s only an eleven week course.” Rebecca didn’t like the tone of her brother’s voice. He was going to argue with her as usual. Seemed like everything she wanted to do, he argued. When she got the secretarial job right out of high school, he had a fit. Wanted her to go to college. Now she wanted to go to college, and he was throwing another fit. She let out a loud sigh.

“What’s really going on, Beck? There’s something you’re not telling me. If you’re not back by the end of the week, I’m coming down there.”

“No need for that, Les. I’m not changing my mind. And nothing’s going on.”
Except I’m falling in love.
“I like it here, that’s all. It’s a great little town.” And Jeremy was taking in every word.

“How are you going to go to college? What about your job?” Rebecca knew Lester wasn’t going to give up easy.

“I’ve decided to take a leave of absence.” She didn’t dare tell him the truth that she was planning to quit. “Besides, I have almost six weeks of combined vacation and sick days I haven’t used.”

“So, you’ve made up your mind? Without even discussing it with anyone.”

“Yes, I have.” Rebecca sat down at the desk. Her breakfast was getting cold, and she didn’t like the grin on Jeremy’s face. Okay, she did like it. Liked it way too much. He was reading her mind; she knew it. Maybe this relationship wasn’t such a good idea. Jeremy’s grin got bigger, and he leaned back in the chair.

Her face burned, and she knew a blush crept into her face. Oh Lord. She turned away from him. Maybe if he didn’t see her, he wouldn’t know what she was thinking. And why didn’t she know what he was thinking all of a sudden. It was like her mind went totally blank. Not that she could read his mind all the time. Mostly it was just the visions.

“Besides, I still have the inheritance money. I can use some of that. I’ve not touched it so far.”

“Okay, then, I’m coming down there to check this place out and to look at the college. I’ll see you Saturday.”

Lester hung up before she could object and without saying goodbye. Rebecca flipped her phone closed and took a deep breath. All of a sudden, a wisp of breath blew on her neck. Jeremy’s arms went around her waist.

* * * *

Lester hung up. Now what? It wasn’t like Rebecca to go off half-cocked. Not like her not to listen to reason. He didn’t like this. Didn’t like it at all. He paced the room, scrubbed his hands through his hair. There had to be something he could say to change her mind, but what?

“Allison!” He snapped his fingers. If anyone could change Rebecca’s mind, Allison could. They’d been best friends like forever. But that meant he had to call her. He wasn’t sure he could do that. Not that he didn’t want to. Far from it. He’d wanted to call Allison for years now. Ever since Rebecca told him Allison had a crush on him after their parents died, he tried to avoid her. Hell, she was just a kid. Jailbait. But now she was twenty-five. Rebecca hadn’t said anything about Allison in a long time. Heck, she probably had a boyfriend. For all he knew, she was married. Nah, Rebecca would have told him that for sure.

Dared he call her?

Hell, why not? What did he have to lose? Nothing, but he had everything to gain. If Allie could talk Rebecca into coming home, he’d be a fool not to call her. He flipped through his phone book, found her number, and punched it in. It rang once, twice, he held his breath.

“Hello.”

“Allison, hi, this is Les, Rebecca’s brother.”

A gasp and pause on the other end startled him. “Listen, the reason I called, you know Rebecca is in Morrisville.”

“Yes.”

Again Lester swore he heard her gasp. This wasn’t as easy as he thought. “Well, I just talked to her, and she refuses to come home. I don’t know what’s going on down there, but I’m worried about her.”

“So am I,” Allison said.

“She said she’s going to take a web designing course at the college down there.”

“A web designing course?” Allison sighed. “Yes, she said something about taking classes or something when I talked to her this morning. I think she’s smitten with that guy, Jeremy.”

“She told me she was using her vacation and taking a leave of absence. Damn it, what the hell is she thinking?”

“A leave of absence? Sounds like she’s really serious about this, Les.”

“Look, do you think you can call her again. Try to talk her out of it. I told her I was coming down there this weekend, and if she doesn’t change her mind, I just might.”

“I can try. But honest, I don’t think I’m going to change her mind.”

“Just do your best. “

“Okay, I’ll call you back after I talk to her.”

Lester hung up. Not as bad as he thought. Something told him Allison wasn’t going to talk his sister into coming home. His gut feeling told him she was there to stay. He paced the room, waiting for Allison to call him back. It was probably going to be a while if their phone calls were anything like he remembered when they were back in high school. What those two had so much to talk about, he’d never know.

Chapter Ten

“Boyfriend trouble?” Jeremy hoped not. He hadn’t figured on a boyfriend. Couldn’t be too serious if Rebecca was planning on staying here and taking a course. Eleven weeks was a long time to be separated. Surely they had good colleges in Parma. Besides, from her end of the conversation, she didn’t sound romantically involved. He couldn’t help grinning at her. She looked so damn sexy even in her jeans. Something made her turn her face away from him. Hell, was she as excited as he was?

Rebecca leaned against him. “No, my brother. He’s coming here this weekend. He can’t trust baby sister to make her own decisions.”

“Uh huh.” Jeremy nuzzled her hair.
God it smelled good, like peaches.

“Yeah, he kind of raised me after our parents died, and now he can’t get it through his thick head that baby sister is grown up.”

“So am I going to get to meet him?” He turned her to face him, gently touched her cheek. Her skin felt soft and smelled so good. He rubbed his thumb across her cheek and down to her lips. Hers parted slightly, and she nibbled his thumb. God, this woman turned him on. Already he felt the effects. He brought his lips to meet hers. He’d have to stop this quick before he couldn’t. The bulge in his jeans throbbed.

The phone rang again. Rebecca almost let it ring, but after the third time, she came to her senses. She moved away from Jeremy. What was she doing here? This had to stop. She’d never felt so out of control with a man in her life.

“Hello.” She barely had enough breath to answer it.

“Beck, it’s me. How’s it going?”

“Al, hi. It’s going fine. Tell me Lester didn’t call you.” Something seemed mighty suspicious here. She wouldn’t put it past Lester one bit to call Allison. Probably figured if anyone could convince her to come home, Allie could.

“What are you talking about?”

Rebecca could tell from Allie’s voice, she was lying. Allie never was a good liar. “So what did he tell you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Why would Lester call me?”

“Besides the fact he has a huge crush on you, to ask you to convince me to come home.”

“I wish he had a crush on me. What makes you think that?”

“Don’t change the subject.” Rebecca sat on the bed and laughed. She knew her friend too well.

“So when are you coming home?”

“I knew it. You know it wouldn’t have been so obvious if you had waited a while before you called.” She stood and helped Jeremy clean up the remnants of their breakfast. She had hardly eaten any of hers.

“Okay, so he called. What’s going on there? What do you mean you’re going to take a web designing course? What about your job here?”

“Don’t tell Lester, but I’m planning on quitting.” It didn’t matter that Jeremy heard her. He already read her mind and figured it out. Or had he? Oh well, may as well get it out in the open.

“Are you out of your mind? You can’t up and quit your job just like that.”

“Sure I can. Come on, Allie, you know me better than that. I’ve thought this through. You know I don’t make rash decisions. Okay, I’m not going to quit. I’ll take a leave of absence, better?”

“A leave of absence? For how long?” Rebecca heard the hesitation in Allison’s voice.

“The course is eleven weeks. I have six weeks vacation and sick days built up.” Rebecca looked at Jeremy. She loved the grin on his face. The dimple in his chin. Who knew, maybe after eleven weeks, she’d have reason to stick around longer.