Falling for Grace (21 page)

Perfect.

Simple, sophisticated, beauty.

That was Gracie. Simply, Gracie.

His Gracie.

It was at that moment he knew that he loved
her. Stopping in his tracks, his thoughts didn’t go any further
than that. He wouldn’t let them. Not tonight.

He was simply in love with Gracie Hart. And
he didn’t plan to leave her side until she was ready to walk out
the door with him tonight.

* * * *

Agnes Branson was boring her to tears.

Gracie tried to stifle the
yawn she felt coming on, but still had to hide it behind her
fingertips. She had no clue
what
the woman was saying—although she
needed
to hear what
Agnes was saying. As the hospital fund-raising chairperson, Agnes
had been in charge of the day’s events. Gracie nodded and hoped she
hadn’t volunteered for some future thing. You never knew with
Agnes. She was tricky.

Exhausted from the day, she wished she’d
just skipped this evening affair. She was about to yawn again,
planning her means of early escape, when someone touched her elbow.
Turning toward the person next to her, Gracie forgot anything about
Agnes within the second.

Carson was at her elbow.

A delicious looking Carson all decked out in
suit and tie, all spit-shined and polished.

My goodness, she thought, he’s a
good-looking man. Her heart did that thing that she’d avoided for
so long. It fluttered like crazy. And she let it. Wanted it.

“
Good evening, Gracie,” he
said, the words rolling like warm honey off his lips.

She smiled slightly. “Hi, Carson.”

He let out a deep sigh and didn’t say
anything else for a moment. Gracie waited. “You look very lovely
this evening,” he finally said.

Feeling her cheeks flush, Gracie glanced
down at herself, then smiled as she looked Carson in the eyes
again. Damn but she hated to admit it—perhaps Amie and Constance
were right. “Thank you,” she replied softly. “You’re looking mighty
handsome yourself.”

Carson chuckled. “Thanks.”

Agnes cleared her throat, calling Gracie’s
attention back to the older woman. “Call me about that date in
October, Gracie?” she said.

Nodding, Gracie told her she would. Finally,
the woman left.

This time it was Gracie who let out the
sigh. Looking back to Carson, she said, “I think I just volunteered
for something. I have no clue what it was.”

“
Uh-oh. That could be
dangerous.” He laughed again and Gracie agreed with him. “May I get
you a glass of wine or something?” he offered.

Gracie glanced toward the bar. “You know, I
was thinking earlier about a glass of wine, but I was afraid it
might put me right to sleep. I’m suddenly feeling exhausted.”

“
Then how about if we grab
a glass of wine and head out of here for a relaxing drive home. I
was about to make my exit when I saw you come in.”

Gracie studied him for a moment. “You
were?”

“
Yeah, dead on my
feet.”

“
Same here. Why didn’t you
go?”

“
Saw you. Thought maybe,
hell, thought maybe you’d like to come with me. I’d like a little
peace and quiet for a while. How about you?”

It didn’t take long for Gracie to respond.
“Let’s do it.”

And Carson didn’t give her long to
reconsider. After leading her to the bar and grabbing two glasses
of wine, he escorted her out the back and into the parking lot.

Gracie hadn’t felt this carefree in
years.

* * * *

Carson didn’t want to go home. The country
club sat about seven miles from town on a winding country road. The
night was still, stars were bright in the sky, and the temperature
was a perfect seventy degrees. As they approached his Corvette, he
turned to Gracie.

“
Mind if I put the top
down?” It seemed like a perfect night to him but he wasn’t sure if
she would like it.

“
Can we drink wine and
drive with the top down at the same time?”

Smiling, he looked at her. “You drink your
wine while I put the top down. In fact, take mine. I’m not sure I
want it now.”

He handed Gracie his glass. “This could be a
mistake,” she said, taking it and smiling back.

“
Don’t worry. I’ll take
care of you.”

Gracie looked intently into Carson’s eyes
and he noticed the puzzled expression there. He knew she was an
independent woman who was used to taking care of herself. Why he’d
said that to her, he didn’t know. But for some reason, he felt that
maybe, just for tonight, she needed to be taken care of. For a
fleeting moment, he worried that he’d said the wrong thing.

“
Okay,” she said. “I may
have to hold you to that.” She sipped at her glass of wine,
hesitated a moment, then tipped it up and drained the glass. “One
down.”

She smiled the broadest smile then and
Carson felt his heart do a flip-flop in his chest.

Turning, he grinned just as broadly,
although she couldn’t see it. As he started working on the
Corvette, he had the strangest feeling this might be an interesting
evening.

* * * *

Gracie wasn’t quite sure when she’d felt so
relaxed. Wind blowing through her hair, which had long since come
loose of its clip, soft music from the stereo, stars twinkling
overhead, and the effects of two downed glasses of wine had made
her sufficiently mellow.

They weren’t anywhere near Franklinville,
Gracie knew. Carson had suggested it was a nice evening for a drive
and she hadn’t protested. In fact, this was quite nice. Extremely
nice.

“
I’m glad you suggested
this,” she said, her head leaning back against the seat and her
eyes closed. “Can we drive for, oh, a thousand miles or
so?”

She heard Carson chuckle. “A thousand miles,
huh?”

“
Yeah. I’ll pay for the
gas.”

He didn’t answer and she glanced to her
left. He was smiling, looking straight ahead. “I’m glad you’re
having a nice time,” he said after a moment.

“
Very nice,” she
replied.

The drove for a while longer. Gracie feared
she just might fall asleep, but just as soon as she felt herself
falling, they slowed and came to a stop.

Jerking upright, she looked to her left.
“Are we home?”

Immediately, she knew that was a dumb
question.

“
I thought maybe we’d stop
and enjoy the stars for a moment,” Carson told her. “I hope that’s
okay.”

Gracie leaned back into her seat, looking up
at the stars. Carson had pulled off the road into the entrance of
an open field. No trees blocked her view of the sky. “It’s
perfect.” Suddenly she didn’t want to go home. She was tired of
being either at the shop or at home.

“
You’re looking quite
relaxed,” Carson told her.

Nodding, Gracie closed her eyes. “Ummmm...I
am.”

“
So we made a good
decision? Ditching the party and taking a drive, I
mean?”

“
Ummmm,” Gracie agree.
“Excellent decision.”

She was sure the wine was making her so
relaxed but it was possible the company and the night air
contributed to the effect.

“
And stopping here? Is
that okay?”

Gracie opened her eyes and looked at Carson.
“Yes,” she said softly, “It’s okay.”

He leaned in closer. “I thought you might
still be mad at me.”

She shook her head. “No. I’m not mad. You
were just aggravated at Izzie. I knew that.”

She could swear he leaned closer. His lips
must be only inches away from hers, she thought. “Where is Izzie,
by the way? I haven’t seen her the past two days.”

“
I let her stay in
Louisville with Kate, her old babysitter, for a couple of days. I
knew there was going to be a lot going on here this
week.”

He spoke soft and low and Gracie enjoyed
watching his lips move. “Oh,” she replied.

“
So, it is okay if I kiss
you?”

The question came out of the blue. Gracie
leaned a little closer and was about to answer when his lips
captured hers.

It was a sweet, intoxicating kiss and just
the thing to put Gracie over the edge. At the point their lips made
contact, she melted, feeling herself leaning closer into
Carson.

His hands gently cupped her face as his lips
softly caressed, slowly raking over them in a determined manner.
And Gracie was just as determined to give back what she was
getting.

So she did.

All too quickly, he pulled away and Gracie
discovered she didn’t like him not kissing her.

“
Well,” she said, opening
her eyes to look at him. He was still just inches away, looking
back into her face. “That was a kiss.”

He grinned. “Yes. That was a kiss.”

Settling back in her seat, she asked softly,
“Why did you kiss me?”

“
Because it felt right,”
he murmured. “And you looked damned kissable.”

“
Must be the wine,” she
mumbled. She hadn’t felt kissable in some time.

“
No, it wasn’t the wine,”
he said, leaning closer again. “It was just you.”

Then he did it again.

Gracie felt lost in the feel of his lips on
hers. Soft and firm, they moved over hers. She opened hers slightly
and his tongue slipped inside her mouth to tango with hers, gentle,
easy thrusts mixed with tender kisses. The kiss deepened and Carson
moved his hands to her hair, threading his fingers through her
tresses as he held her.

Gracie let out a quick breath as his lips
left hers and began to trail down her check to her neck. She arched
her neck a bit, allowing him access as he lowered his kisses toward
her collarbone.

She liked him doing that. Way too much.

Nothing she’d ever experienced had felt
better. Carson’s lips on her neck, planting kisses up and down,
made her want to let him devour her. Let him...

“
Carson,” she
breathed.

His kisses slowed and she tilted her face
back down to look at him. “We should stop,” she said.

He studied her face, peering deeply into her
eyes. Suddenly, she was afraid of what she saw in his eyes. She
didn’t want to think about it. Didn’t want to know what was going
on in that head of his behind his eyes.

“
I don’t want to do
anything that you don’t want me to,” he said softly.

She nodded, still looking into his eyes. “I
need...I need to stop, to think.”

One corner of his mouth turned up into a
grin. “To think?”

“
I can’t think when you’re
kissing me like that.”

“
You’re not supposed to,”
he answered, smiling fully now.

There was something going on with him and
Gracie wasn’t sure what it was. It scared her a little.

“
Maybe we should head
back?”

The look on his face scared her even more.
She wanted to be here with him, just like this, kissing him. And
she didn’t. The thing was, she didn’t know how to convey that to
him. She was certain he thought she was giving him the
brush-off.

“
If you want to, Gracie,
then that’s what we’ll do.”

She glanced away, looking out over the
field. “I don’t know what I want,” she whispered, so softly she
barely heard it herself. She had no clue whether he heard her.

Turning back to him then, she said, “Yes, I
think we should go home now. Please, I hope you understand.”

Carson nodded, his facing growing serious.
Reaching out, he touched her cheek with the backs of his fingers.
“I’m not sure I do,” he whispered. “But maybe, in time, I
will.”

Chapter Fourteen

I don’t know what I want.

Carson had heard the words, barely spoken,
as they came from Gracie’s lips two nights earlier. She’d avoided
him since then and he hadn’t pushed the issue. All he could think
about, however, was Gracie’s lips and how much he had enjoyed
kissing them.

She was confused, he thought, and if the
truth be known, so was he. He knew why he was confused—he’d vowed
not to get involved with anyone until Izzie was older and both
their lives were back on track. Until he felt safe again and could
trust himself in a relationship with another woman.

Since Marci, he was damned untrusting. He
just had no desire to feel again what he’d felt when Marci had left
both of them, ripping their lives apart. He never wanted to
experience that hopelessness again.

He wished he knew what was going on in
Gracie’s head. He wished he knew about her past, what happened with
the man whose picture still sat on her bedside table. The one who
had died.

Even more, he wanted to know how that man’s
death affected her life now, for he had a distinct feeling that it
did.

The winds picked up outside as rain thrashed
against his window. A late-night summer storm had turned a bit
brutal. Carson looked out over the street from his living room
window and watched the rain come down in slanted sheets, while
debris was tossed about on the sidewalks. Suddenly, he realized
that this might be a bit more than a typical summer thunderstorm.
When the emergency warning siren on top of the courthouse down the
street went off a few seconds later, his suspicions were
confirmed.

About that time a solid upward draft of wind
took the awning which hung over his and Gracie’s shop doors
completely off and tossed it like a wadded-up tissue into the
street.

He turned and ran toward his apartment door,
shouting Gracie’s name.

She met him on the landing outside of their
apartments, wide-eyed and a sleepy-but-frightened look across her
face.