Then Came You (The Wilde Sisters #2) (13 page)

She must have been texting. The
click-click
of her iPhone filled the otherwise quiet room.

“Thyme?”

The clicking stopped.

“I’m assuming you don’t want me to come in, so will you please come out so we can talk?”

“I’m sleeping.”

He chuckled. “Talking in your sleep, are you?”

She grumbled something, most likely cursing him. He waited while he heard her move about the room. The door opened and he stepped back. Dressed in a thin tank top and black yoga pants, she crossed her arms in her typical defensive stance. “What?”

He swallowed the lump in his throat and forced his gaze to stay above her neck.

Woah. She was pissed. “Um, Maddie’s in bed.”

Her posture softened. “Did she brush her teeth?”

He nodded.

“Did you read her a book?”

“That one with the glass shoe and a pumpkin coach thing.”

Thyme rolled her eyes. “You don’t know the story of Cinderella?”

“I’m a guy.”

She shook her head in obvious disappointment and pushed by him. In the kitchen, she went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. “Want one?”

“Sure. Thank you.” She was careful to avoid him as she handed him the bottle. He twisted the top off and took a few large gulps, while keeping his gaze focused on her.

Thyme slowly sipped her water, her eyes locking with his for a moment before red stained her cheeks and she looked away. “Is there something you wanted?”

You
, he was tempted to say, but didn’t. Now that he had her attention he didn’t have a clue how to start. “Can we sit?” He walked toward the sofa and waited for her to follow. She chose the overstuffed chair across the room instead of the space next to him. “Did I do something wrong? You seem angry with me.”

She opened her mouth to speak, hesitated, then put the bottle to her lips and finished her water. “I’m tired.”

“Did I say something to upset you? Are you feeling all right? Is anything wrong with your family?”

“Maybe. Yes. No.” Thyme screwed the cap on her bottle and started picking at the paper label.

“In that order?”

She stilled, looked up at him, and sighed. “Look, Grayson, you’re a nice guy and all but what happened between us last night shouldn’t have happened. Let’s chalk it up to ambiance and a few too many glasses of wine, okay? I’m your daughter’s babysitter. I won’t cross that line again and there’s no need to assure me that you won’t either. I know you won’t.”

Really? Because he wasn’t so sure about that. “I wouldn’t be upset if it happened again.”

Thyme shot out of her chair and rummaged through the cabinets in the kitchen. “Are you hungry? I’m hungry. How about some chips and salsa?” She took out a bag of tortilla chips and dumped them in a bowl and then grabbed the salsa from the fridge.

I’m hungry for you.
Grayson leaned against the counter and watched her expel her nervous energy. He picked up a chip, slid it through the salsa. The spicy jalapeños burned his tongue, but not nearly as much as the woman standing in front of him.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

Grayson pushed off the counter, stepping toward her. “There’s something…” He traced his finger down her cheek. “…right…” He tilted her chin closer. “…here.” He lowered his head and lightly brushed his lips across hers. Thyme gasped, then relaxed her shoulders and placed her hands on his chest. Grayson kissed her, taking what he had been thinking about all day.

She tasted sweet and salty and very feminine. He slid his tongue into her mouth, caressing her, coaxing her to open even more. His hands massaged her back and lowered to cup her perfect backside. Drawing her even closer, the warmth and fullness of her breasts rubbed against his chest. He worked his hand between their bodies and cupped her breast.

Thyme jumped back, breaking the kiss. “No. This is not going to happen again. No.” She held up a hand and backed down the hall. “Don’t ever kiss me again, Mr. Montgomery.”

The bedroom door slammed and the telltale sound of the lock clicking said it all.

He was a prick.
Mr. Montgomery
? Where did that come from? Apparently he wasn’t going to get any answers tonight. Not that he’d asked any questions. Racking his brain for anything he may have said to piss her off, he came up empty. In fact, he hadn’t had a moment alone with her since he woke her up this morning. Surely she couldn’t be upset about that? He left her at her doorstep last night ravished and aroused.

Well, she had been on the boat. Things had cooled down in the car ride but he knew how her body responded to him. She wanted him.

And apparently that pissed her off.

***

Thyme

Thyme heard her phone ring in the other room. She poured a capful of bubbles under the stream of water from the tap and stood. “No monkey business, princess. I’m going to grab my phone and I’ll be right back. No snorkeling.”

Maddie giggled and played with the frothy bubbles.

Thyme kept the bathroom door open while she jogged to the kitchen counter, scooped up her cell, and walked back down the hall so she could keep an eye on Maddie. She tapped her phone and put it to her ear, the 212 area code not familiar.

“Hello?”

“Thyme. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Oh, no worries there, Eva. Maddie was up at seven. She’s in the tub now. I’ll have to change her sheets. There’s enough sand in them to build a sandcastle.”

“Oh, that’s my fault,” Eva said. “I should have told Grayson to wash her up before putting her to bed. I figured…I figured you would be up when they got home.”

“No, I…uh, turned in early. My sisters and I were texting for a while. I think that’s when I heard them come in.”

“Well, Grayson wanted me to give you a message. He didn’t want to wake either of you this morning.”

He knew Maddie got up early, so he was either avoiding her or was up
very
early.

“He had to fly to San Diego this morning. Richard tried calling us all night but we purposely avoided answering our phones.” She laughed. “We were having such a wonderful time on the boat and then at dinner, that we didn’t want work to disrupt.”

“Oh. I hope everything is okay with your husband.”

“Richard’s fine but his client is not. He’s asked for some intricate design work that Grayson specializes in and threatened to pull out of the contract if Grayson didn’t jump back on board.”

“Oh.” Thyme had no idea what any of this meant, but it was obviously a big enough deal to pull him away in the middle of the night.

“The contract was negotiated a year ago and Grayson was the one in charge. But then the Aruba hotel happened and…well, he’s trying to make a career change and I’m proud of him.”

“How does his father feel about it?” Thyme slipped into the bathroom and turned off the water, the bubbles spilling over the edge. Maddie barely paid any attention to her, too occupied playing with her Barbies in the water.

“He’s a quiet man.” Huh, apple doesn’t fall far. “He supports Grayson, but this client is pretty high maintenance.”

“Oh.” Thyme felt dumb not having much to offer to the conversation.

“Anyway, he took the private jet and feels bad about leaving you and Maddie stranded.”

Thyme paused on her way out of the bathroom, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Her unruly hair frizzed around her plain face. Her body, too curvy and filled out to grace the arm of Mr. Montgomery, heir of the Buchanan fashion empire and CEO of Montgomery Designs. Of course he left without saying goodbye.

“He left two tickets at the front desk. I believe you fly home tomorrow. He wanted me to tell you it was okay if you wanted to stay longer.”

“Oh, yeah, we’ll, uh, go home tomorrow. If we stay here much longer I think we’ll never want to leave.” Thyme sat on the edge of Maddie’s bed and gazed longingly out at the deep blue sea.

“I know how you feel. Is there anything special you want to do on your last day?”

“I’ll need to pick up around here and do some packing. Would you like to spend the day with Maddie?”

Eva gasped. “Really? You wouldn’t mind?”

“No.” Thyme laughed. “Unless Maddie has a problem with it. Let me check.” She put the phone on mute and stepped into the bathroom. “Hey princess. Eva wants to spend the day with you. Just the two of you while I do some cleaning around here. What do you think about that?”

“Can we swim in the pool and have ice cream?”

Thyme unmuted the phone. “The princess requests the pool and ice cream.”

“Done. I’ll be by in a bit.” There was a slight pause and she heard Eva breathe deep. “Thank you, Thyme.”

“Hey, I should be thanking you. I’m getting a little time to myself.”

They hung up and Thyme washed Maddie’s hair, drained the tub, and dried her off.

“Why don’t you put on your bathing suit under your clothes? Then you don’t have to change later.”

Maddie, wrapped in a bath sheet five times too big for her, waddled into her room talking to her Barbies. Meanwhile, Thyme padded into her own room and changed into shorts, a sports bra, and tank. She’d have time to run along the beach before packing.

***

Wiping sweat from her brow and turning off her iPod, Thyme toed off her sneakers on her way to her bathroom. During her five mile run she had plenty of time to clear her head, but she didn’t. Instead she filled it with thoughts of Grayson. His sea glass eyes, his toned arms, his soft, supple lips. Their brief kisses stirred her more than any sexual encounter she’d had in the past. And she’d had plenty.

She couldn’t imagine what it would be like when they made love.
If
they made love. No, they could never. He would break her heart into a zillion pieces.

And besides, he took off without calling. Oh, sure, he could call his mother, why not Thyme? Wimp. She knew she pissed him off last night but he could have left her a message, sent her a text, something to say he was abandoning his daughter. Again.

Thyme sighed as she turned on the shower. Maybe
abandoning
was too harsh a word. He did make arrangements for their flight home. Still. She wanted him to say goodbye in person. And she never wanted to see him again.

“Great,” Thyme mumbled as she stepped under the warm spray. “Now I’m turning into a psycho-blabbering idiot.” She scrubbed and shaved—not that anyone would be coming anywhere near her legs—and shut the water off before she started thinking about his perfectly corded muscles pinning her to the shower wall.

“Arg.” Now she sounded like a deranged pirate. “Whatever,” she said to her reflection in the foggy mirror. “He’s gone.”

For how long? Would he send his private plane to Maine to take Maddie away? Would he ask Thyme to go with her? Would he move to Maine and ask Thyme to marry him and they’d all live happily ever after? Grayson had a way of stirring up too many questions and never any answers.

“What the hell?” She glared at her reflection again. Since when did wild Thyme think about love and marriage? She was the fun and flirty girl. The girl who always knew where the best parties were. Who laughed and never took anything too seriously. Who was spontaneous, adventurous, and carefree.

Of course, she could still be many of those things while married to Grayson.

“Stop!” Thyme whipped the towel off her head and scowled at the lovesick girl in the mirror. “Lust has turned you into a pile of mush. You need to go out and have fun. Get your groove back.”

Yeah, that’s what she’d do when she got home. Her sister could watch Maddie for a night. Rayne adored her and Maddie loved playing with the baby. Strolling naked to her room, she picked up her cell and sent a group text to five of her favorite party girls.

***

Four freaking days. Four freaking nights. And no calls, no texts, no messages from Grayson. Seriously, with today’s technology it wouldn’t take him more than four seconds to send her a message. This habit of his was definitely helping her see why falling for him was not a good idea.

Thyme didn’t know if she should prepare Maddie for a move to New York or act as if nothing had changed. Ick. New York City. If Thyme thought it was a terrible place to bring up a child, then it was pretty bad. The city didn’t even appeal to the party girl, how would a sweet girl who loved to sled and ice skate and swim and play outside survive in an upscale penthouse in Manhattan? Maddie would have to have scheduled visits to the park. And how the heck would she learn to ride a bike?

Thyme wanted to teach her this summer. Maybe she could ride up and down the hallway of Grayson’s fancy building. Like that movie,
Eloise
something or other that she’d watched a few months ago with Maddie. And would she even see her father? If he couldn’t manage a stinkin’ text in four days, how would he take care of a child? He’d have to hire a nanny. Her? No, she didn’t want to live in the city. And she couldn’t survive seeing Grayson every day and keeping her hands to herself.