Page 24 of The Rancher's Secret Son

“Thank you,” Cody said dutifully.

“Thank you, also,” Nick said, barely aware of his answer because Claire took all his attention. How could he get through the evening without flirting with her, touching her, kissing her?

Nick picked up Cody. “Let’s go eat dinner. The limo is waiting.”

Through dinner Cody was fascinated by the sparkling city lights out the window. Nick just wanted to look at Claire. In spite of the dangers to his heart, he couldn’t take his attention from her. Her smooth skin looked soft, beautiful, her dark eyes wide, luminous, her sensual mouth an invitation for erotic thoughts. He nearly groaned each time his eyes lit on her. He turned, trying to focus on his son as Cody enjoyed his macaroni and cheese.

After they’d eaten their lobster dinners, Claire told him, “I looked at my calendar this afternoon, talked to my secretary and to Grandma. Cody and I can come see you next week, Nick. I think Wednesday would be good. I don’t want to overstay our welcome and I need to make plane reservations. I don’t want to drive.”

“You don’t have to drive or make plane reservations. You can fly in the Milan plane. Come on Monday, if you possibly can, and give us a whole week. We can go to the ranch and if that begins to wear thin with him, then we can all go to Dallas.”

“We’ll come Tuesday. I’ll need to go into the office Monday and make sure things are all set for the week.”

“I’ll look forward to Tuesday, then.”

* * *

It was nine by the time they returned home, and by ten Cody was in bed asleep.

“He likes you—which doesn’t surprise me,” Claire said as she walked with Nick to the family room. Nick shed his coat and tie, unbuttoning the top buttons of his shirt, making her remember the endless nights of making love with him. Beneath his tailor-made clothes was a fit, muscular male body that she could remember far too well.

She feared sitting here with him, alone. There was no telling how traitorous her own body could be. Instead, she had an idea. “C’mon, I’ll give you the deluxe tour downstairs.” She grabbed her iPad. “We can hear Cody on the monitor anywhere in the house.”

She started the tour in the hall. “We have two suites in that wing downstairs and there’s an elevator for my grandparents even though they’ve already moved downstairs. My grandmother still goes upstairs, but she sleeps downstairs.” Claire was aware of Nick close at her side as they strolled through the downstairs. They looked at one wing and then moved to another to enter a large gym.

“Someday I’ll have a pool outside, but until then, this is where I get my exercise.”

“Great,” Nick said, looking at the polished wood floor. “Do you have any music in here? It would be fun to move around a bit. We can dance.”

For a moment she was tempted to refuse. Dancing with Nick had always been sexy. She gazed up at him, looking into blue eyes that melted her resistance.

“I have music I exercise with,” she replied.

Aware of Nick standing and watching her, she turned on a tape. “Here’s a good dance tape—a bit of everything.”

“First, let’s change something here,” he said, walking to her and reaching up to take the combs out of her hair so it fell freely around her face. “That’s the way I like your hair best.” He dropped the combs into his pocket.

She still reacted to him as much as she had years earlier. Was it Nick, or was it simply because there hadn’t been men in her life in the years in between?

“You shouldn’t take down my hair, Nick,” she whispered, looking at his mouth and then back to see desire flare in his blue eyes. “And we shouldn’t dance.”

As he inhaled deeply, he shook his head. “It’s a fast song and we’ll move around, which will help blow off steam,” he said, but his voice was deeper and the look in his eyes clearly indicated he wanted to kiss her. Even though she knew she shouldn’t, she wanted Nick’s kiss.

He stepped farther back from her and began to dance to the fast beat. As they danced, she was aware of his gaze steadily on her, moving over her body and back up to hold her gaze. Dancing didn’t blow off steam as he had predicted. In fact, watching his sexy moves only stirred her desire.

Still, she gave herself over to the moment. Moving with the pounding rhythm, she finally felt some of the tension ease.

It had been a good weekend, but they had put off the decisions and the discussions that would cause problems between them. For a moment they were in a dangerous limbo—getting reacquainted as he got to know his son, deliberately avoiding decisions.

The next number was a polka. Smiling, Nick took her hands to whirl around the spacious room. She hadn’t danced a polka with anyone in years and she felt as if her feet barely touched the floor while she flew around the room with Nick, laughing. A ballad followed and Nick took her hand to dance, keeping a distance between them. He grinned as they danced slowly. “Who put this playlist together?”

“I did. I like music when I exercise and I’ve got eclectic taste.”

“I haven’t danced a polka since college and that’s getting to be a long time ago.”

“Oh, sure. Aeons ago,” she said, smiling at him.

“That’s better. It’s good to see you smile,” he said.

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