So, there was her answer regarding the move. Was he surprised? He wasn’t sure.
Shoving his hands in his jeans pockets he said, “I want to continue seeing you, Loralai. Dating you. Exclusively. I can fly you over whenever you want. However often you can get away. And I’ll be back at least quarterly.”
“I just…” She shook her head, still looking befuddled. Shocked to the core, actually. “I need to sit.”
She perched herself on another window ledge and pulled the full-length coat around her, as though a chill rushed through her. Aside from the white and silver fur, she wore all black again, like the day he’d met her. She had on a fitted mock-turtleneck sweater, slim pants and suede ankle boots. She’d loosely twisted her hair at her nape, leaving wispy strands.
She was just as striking as she’d been the night before.
Tague gave her a few quiet moments to reconcile his bombshell. The corners of her mouth dipped, indicating she wasn’t having much luck at figuring this all out.
He crossed to where she sat and knelt in front of her.
“Hey,” he said as he took her hands in his. “What’s happening between us blindsided us both, right?”
“Yes.”
“I never anticipated meeting someone like you. I wasn’t looking to meet anyone. Truth be told, I was actually pretty pissed at Chip for trying to set me up. But then I saw you and you were just so damn spunky and energetic and just…so perfect. For me. I’m utterly defenseless against your allure, Loralai. L.L.” He grinned. “There was absolutely no way that I couldn’t fall hard and fast for you.”
“Tague,” she said on long sigh. Her expression turned questioning.
“You heard me, Loralai. I’m in love with you.”
And it didn’t faze him in the least to say it out loud. To admit it even after the disaster that was his relationship with Renee Redmond—and the fact that Tague had sworn he’d never put himself in the position to go through that agony again.
Yet with this woman…he was willing to take a risk.
More tears flooded her eyes. “Tague. I—Oh, shit.”
“Well, yeah.” He let out a low grunt of frustration. “Bad timing. But that’s life, right?”
Her fingers swept over his cheek. Along his jaw. A delicate touch, but one that set him on fire.
“I feel the same. But—”
34
Hope sprang to life for Tague, regardless of the but she’d just issued. “Then we can make this work, Loralai. We’ll find a way. There is the tiniest chance my plans will change, but doubtful. My father is the deciding factor. I suspect he’s got an ace up his sleeve, yet I haven’t discerned his true motives, so I can’t say for sure what he really has in mind. It makes good business sense for me to open an office in Tokyo, though, and I think that reality is going to sway him, in the end. I’ll know for certain on Monday.”
“I don’t know what to say,” she confessed. “Japan… I mean, that’s so far away. And, I just…” She shook her head. “It’s so far away.”
Tague kissed her. Slowly, seductively. Attempting to convey his intention to do everything in his power to make it happen for them. To give them the happy ending they’d both been robbed of early on in their lives.
When he broke the kiss, she looked a bit swept away. A good sign.
He took her hand and helped her to her feet. “Plenty of couples live apart,” he said.
“I know. That’s one of the reasons why my products are in demand. But…I never expected to be one of them.”
His gut twisted. “If you can’t accept it, Loralai, then—”
“I didn’t say that,” she insisted. “This is just a lot to digest. I mean, I thought you were back in New York for good.”
“And I thought you were more of a free-spirit. Then you signed a three-year lease on this building.”
Staring up at him, she asked, “Why didn’t you stop me? Pull me aside and tell me your plans before I committed to this?”
He was a bit taken aback. “There was no way I could have done that. I can’t influence your decisions in order to get what I want. That’s not a card I would ever play.”