His touch was all the more hypnotic for its featherlike lightness. Unbearable heat consumed her as she experienced his persuasion. Heartbeats thundered through her veins and between her thighs until she arched against the hand that had brought on this blissful malady.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered when his fingers found her pliant and moist. Then he touched her in such an erotic, forbidden way that she went rigid with shock.
“Tyler,” she cried in dismay, pushing away from him with frantic hands. It was a revealing reaction, as astonishing to him as his touch had been to her.
He raised himself over her. His gray eyes bored into her wide, frightened green ones, silently asking if the unbelievable were true. “Hailey?” His little finger lifted a disobedient curl from her cheek and replaced it in the mass that spread out behind her head like a fan. “Am I the first?”
Unable to meet his penetrating stare, she squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away, pressing her cheek against the cushion of the sofa. “I’m a freak. I tried to tell you I wasn’t made for this. You wouldn’t believe me.”
Touched by the misery in her voice, he raised his index finger to stroke her cheek as one does an infant’s, with tenderness, almost in fear of bringing unintentional pain. “No. You are not a freak. You are a very special woman. So special that I’m humbled and to no small degree awed by you.”
She opened her eyes, but hadn’t the courage to look at him. She couldn’t believe she had heard him correctly. Ridicule, rebuke, perhaps even laughter were what she had expected. She hadn’t expected the low, reverent gentle quality in his voice.
“Don’t attach any mystical importance to this,” she said defensively. “It only means that no one has wanted me before.”
He did laugh then, a deep rumbling sound in his chest that never quite made it to his lips. “You’re a virgin in more ways than one, Hailey. You’re terribly naive about how men see you. And I for one am damned glad. I won’t have to be constantly fighting them off.”
She found the courage to look at him. The corners of his mouth were lifted into a tender smile. His eyes were warm as they scanned her face. “You still want me?” She didn’t consider the irony of the question. Whereas before she had insisted they would never be lovers, now his answer to her question was of utmost importance to her.
He dropped a light kiss on her lips. “I want you more than ever. So much that I ache,” he said ruefully. “But I would never hurt you, Hailey. I would never distress you in any way. Tonight, you’ve been put through several major emotional upheavals. Not very conducive to making love. When the time is right, we’ll both know it. I go after what I want. I usually get it. But I’ve found that the longer I have to wait for something, the more I value it.”
He drew her into a sitting position, helped her refasten her slacks, and pu
lled her top over her head. As he was buttoning his shirt he said, “The park closes Sunday night. Early Monday morning, you, Faith, and I are going on a vacation.”
“What?”
“We’re going to get away from it all.”
“I can’t leave the day after the park closes. There are a million things that have to be done.”
“You are Director of Guest Relations. When all the guests are gone, who are you going to relate to?” She took a moment to admire his mouth as he smiled, then she forced herself back to the subject.
“I have group tours to book for next season. Promotional campaigns to outline. Brochures to lay out. Tickets—”
“All of which can wait awhile. We’re going. I have a cabin on Fontana Lake. Be ready early Monday morning.”
“I’m not going, Tyler.”
CHAPTER 8
I’m not going, Tyler.”
“We’ll pick you up at eight. And if you’re not out of bed, I’ll come in and drag you out.”
“I’m not going, Tyler.”
“You sound like a broken record.”
Indeed, she did. All week she had been repeating the words and all week he had been dismissing them. Ever since he had first mentioned the trip to Fontana Lake in North Carolina, she had been telling him that she wasn’t going. Excuse after excuse had been offered, but he had negated them all with the glad-heartedness with which he was doing everything these days.
The last week of Serendipity’s season was a hectic one for each employee. Adding to the general chaos, Tyler was a visible force in the park. He showed up at the oddest times, in the most unusual places, making supervisors nervous and anxiety-ridden. However, he seemed pleased with the park’s operation. One evening over dinner he confided to Hailey that he and Faith had come to the park many times.
“Until we ran into an ornery bee, I was treated like any other guest. Since everything seemed to be running well, I didn’t interfere with Sanders’s management. However”—his eyes shone with devilish glee—“it never hurts for the boss to make his presence known.”
Hailey was busy taking questionnaires and computing the results. The comments were generally favorable at this time of the year, for the crowds had thinned out considerably, and each guest could enjoy the park at a more relaxed pace.
During the winter, she would compile a thorough report from the questionnaires taken throughout the summer and submit it to Harmon Sanders. From this official report, each department could analyze its performance and concentrate on the trouble spots.